By Eric Johnson - Motoring into the 1.5-mile quad oval that is Texas Motor Speedway for the eighth round of the 10-round NASCAR Chase for the Nextel Cup, Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson had amassed 112 career NASCR Cup race wins and five Nextel Cup titles. And to further illustrate the dominance to dynamic duo has displayed in recent years, the two Californians have out-and-out ran roughshod throughout the entire 2007 NASCAR race season — the 10 round Chase for the Cup playoff series included. At Sunday’s Dickies 500 in Fort Worth, Texas, Johnson got the better of Roush Racing driver Matt Kenseth after a thrilling late race duel which saw the two cars breaking traction as they drove pell-mell toward the checkered flag. However, Johnson arrived there first, and in doing so, not only won his third consecutive Chase for the Cup race, but stole Chase the points lead away from Jeff Gordon (who led Johnson by nine points leading into Texas) to where he now leads the Chase by 30 points with only the Phoneix and Miami-Homestead rounds remaining.

"That was tough racing," Johnson said of the door-to-door race with Kenseth in which he won by 0.944 of a second. "Matt was crowding me and I was trying to move him up a little bit and we were doing all that at 190 miles an hour. It was pretty intense."

Kenseth, understandably, was disappointed with his runner-up finish. “He ran me down from a long way back,” he lamented. “I don’t know how fast he was, but I was steadily losing grip.

"We raced a long time, but he was probably pretty confident I wasn't going to wreck him," said Kenseth. "I didn't get him much extra room at all. I felt like I was sideways the whole time. One time, [I] just about spun out. That would have been bad. I'm glad I was able to gather that up and keep going." The whole thing was a gamble on Johnson’s part for if he would have crashed during his 190- mile per hour battle with Kenseth, it would have taken him right of contention for his second consecutive Nextel Cup. "I feel like I was doing a good job balancing those emotions in the car," he explained. "When I got inside of Matt and tried for a lap or two to get by him and he was crowding me, I actually backed off and let him go. So I just checked those feelings and regrouped and then went back after him. "But, after seeing the video when I was doing the Victory Lane interview, I was more sideways than I felt like I was," Johnson mused. "I think I was too focused on the prize and I was pretty crossed up a couple of times."

Four-time NASCAR Nextel Cup champion Jeff Gordon was never really a factor on the high-speed Texas quad oval as he and his team struggled in dealing with his ill-handling Chevrolet. Gordon would ultimately place an off-song seventh overall. Still, there is still time — and hope — that Gordon can catch Johnson in the two races that remain.

"We just flat out got beat [Sunday]," Gordon said. "We just weren't very good right from the start. There at the end was the best we were all day and night. We made the most of it.

"It was a disappointing day, but I'm happy for Jimmie and those guys. They did an awesome job."

Martin Truex Junior placed a spirited third in Texas, crossing the finish line ahead of Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman and Jeff Burton.

The NASCAR Nextel Cup contingent will now head westward to Phoenix where they will compete next Sunday on that city’s uniquely configured 1.0-mile Trioval.