NSCS: Jimmie Johnson wins AAA Texas 500 as a fight breaks out

He may not be in the Chase, but winning is something that he still knows how to do.

Jimmie Johnson would hold off a late race charge from Kevin Harvick to score the victory in the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. It marks his fourth victory of the season, and the 70th victory of his career.

“Just a testament to the team and the fact that we’ll never give up,” Johnson commented. “We’ll always keep fighting, doing what we can to make our cars better. I’m so happy to win this race and thank all the people that work in those Lowes stores everyday. To come out here and redeem ourselves with a victory, it feels really good.”

After a restart with nine laps to go, Johnson battled with his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon for the lead. Gordon would get the advantage off of turn two, and looked to be setting sail to score a victory and automatically advance himself into the final round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup. However, everything would change with four laps to go as the caution would fly when Clint Bowyer would get into the fronstretch wall.

The race would go beyond it’s extended distance, bringing forth a green-white-checkered with Gordon leading ahead of Johnson, Jamie McMurray and Kyle Busch. Gordon would make the choice to go on the outside for the restart, based on how well it worked for him the previous time.  However, it wouldn’t go according to plan as Johnson would get the advantage, taking the lead as the field headed into turn one. Gordon would be stuck on the outside, finding himself alongside Kevin Harvick. Brad Keselowski would then try to stick his nose between Gordon and Harvick, resulting in contact between Gordon and Keselowski. The result would be a flat tire for Gordon, causing him to drop through the field and spin around to bring out the caution. Gordon expressed his displeasure post-incident, stating, “The f***ing 2 car ran into us.” over the radio. Meanwhile, Keselowski was told by his spotter that Gordon came down into him, in which Keselowski replied, “We were on new tires – got a better run than he did.”

On the second attempt a green-white-checkered, Johnson was able to pull ahead with the advantage, leading the final two laps en route to scoring the victory.

Kevin Harvick would get by Keselowski after a small touch of contact between the pair to score a second place finish, marking his 18th top-10 finish of the year. Harvick now sits eighth in points, 18 points behind points leader Joey Logano, six points outside of making the cut for the final round of the Chase at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

“There was nothing that I could do,” Harvick commented. “There was nothing that I could do to get by the 48. Put ourselves in position, and tried to do whatever we could.”

Keselowski would cross the finish line in third as he now sits seventh in points, 17 points out of the lead, five points out of the Chase. Though Keselowski would have more drama on his hands, as he would be paid a post-race visit by Gordon. Gordon would get out of his car and walk over to Keselowski, confronting him as a pair of crew members held Gordon back. Keselowski would go to leave the main circle, when he was pushed back into the center by Harvick. Harvick commented post-race that he pushed Keselowski back in because “he should fight his own fight”. Gordon would get a hold of Keselowski’s collar and from that point on, the fight would be on among the drivers and teams.

“We were just racing for the win, racing hard,” Keselowski commented afterwards. “He left the hole and everything you watch in racing, you go for the hole. It closed up, we made contact and I don’t want to ruin anyone’s day.”

“We were sitting there on a little older tires. Spun the tires a little bit, got a decent start – got to the outside of 48 and then got slammed into by the 2,” Gordon said after finishing 29th. “He’s just a dipshit. The way he races – I don’t know how he’s won a championship. That’s why everybody is fighting him. That was a huge race for us.”

For Keselowski, it marks his second fight in the past three weeks as he got into a disagreement with both Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth at Charlotte Motor Speedway earlier in the Chase.

“He’s get himself into these positions, and he will face the consequences,” Gordon added. “I will race him the way that he races me…..To him, it’s just a racing incident. To me, that was uncalled for. You don’t do that when you’re racing for a championship. I will get him back.”

“It’s being played rough,” Harvick said of the Chase so far. “It means that we’re all doing whatever we can do and try to get the best for our team.”

As a result of the events, Gordon now sits fourth in points, 12 behind points leader Logano, one point ahead of the cut-off.

Non-Chase contenders Kyle Busch and Jamie McMurray rounded out the top-five. Busch had to fight back to a fourth place finish following multiple bounces off of the wall, and a flat tire at lap 206. Martinsville race winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished sixth, followed by Kyle Larson, Kurt Busch, Chase contender Carl Edwards and Chase contender Denny Hamlin. Edwards now sits sixth in points, 13 behind Logano, one point out of the Chase. Hamlin currently sits tied for the points lead with Logano, 13 points to the good.

Joey Logano fought back to finish 12th after suffering a flat tire after contact with Marcos Ambrose and a spin with 31 laps to go. Logano found himself back in the field following a 20-second pit stop while running in the top 10 after the lugnuts didn’t stay glued on the wheels to be secured to the car due to the glue not setting yet. He is now 13 points to the good in making the next round. Ryan Newman drifted back throughout the lather part of the event to finish 15th, and currently finds himself sitting third in points, 11 points to the good.

With everybody on edge, next weekend’s race at Phoenix International Raceway will certainly feature drama with the Chase for the Championship contenders cut in half as four drivers will go to Homestead-Miami Speedway with a shot at the title, while four drivers will see their championship hopes disappear.