Johnson wins third straight, takes points lead

The victory was Johnson’s ninth of the season, first at Texas and 32nd of his “Cup” career.

Fort Worth, TX  - Jimmie Johnson refused to settle for second place and on the fourth try he got past Matt Kenseth to win Sunday’s Dickies 500 Nextel Cup race, the eighth of 10 events which make up the “Chase for the Nextel Cup.” The No.48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet crossed the finish line 0.944 seconds ahead of Kenseth’s No.17 Ford.

The victory was Johnson’s ninth of the season, first at Texas and 32nd of his “Cup” career. He will take a 30-point lead over Gordon, who finished seventh, into the final two races.

“I can’t thank these guys enough,” said Johnson. “I’m just tickled to death, these guys have been working so hard in the No.24 and No.48 shops. They give us this opportunity (to win) week in and week out.”

Pole winner Martin Truex Jr. brought the 43-car field to the green flag for 334 scheduled laps of high-speed racing. He led the first six laps before Juan Pablo Montoya charged past him for the lead. Jeff Gordon, meanwhile, who started on the outside front row, faded back to sixth.

Gordon’s crew chief Steve Letarte, thinking it might be a while before they could adjust the car to be really competitive, elected to take just two right side tires for track position. The strategy worked as Gordon got off pit lane first and the team collected five important bonus points for leading a lap.

Truex Jr., who took on four fresh tires, waited just a couple of laps before slipping past the four-time series champion to retake the lead. Another caution flag and Gordon didn’t come in for tires, so he inherited the lead from Truex Jr. again.

With the oldest tires on the track, it wasn’t long before cars began to pass Gordon. On lap 46 teammate Kyle Busch was first past his teammate. Six laps later Kevin Harvick flashed past Gordon for second place.

Busch was flying and built the gap between himself and Harvick to four seconds after 65 laps. But Dale Earnhardt Jr. started to put it together and he charged past Gordon and Harvick into second place chopping Busch’s lead to two and-a-half seconds.

Gordon, his fuel running short, had to pit under green and went down a lap to the leaders in 38th place. Now he had to hope that no caution flags came out before everyone needed to make a stop for fuel. Gordon survived the gamble as everyone pitted before lap 95 and he was back on the lead lap and in fourth place.

Busch’s lead was still about three seconds over “Junior” and six over Harvick and Gordon. On lap 105, Gordon was passed by Johnson as the two continued their “race-within-the-race” for the Nextel Cup title.

A J.J. Yeley spin on lap 118 brought out the caution flag and sent all the leaders down pit lane and back on the same pit strategy, at least for now. Off pit lane it was still Busch with Johnson in seventh and Gordon in ninth.

More caution flags slowed the action through the middle portion of the race, but the same cast of characters were at or near the front - Busch, Earnhardt Jr. and Truex Jr.

At the mid-point of the race, Busch was leading Ryan Newman by 3.370 seconds and had led 100 of 167 laps. Johnson was eighth, Bowyer 12th and Gordon 13th.

Finally the drivers got some green flag laps under their belt. Jeff Burton’s No.31 RCR Chevrolet was starting to come in and he was turning the fastest laps on the track. He charged into third place behind Busch and Denny Hamlin on lap 180.

Hamlin began to chop into Busch’s big lead and by lap 209 he was right on his rear bumper. On the next lap he used a low line to get around Busch who was running on the high side all day.

Moments later A.J. Allmendinger crashed to bring out the caution flag. Hamlin’s crew kept in first after the pit stop, but the No.17 Ford team got Kenseth out in second place. That was as high as Kenseth had been all day. Busch was third andJohnson was in fourth place while Gordon’s crew was still trying to make his car better, pulling out a spring rubber, and the longer stop had him in 11th place.

On the first green flag lap, lap 218, Kenseth charged past Hamlin for the lead. The in the middle of the pack, in turn two, a huge amount of smoke and spinning cars. It appeared as if Mears got loose and spun himself and Tony Stewart. Behind them cars scattered everywhere to avoid them, but most caught some piece of the accident. The three points leaders, Gordon, Johnson and Bowyer all escaped damage.

One hundred laps to go and Hamlin held the lead with Kenseth and Johnson just behind. Bowyer was hanging tough in sixth, but Gordon had improved to seventh.

After a 10th caution flag, for a Greg Biffle spin, the race went back to green flag racing on lap 237.

Lap 248 and Bowyer pulled his No.07 Chevy unexpectedly down pit lane with a tire going down. It would leave him well down the charts, in 19 place and almost out of the championship. They changes the wheel, but then were forced to pit a second time when it didn’t fix the problem. Now they were two laps down, in 27th place and out of it.

Meanwhile, Hamlin and Kenseth built a two-second margin between themselves and Johnson in third place. The two leaders were driving completely different lines - Hamlin up high and Kenseth at the bottom.

Hamlin was trying as hard as he could to fight Kenseth off and on lap 273 he clipped Kenseth and slid into the wall. But Kenseth also damaged the left-rear tire.

Caution flag stops and the No.48 Chevrolet team did the job getting Johnson the lead with 60 laps to go. Busch was second and Gordon was back in 13th. The great pit stop also meant that Johnson collected the five point bonus for leading a lap. Gordon came back just before the green and topped off his tank.

Could Gordon make it the rest of the way?

On the restart, Kyle Busch and the lapped car of Bowyer both squeezed past Johnson in turn one. Johnson couldn’t afford to rub fenders with either driver so backed off and let them pass.

Busch built the lead to one second with 50 laps to go. Lap 287 and Gordon cracked the top-10. Forty laps to go and Busch’s lead was more than two seconds as Johnson was trying to conserve fuel.

Then on lap 297 Biffle slammed the wall, brought out the caution flag, and threw all fuel concerns out the window.

Who would pit? How many tires would they take?

Gordon and Johnson took four tires each, but Newman took only two and grabbed the lead. Kenseth and Jamie McMurray came out second and third, respectively.

The restart came with 29 laps to go and Kenseth immediately got alongside Newman and going into turn three took the lead. By lap 310 the lead was one second, but Johnson was on the move with better tires than anyone in front of him.

Two laps later, Johnson was in second place and looking for the race leader. He was 1.2 seconds back and still 21 laps to go. He was more than one mile- per-hour faster than Kenseth and closing fast.

Meanwhile, Gordon was up to eighth.

Sixteen laps to go and Johnson caught Kenseth. But passing him would not be easy. Kenseth was using the high line and Johnson the low line. Kenseth fought him off twice and Johnson fell back about five lengths.

Eight laps to go and Johnson tried again. They were side-by-side with seven to go. They were still side-by-side with five to go, but Kenseth fish-tailed almost hitting the wall and Johnson. But he never slowed and fought Johnson off again.

“I’m glad I didn’t wreck and I’m really glad I didn’t wreck Jimmie,” said Kenseth.

Three laps to go and they were side-by-side one more time. This time he pushed the issue and the No.48 edged into the lead with two laps to go. Johnson got his Chevy in front of Kenseth and that was all she wrote. He ended up winning by almost one second.

“I was just doing everything I could to hold him off,” said Kenseth.

“I just flat out got beat today,” said Gordon. “We just weren’t very good right from the start.”

“I knew it was going to be a battle to the end,” said Johnson. “I expected a good fight (from Kenseth), but I didn’t expect his tires to last that long.”

The next race in the series is scheduled for Sunday, November 11th at the Phoenix International Raceway.

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