FORT WORTH, Texas -- Matt Kenseth did everything he could to keep Jimmie Johnson behind but Kenseth had to settle for second place Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway.

"I'm happy and extremely disappointed," Kenseth said. "Whenever you're leading with three [laps] to go, you're always disappointed when you don't win.

"I don't think we necessarily had a second-place car most of the day. They had the best car."

Kenseth credited a two-tire pit stop late that helped him restart second. He needed less than a lap to pass Ryan Newman for the lead only to lose it to Johnson. Kenseth and Johnson traded the lead three times in the last seven laps.

Although he didn't win, Kenseth scored his third consecutive top-five finish. Woes early in the Chase for the Nextel Cup leave him 10th in the points despite his recent surge.

Bad break

Denny Hamlin might have been the driver Johnson raced for the win, but Hamlin bounced off the wall while racing Kenseth for the lead with about 60 laps to go.

"It's just the story of our Chase," Hamlin said. "I was driving a lot harder than I probably typically would at that stage of the race. The car was good and I felt like track position was going to be key on any lap."

Instead, Hamlin clipped the back of Kenseth's car and bounced off the wall exiting turn 2, ending his chances. He finished 29th.

"I just misjudged there with Matt," Hamlin said. "I didn't mean to do that. Just one of those days."

Tough race

Clint Bowyer saw his slim title hopes all but end with a 19th-place finish. Bowyer remains third in the season standings but is 181 points behind series leader Johnson.

Bowyer had a loose wheel and pitted under green. The team changed right-side tires. Problem was it was a left rear that was loose. He had to pit a second time to change that tire and was two laps down after the second stop.

"The left sides had been on there for almost 28-29 laps and the right sides had only been on there for three laps," crew chief Gil Martin said. "Since we just pit, we just hoped it was the right rear. In hindsight, I wish we had taken four [tires]."

Testing

NASCAR tested 11 cars on the chassis dyno after the race and took the engine from each car back to its research and development center in Concord, N.C., for further study.

The cars tested were those of: Newman, Tony Stewart, Johnson, Jeff Burton, Dave Blaney, Kenseth, Kasey Kahne, Jeff Gordon, Martin Truex Jr., Ricky Rudd and Brian Vickers.

Pit stops

Johnson collected $486,211 for the victory. ... Truex Jr.'s third-place finish was his first top-10 in seven races. ... Kyle Busch's fourth-place finish was his third top-five performance in the last four races. He's led 336 laps in the last three laps, including 153 on Sunday. ... Scott Riggs finished 13th in his final race for Gillette-Evernham Motorsports. Patrick Carpentier replaces him starting next weekend.

No advantage for A.J.

Good starts haven't translated into good finishes for Cup rookie A.J. Allmendinger.

After qualifying fifth at Texas for his best career starting spot, Allmendinger was only three laps into the race when he made contact with Hamlin and hit the wall. That didn't bring out a caution, but the yellow flag flew when Allmendinger went high and hit the wall in the second turn on the 21st lap.

Allmendinger's race ended for good when he got loose coming out of the second turn on lap 213, then slammed hard into the inside wall. He finished 39th, 183 laps behind Johnson.

The best starting spot for Allmendinger before Texas had been 11th at Dover, where he completed only four laps in the Red Bull Toyota before an engine problem ended his race and he was last in the field.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.