Jimmie Johnson took another step toward his 6th championship with a victory in the AAA 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Johnson took the lead from Brad Keselowski on the green/white/checkered restart and pulled away to win his second consecutive race. Jeff Gordon finished 14th after battling late-race tire problems and contact from another driver.
Gordon started 16th and gained two spots by lap 20. As the run progressed, Gordon was able to gain more ground. He moved up to 11th by lap 30 before coming to pit road for a 4-tire change on lap 46. Gordon moved into the top-10 following the stops and took 9th from Kasey Kahne on lap 68. He moved to 8th prior to the next round of green flag stops on lap 90. He ran 10th when the caution waved for debris on lap 100. Gordon came to pit road and departed in 10th place. He moved to 6th by lap 130 and entered the top-5 with a pass on Martin Truex on lap 152. Following another round of green flag pit stops on lap 170, Gordon ran in 4th place. He took 3rd from Clint Bowyer on lap 177, but ran distantly behind race leaders Jimmie Johnson and Brad Keselowski. However, a debris caution on lap 186 allowed Gordon to close the gap to the leaders. He lost two spots on pit road and restarted in 5th place on lap 190.
On the restart, Gordon reclaimed 4th from Truex on lap 195. A debris caution on lap 224 brought the lead lap cars to pit road. Gordon lost a spot and restarted in 5th place. He moved up to 4th just after the restart and passed Johnson for 3rd with 90 laps to go. Gordon moved into the runner-up spot with 83 to go with a move around Kyle Busch. However, with 65 laps to go, Gordon came to pit road after wearing out a tire. A caution for debris with 60 laps to go forced Gordon to use the wave around to get back on the lead lap. He restarted in 25th position with 54 to go. Over the next 20 laps he moved up to the 18th position. A caution for Marcos Ambrose’s wall contact with 25 laps to go slowed the field. Gordon came to pit road for tires. He moved to 12th with 16 laps to go, and entered the top-10 two laps later. However, contact from Greg Biffle moved Gordon up the track into Kasey Kahne. Gordon sustained minor sheet metal damage on the right front as Kahne hit the wall to bring out the caution. He came onto pit road for repairs to the right front of the car. Gordon restarted 23rd with 8 laps to go.
At the front of the field, Keselowski and Johnson battled door to door for the lead with Keselowski holding the top spot. A caution for Mark Martin slowed the field with 5 laps to go and brought the green/white/checkered finish into play. Gordon had moved up to 16th prior to Martin’s spin. On the restart, Johnson took the lead from Keselowski to score his second consecutive victory. Gordon finished a disappointing 14th after a tire issue and contact from Biffle. Barring a disasterous race for both Keselowski and Johnson in Phoenix, Gordon will be eliminated from Chase contention following the Checker 500k next Sunday.
Turning point
Gordon came to pit road with 65 laps to go while running 2nd due to a tire going down. A subsequent caution sealed his fate at Texas.
source: Jeff Gordon Online
Race Results [PDF]
Driver Standings [PDF]
In-Car Audio
MP3 Download – with spotter chatter
file size: 3.88mb
run time: 27:04
[audio:http://www.scannerbytes.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/2012-11-04-Jeff-Gordon-AAA-Texas-500-Texas-with-spotter-chatter.mp3|titles=2012-11-04 – Jeff Gordon – AAA Texas 500 – Texas – with spotter chatter]
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