Updated Oct. 13
It appeared to be the perfect set-up for another victory for Jimmie Johnson.
Second on a restart with 32 laps to go ... against a leader on old tires ... at Lowe's Motor Speedway ... during the Chase.
In that scenario, my money is on Johnson every time.
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| Burton, with his wife, Kim, live it up after Saturday's win. (Getty Images) |
And Johnson's late season dominance over the years has been well documented with 12 victories in 44 Chase races (Greg Biffle is next best with six) before Saturday night. None of that mattered much to Jeff Burton. The old-school veteran hung tough, staving off the two-time Cup champion and cruising to his second victory of the year.
"We didn't come here to race Jimmie Johnson," a defiant Burton said. "We came here to try to beat 42 other guys. Jimmie Johnson and that team are the point leaders, and they certainly set the bar pretty high. But we didn't come here to focus on them.
"We understand that we've got to beat them. But the only way we can beat them is for us to pay attention what we're doing. It's more rewarding internally for what we've accomplished rather than the feeling we get for knocking them off their perch."
Johnson not only failed to win, but he faded out of the top five. He still managed a sixth-place finish, which is great for most, but not this driver ... at this track ... at this time of the year.
"I was certainly frustrated slipping back through the field," Johnson said. "You don't know how important those points are going to be till the end of the year. Watching each guy go by, counting them as they go by, is no fun."
So did we witness some chinks showing in the No. 48 team's armor or was it a mere hiccup?
"Had to take a lot of chances today to get the result that we did," said Johnson, who entered the race with a 72-point lead over Carl Edwards and left 69 ahead of Burton.
"I don't like putting myself in that situation. Almost lost the car a handful of times. So that frustration of being on pins and needles out there, trying to run as hard as you can, watching positions slip by and things like that, all just keeps adding up.
"It will take a little while to get it out of my system."
Power Rankings after Lowe's:
| POWER RANKINGS | ||
| Current | Driver | Previous |
| 1 | Jimmie Johnson | 1 |
| Next to Martinsville, there probably isn't a better track for Johnson and his 48 team to try to rebound than Phoenix, where he has three wins, seven top fives, 10 top 10s and an average finish of fifth in 12 starts. | ||
| 2 | Mark Martin | 2 |
| Martin was OK in the first half of Sunday's race but really came on in the second half to snag a top five. That allowed him to close the gap on Johnson from 184 to 73 points. And there's even more good news for the 5 team as the series shifts Phoenix: Martin won at the track in April. | ||
| 3 | Jeff Gordon | 3 |
| Troubles at Talladega and Texas left him outside the top 10 in back-to-back races for the first time since May. | ||
| 4 | Tony Stewart | 5 |
| A good, solid effort from the 14 team throughout at Texas, just didn't have enough to challenge the Busch brothers for supremacy. | ||
| 5 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 4 |
| He started 20th and had made gains into the top 10 until he got loose running next to Carl Edwards, taking them both out. | ||
| 6 | Denny Hamlin | 6 |
| He was stout early, racing from 25th into the top five, but poor pit stops and contact with the wall had the 11 car reeling in the second half of the race. So his team gambled and won on fuel mileage to pull out second. | ||
| 7 | Kurt Busch | 7 |
| Not only did he have a great car, but great fuel mileage as well. He was always one of the last to pit after every long green-flag run at Texas. | ||
| 8 | Kyle Busch | 10 |
| On the verge of an historical triple victory weekend at Texas, he runs out of fuel just a couple laps from the finish. Tough way to end Dave Rogers' first race as crew chief of the 18 car. | ||
| 9 | Ryan Newman | 9 |
| Struggled with a loose car at Texas, running just 61 laps in the top 15. | ||
| 10 | Matt Kenseth | 12 |
| His 17 team continues to show late-season improvement. He had the best finish (third) of those who pitted for gas instead of gambling. | ||
| 11 | Clint Bowyer | 14 |
| A steady run for Bowyer, who finishes in the top 10 at Texas for the third time in his past four visits. | ||
| 12 | Greg Biffle | 13 |
| Notched his second consecutive top 10 and third of the Chase. | ||
| 13 | Kasey Kahne | 8 |
| After starting second, he dropped like a rock. Ran in the teens most of the day until his engine went sour in the waning laps, leading to a 33rd-place finish. | ||
| 14 | Carl Edwards | 11 |
| Four consecutive finishes outside the top 10 including two finishes of 39th. There wasn't a whole lot he could do to avoid Montoya getting up into him Sunday at Texas. | ||
| 15 | Kevin Harvick | 15 |
| Earns his fourth top five of the season at Texas, his first since a second-place run at Atlanta in early September. | ||
