Once again we saw Chevrolet domination as Jeff Gordon's team made a great strategy decision that got him the lead at a crucial time. This race was more a battle of driver versus car and track than driver versus driver.
Qualifying
Clint Bowyer drove his Richard Childress Racing Chevy to the first NEXTEL Cup pole of his career. Roush Fenway Racing put three Fords in the next three spots as Greg Biffle, Jamie McMurray and Carl Edwards started second, third and fourth. Kasey Kahne rounded out the top five in his Ray Evernham Dodge.
Drop The Green Flag
Rain prevented the race from going off Saturday night on schedule. However when the green flag did fly Sunday afternoon the stands were still mostly full and the weather was fine.
Clint Bowyer jumped out to the early lead as the drivers got in line very quickly. Darlington is no place for side-by-side racing.
The drivers were extremely cautious early in the race and they all took it easy until the competition caution that NASCAR threw on lap 40. The competition caution is a pretty standard NASCAR rule whenever rain scrubs the race track clean or limits the amount of practice that the teams get during the weekend. This allows teams to check the tires and make some early adjustments.
The entire first half of the race was pretty uneventful as teams were tiptoeing around the treacherous Darlington Raceway.
Storylines
Dale Earnhardt Junior had a big week. Dale Junior announced this week that he will be leaving DEI at the end of the season. Then on Saturday his Budweiser #8 car failed inspection as NASCAR found the team to be using unapproved wing mounts. Junior was allowed to keep his qualifying spot but I wouldn't be surprised if NASCAR had some additional penalties for the team when they are announced on Tuesday.
Another focus of the race were the number of drivers that earned the famous "Darlington Stripe." "The Stripe" occurs when a driver slips slightly up into the outside wall and scuffs some paint off of the right side of the car. This is usually harmless to the handling of the car but certainly causes some excitement.
Darlington is famous for being hard to handle. The Car of Tomorrow is also getting a reputation for being hard to handle. When we put the two together today we saw a lot of cars slipping and sliding up into the outside wall and continuing on. At one point today the Fox broadcast team joked that they had stopped counting the number of cars who had hit the wall today and had started counting the cars who had not yet hit the wall.
Chasing The Checkers
Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon were out front and cruising when the caution flew with 23 laps to go. Leader Jimmie Johnson came to pit road while his teammate, second place Jeff Gordon, stayed out. This race was destined to play out as a mixture of pit strategies.
Johnson restarted in seventh with fresh tires while Gordon was out front with twenty laps to go. Three laps later the caution flew again for a blown engine and Jimmie Johnson was already up to fourth. Denny Hamlin was fifth.
The green flag flew again with 13 laps to go. Gordon got free and had a bit of a lead over Ryan Newman and Dale Earnhardt Jr. who were running second and third. Johnson was on the move with his fresh tires. He passed Earnhardt right away and then was haunting Newman when Denny Hamlin, also on fresh tires passed both Newman and Johnson. Suddenly Hamlin was the leading threat to Gordon's win.
Hamlin was gaining but Jeff Gordon had enough of a lead to hold on for the win.
Top Ten
- Jeff Gordon
- Denny Hamlin
- Jimmie Johnson
- Ryan Newman
- Carl Edwards
- Tony Stewart
- Matt Kenseth
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Clint Bowyer
- Jeff Burton
The Points
Point leader Jeff Gordon extended his point lead with his third victory in the last four races. The top five in points remained the same.
In the battle for The Chase no new drivers cracked the top twelve.
The top twelve are now:
- Jeff Gordon -0
- Jimmie Johnson -231
- Matt Kenseth -299
- Denny Hamlin -342
- Jeff Burton -395
- Tony Stewart -506
- Kurt Busch -556
- Kevin Harvick -566
- Clint Bowyer -579
- Carl Edwards -590
- Kyle Busch -600
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. -621
Next Week
Next week there is no points race but the NEXTEL Cup stars will race on Saturday night at Lowes Motor Speedway in the NEXTEL All-Star Challenge. This week's events include a pit-crew competition and Saturday night's made-for-TV event where the winner will take home a $1,000,000 payday.
