Johnson passes Keselowski late to win 3rd straight at Texas

Johnson won the AAA 500 Sunday afternoon, earning his 75th-career win after a thrilling duel with Brad Keselowski in the final laps.

Just in case anyone had forgotten about him, there was Jimmie Johnson on Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway, winning a race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup and inching closer to more historic milestones.

“Couldn’t be more pleased with the position we got right now”, Busch said.

“I am pumped about this race”. In a welcome departure from the WWE-esque theatrics that’s signified NASCAR’s playoffs in recent weeks, Keselowski and Johnson went head-to-head, but did so with no cheap shots or deliberate take-outs. I’m sure Roger is going to continue to preach that. Their team did a hell of a job and found speed and my team did a hell of a job, too.

“It just blew apart off Turn 2”, Logano told NBC.

Kyle Busch moved into second in the Sprint Cup standings, 11 points clear of Carl Edwards. Not knowing what that might be at this moment makes a little bit easier to digest. The AAA Texas 500 is the second of the three-race Eliminator Round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

He must win next week at Phoenix worldwide Speedway to advance.

“I feel great about our chances at Phoenix”. It’s not what we needed, we need to win. Knaus said. “The vehicle was pretty good on the run leading up to that. That’s happened to us several times, so we definitely need to figure that out”. Sunday at Texas he showed the eight remaining eligible Chase drivers that he may still have a say in who eventually is crowned the season’s champion.

It was the Hendrick Motorsports driver’s fifth win of 2015. “Sometimes you can’t put yourself in that situation”. Prior to the race, NASCAR executive vice president Steve O’Donnell told drivers they expect them to race hard, just not go beyond the line that Kenseth did at Martinsville. He led a race high 312 of the 334 laps, and as the race was winding down, he seemed to be a lock for the victory.

Victory was within Keselowski’s grasp, and instead of making it to Victory Lane where he would don the celebratory cowboy hat and fire a pair of pistols, that honor went to Johnson, who’s not even in the Chase having been cut in Round 1. He bounced off a vehicle driven by Martin Truex Jr. late in the race.

“Then it was a good old-fashioned race”.

Jimmie Johnson takes the checkered flag in Texas Sunday, as the Chase continues.

“We made a few big, big improvements from practice”, said Earnhardt. “Rubbing is racing. It was fun”. It means that he will actually now have the last pick of pit box – or in other words, no pick at all. I said, ‘It’s all good. We’ve been searching for a couple years. “I know I gave it my all”. “But all in all, we just kept gouging away, and everything worked out in the end”. So, I don’t really know. “So, all in all, everything changed a ton over the last 20 laps”. “So nice to get this 48 back in victory lane”. “We have to run well here this weekend”.

Three spots are still up for grabs in Phoenix, the last race before the season finale on November 22 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. “Just a loose wheel and the power steering killed us”. It’s ridiculous how much faster it is this time around than earlier in the year.

“I thought it was a great weekend in so many ways”, Gossage said.

Harvick started next to him on the front row and took the lead on lap 19. “Wished we were in the Chase, still fighting for the championship”.