The same name has been in victory lane for the last three fall races at Texas Motor Speedway.
Jimmie Johnson held off the charges of Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick to pick up his fourth career win at the 1.5 mile track. The six-time champ stayed out on a lap 321 caution and became the second non-Chaser to win in as many weeks.
His Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jeff Gordon, took the lead after the restart with nine laps to go and appeared to be on the way to victory, until Clint Bowyer’s No. 15 Toyota smacked the wall, setting up the first attempt at a green-white-checkered finish. Johnson went three-wide with the No. 24 car and Keselowski and when they cleared turn 2, the No. 48 was back out in front.
“We wanted to close out the year by having fun, and winning races helps you do that,” Johnson said. “I have to give a lot of credit to our test session in Homestead earlier this week. We were able to bring a lot of that (test) here and get the car off the truck and was right away, quick.”
The defending Sprint Cup champ led 191 laps on the day and notched his 70th career win, now only siting six victories behind the late Dale Earnhardt.
“To win 70 Cup races is just mind-blowing to me,” Johnson said. “Very, very proud of hitting that mark tonight and very proud to have won all my races at one race team, one sponsor.”
Johnson also supported approximately 260,000 Lowe’s employees by wheeling the No. 48 Lowe’s Red Vest Chevrolet to a Texas-sized victory. To his elation, the same couldn’t be said for Gordon.
The four-time Cup champ took the outside lane on the first green-white-checkered and Johnson pulled even with the No. 24 car. Keselowski tried to thread the needle through the middle, but there was no room for him to go. The 2012 Cup champ made contact with Gordon, cutting the left-rear tire on the No. 24. In turn 3, Gordon’s car went around and relegated him to a 29th place-finish.
The fireworks weren’t over yet. Gordon came over to talk to Keselowski post-race and once Harvick gave Keselowski a shove, it was on. A full-out brawl erupted between the No. 2 and No. 24 teams and leaving both drivers fired up going into the last race of the the Eliminator round at Phoenix next weekend.
“I’m going to race him the same way he races me,” Gordon said of Keselowski. That’s why everybody’s fighting him and running him down. Emotions are high. That kind of stuff is just uncalled for and I’m not going to stand for it.
Gordon now sits fourth in points and one marker ahead of fifth-place Matt Kenseth. At least three drivers will go into Homestead on points, but Phoenix is still up for grabs.
Keselowski took four tires on the lap 321 caution and stormed his way back through the field, along with the No. 4 of Kevin Harvick. Both drivers suffered misfortunes at Martinsville, with Keselowski having transmission troubles and Harvick being spun out when Kenseth wheel-hopped his No. 20 machine. Keselowski pulled even with Johnson on the final green-white-checkered, until Harvick took the nose off the No. 2 car and then battle for second.
Tensions were high after the race and Keselowski appeared to have blood on his face, as well as Gordon, after the post-race scuffle. For the driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford, it was his second post-race brawl in four weeks after getting into it with Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth. Keselowski took home third and unofficially is five points behind Gordon for the final spot to challenge for another championship at Homestead.
“We’re just racing for the win,” Keselowski said. “Racing hard and he (Gordon) left a hole and everything you watch in racing, you leave a hole, you’re supposed to go for it. I wanted to win the race and that was our opportunity.”
After an eventful night at Texas, Keselowski’s Penske Racing teammmate, Joey Logano, has taken over the points lead. Having the same number of points as Denny Hamlin, Logano’s five wins breaks the tie compared to Hamlin’s one. With Gordon’s poor finish, the battle for fourth has tighten and now five drivers are separated by six points for the final spot.
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