Associated Press - November 8, 2009 4:05 PM ET

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - Jimmie Johnson has crashed early in the NASCAR race at Texas, where he is trying to move closer to an unprecedented fourth consecutive Sprint Cup season championship.

The series points leader was coming out of the Turn 2 on the third lap Sunday when Sam Hornish got loose and made contact.

Johnson scraped the outside wall and appeared to possibly save his car before he was hit again by Hornish. That knocked Johnson's No. 48 Chevrolet hard into the inside wall. There was heavy damage to both cars.

Crew members were preparing to replace the front and rear suspensions of Johnson's car, sure to be a lengthy process before getting him back on the track.

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