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Texas NASCAR: Jimmie Johnson grabs win from Brad Keselowski

Jimmie Johnson made a late surge to beat long-time leader Brad Keselowski to victory in the NASCAR Sprint Cup's Texas 500

Keselowski, seeking a win to book his place in the championship decider at Homestead, had dominated the race, leading 312 of the 334 laps for Penske, only to lose out to a charging Johnson with four laps to run.

Johnson, already eliminated from the Chase, made the most of a battle between Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr to pile on the pressure during the final green-flag run.

His victory was his fifth of 2015 and his sixth at Texas Motor Speedway.

Keselowski was forced to settle for second, with fellow Chase runner Kevin Harvick third, despite suffering two tyre failures during the 500-mile long race.

The defending Cup champion was forced to finish the race with one hand on the wheel and another on the shifter as his Stewart-Haas Chevrolet jumped out of gear.

Kyle Busch beat Joe Gibbs Racing team-mate Carl Edwards to finish fourth, as Dale Earnhardt Jr fought from a lap down after a spin and a cut tyre to claim sixth.

Fellow Chase contender Kurt Busch was seventh from Truex, who faded in the closing laps after a bump from Keselowski while fighting for the lead at the final restart.

Jeff Gordon, who has already secured his berth in the championship decider, came home ninth.

Joey Logano's hopes of progressing to the final four title shootout now rest on an outright victory at Phoenix next time out as his race was destroyed by an exploding tyre after just 10 laps.

He trailed home in 40th, 66 laps down after a lengthy stint in the garage as his team battled to repair considerable internal damage to his Penske Ford.

Erik Jones, substituting for the suspended Matt Kenseth at Joe Gibbs Racing, was 12th.

RESULTS - 334 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 3h38m38.s
2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 1.082s
3 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 3.603s
4 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 5.234s
5 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 6.201s
6 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 6.605s
7 Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 8.052s
8 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 9.370s
9 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 9.685s
10 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 11.156s
11 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 11.210s
12 Erik Jones Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 13.759s
13 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 22.132s
14 Brian Scott Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 22.590s
15 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 24.994s
16 Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 25.086s
17 A.J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 26.146s
18 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 27.576s
19 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 1 Lap
20 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 1 Lap
21 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 1 Lap
22 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 1 Lap
23 David Ragan Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 1 Lap
24 Sam Hornish Jr. Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 2 Laps
25 Landon Cassill Hillman Smith Motorsports Chevrolet 3 Laps
26 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 4 Laps
27 Cole Whitt Front Row Motorsports Ford 4 Laps
28 Justin Allgaier HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 4 Laps
29 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 5 Laps
30 Brett Moffitt Front Row Motorsports Ford 5 Laps
31 Michael Annett HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 5 Laps
32 Jeb Burton BK Racing Toyota 5 Laps
33 J.J. Yeley BK Racing Toyota 5 Laps
34 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing Ford 6 Laps
35 Matt DiBenedetto BK Racing Toyota 6 Laps
36 Ryan Preece Phil Parsons Racing Chevrolet 8 Laps
37 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet Accident
38 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 30 Laps
39 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 38 Laps
40 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 66 Laps
41 Alex Bowman Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet Engine
42 Tony Stewart Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet Accident
43 Ryan Blaney Wood Brothers Racing Ford Accident

CHASE STANDINGS:

Pos Driver Points
1 Jeff Gordon 4082
2 Kyle Busch 4080
3 Kevin Harvick 4079
4 Martin Truex Jr. 4076
5 Carl Edwards 4069
6 Brad Keselowski 4057
7 Kurt Busch 4048
8 Joey Logano 4013


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