Jimmie Johnson Wins Texas Motor Speedway; Jeff Gordon & Brad Keselowski Brawl Erupts

Just as Jimmie Johnson charged to his record fourth win, two other former NASCAR champions had an ugly brawl on pit road, following the conclusion of the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, reports say.

Jeff Gordon, in his No. 24 Chevrolet, seized the lead from Johnson, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, on a restart with nine laps remaining, already cooking for his second Texas victory.

Gordon was leading with a green-white-checkered attempt on lap 335-in a race scheduled for 334 laps-when Brad Keselowski's No. 2 Ford slammed into him, causing his No. 24 to spin with a left-rear flat tire, Sporting News reported.

Kaselowski secured the third place while Gordon finished 29th.

USA Today said Gordon tracked Keselowski on the pit road to talk to him. Parking his stock car beside the No. 2 window, Gordon removed his helmet and started yelling at Keselowski.

The two exchanged more words until both crews packed around them and started shoving and pushing, consequently turning into an exchange of punches and a general mayhem.

Both Gordon and Keselowski got out of the melee with cuts on their faces.

"It's his disregard for what's going on out there," Gordon told NASCAR.com. "He does things that force his team to have to defend him like that. I mean it's a shame. It's a real shame, you know?

"He made an over-aggressive move. Those moves are fine if you've got a slamming, banging race. But he cut my left rear tire and that was it for me."

Keselowski defended his actions by saying he was just racing hard for the win. "He left a hole. You leave a hole you're supposed to go for it. It closed back up, and we made contact. I didn't want to ruin anyone's day. I just wanted to win the race. That was our opportunity. It just didn't come together," Keselowski said in the USA Today article.

Kevin Harvick, who finished second, came up from behind Keselowski and gave him a shove, according to an NBC Sports article.

Harvick said he pushed the third placer on the back because he wanted him to be accountable and fight his own fight. In the USA Today article Harvick referred to Keselowski as being "in bulldoze mode."

This is not the first time Keselowski, who leads with six victories this season, got involved in an altercation.

According to USA Today, Keselowski was tracked down by Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin after the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Oct. 12 during the second round of the race. Reports noted that Kenseth attacked Keselowski "putting him on a headlock before being separated."

Keselowski was slapped with a $50,000 penelty and he was placed on probation for playing a part in the violent incident.

For his part, Nascar senior vice president Robin Pemberton told USA Today that they will conduct an investigation and discuss what penalties should be given to the persons involved in the brawl to avoid similar incidents from happening in the future. Race executives definitely want this to serve as a lesson to other racers to control their temper.