Jimmie Johnson Wins at Texas

Originally written for CLNS Radio.

Jimmie Johnson won the AAA Texas 500 from Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday.

Johnson raced hard with Brad Keselowski over the final 20 laps, and finally took the lead with six laps to go.  Johnson said the handling of his car came in at the right time.

Photo courtesy Matt Sullivan/Getty Images

“I could see [Keselowski] was tight and his car wasn’t ideal and then he moved up and had the high lane covered,” Johnson said.  “I just kept working on him and working on him…and he got real loose off of [Turn] 2 and I had a big run off the top.”

Keselowski led 312 laps on Sunday, the most of any driver.  Keselowski’s runner-up finish leaves him 22 points behind the final cutoff spot for the championship finale at Homestead heading into Phoenix next weekend.  Keselowski said his team will have to win next weekend at Phoenix.

“Still a lot to be proud of,” Keselowski said.  “My team did a hell of a job…we’ll have a great shot of winning next week as well.”

Tire troubles almost ruined Kevin Harvick’s day as he looked to make the championship round.  Harvick had numerous tires go down throughout the race, but he was able to bounce back to finish third and put himself in good position to make the finale at Homestead.

Joey Logano, another Chase driver, came into Texas needing a victory to make the championship finale.  Logano cut down a tire early on in the race, and that ruined his team’s chances to pick up the victory.  Unlike Harvick, Logano was unable to bounce back from the early adversity and finished 40th, putting himself in a large hole heading into Phoenix where he must win to advance.

Unofficial results:

1. Jimmie Johnson

2. Brad Keselowski

3. Kevin Harvick

4. Kyle Busch

5. Carl Edwards

6. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

7. Kurt Busch

8. Martin Truex Jr.

9. Jeff Gordon

10. Jamie McMurray

11. Austin Dillon

12. Erik Jones

13. Paul Menard

14. Brian Scott

15. Clint Bowyer

16. Danica Patrick

17. AJ Allmendinger

18. Aric Almirola

19. Greg Biffle

20. Kasey Kahne

21. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

22. Ryan Newman

23. David Ragan

24. Sam Hornish Jr.

25. Landon Cassill

26. Casey Mears

27. Cole Whitt

28. Justin Allgaier

29. David Gilliland

30. Brett Moffitt

31. Michael Annett

32. Jeb Burton

33. J.J. Yeley

34. Michael McDowell

35. Matt DiBenedetto

36. Ryan Preece

37. Kyle Larson

38. Denny Hamlin

39. Trevor Bayne

40. Joey Logano

41. Alex Bowman

42. Tony Stewart

43. Ryan Blaney

Photo courtesy Tim Bradbury/Getty Images