Qualifying
Jimmie Johnson continued where he left off in Indianapolis with the fastest lap in qualifying on Friday. 2009 Hendrick Motorsports driver Mark Martin started along side in second.
Row number two was made up of David Gilliland and Jeff Gordon. Roush Racing's Matt Kenseth rounded out the top five.
Drop Of The Green
Mark Martin took the lead through turn one and held the lead when the first yellow flag flew over on the tunnel turn.
Kevin Harvick was once again the innocent victim of an early race mistake. Last week Kurt Busch turned him into the outside wall. Today Joe Nemechek got into the back of him but he managed to keep it off the wall.
Mark Martin continued to lead in the early going as the field raced towards a competition caution on lap 22.
Storylines
Mark Martin dominated the first half of the race. However his pit crew made a mistake on pit road which dumped him back to 17th place as the race closed in on halfway. NASCAR Sprint Cup racing is so competitive that any small mistake can cost you the win.
Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart found themselves out front as the race reached the halfway mark.
Mark Martin played with pit strategy to try to make a miracle happen but he was not a serious factor again in the race.
Chasing The Checkers
The final round of pitstops came as soon as the drivers made it inside their final fuel window. Like a road course, teams work backwards from the end and pit as soon as possible to maximize their final fuel run.
When pit stops cycled through Carl Edwards found himself in the lead with 14 laps to go. He had just enough fuel to make it to the checkers and was not challenged for the win.
Top Ten
- Carl Edwards
- Tony Stewart
- Jimmie Johnson
- Kevin Harvick
- David Ragan
- Clint Bowyer
- Kasey Kahne
- Mark Martin
- Jamie McMurray
- Jeff Gordon
The Points
Kyle Busch gave up some of his lead but still maintains the lead by 176 over Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Kevin Harvick overcame his early race incident to finish fourth. He jumped two spots to eleventh in points. Matt Kenseth fell out of the top twelve and is now eleven points behind Clint Bowyer for the vital top twelve.
The top twelve are now:
- Kyle Busch
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. -253
- Jeff Burton -271
- Jimmie Johnson -315
- Carl Edwards -320
- Jeff Gordon -460
- Greg Biffle -544
- Denny Hamlin -551
- Kasey Kahne -563
- Tony Stewart -605
- Matt Kenseth -638
- Clint Bowyer -642
Next Week
The final road race of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season is up next week. NASCAR's finest will head to Watkins Glen New York. Kyle Busch picked up the win at Infineon Raceway earlier this year. Can he complete the 2008 road course sweep?
