Jimmie Johnson capitalized on a four-tire pit stop and stormed to the lead to win Saturday night’s Duck Commander 500 at Texas.
On the race’s final restart with 20 laps to go, the top three cars – Jamie McMurray, Jeff Gordon and Martin Truex Jr. – all had taken two tires. Johnson restarted seventh, the fourth car with four fresh tires.
Thanks to a bit of help from Harvick, Johnson quickly got towards the front of the field. With less than 20 laps to go, McMurray was clinging to the lead with Harvick and Johnson on his tail.
Johnson had been diving underneath Harvick in the corners and with McMurray using the high line, Johnson was able to use McMurray as a pick on Harvick and storm to the lead.
Harvick didn’t go away and had two chances to get close enough to Johnson to make a pass. The first time he closed in he got loose off turn four and lost second to Dale Earnhardt Jr. After working his way past Junior, Harvick closed in on Johnson again but saw his chances at the win disappear after scrubbing the wall off turn two with a few laps to go.
The bit of help Johnson got from Harvick immediately after the restart was in the form of a bump to Joey Logano. The No. 22 had squeezed past Harvick to be the first car with four fresh tires and knew that he had to keep the No. 4 car behind if he wanted a chance to win.
He threw a block on Harvick entering turns one and two and Harvick gave Logano a tap, shooting the No. 22 towards the wall. Logano ultimately saved it – and drove back to fourth place at the end of the race – but the break in his, and Harvick’s, momentum allowed Johnson to get closer to the front.
Johnson led the most laps in the race (128) but was off the lead towards the end thanks to a brief stretch where the handling on his car dropped off. But thanks to some adjustments from crew chief Chad Knaus (including some extra tape that made the Fox announcing crew believe for a significant period of time that the No. 48 had debris on the grille), Johnson had the best car over the race’s final phase.
“I just couldn’t go anywhere,” Johnson said. “I got so tight. We weren’t sure if it was a bad set of tires. We felt like we had a set that didn’t match up with us earlier in the race. So we made no adjustments. We went out the next restart and the car was a little better, but made an adjustment. Then that last pit stop we made the right adjustment. I caught [Harvick] racing with [McMurray]. I was able to get by both of those guys and check out.”
It’s his second-straight win at Texas and his fifth overall, the most of any driver at the track. After being eliminated from the Chase in 2014, Johnson won the fall race, though the win was overshadowed by the ridiculous melee involving Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Jeff Gordon.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
