Jimmie Johnson's Win at Texas Shows Why Hendrick Motorsports Still Rules NASCAR

Two weeks ago after the Chase elimination race at Talladega Superspeedway, the question on everyone's mind was: What's wrong with Hendrick Motorsports? After all, of its four Sprint Cup drivers, only Jeff Gordon made it to the final eight.

Well, two weeks later, we have our answer: absolutely nothing. 

Last week, Dale Earnhardt Jr. played the role of Chase spoiler by winning at Martinsville Speedway. This week at the Texas Motor Speedway, Jimmie Johnson avoided the drama and made his way to Victory Lane.

Johnson's victory on Sunday was his fourth of the season and his first since June. "Just a testament to this team and the fact that they never give up," Johnson said on ESPN after the race. "We're not in the Chase, we're not where we want to be fighting for a championship, but a great day."

Their timing might be a bit off this season, but the Hendrick Motorsports drivers are just as dangerous as ever. 

In fact, all of the Hendrick drivers raced well on Sunday, even if the final results don't show that. Junior followed up his win last week with a sixth-place finish at Texas. Kasey Kahne, who missed the cutoff for the top eight by just three points at Talladega, finished 38th after a crash.

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Gordon, who was first in Chase points heading into the day after a runner-up finish at Martinsville, was in contention for the win before a run-in with Brad Keselowski took out his tire with just a few laps to go. That led to a brawl between Gordon, Keselowski and their teams after the race that got rather ugly.

After the race, Gordon showed support for his teammate, saying on ESPN, "I'm proud of Jimmie Johnson for winning that race and not letting that you-know-what win."

The recent Hendrick success has been a big turnaround from two weeks ago, when it looked like the only Hendrick driver with anything left in the tank was Gordon. Here's what Jay Busbee of Yahoo Sports wrote after Talladega: 

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What now? Gordon will obviously get all of the attention from the Hendrick brain trust; his results are the only ones that truly matter now. And, if needed, his teammates can help him without concern for their own finishes. 

After the race, Earnhardt was surrounded by media, his back against his damaged 88. He answered question after question, but it was clear his heart wasn't anywhere near in it. After one particularly booming question about What It All Means, Junior's voice quavered a touch, like he'd finally had enough.

"

That's the thing about the great champions, though—they've never had enough. Junior and Johnson are prime examples of that.

While it's tempting to get swept away by the post-race drama in Texas, it's important not to let it overshadow how impressive Johnson's performance on the track was. After all, there was little to suggest that this was coming; it had been 18 weeks since his victory, and he hadn't finished better than 17th in his last four races.

Considering Johnson is a six-time points champion, when he struggles even a couple of weeks in a row, questions are raised. With his recent struggles, there were persistent rumors and reports that his partnership with his longtime crew chief, Chad Knaus, was coming to an end.

After this win, both Johnson and Knaus squashed their rumors. Johnson led for 191 of the 341 laps, and the team was pretty much perfect on pit road all day long.

This victory showed that the 48 team is as motivated as ever. Johnson said on ESPN that the team tested the car at Homestead-Miami Speedway earlier this week—the track where he was supposed to be competing for a championship in two weeks—and finally figured out the problems that had been holding it back in the latter part of the season. 

That persistence paid off immediately at Texas, which is bad news for the rest of the field heading into 2015.

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With the two races in the Eliminator Round won by non-Chase Hendrick drivers, that means nobody has automatically advanced into the final round of the Chase yet. At least three of the four spots will be decided on points alone, and if another non-Chase driver wins in Phoenix International Raceway next week, all four spots will be points-based.

Currently, Joey Logano leads the standings, followed by Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman and Gordon. Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Keselowski and Kevin Harvick round out the eight in contention.

But as we've seen over the past couple of weeks, everyone is a factor come race day— particularly the Hendrick Motorsports drivers.