Having seemingly been down and out of the Chase for the Championship after the first few rounds of NASCAR's play-offs, Jimmie Johnson completed a remarkable turnaround in fortune by returning to the head of the point standings with just two rounds remaining.
The #48 Lowe's Chevrolet driver claimed another runner-up finish at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday night, his fourth consecutive top two placing, and reclaimed the lead in the point stnadings that he held for much of the regular season. He now heads the Chase by 17 points over DeWalt Ford's Matt Kenseth, the man who toppled him from P1 heading into the post-season campaign.
"It's great, [but] we just hope we can lead this thing at the end of the year," he said of his achievement, "That's the goal. Our guys are doing awesome - we've raced our way back into this and that's something I'm very proud of. Regardless of how this turns out, this Lowe's team and Chevrolet has been awfully strong and I'm very proud of these guys."
Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch in third and fourth, were Johnson's closest rivals in terms of Chase contenders in Texas, with Kenseth back in twelfth spot after starting a lowly 36th.
"I was just trying to be smart and take care of my stuff," Johnson admitted, "At the end of the night, I had the pace under control and could run and do what I needed to but, all of us, we'd run flat out almost here for a couple of laps and it was really a hard pace."
Unable to compete with race winner Tony Stewart, Johnson happily took second spot to overturn a 26-point deficit to Kenseth going into the race, having enjoyed a largely trouble-free run trhoughout the 500 miles.
"It was a real nice run all night long," he confirmed, "We were able to stay in the top five, although we never really had anything for the #20 [interms of] getting up and leading a lap. We did end up getting a lap on the pit cycle, but it was just a strong performance. I can't believe how fast we were running around this race track. It was a good night for us, [but] I'm mentally tapped after this one.
"I had one hair-raising moment where the window net popped down and I had to get it back up and latch it. It took me a lap or so to get that and I lost a couple of spots but, thankfully, I got that up and didn't have a penalty."
Late caution periods and decisions over how many tyres to take at pit-stops played their part in the outcome of the race, with Johnson among the few to opt for a full four-tyre change. While initially thinking he and the #48 team had messed up, however, he was relieved to find that the decision had been the right one.
