Racing News Digest

Oh man, the points tightened back up at Texas Motor Speedway today.

Kurt Busch was able to hold on and beat his brother Kyle Busch to end. That sounds more dramatic then I meant for it to. Kyle Busch ran out of gas with about 2 laps to go giving the lead to Kurt who pitted 2 laps after Kyle last pitted giving him just enough fuel to finish the race in first and a victory lap in reverse with the checked flag. His car did have to pushed to Victory Lane though.

Kurt Busch led 89 laps today as well.

“This is the first time Kyle and I raced each other hard,” said Kurt Busch, who led six times for 89 laps while also running second behind his brother much of the race. “It’s bittersweet, I was rooting for him, but at the same time this is for us.”

Kyle was consistently being told to slow down and conserve fuel. He led 232 laps for the day.

With Jeff Gordon leading 11 laps, those were the only lap leaders of the day besides Denny Hamlin leading 2.

Jimmie Johnson found himself in trouble on lap 2 of today’s race as he found himself crashing into the wall. The video I have included shows that David Reutimann either got into Sam Hornish Jr. or was close enough to take air away from him and cause him to get loose. Hornish then wiggles up the track and just barely gets into Jimmie Johnson.

It appears that Johnson almost saves it but one more bobble and he looses it actually coming back down the track and clipping Sam Hornish Jr. before greeting the wall.

Jimmie Johnson finished today’s race in 38th 129 laps behind the leader.

“It’s still a respectable lead, 73 with two to go is a good position to be in,” Johnson said. “I hate we gave up all these points. … It’s not as bad as it could have been, we could have finished 43rd.”

Now, of course we hate to see these drivers crash but this really closes up the points gap. As you can tell below Johnson is now only 78 points ahead of Mark Martin. That is a huge gap closer of points when it could have easily been extended after today.

About 84 laps later Sam Hornish Jr. went into the wall with 3 flat tires.

Then on Lap 174 Juan Pablo Montoya got a little loose causing him to clip the rear of the Carl Edwards car. This send Carl spinning and into the wall. Pretty much ending his day.

Brad Keselowski was coming around and got into Montoya who had pretty much had control back over his car after getting into the wall himself.

When all of this was happening Jeff Gordon turned down the track to avoid everything and got loose sending him into a spin. With the pits closed Gordon sucked up a penalty in an effort to save his car from further damage if he waited for the pits to open.

Carl Edwards finished in 39th while Juan Pablo Montoya finished 37th.

UNOFFICIAL TOP 12 IN POINTS AND WHERE THEY FINISHED TODAY

CHECK OUT OUR STANDINGS PAGE When Official Standings Are Released.

As you can tell, with Jimmie Johnson’s crash Mark Martin only -78 points behind Jimmie Johnson now. Before the race he was -184 points behind Johnson. Jeff Gordon now is only -112 points back up from -192.

Kurt Busch’s win propelled him up to spots to 4th and only -171 points back. Kurt and JPM swapped spots and with Juan Pablo’s crash he is now 6th in points and -236 points back. But to show how much the points tightened up after Johnson’s crash he was able to still make up 3 points on the leader after being at -239 last week.

Tony Stewart still sits 5th in points but instead of being -279 points back last week he has now shot up to only -178 points back from the leader after finishing 6th today.

Johnson’s crash has really tightened up the race giving quite a few drivers an honest shot at the championship. While it is unlikely Johnson will have another blunder in the next 2 races, if he does then it will really be anyone’s game.

It is only possible for the top 5 in points to win the championship now. At most 161 points can be made up during 1 race.

So if Tony Stewart and the others have a real good next race and Johnson has a mediocre race, then we will be looking at a hell of a race come Homestead.

RACE RESULTS TOP 12 – VISIT OUR RESULTS PAGE WHEN OFFICIAL RESULTS COME OUT