One moment just made the title battle relevant again

Who knew?

Who knew Sam Hornish Jr. and David Reutimann would play such a huge role in the 2009 Chase?

Who knew Mark Martin still had a chance? Or that even Jeff Gordon still had an outside shot?

Championship effort

When most drivers would have packed it up on Sunday, Jimmie Johnson and crew picked themselves up, worked together and salvaged a wreck in the garage, writes David Caraviello.

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• Chase battle gets tighter
• Video: 48 slams Texas wall
• Video: Crew hard at work
• Sound Off: Jiimmie Johnson

Who knew, outside of Jimmie Johnson, that the three-time defending Cup champion was right all along when he repeatedly insisted this thing wasn't quite over? Even as he kept building what the rest of the racing world figured was an insurmountable lead in the first seven races of the 10-race Chase, Johnson kept saying that anything could happen at any point in time during any race.

And on the third lap of Sunday's Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, anything finally did when Reutimann touched Hornish from behind, sending Hornish's No. 77 Dodge into Johnson's famed No. 48 Chevrolet.

It looked for a moment as if Johnson would save the 48 without much damage. But after brushing the wall, Johnson made contact with Hornish again and that was it. The 48 went spinning, and then slamming, into the inside retaining wall -- suffering the kind of damage that would have rendered lesser cars (or rather lesser teams) done for the day.

More than an hour and 112 laps later, Johnson returned to the track after extensive repairs that were nothing short of heroic by crew chief Chad Knaus and the rest of the No. 48 team. The end result of their remarkable efforts was a gain of 15 points after Johnson picked up five positions in the finishing order.

That may not sound like much -- but with Martin grabbing fourth in the race and moving to within 73 points in the points standings (when it would have been to within 58 if Johnson hadn't gotten back on the track), it suddenly could mean a whole heck of a lot in the coming two weeks.

It's interesting now

Prior to Sunday's smash-and-grab (Johnson's smash and Martin's grab of points), this season seemed over. Johnson entered the race with a lead of 184 points on Martin and a Texas-sized swagger that hinted at him perhaps not believing his own words that this thing wasn't yet over.

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There was widespread talk of Johnson easily wrapping up his unprecedented, historic fourth consecutive championship this coming Sunday at Phoenix, one week before the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Ticket sales and television ratings for the final two races were in danger of sinking to new lows.

That talk of premature championship clinching has since evaporated. And although no one will say it publicly, you can bet that NASCAR is happy about it.

Suddenly, what had been a foregone conclusion lacking even the slightest hint of drama is full of possibilities again. Martin, at age 50, has been the most intriguing story of the year as he returned to a full-time seat for the first time in three years and suddenly found himself challenging for the Cup championship that has previously eluded him during an otherwise successful, storied career.

Now the feel-good story has fresh legs, if only for another week. Johnson remains the prohibitive favorite to win this thing. He has won three of the last four races at Phoenix -- although adding to the intrigue is the fact that Martin was the man who broke Johnson's three-race win streak there with a victory of his own last spring.

The odds of Johnson having another disaster day like Texas are minimal, and it should be noted that he very much still controls his own destiny (at least as much as anyone can control their own destiny while racing with the likes of Hornish and Reutimann). He needs only to average a fourth-place finish the final two races to secure the title, regardless of what Martin -- or even Gordon, who is not totally out of the hunt 112 points back -- are able to do.

But the fact is that anything can happen. Sunday at Texas proved that.

Looking back

After looking at video of the incident about a dozen times, one question begs to be asked of Sunday's wreck: with 331 laps to go, why would anyone -- least of all Johnson -- risk going three-wide anyway?

Hey, it happens. Anything can happen, remember?

Starting 12th, one spot behind Hornish and one ahead of Reutimann, Johnson obviously was anxious to get to the front and run with the leaders. He almost certainly had the car to do it.

But if he did anything wrong, it was that he was a little impatient in darting to the top side of the track to pass Hornish. So, obviously, was Reutimann. And if Hornish had been able to make his car stick on the bottom, Reutimann never would have gotten a run on him and Johnson easily would have passed Hornish on the top side without incident.

Johnson has avoided "incidents" for so long that it was beginning to seem he was immune to them. What Sunday proved is that no one is, as Johnson has been insisting all along.

At Phoenix, you can bet Johnson will play it more careful while racing around the likes of Hornish and Reutimann and others with little to lose except the respect of the champion. But that only thickens the subplot.

Can he afford to play it safe now, with Martin and Gordon coming hard in his rear-view mirror? Whatever happens, at least now it is worth watching.

For that, NASCAR nation can be thankful.

It's not that everyone is rooting against the immensely likable Johnson. It's just that very few Americans enjoy a four-game sweep in the World Series or NBA Finals, or a 40-point blowout in the Super Bowl. And until Sunday's trouble in Texas, Johnson was on course to accomplish the equivalent of all of the above -- plus he's aiming to do it for the fourth year in a row.

He still very well may do it. In fact, he probably will and should be applauded for the accomplishment afterward. But after years of domination by one individual or one team in any sport, folks like to see someone new -- or someone old who hasn't been there in a while -- at least challenge for a major championship to the end no matter what the sport.

Now at least Martin and Gordon are in positions where they still might come up with the unlikely walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth, half-court desperation heave at the final buzzer, or late onside kick recovery followed by a Hail Mary pass into the end zone. Sporting world, stay tuned.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.