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 Jimmie Johnson won the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at
Texas Motor Speedway for the third straight year, holding off
runner-up Kevin Harvick and third-place Brad Keselowski after
Sunday's AAA Texas 500 went to two overtimes.
The action in the second race of the Chase's Eliminator Round was
scintillating enough, but it couldn't match the intensity of a
post-race brawl on pit road that left Keselowski and Jeff Gordon
bruised and bloodied.
Johnson, who was eliminated from the Chase two weeks ago at
Talladega, led the field to the green flag on Lap 340, the second
attempt at a green-white-checkered-flag finish, with Keselowski to
his outside. As both drivers rolled through the first two corners
wide open, Johnson inched ahead, ultimately clearing Keselowski's
Ford and pulling away.
Harvick passed Keselowski for second place but couldn't catch
Johnson's No. 48 Chevrolet, which crossed the finish line .513
seconds ahead of Harvick's No. 4 car.
But it was the first attempt at a green-white-checkered finish that
caused all the controversy and helped to scramble the Chase
standings with only next Sunday's event at Phoenix International
Raceway (3 p.m. ET on ESPN) left to determine which four drivers
race for the series championship Nov. 16 at Homestead-Miami
Speedway.
Gordon was the race leader at the time and picked the outside lane
for a restart on Lap 335 with Johnson to his inside. Keselowski
restarted third and tried to split the two Hendrick Motorsports
drivers -- in what Harvick would later call "bulldoze mode" -- and
ran out of room.
Contact from Keselowski's car cut Gordon's left rear tire, causing
Gordon to spin on the backstretch, which in turn brought out the
record 13th caution of the race. Gordon finished 29th and dropped
from first to fourth in the Chase standings, just one point clear of
25th-place finisher and Coors Light Polesitter Matt Kenseth in
fifth.
"We drove down into Turn 1, and he just decided to body-slam us and
cut our left-rear tire," an irate Gordon said after wading through a
mass of crewmen to get to Keselowski. "It ruined our night. It
ruined our chances, ruined our night, might have even ruined our
Chase hopes.
"It's just uncalled for. I had to show my displeasure. It got ugly
down there, obviously, and you know that's all right. A lot of
things are going to happen in the next couple of weeks."
If Gordon had issues with the way Keselowski raced him, the driver
of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford was unapologetic.
"I'm not trying to dish out something that I couldn't take myself,"
Keselowski said. "But these guys have their own code, and they race
differently than that. That's their right. We'll go through these
battles. I've gone through them before and come out stronger. I'll
go through them again and come out stronger, a better race car
driver.
"But what I'm not going to do is back down. I'm not going to get in
the spot where I was in 2013 where, you know, I tried to be exactly
what they all wanted me to be, because what they want me to be is a
loser, and I'm not here to lose. I'm here to win. That means I'm
going to have to drive my car, harder, stronger, faster than
everybody out there. That's what I feel like I did today."
In Victory Lane, savoring his fourth win of the season, his record
fourth victory at Texas and the 70th of his career, Johnson could
only shake his head at the unplanned fireworks after the race.
"I saw a little bit on the big screen going down the back
straightaway," said Johnson. "I would definitely have to go to the
tape and watch and see what happened there. I know that
second-to-last restart, I got hit from behind and I know Brad got to
my outside, and I guess in the process of running into me and
getting to the outside lane he ruffled some feathers.
"Just an exciting night for us. We had a very fast race car, led a
lot of laps (191 of 341). Those cautions at the end, one restart
would help me, the other would hurt me -- and in the end we got it
done."
The wild action at Texas, which saw 12 of the 13 cautions occur
after the halfway point, left the Chase wide open, with all eight
eligible drivers within an 18-point range.
Joey Logano recovered from a spin to finish 12th and shares the
Chase lead with Denny Hamlin, who ran 10th. Ryan Newman is third in
points, two behind Logano and Hamlin, after a 15th-place finish that
could have been better, but for a tire rub resulting from contact on
a late restart.
Gordon is fourth, 12 out of the lead and one point ahead of Kenseth
and Carl Edwards, who rallied from two laps down, avoided the
bumping and banging on the track and finished an unlikely ninth.
Keselowski heads to Phoenix seventh in the standings, 17 points out
of first place and one point ahead of Harvick in eighth.
With at least three of the four championship-eligible positions in
the final race to be determined on points, none of the eight drivers
goes to Phoenix with any degree of security.
Notes: Kyle Busch's bid for a Texas weekend sweep of NASCAR's top
three series fizzled early. The winner of Friday's NASCAR Camping
World Truck Series race and Saturday's Nationwide Series event was
lapped by Johnson on Lap 125, but he recovered to finish
fourth...Kenseth became the all-time lap leader at Texas Motor
Speedway during the opening run, leading the first 53 laps and 59
all told to bring his career total at Texas to 834, surpassing Tony
Stewart's 801.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race - AAA Texas 500
Texas Motor Speedway
Fort Worth, Texas
Sunday, November 2, 2014
1. (3) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 341, $494576.
2. (5) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 341, $378783.
3. (26) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 341, $255658.
4. (9) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 341, $240616.
[to top of second column] |
5. (21) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 341, $202089.
6. (12) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 341, $165840.
7. (17) Kyle Larson #, Chevrolet, 341, $172360.
8. (4) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 341, $134665.
9. (11) Carl Edwards, Ford, 341, $142715.
10. (20) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 341, $132165.
11. (6) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 341, $153598.
12. (10) Joey Logano, Ford, 341, $152181.
13. (19) Greg Biffle, Ford, 341, $153515.
14. (23) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 341, $128548.
15. (7) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 341, $118415.
16. (13) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 341, $140615.
17. (15) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 341, $134954.
18. (38) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 341, $131448.
19. (8) Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet, 341, $134723.
20. (30) Justin Allgaier #, Chevrolet, 341, $130323.
21. (29) Austin Dillon #, Chevrolet, 341, $151476.
22. (33) Michael Annett #, Chevrolet, 341, $117523.
23. (18) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 341, $141390.
24. (22) Aric Almirola, Ford, 341, $142201.
25. (1) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 341, $166601.
26. (40) Cole Whitt #, Toyota, 341, $104765.
27. (16) Marcos Ambrose, Ford, 341, $130810.
28. (24) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 341, $139256.
29. (2) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 340, $149001.
30. (28) Michael McDowell, Ford, 338, $102355.
31. (39) JJ Yeley(i), Toyota, 338, $112687.
32. (37) David Ragan, Ford, 338, $108415.
33. (32) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 337, $100215.
34. (31) David Gilliland, Ford, 335, $107990.
35. (42) Timmy Hill, Chevrolet, 334, $99790.
36. (27) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 332, $107560.
37. (43) Joey Gase(i), Ford, 330, $99352.
38. (14) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, Accident, 319, $113180.
39. (25) Trevor Bayne(i), Ford, Accident, 318, $95180.
40. (41) Brett Moffitt, Toyota, Accident, 283, $93780.
41. (36) Josh Wise, Chevrolet, 256, $81780.
42. (35) Alex Bowman #, Toyota, Engine, 245, $77780.
43. (34) Landon Cassill(i), Chevrolet, Engine, 134, $74280.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 132.239 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 52 Mins, 05 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 0.513 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 13 for 61 laps.
Lead Changes: 23 among 7 drivers.
Lap Leaders: M. Kenseth 1-53; J. Johnson 54-91; K. Harvick 92-93; J.
Johnson 94-137; J. Gordon 138-139; J. Johnson 140-175; J. Gordon
176; J. Johnson 177-205; J. Gordon 206; J. Johnson 207-216; J.
Gordon 217-224; D. Hamlin 225-227; J. Gordon 228-243; J. Johnson
244-252; B. Keselowski 253-265; J. Gordon 266; B. Keselowski
267-275; J. Gordon 276-286; J. Johnson 287-296; M. Kenseth 297-302;
Kurt Busch 303-317; J. Johnson 318-324; J. Gordon 325-333; J.
Johnson 334-341.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): J. Johnson 9 times
for 191 laps; M. Kenseth 2 times for 59 laps; J. Gordon 8 times for
49 laps; B. Keselowski 2 times for 22 laps; Kurt Busch 1 time for 15
laps; D. Hamlin 1 time for 3 laps; K. Harvick 1 time for 2 laps.
Top 16 in Points: J. Logano - 4,072; D. Hamlin - 4,072; R. Newman -
4,070; J. Gordon - 4,060; M. Kenseth - 4,059; C. Edwards - 4,059; B.
Keselowski - 4,055; K. Harvick - 4,054; Kyle Busch - 2,270; D.
Earnhardt Jr. - 2,234; J. Johnson - 2,234; A. Allmendinger - 2,228;
G. Biffle - 2,209; Kurt Busch - 2,192; K. Kahne - 2,179; A. Almirola
- 2,144.
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