FORT WORTH, Texas -- Jimmie Johnson is the leader again in the Chase for the Sprint Cup title after a dominating victory Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway. The five-time Cup champion knows all too well that his seven-point lead over Matt Kenseth is far from overwhelming with two races left in the season. Johnson also left the Lone Star State last November with a victory and seven-point lead -- and lost the championship to Brad Keselowski. "I hope history doesnt repeat itself," Johnson said. "That is the perfect example of this thing isnt over until its over. Last year we had eight great races and two bad ones and didnt get the championship. ... There are two very important races left." Kenseth and Johnson were tied in points when they got to Texas, though Kenseth was considered the leader based on his seven wins. Johnson led 255 of 334 laps for his sixth win this season while becoming only the second three-time Cup winner at the high-banked 1 1/2-mile Texas track. The No. 48 Chevrolet finished more than 4 seconds ahead of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. "The 48 was in another class and nobody had anything for them," said Earnhardt, who had his fifth runner-up finish this season and has been top 10 in six of the last seven Chase races. Joey Logano finished third, ahead of Kenseth while Kasey Kahne, another Hendrick driver, was fifth. Johnson got his 66th career victory, including a record 24 wins in Chase races. But he and crew chief Chad Knaus are now in their third season since winning their fifth consecutive championship. "Ive been watching a lot of MMA fighting lately, and youll fall into a rhythm and think that somebodys got a fight won, and it doesnt end that way," Johnson said. "Its how this is going to be. Matt didnt have maybe the best day, but he still finished fourth. This thing is going to the last lap at Homestead. Its going to come down to mistake." Kenseth was running second behind Johnson for much of the first half of the race before getting penalized for speeding. That dropped Kenseth to 16th place and more than 28 seconds back, though the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota recovered for a top-five finish. "We were just being too aggressive. Honestly, the 48 had us ... they were just dominant all weekend," Kenseth said. "That speeding penalty got us behind us. We definitely didnt need that, but really I dont know at the end of the day that it really affected our finish much." At Phoenix, where the Chase goes next Sunday, Johnson is a four-time winner and finished second in March. His average finishing spot of 6.4 there is significantly better than the 17.2 for Kenseth, who has one victory at Phoenix and finished seventh there eight months ago. "Im still confident," Kenseth said. "I felt real good going to Phoenix last year, and I thought we were in good shape and we had a problem. Ive never seen it this tight, so I dont feel any better really this year than I did last year," car owner Rick Hendrick said. "I think Jimmie has been very confident, but nobody has said he was unbeatable this year. Really, Matts been right there the whole year." Kenseth was still running second when Johnson pulled down pit road, a lap before Kenseth came in as the last to pit on a cycle of green-flag stops. But Kenseth was caught speeding on pit road and had to serve a drive-through penalty. By time he got back on the track, he was the last car on the lead lap and about 25 seconds further behind than he had been before the two had pitted. A caution a few laps later got Kenseth up three spots, but more importantly tightened up the field. Within a few laps after the ensuing restart, Kenseth was back in the top 10 and climbing. By then, Kyle Busch had moved back into second, the same spot he was before a right front tire went down and put into in the outside wall on lap 57 to bring out a caution. Busch, who won the spring race in Texas, would up 13th. When Busch went into the wall, he was between Johnson and Kenseth, who went onto pit road 1-2. The top Chase contenders didnt exit that way. While Johnson had a quick stop, he was second out behind polesitter Carl Edwards, who had the stall closest to the scoring line. Kenseth has an issue on his stop that dropped him to sixth. Edwards, who had been the only three-time Cup winner at Texas, led six times for 38 times. But Edwards finished only 187 laps before an engine failure ended his day. Four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon, the other Hendrick driver, was in contention for another championship after his win a week earlier at Martinsville moved him up to a season-high third in points. But on Lap 74, the front left tire on the No. 24 Chevrolet blew, sending Gordon high and hard into the wall between the first and second turns. His returned to the race after repairs and finished in 38th place, 187 laps off the pace. He dropped to sixth the standings, 67 points back. "I just know that the left front went down as I was going down the front straightaway. I felt it before I got there, and I just couldnt get it slowed down enough," Gordon said. "I dont know; the wind was so strong that the car was doing funky things down the straightaways. I dont know if that was a slow leak, or if it just went all of a sudden. Our car just didnt take off very good, but boy was it strong on the long runs." Lamar Jackson Jersey . The young man, never lacking confidence, thought he could be really good. Willie Snead IV Jersey .twitter.com/TeZD3KOvlA — Charlotte Hornets (@hornets) September 24, 2014 Sorry for the delay, we just got back from lunch at Papa Vons #NBAFastFood pic. http://www.cheapravensshoponline.com/You...-Ravens-Jersey/. The Packers, Lions and Bears were a combined 35-15 and as long as Jay Cutler can say healthy, all three could make the playoffs in 2012. Hayden Hurst Ravens Jersey . The game was the first of two international friendlies that Canada is playing during the international break, with the second game against Slovenia set for Tuesday in Celje. Canada looked uncomfortable defensively throughout the game, and every free kick that came into Canadas penalty box looked like ending up in the back of the net. John Brown Jersey . Philippe Desrosiers stopped 42 shots through overtime and three more in the shootout to pick up his third shutout of the season for Rimouski (31-15-7). Zachary Fucale made 28 saves for Halifax (34-17-3) in the loss.GENEVA -- Former European Cup winners Porto and Celtic took big steps toward the Champions League group stage on Wednesday, as home teams struggled in their playoff round, first-leg matches. Two-time champion Porto won 1-0 in Lille, and Celtic took advantage of a reprieve from UEFA to play in the competition by drawing 1-1 at Maribor. Russian league leader Zenit St. Petersburgs 1-0 victory at Standard Liege helped ensure all five home teams failed to win. APOEL is favoured to advance next week in Cyprus after drawing 1-1 against Aalborg in Denmark. BATE Borisov took a 1-1 draw back to Belarus after Slovan Bratislava got an 80th-minute equalizer from veteran Slovakia forward Robert Vittek. Second-leg matches are played next Tuesday, two days before the 32-team group stage is drawn in Monaco. Each club is then guaranteed at last 8.6 million euros ($11.5 million) in prize money from UEFA. Porto and Lille both finished third in their national leagues last season, and it was Portugal which looked the classier act on this evidence. The only goal, in the 61st minute, had a World Cup flavour to it. Portos Mexico midfielder Hector Herrera pounced from close-range after Lilles Nigeria goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama parried a header by Jackson Martinez, the Colombia forward. Lille rarely threatened, though defender Sebastien Corchia shot over from eight meters (yards) in the 45th after his first shot was blocked. Celtic, the 1967 champion, owed its appearance in the playoffs to UEFAs lawyers afteer losing home and away to previous opponent Legia Warsaw.dddddddddddd Celtic advanced when the Polish champion was punished for fielding a suspended player. The Scottish side led in the sixth minute from a third goal in the competition by Callum McGregor, who seized on a loose ball after Jo Inge Bergets shot was saved. Maribor, seeking a first group-stage appearance for 15 years, levelled eight minutes with Damjan Bohars goal. Celtic would have retaken the lead but Stefan Johansen, standing on the goalline, inadvertently blocked teammate Virgil van Dijks header. After four straight wins in its national league, coach Andre Villas-Boas Zenit team also won in Belgium. Brazil forward Hulks pass across the penalty box set up Oleg Shatovs winning goal in the 16th minute. APOEL, a surprise quarterfinalist three seasons ago, made its first shot on target count in the 54th minute at Aalborg. Brazilian midfielder Vinicius finished a surging run into the penalty area with a rising shot into the net. The Danish champion Aalborg had dominated the first half and took the lead with Nicolaj Thomsens shot in the 16th from 15 metres (yards). BATE are well set to reach the group stage for the fourth time since 2008. It led with a 44th-minute own goal by Slovan defender Tomas Jablonsky. Vittek, whose four goals at the 2010 World Cup included two to eliminate defending champion Italy, came off the bench late to level the match with a left-foot shot from a tight angle. 17:22ET 20-08-14 Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping NFL Jerseys From China China Jerseys Jerseys Wholesale Wholesale Jerseys From China China NFL Gear Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping ' ' '
|
Forum Statistiken
Das Forum hat 9577
Themen
und
9600
Beiträge.
|
Einfach ein eigenes Xobor Forum erstellen |