Chase Race No. 8: Johnson Scores Number 70; Gordon Punches Keselowski

Jimmie Johnson won his 70th race in Texas this weekend (Photo: Google Images)

It was a typical afternoon in Texas. Aside from a few debris cautions, the AAA Texas 500 was Jimmie Johnson's race to lose. But on a late race restart, the focus of the event shifted from on track action to off track fisticuffs when Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski came to blows on pit road after the race.

Matt Kenseth started on the pole, flanked to his outside by Gordon, but it didn't take long for Johnson to assert his dominance. The No. 48 car led 191 of the race's 341 laps, grabbing the top spot for the first time on the 54th circuit. The only cars who could seem to keep pace with Johnson were Gordon, Kenseth and Kevin Harvick. Both Kenseth and Harvick needed to be fast because, realistically, their only shot to advance to the finale is to win one of the next two races. Especially now that Johnson has won and he is no longer championship eligible, there is only one race left for Gordon, Kenseth and Harvick to try and win their way in and stay alive for the championship battle in Miami.

But it was not Johnson's 70th Sprint Cup win that stole the show Sunday night. It was his teammate who grabbed the spotlight one the checkered flag fell.

On the race's next to last restart, Johnson and Gordon started on the front row and were set to provide fans an epic battle to the finish. But Keselowski decided to make the small hole between the two Hendrick Motorsports cars a little bigger and force his way through to the lead. But in the process, Keselowski bumped Gordon and cut down the No. 24 car's left rear tire. This caused Gordon to spin in turn four and led to another restart. Keselowski finished third and Gordon finished 29th, one lap down.

Gordon then pulled up next to Keselowski on pit road and appeared to only want to talk to the 2012 champion. But ESPN cameras caught Harvick standing behind the No. 2 car as the drivers yelled, surrounded by their pit crews. Harvick then pushed Keselowski from behind, Gordon grabbed his collar and what has since become known as "The Brawl" was on. Hat tip to NASCAR's YouTube account for the video footage.

When he was interviewed afterwards by ESPN's Jamie Little, Keselowski took a sip of water and when he spit it out, the water was red with blood, so whether they were from Gordon or not, a few punches were landed. Likewise, Gordon continued to surprise fans when he called Keselowski a "dipsh*t" in his interview after the fight. All of this was almost as surprising as when Kenseth tackled Keselowski after the Charlotte race a few weeks ago.

Whether you love it or you hate it, this new Chase format is creating some really intense drama and emotions are definitely running higher and hotter than in the past. Next weekend's event in Phoenix is going to be a very entertaining affair if this race was any indication. Things could get very ugly very quickly with one race left till the finale.