Johnson finds another speed, third consecutive AAA Texas 500 win
It hasn’t been the best year for driver Jimmie Johnson. But he always has Texas.
Johnson won the NASCAR AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway for the third consecutive year, edging Kevin Harvick at the checkered flag after a caution flag-plagued race on Sunday.
It’s Johnson’s first victory since he won the Quicken Loans 400 in Michigan on June 15. He’s won four races in 2014 and finished in the top 10 19 times. It’s his 70th career Sprint Cup win.
“It’s a testament to this team and the fact that we’ll never give up,” Johnson said before shooting pistols on the Victory Lane stage. “We’ll always keep fighting and keep trying to make our cars better. We’re not in the Chase and not where we want to be — fighting for the championship. But it’s a great day today with this Red Vest Lowe’s Chevrolet.”
It’s the second week in a row a non-Sprint Cup chaser has won a series race. There were 13 caution flags for a total of 61 laps, a Sprint Cup series record at TMS.
Johnson’s fourth victory is a TMS track record, breaking a tie with Carl Edwards. He has finished in the top 10 17 times in 23 races at TMS.
“Quite honestly, I think it’s one of the coolest race tracks we go to,” crew chief Chad Knaus said. “It’s super, super fast, obviously. It’s ridiculous how fast we are around here. What’s so neat about it is the tires wear out and the cars are slipping and sliding ... if you don’t like watching racing here in Texas you don’t like watching racing. It’s just spectacular the way the guys are sliding cars off the corners. It’s a lot of fun. The drivers have to really be in tune with what’s going on and obviously Jimmie does a great job of giving us feedback with what’s going on with the race car.”
It hasn’t been that way for much of 2014. Johnson has struggled, finishing out of the top 10 for six consecutive races, including consecutive finishes at 42nd. Last week, Johnson’s crew made some adjustments and found some speed for his No. 48 car.
“It’s a culmination of a lot of ingredients and when you put those ingredients together it can work or it cannot work,” Knaus said. “We really struggled this year, as you all know. You guys have documented it often, which I appreciate. We kind of got off base a little bit. We went down to Homestead last week and we really went back to what our roots were, how we work on a race car and how we want to do things and how we would typically do things 48-style. We found a little bit of speed down there.”
The race was highlighted by a tussle between Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski on pit row. Gordon, who was vying for the lead, was clipped by Keselowski. Gordon had words for Keselowski and punches were thrown after Kevin Harvick shoved Keselowski. Both Gordon and Keselowski had bloody marks on their faces.
“It’s intense and emotions run high,” Johnson said. “When someone does you wrong and you don’t have a chance to repay them on the race track, most bring it in the garage and do something there. We’re all in a position to win a championship and this is what happens. I’m sure it was highly entertaining today. I can’t wait to go back and watch the tape.”
Knaus heaped praise on his pit crew.
“They came in today and they did absolutely fantastic,” he said. “The best day we have ever had with the 48 car pit crew on pit row.”
This story was originally published November 2, 2014 at 8:07 PM with the headline "Johnson finds another speed, third consecutive AAA Texas 500 win."