Martinsville, Va. ? Trouble finally found Jeff Burton at Martinsville Speedway. Jimmie Johnson and a handful of other championship chasers found themselves back in title contention.

NASCAR’s Chase for the championship broke wide open Sunday, setting up what is likely to be a wild four-race finish.

Johnson took the lead from Bobby Labonte with 55 laps to go and held it through several restarts to win the crash-filled Subway 500, while 2003 champion Matt Kenseth replaced Burton atop the standings.

Johnson moved from seventh to third in the standings with four races left, and appears to be the driver with the most momentum heading into the final month.

“I’m just happy to finish where we should have,” said Johnson, who was denied at least a second-place finish at Talladega when he was spun out on the last lap two weeks ago, then finished second last week at Charlotte. “We’ve been running up front the last three of four races and haven’t been able to close the deal. Today we did.”

Kenseth assumed the points lead when Burton pulled his car into the garage after just 217 laps because of engine trouble, and most everyone took advantage.

Next week in Atlanta, seven drivers will start within 99 points of Kenseth, who finished 11th on Sunday and seemed more concerned about his performance than excited.

“It’s great to be the leader, but we’ve got to start running good,” Kenseth said.

“It’s still pretty wide open. It’s going to be pretty exciting, I think, coming down to the last race. I’m glad we are in the lead and if we can get going back on these last four tracks like we were earlier in the year, I think we’ve got a shot at it.”

Kevin Harvick is now second, 36 points back, and Johnson is 41 points behind. Denny Hamlin moved into fourth, 47 back. Burton dropped to 48 points off the pace, marking the first time the points leader has changed in the second half of the playoffs.

“By no means do I think we are out of this thing,” Burton said. “We won’t lay down. We’ll go to Atlanta feeling like we have as good a shot as anybody.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (94), Mark Martin (96) and Kasey Kahne (99) also are within striking distance of Kenseth.