Johnson rues early shunt

Johnson waved into the pits

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In a season that has been all about close finishes, Sunday's race at Texas Motor Speedway was all about its third lap.

Three-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson was winning the Chase for the Sprint Cup by over 180 points and looking every part the winner of his fourth straight Championship.

But when David Reutimann sent Sam Hornish Jr's car sliding up the track into Johnson's No.48, Johnson looked as though he'd rescued his car, only for it to hit Hornish - and then the lower wall - on its way down.

One of the great miracles of the race was that Johnson managed to finish at all - extensive repairs left him well over 100 laps behind when he returned to the race - and he stopped in at 38th.

Mark Martin's fourth place finish meant that he cut Johnson's lead to 73 points going into the second last race of the season at Phoenix - a track which historically Johnson has fared well at.

"In the back of my mind, I couldn't shut down the possibility of something going wrong," Johnson told the US media after the race. "This is racing. You got to drive the race. We've heard it from other sports - you have to play the game.

"I guess there is some of that in there. It's really not for me to sit here and say that. I just think it's a good lesson for everybody. We'll learn a lot as a race team from this.

"Even after winning races, fielding questions, the possibility was out there. It's still out there. There's no telling what's going to happen."

The remaining laps were exciting too. Chase drivers Carl Edwards, Juan Pablo Montoya and Jeff Gordon were all involved in a crash on Lap 174 when Montoya pranged Edwards. Gordon - with the luck that evaded his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Johnson earlier in the race - survived with his car in one piece.

The rest of the race was as good as it gets, combined close racing, fuel strategy and bit of sibling rivalry. With Kyle Busch leading the race from his brother Kurt and looking as though he'd win second race in as many days after dominating Saturday's Nationwide encounter, Busch elected not to come in to pit with 12 laps to go. It proved to be fatal.

With three laps to go, Busch's car was out of fuel and fellow top ten driver Marcos Ambrose had the same problem.

Kurt Busch won the race, followed by Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Martin, and Kevin Harvick. Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer, Greg Biffle, Jeff Burton and AJ Allmendinger rounded out the top 10.