Jimmie Johnson rides away with win in Duck Commander 500

Credit: Debbie Ross/Skirts and Scuffs

Jimmie Johnson and Victory Lane at Texas Motor Speedway go together like guns and cowboy hats. The six-time champion proved it again Saturday night with his victory in the Duck Commander 500. Johnson led the most laps on the way to his 72nd career win, putting him within four of Dale Earnhardt’s record.

"The end of the race was nutty. I think those last three restarts with the varying tire strategies that were going on, everybody was just driving so hard," said Johnson. "Our car didn't handle like it was when we were up front leading, so the first restart we were pretty concerned and made some changes. The second one we got a little better. The third one, our car was really, really good and able to work our way forward."

The six-time champ not only drives well, he recaps well, too. He described the end of the race:

"Unfortunately the 4 (Kevin Harvick) was having some trouble getting by the 1 (Jamie McMurray), and they slid up high through 3 and 4 and left the bottom wide open for me, and I thought I'd at least get the 4 car, and when I came off of Turn 4, I was alongside the 1, and I thought, man, we're going to get them both here. So that worked out well. And then I thought I had it under control." 

"88 (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) had something working on the bottom, so I got the bottom sorted out and then the 4 was flying around the top and started working on my line around the top, and I looked up in the mirror, and I saw smoke and sparks and figured that was the end of the 4 and the next straightway I saw him door-to-door with the 88 still going at it." 

Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. battled through the last few laps, and Harvick's last-lap crossover move gave him second place, with Earnhardt finishing third. 

"Just really proud of my team for the battle that we had this weekend with the car, through practice and even at the beginning, really all night, just trying to battle the balance of the car, and that's pretty typical as you come to Texas," said Harvick. "All in all, it was a lot of fun. Fun to race that way." 

"It's a long race, and you get mentally prepared for it because it's pretty tough," said Earnhardt. "It feels almost like the 600 in some ways.  It's a slick old track, and the pace slows down. You work your guts out in there driving that car around there because the track is so slick, so it's a very physical race, and I had a blast."

Team Penske rounded out the top five, with Joey Logano fourth and Brad Keselowski in fifth. 

The race featured 29 lead changes among nine drivers, and was slowed eight times by caution for a total of 40 laps. 

Kevin Harvick leads the points standings by 26 over Joey Logano. 

Unofficial Race Results: 

Fin	St	Driver
1	5	Jimmie Johnson
2	2	Kevin Harvick
3	25	Dale Earnhardt Jr.
4	6	Joey Logano
5	3	Brad Keselowski
6	10	Jamie McMurray
7	12	Jeff Gordon
8	4	Kasey Kahne
9	15	Martin Truex Jr.
10	16	Carl Edwards
11	18	Denny Hamlin
12	7	Ryan Newman
13	30	David Ragan
14	1	Kurt Busch
15	22	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
16	21	Danica Patrick
17	19	Greg Biffle
18	23	Trevor Bayne
19	32	Aric Almirola
20	14	Austin Dillon
21	26	A.J. Allmendinger
22	27	Clint Bowyer
23	17	Matt Kenseth
24	11	Tony Stewart
25	9	Kyle Larson
26	29	Sam Hornish Jr.
27	20	Casey Mears
28	38	David Gilliland
29	36	Brett Moffitt
30	40	Chris Buescher
31	39	Michael McDowell
32	33	Landon Cassill
33	34	Alex Bowman
34	42	Matt DiBenedetto
35	31	Cole Whitt
36	37	Mike Bliss
37	43	Alex Kennedy
38	35	Josh Wise
39	24	Justin Allgaier
40	28	Michael Annett
41	8	Paul Menard
42	13	Ryan Blaney
43	41	J.J. Yeley