Johnson Dominates Texas

Jimmie Johnson took the points lead after Martinsville, and he came to Texas hoping to stay ahead of Brad Keselowski in the standings.  He was able to get the pole, and lead the most laps en route to a maximum-points-day win.  

Johnson takes the checkered flag (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Jimmie Johnson, for the second week in a row, led the field to the green flag after winning the pole.  Johnson was able to get ahead of Greg Biffle heading into Turn 1 to take the lead.  Kyle Busch was able to get around Biffle for second, but by lap 12, he was already 1.1 seconds behind Johnson.  Brad Keselowski started eighth, and he was able to move up to sixth place on lap 26.  On lap 37, Bobby Labonte pulled off the track to make his first stop of the day.  This set off the first round of green flag pit stops, and Mark Martin pitted on lap 42.  When Kyle Busch tried to make his stop, Matt Kenseth pulled out of his stall, causing Busch to slide through his pit stall.  Brad Keselowski pitted on lap 47, and Johnson made his stop on lap 48.  When the stops had cycled around, Johnson was scored in second behind leader Greg Biffle, but he was able to quickly regain the lead.  Busch, who pitted from second place, ended up tenth after sliding through his stalls. 

On lap 87, with Johnson's lead up to over four seconds, Martin came in to make another green flag pit stop.  Keselowski came in on lap 93, and he made it off pit road without any problems.  Johnson gave up the lead on lap 94 to make his green flag pit stop.  Johnson cycled around as the leader when the stops were finished.  On lap 96, Juan Pablo Montoya scraped the outside wall, but the race was able to continue green. 

The 48 crew goes to work on pit road (Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)

The first caution of the day came out on lap 99 for debris, most likely due to Montoya's scrape of the wall.  The field came down to pit under caution, and Keselowski was able to get out first when his crew decided to take two tires while Johnson took four.  Ryan Newman chose not to stop under the caution, and he was the leader when the race restarted on lap 105.  Newman was able to clear Keselowski going into Turn 1 to take the lead.  Keselowski stayed in Newman's tire tracks, and he was able to get the lead heading into Turn 3 on lap 106.  Keselowski was able to get that all-important bonus point for leading a lap. 

The caution came out on lap 109 when AJ Allmendinger spun through the grass, ripping the front end off the car.  Under the caution, most of the cars behind Mark Martin, who was running in tenth, made pit stops.  The race restarted on lap 119, and Johnson was getting help from Bowyer heading into Turn 1, but the caution came out before the field could get out of Turn 2.  Labonte's car started to billow smoke after he made contact with Trevor Bayne when Bayne spun his tires.  Montoya also got a lot of damage when he caught the grass trying to avoid the accident.

Keselowski leads Johnson to the green flag (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

Johnson was scored as the leader when the caution came out, so he led the field to the green flag on lap 129.  Johnson was able to get ahead of Keselowski coming out of Turn 2.  In just ten laps, with help from the clean air, Johnson was able to pull out to a whole second ahead of Keselowski.  Clint Bowyer pitted on lap 162 because it felt like he had a flat tire.  Just one lap later, his teammate Martin Truex Jr. pitted because he also thought he had a flat tire.  That began the next round of green flag pit stops, a little bit earlier than most expected.  Keselowski hit pit road on lap 166 for four tires and fuel.  Johnson gave up the lead on lap 167 to make his pit stop. 

When the stops had cycled around, Johnson was once again the leader, but Keselowski was now right behind the 48.  Johnson led until the caution came out on lap 186 for debris in Turn 1.  The leaders made pit stops under the caution, and Johnson beat Busch and Keselowski off pit road.  The race restarted on lap 191, and Busch was able to slide up in front of Johnson coming off Turn 2.  Keselowski was also able to get around Johnson for second heading into Turn 3. 

Busch was able to pull away from Keselowski for a little while, but he was slowly able to reel Busch back in.  Busch was the leader when another caution came out for debris on lap 223.  The leaders pitted under the caution, and Busch was able to beat Johnson and Keselowski back off the pit lane. 

Johnson leads Keselowski through a corner (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

The race restarted on lap 228, and Keselowski quickly pushed Busch ahead of Johnson heading into Turn 1.  Johnson fought back on the high side of Keselowski, but he was able to get ahead of Johnson going into Turn 3.  On lap 232, Busch radioed in to his crew that he, while leading, was experiencing a vibration under the hood.  Keselowski started to put the pressure on Busch for the lead, and he finally was able to complete the pass for the lead out of Turn 4 on lap 235.  On lap 244, Jeff Gordon was able to get past his teammate Jimmie Johnson third, and then passed Busch on lap 251 for second.

With 64 laps to go, Gordon slowed when he felt a tire going down.  He came in to make a pit stop, and his right front tire was indeed going flat, and it relegated him to 25th.  Gordon's misfortune helped put Johnson back into second place.  The caution came out on lap 275 for debris.  The field came down to make what would most likely be their final pit stops, and Busch beat Johnson off pit road.  Keselowski slid through his pit stall, and dropped all the way to ninth. 

The race restarted on lap 280, and Busch was able to pull ahead of Johnson heading into Turn 1.  Johnson started to catch Busch, but he wasn't able to clear him.  On lap 311, Marcos Ambrose pounded the outside wall when he blew a right side tire, bringing out the caution and changing the complexion of the rest of the race.  The leaders came in to make their final pit stops, and Keselowski only took two tires and won the race off pit road. 

Keselowski led Busch and Johnson to the restart on lap 315.  Busch was able to get to the high side to get ahead of Keselowski, but he cleared Busch coming out of Turn 4 to take the lead.  The caution came out with 14 laps to go when Kasey Kahne blew a right front tire and hit the outside wall.  Keselowski led the field to the green flag, but Johnson was able to stay with him through Turns 1 and 2.  Johnson was able to get around Keselowski for the lead, but Keselowski was able to fight back and take the lead back.  Johnson then had to hold off Busch for second place.

Martin spins through the trioval (Jerry Markland/Getty Images)

Just when Keselowski thought he was good to go, Mark Martin wrecked coming through the trioval.  The race was pushed to a green-white-checkered, and Keselowski led Johnson to the green flag.  Johnson was able to clear Keselowski coming out of Turn 2, and he never looked back.  Johnson was able to win the race, and extend his lead over Keselowski for the championship. 

Keselowski was able to win a hard-fought battle with Kyle Busch for second coming to the checkered flag.  Matt Kenseth was able to finish fourth, and Tony Stewart was fifth.  Clint Bowyer finished sixth, and was followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. in seventh.  Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, and Greg Biffle rounded out the Top 10.  Martin Truex Jr. finished 13th, and Jeff Gordon finished 14th.  Denny Hamlin had a dismal and uneventful day, and finished 20th.  Danica Patrick had a quiet day, and finished 24th.  Kasey Kahne finished 25th.  Mark Martin finished 29th after wrecking just laps from the finish. 

Jimmie Johnson was able to gain five points on Brad Keselowski, and now leads the driver of the Blue Deuce by seven points.  Also, Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are now mathematically eliminated from the Chase.  Here are the unofficial points, courtesy NASCAR.com:

Jimmie Johnson showed why he and his team won five straight championships.  They were strong early in the race, but then they couldn't find the lead once the track went through a transition period.  But when the race was on the line, Johnson was able to power around Keselowski to win yet another Chase race.  Next week, Johnson will once again be strong at Phoenix International Raceway.  The AdvoCare 500 can be seen next Sunday at 2 p.m., only on ESPN.

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images