Plate racing requires an entirely different set of skills and right now in NASCAR nobody is better at them then Jeff Gordon.
Qualifying
Kevin Harvick put his Chevy on the pole with a 189.804 MPH lap. Jeff Gordon was second in his Chevy. Elliott Sadler's Ford and Scott Riggs' Chevy were third and fourth.
Drop The Green Flag
When the green flag flew to start the race Jeff Gordon took command and lead the majority of the first half of the race. Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Elliott Sadler and Mark Martin were some others that spent time near the front during the early part of the race.
Storylines
The Big One came on lap 132 when Dale Earnhardt Jr, Mike Wallace, Jimmie Johnson and Scott Riggs combined to start a 25 car pileup. Fortunately no one was injured but after the smoke cleared only 17 cars were left without damage. There was a 43 minute red flag while crews worked to clean up the mess left down in the bottom of turn one.
Chasing The Checkers
After the big pileup there were just about 50 laps to go and only 18 cars on the track with a shot at the win. And these drivers were all smelling victory. Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Elliott Sadler and Tony Stewart were all near the front but Jeff Gordon had pretty well established himself as the class of the field.
As they entered the last 20 laps Michael Waltrip tried everything to pass for the lead except running over Gordon and finally, with just five laps to go, Michael found a lane and made the pass for the lead. Jeff Gordon resumed control just a couple laps later.
Right after that Jimmie Johnson got into the wall and took Dale Earnhardt Jr, Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick and a few others with him. This set up a two lap shootout green-white-checkers finish.
Jeff Gordon, Jamie McMurray, Elliott Sadler, Tony Stewart and Michael Waltrip made up the top five as they took the green for the final time. Stewart got to second as they took the white flag. Could Tony find a path around the #24? Nope, Jeff Gordon is a master of restrictor plate racing and held them all off to take his third win of the year (along with the Daytona 500 and Martinsville.)
Top Ten
- Jeff Gordon
- Tony Stewart
- Michael Waltrip
- Jeremy Mayfield
- Jamie McMurray
- Elliott Sadler
- Kurt Busch
- Kenny Schrader
- Dale Jarrett
- Jeff Burton
The Points
For the second week in a row Jimmie Johnson failed to score a top ten finish. However, most of the rest of the top ten had problems too so he still maintains a strong lead in the points.
The Big One involved many drivers from the top ten and really shuffled the points standings.
- Jimmie Johnson 0
- Kurt Busch -130
- Jeff Gordon -151
- Greg Biffle -187
- Elliott Sadler -204
- Tony Stewart -280
- Dale Jarrett -283
- Kevin Harvick -285
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. -298
- Jamie McMurray -301
Next Week
Next week the NEXTEL Cup series races Saturday night under the lights in Darlington. Darlington Raceway leads all race tracks in colorful nicknames. "The Lady In Black," and "The Track Too Tough To Tame" are the ones that I am allowed to repeat. Many drivers have others that can't be repeated as Darlington is a tricky, narrow track that really chews up tires quickly. Many drivers hate it, a few love it, but there is no doubt that Darlington will eat you up if you're not on top of your game.
