NSCS: Jimmie Johnson Scores Duck Commander 500 Victory at Texas Motor Speedway

Following a restart 21 laps to go, Jimmie Johnson would work his way to the front of the field and pass both Jamie McMurray and Kevin Harvick in the same corner to take the lead. He would then hold off Harvick’s late charge to win the Duck Commander 500 for his second victory of the season.

“Just a great racecar,” he said. “We’ve had an awesome start from the year, just the results haven’t showed it – great support from our sponsors and fans. The off-week was great for us as it gave us a week off to reboot and bring a good car to the track and take the win.”

The victory for Johnson was based on pure speed, but also the choice for four tires. With the caution flying at lap 309 for Cole Whitt getting into the wall, it flew strategy into the team’s laps. Four drivers chose to take two tires, while the rest of the drivers took four tires. Harvick led the four tire group off in fourth, followed by Joey Logano, Carl Edwards and then Johnson. Johnson quickly moved his way up through the field, moving into third behind McMurray and Harvick with 18 laps to go. Then when Harvick made the move on McMurray with 14 to go, Johnson went a groove lower and got by the pair to grab the lead.

For Harvick, he would try to wheel Johnson back in for the lead, but had his hands full with Dale Earnhardt Jr. Harvick bounced the wall off the wall twice trying to make up ground, but held on for second.

“Got behind there and Jimmie was really fast for those couple of laps and got behind us,” Harvick said. “Got into the wall just trying to hang on it trying to catch him. Just got to thank the guys for everything they did. It was great racing. It was a lot of fun.”

Earnhardt Jr. came back from an early loose wheel to finish third, which marked a solid turnaround following struggles at Martinsville two weeks ago. Looking back, Earnhardt says he wished he would’ve slid up in front of Harvick when he cleared him initially after the restart.

“We weren’t quick as the 4 and the 48, but Greg (Ives) and the guys worked on the car and got it better,” he said. “It’s great to get a good run after struggling the past couple of weeks. Me and Greg are just getting started here. We get this thing figured out and we’ll be pretty tough.”

Joey Logano would finish fourth, but his night wasn’t without incident. He had the best shot of the four tire group to go challenge for the win, however Harvick was able to get a nose underneath him shortly after the restart. Logano then went down to block, but would catch Harvick’s bumper, sending him up the track. Logano then fell back to eighth spot.

“That’s racing. It’s nothing much that he did,” Logano said. “I felt like I had to maintain that position – I felt if I lost that position, I would’ve lost my shot. Just both of us racing for the win. Just didn’t work out how we wanted. We worked hard on getting the car faster as the night went, but just need more speed.”

Brad Keselowski rounded out the top-five, saying that they had a good car – but not as quick as the top three Chevrolets.

“We have some work to do to keep up with them,” he added. “We’re proud of the effort in having both Penske cars in the top-five, but we have to find some more speed.”

McMurray’s two tire gamble paid off for sixth, followed by Jeff Gordon. Gordon also took the gamble, having ran just outside the top 10 throughout the whole night.

“We struggled all weekend for the balance and obviously our teammates had it as they were all fast,” he said. “We have to figure out this package out. We took the gamble, getting two tires, and were able to get a good finish.”

Kasey Kahne finished eighth to put all four Hendrick Motorsports cars in the top-eight, followed by Martin Truex Jr. and Carl Edwards. For Edwards, this marks his first top-10 of the season with Joe Gibbs Racing.

Paul Menard had a top-10 run going, but found himself in the garage early in the event due to a broken waterline. Many other drivers ran into problems – loose wheels to be exact. The result would be multiple trips back to pit road for vibrations, with the majority able to make up the ground. Clint Bowyer was one of the drivers that unfortunately didn’t make it back up, though, having struggled all weekend with the handling for his car.