Jimmie Johnson continued his mastery of Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, winning his 3rd straight race and 5th in his last 7 starts on the Fort Worth oval. In the process, Johnson denied Brad Keselowski automatic advancement into the next round of the post-season Chase.
Keselowski started from the pole and led 312 of the 334 laps run. A win would have put him into The Championship Four with Jeff Gordon at the season-ending Ford EcoBoost 400 on November 22nd. Instead, Keselowski had to settle for 2nd place and is now 19 points below the 4th place cutoff with one event remaining in the Eliminator Round – next weekend at Phoenix International Raceway.
Johnson, who was eliminated from championship contention last month at Dover, made his winning pass Sunday 4 laps from the finish with the #48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet beating the 2012 champion to the checkered flag by one second. Kevin Harvick finished 3rd with Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards completing the top five.
Title contenders filled 7 of the top 9 spots in the final running order with Kurt Busch 7th, Martin Truex Jr. 8th, and Gordon 9th
Joey Logano’s rotten post-season luck continued. He was wrecked by Matt Kenseth while leading late in last weekend’s race at Martinsville Speedway and finished 37th. Sunday, Logano cut a left-rear tire early in the race which caused major damage to the #22 Team Penske Ford. Repairs were made and Logano ran to the finish, though he was 66 laps down to Johnson and was credited with 40th place. He’s now 63 points outside the top 4 and facing a must-win situation at Phoenix to keep his title hopes alive.
– story by John Singler
www.mrn.com
Concord, NC
The 8 Challengers after Chase race #8 (unofficial)
| Driver (wins) | Points | Behind Leader | +/- Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Jeff Gordon (1) | 4082 | 0 | |
| 2. Kyle Busch (4) | 4080 | -2 | 0 |
| 3. Kevin Harvick (3) | 4079 | -3 | +1 |
| 4. Martin Truex Jr (1) | 4076 | -6 | -1 |
| 5. Carl Edwards (2) | 4069 | -13 | 0 |
| 6. Brad Keselowski (1) | 4057 | -25 | 0 |
| 7. Kurt Busch (2) | 4048 | -34 | 0 |
| 8. Joey Logano (6) | 4013 | -69 | 0 |
| – Eliminated from The Chase at the end of the Contender Round – | |||
| Ryan Newman (0) | |||
| Denny Hamlin (2) | |||
| Dale Earnhardt Jr (2) | |||
| Matt Kenseth (5) | |||
| – Eliminated from The Chase at the end of the Challenger Round – | |||
| Jamie McMurray (0) | |||
| Jimmie Johnson (4) | |||
| Paul Menard (0) | |||
| Clint Bowyer (0) | |||
