Five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson and 2003 series champ Matt Kenseth head to Texas Motor Speedway for Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 deadlocked in the closest Cup championship battle with three races remaining in Chase history as well as under the current points structure initiated in 1975.
Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet) and Kenseth (No. 20 Home Depot/Dollar General Toyota) are tied for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship lead following Sunday’s race at Martinsville. Kenseth erased a four-point deficit coming into the race by virtue of a second-place finish and leading the most laps, coupled with a fifth-place finish by Johnson in the seventh of 10 races in the Chase format. Four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon (No. 24 Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet) won the race to move into third, 27 points behind the co-leaders, while Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet) is a point behind Gordon in fourth.
The deadlock tops the previously closest Chase championship bout with three races to go, which occurred last year when Johnson arrived at the AAA Texas 500 holding a two-point advantage over eventual series champion Brad Keselowski. Under the current points structure that began in 1975, it also eclipsed the tightest championship battle with three to go when Gordon held a one-point edge over eventual champion and native Texan Terry Labonte in the 1996 season.
“It’s been a great battle with the No. 20 car (Kenseth) and the No. 24 (Gordon) is really showing that he wants to be a part of this deal as well; and there are some other guys back there kind of close,” Johnson said afterward. “So, it’s going to be a dogfight to the end. The way that I would want to go racing for a championship, and I know that’s exactly what the fans want to see. We’ll keep digging hard.”
“I really felt like if we came out of here (Martinsville) in the lead or tied or close to it, I really felt like we got what it takes to race in the last three races,” Kenseth added. “I feel like when my team is at its best and we do everything right, I feel like we can race anybody at these next three tracks. I feel good about that. Anything can happen, but man, we’re in it, and we’re going to three really good tracks, so hopefully we can perform here the next three weeks and have a race.“
Kenseth and Johnson have excelled at Texas Motor Speedway, with the duo ranking first and second, respectively, for the best career finishing averages among NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers. Kenseth, with an 8.5 finishing average, has two wins (2002, spring of 2011) and leads all drivers at TMS in top-five finishes (12) and laps led (772) in his 22 career starts. Johnson, who owns a 9.1 finishing average, has won this fall event twice (2007 and last year) and is tied with Kenseth for most top-10 finishes (15) in his 20 career starts at Texas.
In eight AAA Texas 500 starts, Kenseth has seven top-10 finishes, including six among the top five with a best of second twice. During that span, Johnson has five top-five efforts, including a pair of wins. In their most recent appearance at Texas during April’s NRA 500, Johnson qualified seventh and finished sixth while Kenseth qualified 20th and finished 12th.
The AAA Texas 500, the eighth race in the 10-event Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup format, will begin at 2 p.m. CT Sunday (ESPN). The championship concludes with races in Phoenix (Nov. 10) and Homestead (Nov. 17) to determine the series champion. Should the championship end in a tie, the new Sprint Cup champion will be determined by most wins on the season. Kenseth currently owns a 7-5 edge in that category.
“We’re still in it,” Johnson said. “That’s the thing is to go to (the season finale at) Homestead with a shot. I would have loved to have got a few points here today. We didn’t. But we’ve got Texas, Phoenix and Homestead. A lot can happen in those races. I think we’re going to finish close to each other each week and it’s going to be a mistake in my opinion that will separate things at the end of the year. We’ve just got to be clean and not make any mistakes.”
