Jimmie Johnson snapped an 18-race winless streak by going to victory lane at Texas on Sunday, race 8 of the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup. Johnson was eliminated from the Chase at Talladega two weeks ago despite leading the most laps in that race. This means there is still no one locked into the four Championship round spots. This was Johnson's third straight win in the fall Texas race, and he did it with a special red car honoring the red-vested employees of Lowe's stores.
The big story after the race was a fight between contenders Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski on pit road in front of Paul Menard's stall, with Kevin Harvick also apparently getting in the mix. Gordon briefly led before a late caution that set up a green-white-checkered finish, and on the restart Keselowski made contact with Gordon's car. Gordon then spun to prompt a second attempt at a green-white checkered, and wound up 29th while Keselowski finished third. Gordon dropped from first to fourth in the standings, and called Keselowski a "dipshit" on live television following the brawl. The current points leader is Keselowski's teammate Joey Logano, who spun during the race but made up some ground. Just like after Charlotte, which also saw drivers go after Keselowski, Chase drivers who weren't thought to have a chance are now being looked at as possible upsets after this race.
Other current and eliminated Chase drivers like Ryan Newman, polesitter Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch and last week's winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. spent most of the day in the top ten, but were not talked about during much of the race as Johnson had the dominant car. Next week the series makes one last trip out west to Phoenix, in a much-anticipated race that will determine the final four Chase drivers for the finale at Homestead.
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