NASCAR at Texas 2015: Winners and Losers from the AAA Texas 500
Prior to the running of the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, NBC’s Krista Voda said:
"Texas Motor Speedway is the same size as other tracks, but it does not race like them. Speeds are lightning fast. Nicknamed, ‘No Limits, Texas’— anything goes here, and usually does. This is the place where, over the last few years, fists have flown and faces have been bloodied. What is going to happen behind us today?
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The drinking word/phrase of the day was left-rear tires. Several drivers—including the once-formidable Joey Logano—fell victim to that particular tire. That would prove to be a trend throughout the race early, middle and late.
This race came down to timing. Brad Keselowski led for 312 of the 334 laps, but he couldn’t lead the final few as he relented the race to Jimmie Johnson, a non-Chaser, who rolled past like a Texas tumbleweed for his fifth win of the season.
This is it. Let’s get on with winners and losers from Texas.
Loser: Left-Rear Tires
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A lack of practice and a lack of rubber on the track killed the chances of high-performing drivers at Texas.
Logano was running fourth when his left rear kicked out. Kevin Harvick sat in second when his left rear went flat and Kyle Larson was also second when the same tire blew out. Dale Earnhardt Jr., though he didn’t lose a left-rear tire, also blew one out while running fifth. Even Ryan Newman blew a left-rear tire.
The sentiment among the drivers was most certainly of the WTF variety.
“It could be a number of diff things,” Greg Stucker, a Goodyear spokesman, said during the NBC broadcast. “Joey’s was a left rear. Either they had a rub, or were maybe aggressive on air pressure. That’s the price you play for not having practice. Kevin had a puncture.”
The tire issues receded as the rubber laid down on the track and allowed for a truer racing product. But those early issues certainly cost Logano his chance at winning, while others rebounded just fine.
Winner: The Other Wunderkind
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With all the talk of Chase Elliott making his big debut in 2015 taking over the retiring Jeff Gordon, the equally gifted Erik Jones doesn’t get quite as much ink.
Perhaps now that will change.
Jones, subbing for the suspended Matt Kenseth, rode in the top 10 much of the day and ultimately finished a 500-mile Sprint Cup race in 12th place.
“He won a truck race,” NASCAR analyst Kyle Petty said during the NBC broadcast. “He was fourth in the Xfinity race, ran 12th in a Cup race. I know we talk about Kyle Busch and sweeping weekends, but that’s impressive from that kid.”
Going forward, it will be interesting to watch his development as a driver. With Elliott coming up and Kyle Larson and Austin Dillon still developing, the future of the sport looks competitive and promising.
Loser: Martin Truex's Late Fade
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Martin Truex Jr. was right…there, man, like, right there. On the final restart, Truex kept pace with the dominant Keselowski and even put the nose of the No. 78 car in front of Kez.
Then the car itself succumbed to the pressure of this tough, Texas track.
“It was good hard racing,” Truex said during the NBC broadcast. “We ran a whole lap side by side and then my wheel started shaking. I got tight and couldn’t hang with him anymore. All in all we dodged a bullet and we head to Phoenix.”
Said bullet was finishing in eighth place despite losing his power steering and that right-front wheel shake, but what kept him going, what kept him grinding on, was thoughts of Miami.
“Thinking about Homestead, man, just digging deep. I was thinking of my guys for their effort today,” he said.
Despite slipping down from second to eighth, Truex is in fourth place on the Chase Grid, plus-seven to the cut line. With one race remaining, he’s not safe; neither, for that matter, is…
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Winner: Rowdy's Reaction to Jimmie Johnson's Win
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There was never a point where you thought Kyle Busch would win this race. Come to think of it, the way Keselowski was driving made it hard to believe anyone but the No. 2 would win.
No matter. As Johnson swiped the checkered flag from the steely grip of BK, nobody benefited more than Busch.
Since Johnson, a non-Chaser, stole Keselowski’s chance at qualifying for Homestead, it allowed Busch to vault 11 points above the cut line and sit in second place behind only Gordon. Instead of only two spots remaining had the No. 2 won, there now remain three with Rowdy sitting pretty. Feels good, no?
“Yeah, it does,” Busch said during the NBC broadcast with a wise-looking smile. “I can’t but say thanks to Jimmie, but I feel for Brad.”
Yes, because he led so many laps, right?
“That’s got to be hard to be that fast and to get beat that late in the game like that. I know the pain, but not at that magnitude,” Busch said.
What a story it would be for Busch to reach Homestead. It’s already been well documented how he returned from his terrible Daytona accident, won four races in the regular season and now stands one race away from Homestead.
Still, he’s got to, you know, he’s got to…
“Get that tick better,” he said.
Thank you.
Loser: Brad Keselowski's Inability to Hold on the Turn
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Keselowski went from having a guaranteed spot in the championship four to suddenly falling 19 points below the cut line.
When Johnson finally got the best of him on that final run with four laps to go, there was nothing Keselowski could do. He had led 312 laps, and it barely meant anything at the end.
“The 48 car had mega turn in that last run and I couldn’t keep the turn and kept pushing real bad,” Keselowski said during the NBC broadcast.
Was there any chance?
“He just kept turning and turning and he was waaaaay faster on that run,” said Kez.
Maybe no one understands this better than BK. When he won at Fontana earlier in the year he led just one lap, the one that mattered. At Texas, the site of his infamous Texas Incident a year ago, he dominated for what was, in essence, nothing.
“We led 300 some laps, it wasn’t our day,” BK said. “There’s still a lot to be proud of. We really needed to win this one. I gave it my all.”
Now he really needs to win at Phoenix. If he doesn’t, he’ll need a top-five finish with Busch, Harvick or Truex suffering mechanical issues (preferably early in the race) that end their day and push them into the 30s or 40s in the results.
One thing is certain: Team Penske will only have one driver in the Chase when, at one time, it looked like it may have had both.
Winner: One-Armed Kevin Harvick
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It was the one-armed man who did it!
Anyway, Harvick, who suffered several flat tires and a gear shifter that wouldn’t stay in formation, kept his car rolling down the street with one hand. He steadied that car in the top five and finished third on the day.
“I guess it was a car that you can drive with one hand,” Harvick said on NBC. “We hung in there and fought like we have the last two years. I’ve never driven one with one arm that long, never 100 laps.”
Harvick now sits in third, 10 above the cut line, and couldn’t ask for a better result at Texas. While everyone seemed to suffer car-wrecking flat tires, Harvick survived. You could say he benefited from serendipity.
“I got lucky today that the two tires didn’t tear the back of the car off and that the motor didn’t blow up when it slipped out of gear,” he said.
Now he heads to Phoenix, where he has seven career wins and five from the last six visits. The only thing that’s different is the desperation behind him. Logano, Keselowski and Kurt Busch need tow in, and they’ll be gunning for the front and only the front.
Phoenix could get ugly.
Loser: Joey Logano's Left-Rear Tire
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Joey Logano’s Sprint Cup chances took a hit at Martinsville when Matt Kenseth wrecked him. Ten laps in at Texas, Logano’s Sprint Cup chances may have extinguished after he blew a left-rear tire, of all tires, a trend on the day.
The tire ripped like paper and sent him to pit road.
Logano needed to win at Texas because the cut race heads to Phoenix, a place where Kevin Harvick reigns as king. Harvick has won five of the last six races at Phoenix, so Logano’s odds to win in Arizona were already slim.
Winning all three races in the Contender Road introduced the question: Had Logano peaked too early? A fair question, but he was the race leader at Martinsville before Kenseth mistook the paperclip for a bumper car ring, so Logano proved he could carry that speed from one round to the next.
“We need to win,” Logano said during the NBC broadcast. “We’re going to go to Phoenix and try to win. It’s not about points for us. Points don’t mean anything. It’s all about wins. That was our goal today going into the race. We aren’t out of it. This team isn’t quitting yet.”
Logano was once the favorite to win the Sprint Cup, but because of one vengeful crash and some bad luck at Texas, it appears Logano’s time is up.
Winner: Jimmie Johnson
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Remember this guy?
It’s funny. When a driver falls out of the Chase, it’s as if they’ve passed away, eaten by the zombie horde.
Then all of a sudden you see the ivory white letters, the Lowe’s hood bearing down on your bumper and you realize that’s an unsympathetic six-time champion with more momentum than a bull.
No sympathy for Truex and Kez restarting in front of you? Guys with a chance at Homestead?
“Maybe when the restart happened I thought about those guys,” Johnson said on NBC after the race. “I just like to race clean anyway. I could see [Keselowski] was tight and his car wasn’t ideal. Then he moved up and had the high line covered. He got loose off of two and I had a big run off the top.”
The win marked Johnson’s fifth of the year but his first in 20 races.
“The 48 car was just better in that last run,” said NBC’s Kyle Petty during the broadcast. “I thought Brad handled it really well. He made no excuses. He drove the wheels off of it. Jimmie Johnson was just better.”
It was Johnson’s sixth career win at Texas, and it opened the door a few inches wider for other Chasers to point into Homestead. By passing Kez, it dropped Kez from Homestead-bound to 19 points down. It moved Kyle Busch up plus-11.
Johnson led only six laps the entire race and had the best car when it mattered. As it stands, he could be the best of the rest when the season ends in two weeks.
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