The latest auto news, reviews, prices, product and vehicle releases. Nov
4th
Stay connected Subscribe to our RSS feed
Jimmie Johnson virtually shamed the competition with a dominating victory Texas Motor Speedway. With his third victory at the mile and one-half oval the five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion took a seven point lead over Matt Kenseth who finished fourth behind Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Joey Logano.
Johnson, who led 255 laps of the 334-lap race, mentioned that a recent test at the track gave his team a good base and added “we came back had a smooth qualifying and put more speed in the car. Just a dominant day. Great car, great engine.” It was his sixth win of the year.
Even though Johnson took over the points lead again he wasn't overconfident in Victory Lane.
"I have been watching a lot of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fighting lately, and you'll fall into a rhythm and think that somebody has got the fight won and it doesn't end that way," Johnson said. "That's how this is going to be. Matt didn't have maybe the best day and still finished fourth. This thing is going to go to the last lap at Homestead, and it is going to come down to mistakes. I'm very excited about our performance and what we did here. We'll enjoy this, but there is still two weeks of very hard racing ahead of us."
Earnhardt Jr., a Hendrick Motorsport teammate who finished 4.39 seconds behind Johnson, said “we gambled a little bit in the late stages of this race short pitting and getting a lot of track position, and we had a fast enough car to keep it, but the 48 was in another class and nobody had anything for him.”
It was his fifth runner-up of the year and Dale Jr. added “you know, it's not ‑‑ we're not running second by making mistakes. We're not giving away wins. So I feel like we're just really getting close to cracking through and just trying to maintain the momentum with two races to go is going to be tough. But that's what we're focusing on.”
Joey Logano said “Jimmie is running ridiculously fast.”
A rare pit road speeding penalty cost Kenseth some track position and a few points. “I'm still confident,” the 2003 champion said his title hopes. “I wish I was seven points ahead, but, at the end of the day it's in our hands. If you win both of the last two races and the math works out where you still win it, so it's still in our hands. I have to think and we're going to go here, work as hard as we can and try to get the best finishes we can and see where it ends up.”
Kevin Harvick, who finished eighth, is now 40 points back in third place.
Pole winner, Carl Edwards, went out on lap 187 with a blown engine. Parker Kligerman, who drives in the Nationwide Series for Kyle Busch had an impressive Cup debut in 18th place for Swan Racing.
Even though Johnson dominated the day and now leads the points one TV reporter reminded him that he left Texas last year with a seven point lead only to lose it Brad Keselowski last year
Jimmie Johnson smiled and said “hope history doesn't repeat itself.”
Johnson, who led 255 laps of the 334-lap race, mentioned that a recent test at the track gave his team a good base and added “we came back had a smooth qualifying and put more speed in the car. Just a dominant day. Great car, great engine.” It was his sixth win of the year.
Even though Johnson took over the points lead again he wasn't overconfident in Victory Lane.
"I have been watching a lot of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fighting lately, and you'll fall into a rhythm and think that somebody has got the fight won and it doesn't end that way," Johnson said. "That's how this is going to be. Matt didn't have maybe the best day and still finished fourth. This thing is going to go to the last lap at Homestead, and it is going to come down to mistakes. I'm very excited about our performance and what we did here. We'll enjoy this, but there is still two weeks of very hard racing ahead of us."
 |
| Photo: NASCAR |
Earnhardt Jr., a Hendrick Motorsport teammate who finished 4.39 seconds behind Johnson, said “we gambled a little bit in the late stages of this race short pitting and getting a lot of track position, and we had a fast enough car to keep it, but the 48 was in another class and nobody had anything for him.”
It was his fifth runner-up of the year and Dale Jr. added “you know, it's not ‑‑ we're not running second by making mistakes. We're not giving away wins. So I feel like we're just really getting close to cracking through and just trying to maintain the momentum with two races to go is going to be tough. But that's what we're focusing on.”
Joey Logano said “Jimmie is running ridiculously fast.”
A rare pit road speeding penalty cost Kenseth some track position and a few points. “I'm still confident,” the 2003 champion said his title hopes. “I wish I was seven points ahead, but, at the end of the day it's in our hands. If you win both of the last two races and the math works out where you still win it, so it's still in our hands. I have to think and we're going to go here, work as hard as we can and try to get the best finishes we can and see where it ends up.”
Kevin Harvick, who finished eighth, is now 40 points back in third place.
Pole winner, Carl Edwards, went out on lap 187 with a blown engine. Parker Kligerman, who drives in the Nationwide Series for Kyle Busch had an impressive Cup debut in 18th place for Swan Racing.
Even though Johnson dominated the day and now leads the points one TV reporter reminded him that he left Texas last year with a seven point lead only to lose it Brad Keselowski last year
Jimmie Johnson smiled and said “hope history doesn't repeat itself.”