Jimmie managed to hang out in the back and Talladega and missed the wreck involving Ryan Newman.  Then when he tried to move to the front with 20 laps or so remaining, he found himself struggling to do so.  Somehow, he did manage to grab a top ten finish and moved even further ahead of Mark Martin in the standings.

Texas Motor Speedway wasn't as kind to Jimmie, and he was tapped by Sam Hornish on lap 3 of the race, sending him crashing had into the infield barrier.  The damage was drastic, but his team didn't give up, basically giving him an  entire new front end before he came back out onto the track, 119 laps down.  The team is a never say die type of team, and with under one hundred laps to go, Jimmie was being shown in 39th position.

The Busch brothers really were the two most dominant cars on the track and led most of the race, particularly Kyle, who had already shown his domination of Texas by winning both the Truck and the Nationwide races earlier int he weekend.  Unfortunately, it wasn't to be, as Kyle ran out of gas at the end of the race, allowing big brother Kurt to score the win, and make his ridiculours backwards victory lap.

The chase standibgs have been shaken up, something none of us saw coming.  Jeff Gordon seemed poised to capitalize on his teammate's bad luck, but he had issues as well, spinning on the track when Juan Pablo Montoya and Carl Edwards got together.  He had to replace the splitter but got back out on the track.  He ended up with a 13th place finish and called it a "missed opportunity".  He admitted freely that he was challenged here at Texas and just can't seem to get a handle on this track.

The drivers who missed the Chase also seemed to be the ones up front.  Kevin Harvick was ABC's in race reporter and finished with a top five, even though he ran out of fuel onthe last lap.  Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt Jr both spent most of the race up front, with Matt getting a 3rd place finish.  Dale Jr ran out of fuel with only a couple of laps remainig and finished in 25th, once again, a finish not indicative of his run throughout the day.

Mark Martin managed a 4th place finish and gained on Jimmie in the points, unofficially to around 70 points behind Jimmie.  Jeff's 13th place finish also gained him points on Jimmie, who finished in 38th.

The Chase has been shaken up.  It's actually a contest once again, and heading to Phoenix, almost anything could happen.  It won't be the runaway for Jimmie Johnson that we predicted and may even be a Chase for the Championship.