Denny Hamlin takes back the controls

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver won the AAA Texas 500 race and took the opportunity to regain the lead in the Chase, with ninth place from four-time Sprint Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson (Hendrick Motorsports).

Published on 08/11/2010 à 12:12

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The AAA Texas 500 race was surprising from start to finish. With three races remaining in the season, tension is rising a notch, as evidenced by the altercation between Jeff Gordon (Hendrick Motorsports) and Jeff Burton (Richard Childress Racing) that occurred on lap 192 after a collision (under yellow flag). ) between the two veterans who are not yet fighting for the title.

Denny Hamlin nevertheless managed to maintain his composure to win his eighth victory of the season (the 16th of his career) even though he had spent part of the race in the middle of the peloton. The pilot of the Toyota No. 11 took advantage of the gearbox problems of Greg Biffle (Roush Fenway Racing), who after leading 224 laps on the Texas oval, could no longer maintain his advantage on the restarts.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver therefore won ahead of the Ford of Matt Kenseth (Roush Fenway Racing) and the Chevrolet of Mark Martin (Hendrick Motorsports), who recovered well after receiving several penalties. The driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet had in fact received two penalty laps for having explicitly shown his dissatisfaction with the marshals of the Nascar. He therefore finished third ahead of Joey Logano (Joe Gibbs Racing), author of a solid race, Greg Biffle, who certainly deserved better and Kevin Harvick (Richard Childress Racing), who remains in the race for the title.

But the driver of the No. 16 Ford was not the only one to encounter this problem since Jimmie Johnson also suffered from it. The driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet had a difficult race. His first stops having gone badly, his crew chief Chad Knaus did not hesitate to replace the team of mechanics with the one that was taking care of Jeff Gordon's car. The No. 48 team just had to put away the No. 24 equipment?

In the end, the AAA Texas 500 offered a race full of twists and turns. With only two races remaining, Phoenix (November 14) and Homestead at Mami (November 21), the Championship is more uncertain than ever. The three title contenders are only 59 points apart in the standings.