FORT WORTH, Texas — More Texas trouble for Jimmie Johnson, and a new leader in the closest three-way Chase for the Sprint Cup with only two races left.
Denny Hamlin completed a Texas two-step Sunday, winning at the track for the second time this year and taking over the points lead from four-time defending season champion Johnson.
Johnson’s drive for five suddenly got real bumpy. Fourteen points ahead at the start of the race, he finished ninth to fall 33 points behind Hamlin.
“We’re on the cusp of trying to get our first championship, and as long as we keep doing what we’ve been doing, we should be OK,” Hamlin said. “I’m going to race like we need to win from here on out. I’ve been saying with three (races) to go, I was going to be a little bit more aggressive.”
Hamlin took the lead with 29 laps to go and then overcame a push from Matt Kenseth on the final restart with three laps left, holding on for his series-best eighth victory this season.
Kevin Harvick finished sixth and remained third in points, 59 behind Hamlin.
Johnson had troublesome pit stops that led to an unusual midrace crew change when Hendrick teammate Jeff Gordon’s crew was conveniently available. Gordon got wrecked out of the race and then shoved Jeff Burton on the track when they got out of their mangled cars.
“It was just a long day,” Johnson said. “I had speed in the car. We worked our way forward and had issues on pit road. . . . We gave away so much track position from the beginning. It’s tough to get back where we needed to.”
Hamlin won at Texas in April less than three weeks after surgery to repair a torn ACL in his left knee. His first race after the surgery was a 30th-place finish at Phoenix, where the Chase goes this week.
Greg Biffle led 11 times for 224 of the 334 laps but finished fifth.
