In a NASCAR race that had nearly everything, Jeff Gordon did a Calvin Borel on Jeff Burton, Jimmie Johnson's pit crew got the hook faster than struggling pitcher, Kyle Busch tested NASCAR's freedom of speech limits and, oh yeah, Denny Hamlin charged right past Jimmie Johnson into the lead in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.Hamlin fought off a determined charge by Matt Kenseth in a final restart with three laps to go in the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, and his eighth victory of the year propelled him into the championship lead by 33 points over Jimmie Johnson, who finished ninth.
Johnson's struggles centered on his pit crew, which had three bad stops in a row and was replaced mid-race by the pit crew of Gordon, who was a big part of the day's drama after getting wrecked by Burton and then trying to tear his lungs out.
Behind Hamlin and Kenseth, Mark Martin finished third, followed by Joey Logano and Greg Biffle.
Kevin Harvick fought with an ill-handling car, but managed to stay near the front and finished sixth. Harvick is now 59 points behind Hamlin.
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