#48- Jimmie Johnson passed #2-Brad Keselowski with four laps remaining in Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 to win his third consecutive race at Texas Motor Speedway and block an automatic qualifying berth in the Championship Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup from one of the Eliminator 8 drivers. The win was the fifth of the season for Johnson and the 75th of his career. He now trails NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt by just one victory for seventh on NASCAR’s all-time wins list. Johnson will attempt to play spoiler again this weekend at Phoenix International Raceway where he owns four wins, 14 top fives and 18 top 10s in 24 starts.
Johnson is not the only one who can ruin a Chase-eligible driver’s day in Arizona. #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2 wins), #11-Denny Hamlin (1), #5-Kasey Kahne (1), #31-Ryan Newman (1) and #14-Tony Stewart (1) are all non-Chase drivers who have won at Phoenix. #24-Jeff Gordon, a two-time Phoenix winner who has already advanced to the Championship Round via his victory at Martinsville, can also block a transfer spot by taking the checkered flag on Sunday (NASCAR), see the all-time winners list on Jayski.com’s All-Time Winners List & Stats page.(11-12-2015)
