Nov 2, 2014; Fort Worth, TX, USA; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Jimmie Johnson (48) celebrates winning the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
Jimmie Johnson followed in the lead of Hendrick Motorsports Dale Earnhardt Jr. and placed Chase for the Sprint Cup spoiler at Texas Motor Speedway, winning the AAA Texas 500 and leaving only one Eliminator round race to possibly be won by a remaining Chase driver. The win was Johnson’s fourth of the season and set him apart as the winningest driver at TMS with a fourth-career win at the track.
“We’re back on track,” Johnson said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t find this stuff about a month or two to go.”
Kevin Harvick finished second in his 500th-career Sprint Cup race, and Brad Keselowski was third.
Johnson took the lead from Jeff Gordon on the first of two green-white-checker restarts. Keselowski and Gordon for second and the two drivers made contact that resulted in a spin by Gordon. Gordon then went a lap down and wound up 29th at the finish.
“There was a hole. I went for it; it closed up,” Keselowski said. “We bounced off each other.”
Harvick then took second from Keselowski on the final green-white-checker attempt
After the race, Gordon and Keselowski along with team members, fought over the late-race incident. Crew members got between the two drivers, but Harvick pushed Keselowski toward Gordon.
“If you’re going to run into people all the time, you’re going to have to fight your own fight, and I helped him get in it,” Harvick said of pushing Keselowski.
Keselowski was then pulled to the ground by one of Gordon’s crew members. Both Keselowski and Gordon came away with cut lips.
“We drove down into turn one, and he just decided to body slam us and cut our left rear tire,” Gordon said. “I had to show him my displeasure. It got ugly there, obviously.”
Matt Kenseth started on the pole and led the first 53 laps before Johnson took over command of the race. Johnson dominated the race, leading a total of 191 laps. Gordon and Harvick each spent significant laps running second, but neither was able to take the lead from Johnson until Gordon was finally able to take the lead on lap 217.
Denny Hamlin, Keselowski, Kenseth and Kurt Busch each ran up front for a few laps through a pit strategy of staying out at various points in the second half of the race. Johnson took the lead and Gordon second on a restart with just under 20 laps to go. Gordon then took the lead from Johnson on the next restart with nine to go.
Kyle Busch and Jamie McMurray finished fourth and fifth. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was sixth, Kyle Larson seventh, and Kurt Busch was eighth for his 200th-career top-10 finish.
Carl Edwards came from two laps down to finish on the lead lap in ninth. He got back on the lead lap during a caution with about 40 laps to go. Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-10.
While there was only one caution in the first half of the race’s scheduled distance, the yellow flag waved often in the second half. In all, there were 13 cautions, a race record for Texas Motor Speedway. Tire wear was also an issue, prompting NASCAR to allow teams an extra set of tires in the later stages of the race.
Chasers finishing outside the top-10 included Joey Logano in 12th, Ryan Newman in 15th, Kenseth in 25th and Gordon in 29th.
Follow Stock Car Spin on Twitter @SCSblog or like Stock Car Spin on Facebook. Amanda’s also on Twitter @NASCARexaminer and has a fan/like page on Facebook: NASCAR Examiner