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Notes - Samsung 500 at Texas

-Dale Jr. had a decent finish, but couldn't do better than 12th. “It was frustrating,” Earnhardt said. “We just chased the handling of the car all day, we had it too tight there at the end.”

-Clint Bowyer and Denny Hamlin touched coming out of turn 4 on the last lap. Bowyer, who was going for a top-5 finish, hit the wall, but was able to save the car and finished 10th. “Clint just pinched me up there on the final lap,” Hamlin said. “I had to turn left or I’d have gone into the wall. There was no place to go.”

“(Hamlin’s car) clipped us in the right rear, and that was it,” Bowyer said.

-Ryan Newman failed the postrace inspection Sunday. It was determined that the right rear of the car was too high. NASCAR will announce any resulting penalties this week.

-Jamie McMurray finished 14th, and is now well inside the top-35 in points (26th).  This is second five-position jump in the points after finishing eighth at Martinsville.

-Sam Hornish Jr. moved up two spots to 34th and is guaranteed a spot in Saturday's race at Phoenix International Raceway.

-Hornish's gain is Mayfield's loss, the two drivers switched places with Jeremy Mayfield falling out of the top 35.

-David Reutimann finished 41st. He dropped another spot to 38th in points, and will have to qualify on time again at Phoenix.

-Greg Biffle took the biggest hit in the point standings. He lost six spots (to 9th) in the standings after starting the race 16th, and finishing 39th, 27 laps down (mechanical problems).

-Jeff Burton maintains his points lead after finishing sixth.

-Matt Kenseth decided to not pit for fresh tires during the final caution, and was passed shortly after green by Jeff Burton and Tony Stewart, and finished ninth.

"When you're the first one on old tires and everybody's got new tires behind you, they're going to eat your lunch," Kenseth said. "It was a 50-50 call, and we were right in the middle, and we tried it and it didn't work."

-Denny Hamlin's postrace interview session on pit road lasted just 41 seconds before he nearly passed out from dehydration, and was taken to the infield care center. "I'm feeling much better now," Hamlin said at the center. "It really hit me when I got out of the car. I was dizzy and just needed to sit down."