Johnson, Earnhardt finish in top 10 at Texas Motor Speedway

FORT WORTH, Texas – Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. picked up top-10 finishes during Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Texas Motor Speedway, while their Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin finished 23rd and 36th, respectively.

Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s/KOBALT Tools Chevrolet, opened the 334-lap event from the sixth position and held steady in the top 10. He crossed the finish line eighth to claim his 12th top-10 finish in 16 Cup starts at the 1.5-mile track. Johnson ranks fourth in the driver standings.

Earnhardt lined up 28th and drove his No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet through the field. Using strategy employed by crew chief Steve Letarte, Earnhardt led two laps on his way to scoring a ninth-place finish and improving to sixth in the driver standings.

Gordon started 32nd and ran as high as 13th during the Saturday Cup event. He was running 16th with 14 laps to go and held on to finish 23rd. The driver of the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet led once during the 501-lap event and now ranks 14th in the driver standings.

Martin, who started the race 21st in his No. 5 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, was running 16th roughly 200 laps into the event. On Lap 215, he was collected in an accident on the backstretch at Texas Motor Speedway that ended his night. The driver of the No. 5 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet was scored with the 36th-place finish and now ranks 15th in the driver standings.