The second fact is that NASCAR racing is dangerous even on the relatively slow road courses. This race saw a red flag for a nine-car pileup. David Gilliland took some hard hits but fortunately everyone walked away.
Qualifying
Qualifying was rained out so the starting lineup was set by car owner points. Unfortunately road race ringers Boris Said and Brian Simo did not have enough car owner points to make the field and never got the opportunity to make the field on time.
Boris Said still made the start today as he was picked to replace Kyle Petty in the 45 for the Centurion Boats at the Glen.
Drop Of The Green
Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. lead the field to the green flag.
Kyle Busch lead the parade into turn one and held onto the lead as they came back to the line to complete lap one. Dale Earnhardt Jr. took over the top spot on lap two and continued to set the pace as the field settled in for the early part of the race.
Storylines
With eight laps to go there was a major incident on the front stretch. There were some extremely hard hits as David Gilliland was taken out by Michael McDowell. Gilliland bounced off the outside wall and then was hit broadside by Bobby Labonte and others.
In all nine cars were involved and a red flag came out for the cleanup.
Typically we think that road races involve slower speeds and are generally safer. This incident brought reality into stark focus. NASCAR races are dangerous affairs that could explode in an instant.
Chasing The Checkers
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was leading the race while inside his final pit window when the yellow flag flew. Junior was forced to pit which ruined his track position.
After the yellow Kyle Busch took over the lead and had nearly a two second lead over Tony Stewart.
Ryan Newman's spin brought out a full course yellow and set up the final nine laps of the race. A restart with less than ten laps to go is a recipe for disaster and this race delivered the red flag disaster just one lap later. That event brought out the red flag and set up the final sprint to the checkers.
With five laps to go Kyle Busch lead Tony Stewart and Marcos Ambrose to the green flag. Busch got a great jump on the restart and drove it home to complete the Sprint Cup road course sweep.
Busch lead 52 of the 90 lap distance today. His team used great strategy to put him out front and Busch was up to the challenge behind the wheel to claim his eighth win of 2008.
Top Ten
- Kyle Busch
- Tony Stewart
- Marcos Ambrose
- Juan Pablo Montoya
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Kevin Harvick
- Denny Hamlin
- Jimmie Johnson
- A.J. Allmendinger
- Carl Edwards
The Points
Kyle Busch's eighth win of 2008 extended his current point lead and added to his bonus point total for the Chase.
Matt Kenseth was able to move past Clint Bowyer for the twelfth and final Chase qualifying spot. Bowyer is now 22 points behind Kenseth for twelfth.
The top twelve are now:
- Kyle Busch
- Carl Edwards -242
- Jimmie Johnson -244
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. -269
- Jeff Burton -309
- Jeff Gordon -500
- Tony Stewart -510
- Kasey Kahne -541
- Denny Hamlin -565
- Greg Biffle -565
- Kevin Harvick -584
- Matt Kenseth -626
Next Week
Next week the Sprint Cup series returns to all left turns. Michigan International Speedway will host the series. When NASCAR was in Michigan in June Dale Earnhardt Jr. stretched his fuel and claimed victory. Will Michigan see another fuel-mileage race this weekend?
