FORT WORTH, Texas -- Team Lowe's Racing spent the past several weeks doing a lot of testing in an effort to improve the team's performance at the larger NASCAR tracks.
That extra work paid off for the No. 48 team on Sunday as Jimmie Johnson drove his Lowe's Chevrolet Impala SS to a runner-up finish in the 500-mile Sprint Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
"Good run for us throughout the day today," Johnson said. "I am just real proud of all the effort that has gone in to picking up our intermediate-track program. It really showed today."
Starting from the fifth position, Johnson took the lead for the first time on lap 48 and held the point position for the next 36 laps. In all, Johnson led five times for 65 laps but was unable to match the pace of race winner Carl Edwards (No. 99), who was arguably the class of the field all weekend at Texas.
Edwards led 123 of the race's 339 laps, the most of any driver, and held off Johnson on a green-white-checkered flag finish.
With five laps remaining, the engine on Martin Truex Jr.'s car let go, putting oil down on the track and bringing out the caution flag. Track workers cleaned up the mess and the race went into overtime in an effort to complete the event under green-flag conditions. A number of drivers on the lead lap came to pit road for tires and fuel during the caution period, but Edwards and Johnson stayed out, choosing track position over new tires.
The strategy paid off for both drivers as drivers on newer tires were unable to mount a charge on the two frontrunners. Following the restart, Edwards was able to put some distance between himself and Johnson, beating Johnson to the finish line by four-tenths of a second.
The strong finish vaulted Johnson up four spots to sixth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers' point standings after the seventh race of the 36-event Cup season.
While Johnson and his Lowe's crew had a great day in Texas, the rest of the Hendrick Motorsports' drivers had a tougher time. Johnson was the only Hendrick driver to finish on the lead lap, with polesitter Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet) fading in the second half of the race to finish a lap down in 12th position, while Casey Mears (No. 5 Kellogg's/CARQUEST Chevrolet) finished 22nd.
After struggling throughout the weekend, Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet) and his team eventually chose to turn the race into a test session. Battling an ill-handling race car, Gordon spun out on lap 109 and damaged the rear wing of his No. 24 Chevy.
After the incident, Gordon and crew chief Steve Letarte made the decision to bring the car to the garage, where the crew spent a number of laps making drastic chassis adjustments before sending Gordon back out. The No. 24 team spent the rest of the race making chassis changes to gather information for future races. The team's 43rd-place finish marked just the second time Gordon has finished last in 516 career Cup starts.
All four manufacturers were represented in the top-five finishes. Edwards and Johnson were the best of the Ford and Chevy camps, respectively, Toyota's Kyle Busch finished third, Ryan Newman came home fourth in a Dodge, and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five in a Toyota.
Jeff Burton (No. 31 Chevrolet) continues to hold the top position in the point standings, followed by Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Earnhardt and Tony Stewart.
The Sprint Cup Series now heads out west for the first night race of the season, at the one-mile Phoenix International Raceway in Arizona.
The Lowe's team has finished seventh or better in its last five Cup starts in Phoenix, and Johnson won the Sprint Cup Series event there last November.
The 312-lap event will air live on Saturday, April 12, beginning at 8 p.m. ET on FOX and 8:30 p.m. on MRN Radio affiliates.
TOP 10 FINISHERS AT TEXAS
1. Carl Edwards (No. 99)
2. Jimmie Johnson (No. 48)
3. Kyle Busch (No. 18)
4. Ryan Newman (No. 12)
5. Denny Hamlin (No. 11)
6. Jeff Burton (No. 31)
7. Tony Stewart (No. 20)_
8. Mark Martin (No. 8)
9. Matt Kenseth (No. 17)
10. Clint Bowyer (No. 07)
HOW HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS DRIVERS FINISHED AT TEXAS
2. Jimmie Johnson (No. 48)
12. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88)
22. Casey Mears (No. 5)
43. Jeff Gordon (No. 24)
TOP 10 IN POINTS AFTER TEXAS
1. Jeff Burton (No. 31)
2. Kevin Harvick (No. 29)
3. Kyle Busch (No. 18)
4. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (No. 88)
5. Tony Stewart (No. 20)
6. Jimmie Johnson (No. 48)
7. Denny Hamlin (No. 11)
8. Ryan Newman (No. 12)
9. Greg Biffle (No. 16)
10. Carl Edwards (No. 99)
11. Clint Bowyer (No. 07)
12. Kasey Kahne (No. 9)
HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS DRIVERS' POINT POSITIONS
4. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
6. Jimmie Johnson
14. Jeff Gordon
26. Casey Mears
TELEVISION SCHEDULE
Phoenix International Raceway
Thursday, April 10
Sprint Cup qualifying, 7 p.m. ET on SPEED
Friday, April 11
Sprint Cup practice, 6:30 ET on SPEED
Sprint Cup final practice, 8 p.m. ET on SPEED
Saturday, April 12
Pre-race, 8 p.m. ET on FOX
Race, 8:30 p.m. ET on FOX
