Beautiful day at Texas Motor Speedway. Clouds pass over occasionally. The time changed last night so we’ll probably hit darkness before the end of the race. Carl Edwards leads them to the green flag. 10 laps in Jimmie Johnson takes over the lead from Edwards. Jimmie and Matt Kenseth come into this race tied at the top of the points standings. Jimmie started in third position. Kenseth started in 6th position.
Caution is out on lap 15 of 334 for debris in turn two. Carl wins the race off pit road. Michael McDowell is the only car to stay out. Before the restart he drops back to the back of the field making Carl the control car for the start. He drops down to the inside lane to start the race. Jimmie remains on the inside and Jr moves up to the outside front.
Caution is out on lap 58 of 334 for Kyle Busch hitting the wall. Kyle was running second when he hit the wall. Jimmie had taken the lead on lap 33 while Carl began slipping backwards through the field. Once again Carl gets the lead off the pit stops. Carl chose the first pit stall after winning the pole on Friday.
Kyle’s right front tire began unwinding. It didn’t blow out, but this indicates that his tires won’t last a full fuel run.
Fenning told Carl there are no bad tires on his car. He wore the rear out a bit more because he’s loose, but no tire worries for him.
Caution is out on lap 75 of 334 for Jeff Gordon who hit the wall while running 12t. His left front tire went down. He drove it straight to the garage. Brake ducts came off the car and were laying on the tracks.
All the leaders are coming in for a pit stop. ‘It’ (Brad Keselowski) wins the race off pit road with a two tire stop.
David Ragan blowed up on lap 63 of 334. He gets the car to pit road without incident. Green flag stays out.
Jimmie reclaims the lead on lap 91 of 334 from ‘It’.
Green flag pit stops are complete. Kenseth picked up a bonus point by staying out while Jimmie Johnson came in for a pit stop. The 20 crew knocked off a 12.1 second pit stop.
After Biffle’s green flag stop, he ran up on Jimmie (who hadn’t yet hit pit road) and bumped him in the rear before passing him to get back on the lead lap.
Kenseth got popped for speeding on pit road during a green flag pit stop around lap 173. It was a pass-thru penalty. He will rejoin the race in 16th.
On lap 186 Carl Edwards brings his car into the pits saying its blowing up. He’s back out on on the track. Now he’s back in the pits. He’d heading to the garage.
Caution is out on lap 189 of 334 for oil on the race track. Officials are checking the track and pit road for oil.
Kenseth is now up to 12th. The leaders come in for pit stops when pit road is open. Jimmie Johnson wins the race off pit road. Kyle Busch comes out second, Joey Logano third.
KyBu’s temperatures are climbing. He apparently has some trash on the grill. They’re telling Joey to come back to him to help him clear the debris. KyBu was finally able to get the debris off behind ‘It’.
Carl says they broke a valve spring and the whole cylinder is messed up.
Jimmie has now led the most laps and will get that bonus point for the race.
On lap 237 of 334 green flag pit stops are underway. Long pit stop for Jimmie Johnson, 17.0 seconds. Jimmie rejoins the race in fifthe just ahead of Kenseth.
Just as Jimmie passed Bradley K the caution came out for debris. JPM lost his right side tires. They came apart and left pieces all around bringing out the caution on lap 257 of 334.
Kyle Busch had a really good stop and comes out of the pits second, followed by Joey Logano, Kenseth and Dale Jr. Jimmie was first in and out of the pits. He’s in gas saving mode. Jeff Gordon is just back out on the track after his crash on lap 73.
36 laps to go Kenseth’s crew reeled off an 11.9 second pit stop as green lap pit stops continue. Jimmie had a 13.1 second pit stop.
Kyle Busch was speeding on pit road and has to serve a pass-thru penalty. He was in fourth when he came into the pits. That moves Kenseth up a spot.
White flag is out. Jimmie Johnson WINS! Kenseth finishes fourth. Dale Jr finishes second. Logano finishes third. Kasey Kahne finished fifth.
Jimmie is now seven points ahead of Kenseth in the points race.
In NASCAR news this week:
- Martin Truex Jr. signs with Furniture Row Racing.
- NASCAR penalizes mallet thrower after Martinsville Truck Race incident.
- Brian France visited the Sirius Speedway radio show on Tuesday.
- Biffle grabs Jimmie Johnson post-race, spinning him around by his collar as Johnson was doing media interviews.
- Greg Biffle apologized to Jimmie Johnson fans for his behaviour after the Martinsville race. He’s not bothered to actually apologize for Jimmie but promises he will – though he was in the right about everything except grabbing Jimmie in front of the cameras during an interview.
- Ty Dillon wins Texas Truck Race.
- New 2014 sponsor for Ambrose.
- Jeff Burton returns to the site of his first career victory.