On Sunday Jimmie Johnson had his third consecutive victory in the Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship at Texas Motor Speedway.

Johnson beat Matt Kenseth in a side-by-side duel in the 21 laps left out of 33. He changed his tires four times in comparison with Kenseth who only changed tires twice.

Johnson said regarding the race: “I was dirt-tracking the car [sliding sideways on pavement], and having fun, and was a free spirit of sorts.” He also thought of backing down in order to preserve his points position, but that didn’t happen.

This led Johnson to his third win in a row, his ninth of the season, and assumed a 30-point lead over Gordon with two chases left: next week in Phoenix and on November 18 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

This was the second week in a row where Johnson won and Gordon tried to finish in top 10.

Gordon said regarding Johnson’s branch of the Hendrick Motorsports team: “Those guys are just out-performing us, that’s all there is to it,” media sources reports.

Clint Bowyer finished 19^th and is 181 points behind Johnson. He was the only driver in the race with any real hope to outrun Johnson and Gordon in the points.

L.A. Times quoted Johnson saying: “Now we have control of it, I guess. The last two weeks I’ve been able to gain 80-something points on Jeff [83, precisely], but in the next two weeks I could lose 80-something back to him.”

Gordon won in the spring at Phoenix so his best chance is there. At Homestead-Miami Speedway neither Johnson nor Gordon won.

When asked if he feels sorry for his close friend and mentor about losing, Johnson said that he didn’t. He said that Gordon is the best driver to challenge him on the track and that he respects him.

Although Kenseth was in the lead he admits that Johnson had a faster car. In the last four laps Johnson’s Chevrolet was right along Kenseth’s Ford.