Winners and losers after Sunday?s AAA Texas 500:
Winners
Jimmie Johnson?He called his wild, door-banging duel with Brad Keselowski a ?bare-knuckle fight.? Johnson delivered the deciding blow to win at Texas and take the upper hand in the Chase. He walked away knowing, however, that it?s likely to be a fight to the finish.
Brad Keselowski?He did everything short of wrecking Johnson to try to win the race. In fact, he may have scored some points in the garage by racing him hard without wrecking him. For the second straight week, Keselowski sent a message that he is not going away and is still in position to win the championship.
Kyle Busch?Busch proved once again that he wants to win as bad as anyone. With just one win this season, he had another great late-season race, finishing third for his fifth top-five in Chase races.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.?Earnhardt erased any doubts of lingering problems from his concussion. In the second race after his return, he rallied from a slow start to finish seventh and was running in the top five late in the race. Though he was officially eliminated from championship contention, bouncing back and racing well for the second straight week showed that Junior is just fine.
Danica Patrick?At one point in the race, Patrick was the talk of Twitter for passing Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin to race her way into the top 20. She finished on the lead lap for the first time in a Sprint Cup race and scored her best Cup finish of 24th. She?s showing improvement and may be on track to surprise next season.
Losers
Kasey Kahne?Kahne wrecked late in the race after getting bumped by teammate Jeff Gordon and it pretty much ended his championship hopes. He?s now 58 points behind Johnson and is racing to finish in the top five in the final standings.
Clint Bowyer?Bowyer finished a respectable sixth, but it was behind both Johnson and Keselowski on a day when he needed to beat both of them to stay in the hunt. The late caution flags ruined his fuel-mileage strategy and possibly robbed him of a win. He?s now 36 points behind with dwindling hopes with just two races remaining.
Jeff Gordon?Gordon charged through the field and was challenging for the lead late in the race when he had a flat tire and had to pit under green. A few laps later, a caution flag came out. He never recovered and finished 14th. Just another in a long line of hard-luck races for Gordon this year.
Denny Hamlin?Hamlin was hoping to win at Texas to soothe some of the disappointment over falling out of championship contention. Instead, he struggled all day, had to pit late when his engine overheated and wound up 20th to continue his slide down the standings.
Kevin Harvick?You know you?re having a bad weekend and a bad season when a parachutist slams into your car on pit road before the race. Harvick salvaged a ninth-place finish, but the damage had already been done, so to speak. Adding insult to injury, he was officially eliminated from championship contention.
madonna half time m.i.a super bowl coin toss madonna super bowl halftime kelly clarkson super bowl giants super bowl 2012 half time show
কোন মন্তব্য নেই:
একটি মন্তব্য পোস্ট করুন