Despite winning a Sprint Cup Series-high eight races in 2010, Denny Hamlin (Left) and crew chief Mike Ford (Right) failed to win the title. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

During the pit stops, Logano held onto the lead over Biffle, Reutimann, Harvick, Martin and Hamlin. And Gordon’s pit crew was dispatched to service Johnson’s car for the rest of the race. Johnson restarted 13th this time, again losing spots on pit road.

Once the race restarted, Biffle sailed out easily to a comfortable lead over the Toyotas of Logano, Reutimann and Hamlin, with Harvick fifth and Johnson back in 13th.

But Johnson started picking off his rivals and was up to eighth by Lap 228.

Green-flag stops began on Lap 243, and when they cycled through, Biffle led Reutimann, Harvick, Logano, Hamlin and Johnson. Gordon’s crew delivered big-time under pressure with a 12.6-second pit stop.

With 50 laps to go, another round of green-flag stops started and Johnson’s borrowed crew got him out in 12.3 seconds, far and away the best of the day.

Now, the order was Biffle, Harvick, Hamlin, Reutimann and Johnson.

On Lap 301, NASCAR through a caution for debris, sending most of the field down pit road. But Martin and Tony Stewart took over the spot two spots as the rest of he leaders took two tires. Harvick was third, leading Hamlin, Logano, Reutimann, Kenseth, Biffle and Johnson.

The race restarted on Lap 305, Biffle falling back because he lost second gear in his transmission.

One lap later, Hamlin passed Martin to take the lead, looking to win his second straight race at Texas. Then, Martin fell to third on Lap 312, as Kenseth took the runner-up spot and set off after the leader.

Denny Hamlin won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

With 16 laps to go, Harvick bounced off the frontstretch wall, and five laps later, Johnson picked off Paul Menard and Reutimann for eighth. Then, on Lap 325, Johnson moved past Harvick to take seventh place.

Patrick Carpentier spun out in Turn 2 to bring out a caution on Lap 329. Six cars stayed out, but behind them, most of the rest of the lead-lap cars came in, including Harvick.

With the restart, the order was Hamlin, Kenseth, Martin, Biffle, Logano and Johnson leading.

Kenseth took the lead on the restart, but lost it on the penultimate lap, allowing Hamlin to win.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.