Gordon has history of bad luck at Texas

Jeff Gordon's fight with Brad Keselowski following Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Texas, brought on by his spin after Keselowski's faster car got into him late in the race, was another in a series of misfortunes he has endured at the 1.5-mile track. While Gordon did win the spring race there in 2009 - his only win between Charlotte in October of 2007 and Phoenix in February of 2011 - other races at the Fort Worth speedway have not been kind to the four-time series champion.

Gordon crashed in the first four Cup races at Texas. In 1997, Gordon was caught up in a crash after starting on the outside front row and finished 30th. In 1998 he was in a big wreck on the first lap and finished 31st. In 1999 he crashed yet again and finished dead last, and in 2000 he finished 14 laps down. After that, Gordon had good races at Texas for the next few years. In 2005 a second race weekend was given to Texas in the fall. In 2010, Gordon was caught up in a big wreck in the spring race, and in the fall race he wrecked with Jeff Burton under caution and then got in a fight with him on the track. Burton, who got his first series win in the inaugural race in 1997 and won at the track again in 2007, reminded fans about Gordon's short temper at Texas on Twitter a few minutes before the scuffle on Sunday. Finally, in the spring race this year Gordon led on a green-white-checkered restart, but dominant driver Joey Logano took the lead back from Gordon and won.

So it's fitting that Gordon's latest moment of bad luck and anger came at Texas, where he's had many forgettable races in the past. This one is definitely one to remember, since it had a big effect on the Chase for the Sprint Cup standings. But now he and the other seven Chase drivers can look forward to Phoenix for one last shot to get into the Championship round.

Johnson pulls another Chase spoiler; Gordon, Keselowski fight

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.

Jimmie Johnson gets a red car, Truck points shuffled at Texas

The Sprint Cup and Camping World Truck series at Texas this weekend have some big stories. On the Cup side, Jimmie Johnson's #48 Chevrolet, instead of the familiar blue, is red. This is in honor of the red vests that employees at Lowe's stores wear, and Johnson and his crew are thanking them for their sponsorship since his series debut in October of 2001. The Johnson-Lowe's partnership is still going strong despite a decline in performance this year for the six-time and defending champion, who was eliminated from the Chase at Talladega two weeks ago.

Friday night's Truck race at Texas also made some waves. The race saw the #51 and #54 truck of Kyle Busch Motorsports, driven by Busch himself and championship contender Darrell Wallace Jr. respectively, consistently out front, but Wallace, last week's winner at Martinsville, blew his engine late in the race. There was oil from Wallace's truck on the track that caused a red flag. Defending series champion Matt Crafton and his teammate Jeb Burton also ran in the top ten during most of the race. On a late restart, German Quiroga got the lead, and Busch fought his way back to second. Johnny Sauter, the other teammate of Crafton and Burton, then spun on the frontstretch to bring out the last caution. Going into turn 1 on the last restart Busch got by Quiroga, who was on old tires. After the white flag, Quiroga's teammate Timothy Peters bumped Quiroga, causing him to spin and giving Busch the win. Sauter was upset with Burton after the race, and his mood became sadder with the news of the death of his father Jim. Despite this, the drivers are still eager to keep racing during the rest of this weekend.

Elliott Sadler going to Roush in 2015

Elliott Sadler, a former Sprint Cup driver who went back to the Nationwide Series in 2011 following the closure of Richard Petty's #19 team, will be driving for Roush Fenway Racing in what will soon be known as the Xfinity Series in 2015. Sadler will drive a #1 Ford Mustang, presumably replacing Trevor Bayne, who will take the #6 car with him to Cup for his first full-time gig in the series come February.

Sadler has spent the last two seasons with Joe Gibbs Racing and won at Talladega in May. Before that, he drove for Richard Childress for two years and won four races in 2012. He also drove in a few Cup races with RCR in the #33 car before most of the #33 team was sold to Joe Falk. Sadler's last appearance in cup was in the last four races of 2013 with Michael Waltrip Racing, subbing for Brian Vickers.

The Motorsports Group to start a Cup team in 2015

The Motorsports Group, a current Nationwide Series team, announced plans on Wednesday to form a Sprint Cup Series team in 2015, and they could debut as early as the Daytona 500 in February. TMG will stick with Chevrolet as its manufacturer. They have not yet chosen a driver or number for their Cup car.

TMG previously operated in what was then the Busch Series as Key Motorsports from 1993 to 1998. They have also fielded trucks in the Craftsman/Camping World Truck Series. They returned to competition in NASCAR's number two series in 2008 under their current name. In recent years, TMG has been criticized for their frequent practice of start-and-parking, mainly with the #40 and #46 Chevrolets driven by various driver such as Josh Wise, Matt DiBenedetto and Chase Miller. For this reason, it is not uncommon to see TMG cars at the tail end of the running order in a race, and this is why fans do not see them as contenders. But TMG could be ready for a Cup operation despite this, although they would really have to prove themselves to fans.

Chase standings after 7 of 10 races

Here is the Chase grid after the first race of the Eliminator round.

1. 24-Jeff Gordon - 4,044 points, 4 wins (1 in Chase)
2. 31-Ryan Newman - 4,041 points
3. 22-Joey Logano - 4,040 points, 5 wins (2 in Chase)
4. 20-Matt Kenseth - 4,039 points
5. 11-Denny Hamlin - 4,037 points, 1 win
6. 99-Carl Edwards - 4,024 points, 2 wins
7. 2-Brad Keselowski - 4,013 points, 6 wins (2 in Chase)
8. 4-Kevin Harvick - 4,011 points, 3 wins (1 in Chase)

The Eliminator round continues at Texas on Sunday and ends at Phoenix on November 9 with four driver going to the Championship round at Homestead.

More tempers flare at Martinsville

Short track races usually lead to short tempers, and that's what happened with some drivers in Sunday's race, for the second time in the last three races. First, Brian Vickers and eliminated Chase driver Kasey Kahne had a couple of run-ins with each other on the track. A few laps after the second incident between the two drivers, NASCAR reported that Vickers and Kahne were "done", meaning not that they had been parked for the remainder of the race, but simply that officials had told them to stop the antics and just race. Kahne was later caught up in a crash with Chaser Brad Keselowski and other drivers.

Later in the race, Matt Kenseth and Kevin Harvick went after each other while on the track. Harvick had spun earlier, causing damage to his car that his crew scrambled to fix so they wouldn't lose too many championship points. He spent the rest of the race with his car's front sheetmetal removed, and it was in this condition that his car came into contact with Kenseth's. Kenseth got into a fight two weeks ago with Keselowski at Charlotte, after the Saturday night race there that Harvick won to make the cut for the Eliminator round.