Racing continue winning run
Fijian forward Leone Nakarawa, Virimi Vakatawa and Marc Andreu scored first-half tries for the hosts in Paris, with Quentin Etienne denying Racing a bonus point with a try for Oyonnax.
The win is the capital-city side's third from four games so far this season and draws them level with Montpellier, ahead of the early leaders' clash against Toulon later on Sunday.
Legendary flyhalf Carter opened the scoring with a penalty early on before Nakarawa burrowed over, with Carter adding the extras.
Ben Botica replied with a penalty for the away side, before France international Vakatawa grabbed his second try in as many matches, which was also converted by Carter.
Vakatawa's fellow wing Andreu looked to have ended the match as a contest and put Racing well on their way to the bonus-point victory they needed to take top spot from Montpellier, when he made it 22-3 at half-time.
Carter was withdrawn at the interval with the game all but won, but another Botica penalty and Etienne's converted try cut the gap to just nine points.
In the New Zealander's absence it was left to scrum-half Maxime Machenaud to kick a crucial penalty with 20 minutes remaining, but despite a late charge that saw Machenaud have a try chalked off for a forward pass, Racing failed to force a bonus point.
Table (played, won, drawn, lost, points for, points against, bonus points, total points):
Montpellier 3 3 0 0 107 42 2 14
Racing 4 3 0 1 94 63 2 14
Lyon 4 3 0 1 117 74 1 13
La Rochelle 4 3 0 1 114 80 1 13
Toulouse 4 2 1 1 115 79 2 12
Clermont 4 2 0 2 128 105 1 9
Pau 4 2 0 2 91 91 1 9
Toulon 3 2 0 1 77 51 1 9
Bordeaux-Begles 4 2 0 2 95 117 0 8
Castres 4 1 0 3 84 94 3 7
Agen 4 1 0 3 67 99 2 6
Oyonnax 4 1 1 2 54 95 0 6
Stade Francais 4 1 0 3 78 132 0 4
Brive 4 0 0 4 36 135 0 0
Agence France-Presse
