A small crash on lap 3 may have given 4 drivers hope in winning the Chase. Jimmie Johnson entered Texas with a huge lead and only needed a decent top-10 finish to basically lock up an unprecedented 4th NASCAR Championship, instead, he got bumped around turn two and almost saved it, until he came back across the track and got nailed causing heavy damage.
With Johnson out of contention for the race that left the door open for other drivers to gain huge points on Johnson. Mark Martin capitalized the most on Johnson's misfortuntes as he finished 5th. Here's how the points look now for the Chase with just 2 races to go.
| 1 | -- | Jimmie Johnson | 6297 | Leader | |||||
| 2 | -- | Mark Martin | 6224 | -73 | |||||
| 3 | -- | Jeff Gordon | 6185 | -112 | |||||
| 4 | -- | Kurt Busch | 6126 | -171 | |||||
| 5 | -- | Tony Stewart | 6119 | -178 |
Any slip up by Johnson could really make things interesting for the final race in Homestead Miami in 2 weeks. Just about everyone is rooting for 50-year old Mark Martin to win his first Championship after racing for nearly his entire life. Martin has rededicated himself to working out to build strength and endurance and it has paid off.
Johnson started the race with a 184-point lead so its safe to say that all bets are off. This is the 6th year of the Chase and Jimmie Johnson has won the last 3. The closest margin of victory came in the inaugural Chase when Matt Kenseth won by 8 points. This Chase could shape up to be the same.
My prediction is that Mark Martin finds a way to win it. I know that most people who read Sorts of Sports don't follow NASCAR but if you've passed on watching all season long and you're the least bit interested, pay attention the next two weeks for an exciting end to this season. It's not hard to flip back and forth on Sunday to see how things are panning out. Besides, the only good game on TV next Sunday is the Primetime game.
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