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[/media-credit]A maximum of 96 points are left on the table as the boys and Danica move on to Phoenix and Homestead, which comes as bad news for pretty much anybody not named Jimmie Johnson or Brad Keselowski. Two of the 12 championship apostles are already eliminated, seven more should see the gates close after this weekend. Even for third place Clint Bowyer, 36 points in the bushes, his chances hinge on both the leaders spending some time in the garage either this upcoming Sunday or next.
Jimmie Johnson dominated the first half in Texas, led half of them on the day, and remained in the top three the rest of the way before passing Kyle Busch in the final laps to salt this one away. It marked his 60th Cup victory, the fifth of the season, and pushed him seven points ahead of Keselowski in his fix for six. His main challenger finished second, Busch third.
For a moment, there was a glimmer of hope for the rest of the pack. With under ten to go they went door to door, came together, each wobbled but managed to continue on without much break in momentum. It the kind of action fans love to see, and what a handful of drivers hope to see happen again, and soon, just with a different result. On this occasion, Johnson and Keselowski finished with cars that looked like cars and even shook hands in Victory Lane. However, like the handshake, the gloves are now off.
Fellow chasers Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer, and Dale Earnhardt Jr grabbed the next four spots at the line. Kevin Harvick and Greg Biffle also had Top Tens. Jeff Gordon had a tire problem that took him out of contention, while Danica Patrick was 24th, the final car on the lead lap. It was her best result and it came in her first race with Tony Gibson as crew chief. The pair will be together next season when Patrick runs full-time.
The other news coming from Texas was Harvick’s car being sandbagged before the race. Literally. It was dangling from a big ole Texas flag trailing a parachuter and clipped the “door”, right on the #29, putting a bit of a dent there. NASCAR allowed the crew to take it back to the garage to make some repairs. Now, had it clipped the #2 or #48, I’m sure the conspiracy theorists would have had a field day.
This Sunday is Remembrance or Veteran’s Day, depending on what side of the line you live on. A couple of hours after we observe the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month to honour those who have served our respective nations in our armed forces, the engines come to life in Phoenix. The only two questions we need answered Sunday is how close did Jimmie and Brad finish, and how well did they finish. Something tells me this could be a week of close finishes.
