Qualifying
Mark Martin was the big story of qualifying. The 52 year old veteran captured the 50th pole of his career which moved him into a tie for eighth on the all-time list. Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne put his car on the outside of row number one.
The second row was all Chevrolet with Clint Bowyer and Jeff Gordon starting third and fourth. Ford's David Ragan rounded out the top five.
Drop Of The Green
Mark Martin picked the outside lane so that he could start in front of his teammate Jeff Gordon. Those two hooked up at the drop oof the green while Clint Bowyer gave Trevor Bayne a push.
Martin lead lap one as the top four quickly became a Hendrick parade. Teammmates Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson moved up into third and fourth.
Trevor Bayne lost his partner and fell back into the field. On lap five he was caught deep in the pack by Brad Keselowski who was also without a partner. Keselowski hooked Bayne's left rear corner and spun the 2011 Daytona 500 winner into the outside wall to bring out the first caution of the day.
When they restarted Gordon again quickly grabbed Martin's back bumper and they continued to lead the early racing.
Storylines
Jeff Gordon remained in the spotlight tonight.
Gordon and Mark Martin were charging to the front when Gordon was turned by Joey Logano after a close-quarters chain reaction. Gordon crashed and brought out the caution with four laps to go. This set up a green-white-checkers finish.
Gordon hit pit road and his crew got him back out on the lead lap. Amazingly it took just two green-white-checkers finishes for Gordon to charge through the field back into the top ten. When the checkered flag flew and the smoke had cleared Jeff Gordon was credited with a sixth place finish.
This is one of the most amazing rebounds of the season. Gordon crashed with four laps to go and still ended up sixth? How does that happen?
Chasing The Checkers
On the restart Joey Logano got into the back of Mark Martin in turn two. Mark spun down in front of the field and got hit multiple times bringing out "The Big One." This massive fender bender damaged over 1/4 of the field .
The second attempt at the green-white-checkers finish saw David Ragan and Matt Kenseth hook up on the bottom with Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin on the top before Joey Logano went to the top three wide.
Ragan lead at the white flag with teammate Matt Kenseth dedicated to pushing him. The field started wrecking in turn three and there was a second crash as the field came to the checkered flag. Between the two incidents half of the remaining field was damaged.
It all happened behind David Ragan and he brought it home for the first win of his career.
Top Ten
- David Ragan
- Matt Kenseth
- Joey Logano
- Kasey Kahne
- Kyle Busch
- Jeff Gordon
- Kevin Harvick
- Paul Menard
- Juan Montoya
- A.J. Allmendinger
The Points
Carl Edwards' lap 23 crash caused him to lose the lead to Kevin Harvick.
No new drivers cracked the top ten in points but David Ragan now holds onto the second wild-card spot as only he and Denny Hamlin have race wins among the drivers in 11th - 20th in points.
The 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Standings:
- Kevin Harvick
- Carl Edwards -5
- Kyle Busch -10
- Kurt Busch -16
- Matt Kenseth -22
- Jimmie Johnson -22
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. -52
- Jeff Gordon -67
- Clint Bowyer -81
- Ryan Newman -88
