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Johnson Wins 3rd Straight, Controls Chase

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By TONY FABRIZIO, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 5, 2007

Updated: 11/04/2007 11:46 pm

FORT WORTH, Texas - Jimmie Johnson and his amazing team are back in that zone in which they can do no wrong.

A week after getting an unlikely win at Atlanta after a two-tire call by crew chief Chad Knaus, the defending Nextel Cup champion ran down Matt Kenseth on four fresh tires, passed him with three laps to go, and captured Sunday's Dickies 500 for his third consecutive victory.

With his first victory at Texas Motor Speedway and career-best ninth of the season, Johnson took control of the Chase from teammate Jeff Gordon, who finished seventh in a car he was never happy with. Johnson took a lead of 30 points over Gordon and 181 over Clint Bowyer with Phoenix and Homestead remaining.

"I was really, really excited to win with everything on the line like it is right now - being pushed so hard by my teammate, and needing to perform," Johnson said. "This is what I wanted to be a part of; I wanted to win a championship by outracing people, by outracing the best in the business, and Jeff Gordon has been the best in the business."

With top-three finishes in four of the past five races while Gordon has finished seventh the past two weeks, Johnson clearly has the momentum.

"It's a very powerful tool as long as you're able to keep it in check," Knaus said. "Momentum can be an enemy just as much as it can be an asset because you'll see guys go out there and they'll be a little cocky, maybe a little lax, and have a mistake. I think our team does a good job of taking momentum and turning it into a good thing."

Kenseth was one of the three drivers who moved to the front with a two-tire stop during a caution period with about 30 laps to go. Knaus considered taking two but decided there were too many laps remaining and called for four tires.

He sent Johnson out in fifth, asking him over the radio if he was ready to pull out his cape.

"I've been waiting all night," Johnson said.

Kenseth passed Ryan Newman for the lead on the restart on Lap 306 of 334, and it took Johnson until Lap 313 to get to second. Johnson and Kenseth then battled side for side for about five laps, with Johnson risking his championship by racing hard for the win. Although Johnson was shown as the leader on laps 328 and 332, the cars crossed the finish line almost exactly even.

Eventually, Kenseth couldn't keep the pace on two older tires and Johnson got by for good.

"We've raced together for a long time, and I think he was pretty confident I wasn't going to wreck him," Kenseth said. "We raced each other really hard. I didn't give him extra room at all, and I thought of the points thing and thought maybe he would back out of it. At one point, he backed out of it with five to go. But he was just a lot faster."

Kenseth said his consolation was knowing that he really didn't have a chance on two fresh tires - and that he knows he lost to the best.

"That group Johnson's No. 48 team, in my opinion, is the strongest team, driver, crew chief, group, everything in the garage area," he said. "And it has been that way for four years. He Johnson has only won one championship, but they have been the team pretty much every week."

Earlier in what was one of the more entertaining races in the Chase, Kenseth and Denny Hamlin battled side-by-side for the lead for a few laps. Hamlin eventually got loose, tagged the wall, and wound up 29th with a damaged car.

Team owner Rick Hendrick said he couldn't help but think about Hamlin's fate while watching Johnson and Kenseth battle in the closing laps.

"Matt drove him hard and Denny made a mistake - or they touched, I don't know whose fault it was," Hendrick said. "I had replays of that when I saw Jimmie up there with Matt."

Gordon started second and led twice for 20 laps early, but his car was never as good as Johnson's. In fact, he had to fight to finish seventh after running outside the top 10 in the middle of the race.

As good as Johnson has looked the last couple of weeks, Gordon is only 30 points back, and he won the spring race at next week's stop, one-mile Phoenix.

"Thirty points isn't a lot," Gordon said of his deficit. "The biggest thing right now is we're getting beat, and those guys are winning races. We've got to go put some pressure back on them and outperform them."

Reporter Tony Fabrizio can be reached at (813) 259-7994 or afabrizio@tampatrib.com.

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