Johnson foils Keselowski, rallies for Texas win
 |
| Jimmie Johnson celebrates |
| Harold Hinson/HHP/GM |
Jimmie Johnson foiled Brad Keselowski's dominant day Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway, rallying to win the AAA Texas 500.
Johnson led just six laps but denied the eight remaining contenders in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs an automatic berth among the championship-eligible quartet. His fifth win of the season was his sixth at the 1.5-mile Fort Worth track and the 75th of his premier-series career.
Johnson's Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet led the final four laps of the 334-lap race, bypassing Keselowski's Team Penske No. 2 Ford after applying heavy pursuit during the final green-flag stretch. Keselowski — the Coors Light Pole Award winner in Friday qualifying — led 312 of 334 laps, winding up 1.083 seconds behind Johnson at the checkered flag.
"I just kept pressure on him," Johnson said in Victory Lane. "I could see that he was really tight and that was the first I had seen him that vulnerable all day. I just kept the pressure on him, kept searching for a line. He saw me coming on the top and protected it. I just kept trying to put pressure on him hoping for a mistake."
Kevin Harvick, who led 11 laps and ran in second place for much of the race's middle portions, overcame a pair of punctured tires — a left-rear 36 laps in and a right-rear with 52 laps remaining — to finish third. Kyle Busch finished fourth and Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota teammate Carl Edwards fifth as title-eligible Chase drivers claimed seven of the top nine spots in the final order.
[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]Fellow Chaser Kurt Busch took seventh. Martin Truex Jr. finished eighth, fading after a fender-clanging duel with Keselowski shortly after the race's final restart.
Jeff Gordon, who had already clinched a seat at the championship table with last weekend's win at Martinsville Speedway, finished ninth.
Joey Logano had the worst day of the remaining eight championship contenders, suffering a blown left-rear tire on Lap 10. The shredded rubber blasted away his fender and sent the Team Penske No. 22 Ford into a spin, ultimately forcing him to the garage for repairs.
Logano wound up with a 40th-place finish, 66 laps off the pace. His sizable deficit in the standings means he will need a victory in next Sunday's Eliminator Round finale at Phoenix to be among the championship quartet in the season-ending event Nov. 22 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
"Sometimes you just have to roll with the punches," Logano said. "We will be ready for Phoenix. This team is strong. We didn't take any wind out of our sails today and we showed how fast this thing was even after we crashed. I am very proud of our team."
[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]For Harvick, the latter tire issue pushed him back to 21st place, one lap down, but the race's ninth caution period worked in his favor, helping him back to contention. The defending Sprint Cup champ also dealt with a balky shifter that kept his Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevrolet jumping out of gear in the late stages. Harvick drove the final third of the race with one hand on the wheel and one on the shifter to combat the issue.
With Sprint Cup practice washed away Saturday and little rubber worked into the already abrasive surface, a handful of tire issues cropped up. Besides Logano and Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Larson, Trevor Bayne and Ryan Newman were among those bitten.
Kyle Busch, Harvick and Truex cling to the remained provisional berths in the championship race based on points. Edwards, Keselowski and Kurt Busch join Logano below the cut line.
Rookie Erik Jones, making just his second Sprint Cup start, finished 12th in place of the suspended Matt Kenseth in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota.
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S CHEVROLET SS – RACE WINNER
 |
| Johnson passes Keselowski for the lead |
| Getty Images for NASCAR |
HOW DID YOU DO IT? WAS THERE ANYTHING GOING ON IN THE BACK OF YOUR MIND THINKING THIS IS A CHASE GUY AND I'M NOT? 
"Maybe when the restart happened I thought about those guys. You get so caught up in the moment and racing with guys. I just like to race guys clean anyway. I kept working on him and working on him. I could see he was tight and his car wasn't ideal and then he moved up and had the high lane covered. He got real loose off (Turn) 2 and I had a big run off the top and I went for a a big slide job down in (Turns) 3 and 4, kind of like the Eldora stuff that I learned and got the win. Just so excited and happy for Lowe's, KOBALT, Chevrolet, Valvoline, Gatorade, the fans, want to thank Sprint for sponsoring the sport. Everybody back at Hendrick Motorsports for digging so deep and fighting hard. Nice to get this No. 48 back in Victory Lane."
TELL US ABOUT THE PASS ON BRAD KESELOWSKI WITH THREE TO GO: 
"I just kept pressure on him. I could see that he was really tight and that was the first I had seen him that vulnerable all day. I just kept the pressure on him, kept searching for line. He saw me coming on the top and protected it. I just kept trying to put pressure on him hoping for a mistake. He got real loose off of
Turn 2 and I had a big run down the backstretch and drove it in really far into Turn 3 hoping to hear clear. Once I did I knew I was home free."
WHAT DOES THIS DO FOR THIS TEAM AFTER BEING KNOCKED OUT OF THE CHASE EARLY?
"Those emotions were weeks ago now, so we have just been focused on winning races and help our teammates advance through the rounds. We got the No. 24 through last week and now it's time to go out here and not have to worry about teammates and just go for a win and we got it. Just very rewarding for the team, this No. 48 team worked all year to be in championship contention. We clearly don't have a shot at it (Jeff Gordon comes to Victory Lane to congratulate Jimmie). Just so happy for this team. It's tough to work so hard all year long and not have a shot at the championship. This is kind of a silver lining in that."
75 CAREER WINS ONE BEHIND DALE EARNHARDT. WHAT WILL THAT MEAN TO YOU WHEN YOU HAVE TIME TO LET THAT SINK IN? 
"Wow. That is all there is to it. I forgot about that. So happy to be where we are at. So honored, been so fortunate with great cars, great teammates and look forward to that day to tie such a stud."
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 BUDWEISER/JIMMY JOHN'S CHEVROLET SS – Finished 3rd:
"As you look at the things we've had. We've had really good race cars and that allows us to overcome things like today with two flat tires. Even with the shifter problem we were able to maintain what we had. But all in all, we just kept gouging away and everything worked out in the end."
WERE YOU WORRIED ABOUT GETTING THE BUNGEE ON AND ABOUT THE RESTART?
"I was more worried about it popping out of gear. It hadn't missed a gear or jammed a gear or anything like that. It shifted smooth all weekend. I was just going along like normal. One lap, all of a sudden, it just pops out of gear in the middle of the straightaway. So, I don't really know. That's happened to us several times, so we definitely need to figure that out."
WAS THERE DEBRIS ON THE TRACK?
"There was debris everywhere. The first caution, they just blew all of the debris down to the inside wall. It seemed like a lot of people were hitting the wall and there was a lot of stuff out there today. It was definitely interesting with all the tire problems."
WERE YOU AFRAID THERE WAS MORE DAMAGE TO THE CAR AFTER YOU SAW WHAT HAPPENED TO THE NO. 22 CAR?
"I never felt the tire blow apart. It was a real slow deflation as I felt the first one in the middle of the corner; I felt the second one in the middle of the corner too and we were able to get the car down. The only part I was disappointed in is I misplaced which tire it was both times, so what do I know?"
WERE YOU ABLE TO GET THE BUNGEE ON?
"No, I never found anything to hook it to. I don't trust those bungees anyway. I would rather just sit there and hold it and take my chances."
JIMMIE JOHNSON'S WIN HELPS YOU OUT WITH THE CHASE, DOESN'T IT?
"It definitely changed a lot in the last few laps. I don't know what happened between the No. 2 and the No. 78, but the No. 48 wound up beating him there in the end and getting a win and I'm sure the damage didn't do his car any good. So, all in all, everything changed a ton over the last 20 laps."
WHAT'S THIS CHASE BEEN LIKE?
"Hectic. Even Charlotte wasn't 100 percent smooth. The cars have been performing well. We've just had to overcome things week after week after week. I guess those are character-building moments as you go through those weekend, but we've managed to survive and advance and that's what we've got to do next week."
Results
| Pos. | # | Driver | Manufacturer | Start | Laps | Led | Status |
| 1 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 8 | 334 | 6 | Running |
| 2 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 1 | 334 | 312 | Running |
| 3 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | 2 | 334 | 11 | Running |
| 4 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 3 | 334 | 1 | Running |
| 5 | 19 | Carl Edwards | Toyota | 13 | 334 | 0 | Running |
| 6 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr | Chevrolet | 10 | 334 | 0 | Running |
| 7 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | 7 | 334 | 0 | Running |
| 8 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr | Chevrolet | 23 | 334 | 1 | Running |
| 9 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | 18 | 334 | 0 | Running |
| 10 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | 27 | 334 | 0 | Running |
| 11 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 26 | 334 | 0 | Running |
| 12 | 20 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 6 | 334 | 0 | Running |
| 13 | 27 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | 20 | 334 | 0 | Running |
| 14 | 33 | Brian Scott | Chevrolet | 21 | 334 | 0 | Running |
| 15 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | Toyota | 14 | 334 | 0 | Running |
| 16 | 10 | Danica Patrick | Chevrolet | 11 | 334 | 0 | Running |
| 17 | 47 | AJ Allmendinger | Chevrolet | 30 | 334 | 0 | Running |
| 18 | 43 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 24 | 334 | 0 | Running |
| 19 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 12 | 333 | 0 | Running |
| 20 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | 16 | 333 | 0 | Running |
| 21 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | Ford | 28 | 333 | 0 | Running |
| 22 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | 19 | 333 | 0 | Running |
| 23 | 55 | David Ragan | Toyota | 15 | 333 | 0 | Running |
| 24 | 9 | Sam Hornish Jr | Ford | 32 | 332 | 0 | Running |
| 25 | 40 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | 36 | 331 | 0 | Running |
| 26 | 13 | Casey Mears | Chevrolet | 17 | 330 | 0 | Running |
| 27 | 35 | Cole Whitt | Ford | 39 | 330 | 0 | Running |
| 28 | 51 | Justin Allgaier | Chevrolet | 43 | 330 | 0 | Running |
| 29 | 38 | David Gilliland | Ford | 41 | 329 | 1 | Running |
| 30 | 34 | Brett Moffitt | Ford | 35 | 329 | 0 | Running |
| 31 | 46 | Michael Annett | Chevrolet | 37 | 329 | 0 | Running |
| 32 | 23 | Jeb Burton | Toyota | 40 | 329 | 0 | Running |
| 33 | 26 | J.J. Yeley | Toyota | 34 | 329 | 1 | Running |
| 34 | 95 | Michael McDowell | Ford | 33 | 328 | 0 | Running |
| 35 | 83 | Matt DiBenedetto | Toyota | 38 | 328 | 1 | Running |
| 36 | 98 | Ryan Preece | Chevrolet | 42 | 326 | 0 | Running |
| 37 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 5 | 304 | 0 | Accident |
| 38 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 9 | 304 | 0 | Running |
| 39 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | 29 | 296 | 0 | Running |
| 40 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 4 | 268 | 0 | Running |
| 41 | 7 | Alex Bowman | Chevrolet | 31 | 236 | 0 | Engine |
| 42 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | 22 | 52 | 0 | Accident |
| 43 | 21 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 25 | 26 | 0 | Accident |