Jimmie Johnson Steals Texas from Brad Keselowski, Dimming Penske's Chase Hopes
By the insufficient measure of laps led, Brad Keselowski dominated Texas Motor Speedway as no Sprint Cup driver ever has.
Keselowski led 312 of a possible 334 laps in the AAA Texas 500 on Sunday. Unfortunately, he didn't lead the last four.
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Remember Jimmie Johnson? Winner four times back in the distant past, i.e., 20 races ago? Six-time champion? Banished from the Chase three weeks in?
Yeah. That guy won. He won't win a record-tying seventh championship this year. He played a mighty role in deciding who will, however.
"I just kept pressure on," Johnson said to NBC Sports after passing Keselowski at the end of the back straight with four laps to go. "I could see that [his car] was really tight, and that was the first time I had seen him that vulnerable all day.
"[Keselowski] saw me coming on the top and protected it. I just kept trying to put pressure on him, hoping for a mistake. He got real loose off of Turn 2, and I had a big run down the back stretch and drove it really far into Turn 3 hoping to hear 'clear' (from his spotter). Once I did, I knew I was home free."
Johnson, who won for the 75th time in his career and fifth this season, stalked Keselowski, himself a former champion, with all the verve one would expect from a man who once won five championships in a row. Keselowski dominated almost the whole afternoon.
Keselowski wasn't the first to tell his crew "don't change a thing," while behind him—someone—someone like Johnson's crew chief, Chad Knaus, was tinkering, and he won't be the last to succumb at the end to a pursuer who never stopped chipping away at a leader's advantage.
It doesn't happen often, though.
Johnson felt no pressure. He can't win the championship now. For Keselowski, and his teammate at Penske Racing, Joey Logano, the penultimate race, at Phoenix International Raceway next Sunday, will be run with desperation riding shotgun. Four finalists, all with points set evenly, will advance to the November 22 finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway to decide the Sprint Cup championship.
Winners advance automatically. Only Martinsville winner Jeff Gordon has a slot in the finals reserved.
Only one can win his way in at Phoenix. Kevin Harvick has won four in a row there and seven over the years. Harvick probably doesn't need another Phoenix victory to reach the finals, but his status isn't secure enough to aim for anything else. Keselowski, Logano, and Kurt Busch will have to win at the Avondale, Arizona mile in order to advance.
"As strong as we ran today," Keselowski said, "if we carry that over to Homestead, good Lord, watch out. We know we need to win the next two to win the championship. The good news is we have that opportunity. That's the way I look at it."
One downside to the power of positive thinking is that Keselowski, who needs two wins, has one in the season to date.
Remember the odds-on favorite of two weeks ago? Joey Logano has won three of the eight Chase races so far. This time Matt Kenseth wasn't there to kick him around. The Massacre of Martinsville left Kenseth in the penalty box for the next two weeks, thanks to the results of a week of in-house hearings in which NASCAR officials dealt with the recalcitrant Kenseth.
| Driver | Points | Wins | Avg. Finish | Status |
| Jeff Gordon | 4,082 | 1 | 14.1 | In |
| Kyle Busch | 4,080 | 4 | 11.5 | Likely |
| Kevin Harvick | 4,079 | 3 | 9.1 | Likely |
| Martin Truex Jr. | 4,076 | 1 | 12.2 | 50/50 |
| Carl Edwards | 4,069 | 2 | 14.1 | Long Shot |
| Brad Keselowski | 4,057 | 1 | 11.4 | Must Win |
| Kurt Busch | 4,048 | 2 | 11.4 | Must Win |
| Joey Logano | 4,013 | 6 | 9.5 | Must Win |
Martinsville also left Logano needing a Texas victory and certainly not a 40th-place finish that went sour on the race's ninth lap when the left-rear tire on Logano's Ford exploded and blew away much of the material surrounding it in that quadrant of the car.
Logano, who has been booed lustily by fans who supported Kenseth's vigilante methods at Martinsville, kept his chin up in his remarks to NBC Sports.
"Sometimes you have to roll with the punches," Logano said. "We will be ready for Phoenix. This team is strong. We didn't take any wind out of our sails, and we showed how fast this [car] was even after we crashed."
Phoenix, Logano said, is "same as this week. This was a must-win situation, as well. If we finished second [in Texas], we would be in the same boat going to Phoenix. I feel great about our chances at Phoenix."
But the time for rampant optimism is expiring, and the four rooms at the Homestead, Florida, inn are just a week away from being booked.
Each week brings with it unexpected twists. Just in the past three weeks have there been a crash Harvick is alleged to have intentionally caused in order to advance (in Talladega, Alabama), Kenseth has wrecked an apparently victory-bound Logano (Martinsville, Virginia) and widespread tire problems have ruined Logano's day and required desperate measures for others like Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. to claw their way back into top-10 finishes.
Lawless behavior and rotten luck have already cost the Chase a pair of five-race winners—Kenseth and Johnson—and Logano, who has six victories, will be gone if he doesn't somehow manage to pull it out at Phoenix.
No pressure on Johnson, though.
Knaus, the crew chief who masterminded the changes that got Johnson to the front, said, "Look, you've got to be honest. It's been a tough the last three months."
A given week, though, and it was just like old times.
"[Texas] falls into Jimmie's wheelhouse," Knaus added. "What helps us is that Jimmie needs to be able to drive the race car. When you drive it, you have to be able to communicate with your crew chief. That's what Jimmie does.
"He speaks to us in a language we understand at this type of race track. That makes better racing for us."
The top 10 finishers all began the Chase in it. The two who decided its latest edition conducted a rousing battle without leaving any lingering regrets or anger.
"You know, honestly, I race people how they race me," Johnson said. "Brad's always raced me clean and hard. He did that again today. We both showed each other the same respect."
They almost all recite the paraphrasing of the Golden Rule: "Race unto others as you would have others race unto you."
"What's gone on between other drivers the last few weeks has no bearing on [me]," Johnson said. "You really handle your own situation—how people treat you, how respectfully they race you. We just had a good, hard race."
How refreshing. Don't expect good feelings to linger long. Another boiling point is only a week away.
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All quotes are taken from NASCAR media, team and manufacturer sources unless otherwise noted.
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