Patience and consistency allowed Jimmie Johnson to stay close enough to the front runners to have a chance to win, but a great car and excellent driving skills allowed him to finally get his second win of the 2009 Sprint Cup season in the Autism Speaks 400 held at Dover International Speedway on Sunday.

Jimmie Johnson achieves 42nd career win in Autism Speaks 400

Jimmie Johnson started eighth after the tenth caution of the race due to a difficult crash by David Stemme but was able to overcome a slow pit stop and race to the front of the of the pack. On the way he was able to pass Greg Biffle and Tony Stewart, who started ahead of Johnson, but weren’t able to stay in front of the hard-charging racer. This win was Jimmie Johnson’s fourth victory at Dover International Speedway and the 42^nd victory-lap of his NASCAR career.

The majority of the laps belonged to Johnson, he led an amazing 298 laps of the Autism Speaks 400, and therefore it’s not a surprise that he won the race. Still you have to cross the finish line first and the driver who leads the majority of the laps doesn’t always win. Johnson scored a perfect Driver Rating of 150.00 during the race, with the best score in Average Running Position (2.0), Fastest Laps Run (127), and he spent all but five laps of the race in the top 15.

Johnson was able to get in front of Tony Stewart through Turns 3 and 4 of Lap 398 and then slowly pull away from him to beat him to the line by .861 seconds. Stewart knew he lacked rubber; he had only taken two tires to Johnson’s four during the pit stop, so he made sure to stay near the top of the track to block Johnson’s line through the corners and so stayed in front of him. Johnson was able to finally pass Stewart on the outside of the final two corners and stay in front to take the win.

This win vaults Jimmie Johnson, who led 298 laps of the scheduled 400, into third on the Sprint Cup series driver points’ standings.

Greg Biffle finished third, Matt Kenseth took fourth place, Kurt Busch finished in fifth, and Kasey Kahne, Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman, Casey Mears, and Mark Martin rounded out the top ten places.

“Image: Newscom”

Confidence is everything in sports, the feeling an athlete gets from success is one of the most important aspects, other than raw talent, for determining whether a racer or any athlete is successful, and on a roll. If this statement is correct? David Reutimann is on one of the best rolls of his NASCAR career because four days after his first victory in a NASCAR Sprint Cup race he took the top spot on the grid for Sunday’s Autism Speaks 400 at Dover International Speedway. Only the second pole of the season and the third of his career, Reutimann took the first spot in the Monster Mile by posting his best lap in a time of 22.960 seconds in his No. 00 Toyota.

The 11^th racer to run a qualifying lap, Reutimann ran his qualifying lap with an

Autism Speaks 400 on Sunday at 1:30 PM on FOX

average speed of 156.794 mph to just beat the 156.542 mph mark of Kasey Kahne for the pole position. Reutimann surprised the field with this result, especially since he was the 11^th racer to try to beat Kahne’s time, and Kahne was using the Dodge R6 powerplant in his car for the first time this season.

Juan Montoya will start third on the grid of the Autism Speaks 400 on Sunday, Montoya qualified with an average speed of 156.020 on a day when his car didn’t seem to be running its best. Kasey Kahne’s teammate at Richard Petty Motorsports Reed Sorenson had a good run, Sorenson qualified fourth on the grid with an average speed of 155.952. The last winner at Dover Greg Biffle had problems in the corners with traction but still managed to finish fifth on the grid with an average speed of 155.932.

Kyle Busch will start sixth, which shouldn’t matter much if he’s up to form, so expect him to be in front after a few laps. A.J. Allmendinger will start seventh, eighth will be filled by Jimmie Johnson, Brian Vickers starts ninth, and the tenth position on the grid is held by Elliot Sadler. This result means that all four RPM racers, Kahne, Sorenson, Allmendinger and Sadler are starting Sunday’s Autism Speaks 400 in one of the top ten starting positions.

You can watch the Autism Speaks 400 on Sunday, May 31 at 1:30 PM on FOX or listen to it on MRN Radio starting at 1:15 PM.

Image: Newscom

The winless streaks by drivers such as Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick have ranked amongst some of the biggest stories so far this season. They came into this week’s race at Watkins Glen as some of the odds-on-favorite to win, but alas, Kyle Busch shut the door on those plans yet again. This week’s “List of the Week” will feature the 10 longest winless droughts amongst the drivers inside the top-20 in points.

10. Matt Kenseth - 22 races - Last Win: Homestead-Miami Speedway, Fall 2007
9. Jeff Gordon - 27 races - Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Fall 2007
8. Greg Biffle - 29 races - Kansas Speedway, Fall 2007
7. Tony Stewart - 36 races - Watkins Glen International, Summer 2007
6. Jamie McMurray - 40 races - Daytona International Speedway, Summer 2007

5. Martin Truex Jr. - 45 races - Dover International Speedway, Spring 2007
4. Kevin Harvick - 57 races - Daytona International Speedway, Spring 2007
3. David Ragan - 60 races - No NSCS wins
2. Brian Vickers - 68 races - Talladega Superspeedway, Fall 2006
1. Elliott Sadler - 141 races - Auto Club Speedway, Fall 2004

If you ask any driver or any team owner, they’ll be the first to tell you that every race is a big deal, and nobody can deny that. But, as I take a look at the starting grid for the Toyota Save/Mart 350 and then look at the points standings, when I combine that with everything that I know has already taken place in this crazy season, I can’t help but think that it especially holds true this weekend at Infineon Raceway, and it all starts right there at the top of the field.

Kasey Kahne has been on a helluva roll ever since he won the All-Star Race in Charlotte about a month ago. Of the four points races that have taken place since then, he’s won two of them and finished 2nd in another, with his only hiccup coming when he got caught up in the big pileup at Dover. Yet, the typical race fan would be quick to discount Kahne as a legitimate threat to win the championship this year, and would chalk it up as nothing more than a hot streak. Kasey must be privvy to these statements, though, because he didn’t let the fact that he’s never scored higher than 23rd at Infineon stop him from pacing the field during Friday’s qualifying runs and taking the pole for Sunday’s race. Now, with all of the momentum going in his favor, a win - or, even a top-five - could and probably would establish Kahne as the real deal … for this season at least.

The most disappointing team in 2008 has without a doubt been Penske Racing, where Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch are currently 17th and 19th in the points standings. Since pulling off their dramatic 1-2 finish in the season-opening Daytona 500, the duo has combined for only one more top-five and five more top-ten finishes. Looking to turn their seasons around, a stop at Infineon could be just what the doctor ordered. Both Newman and Busch rank amongst the series’ top-ten full-time active drivers at Infineon in terms of best average finishes, and both will be starting Sunday’s event from top-ten starting positions.

Perhaps the buzz of the town this weekend surrounds Marcos Ambrose, who will make his Sprint Cup debut when the green flag drops in Sonoma. Stepping inside of the no. 21 Ford for the Wood Brothers this weekend, Ambrose will be looking to use his road course expertise to turn a few heads at Sonoma in hopes of landing a ride in the series next year. He qualified 7th and led the final practice speeds, though he did lose control of the car about halfway through the practice session and ran into the tire barriers. There was a bit of damage sustained to the left side of the car, but the crew was able to repair the car, and there seems to be little concern over the mishap for Sunday.

And, of course every team owner in the garage will be expecting top results from their former open-wheel stars that have since joined the ranks of NASCAR full-time. Afterall, if these guys are unable to get the job on the road courses - the one place they’re expected to do well - then what kind of results should they really expect from their drivers on a weekly basis going forward? Just ask Dario Franchitti how secure he feels his job is now after the 2007 IndyCar Series champion failed to qualify for Sonoma. With that in mind, you can bet that fellow Ganassi teammate, Juan Pablo Montoya, will be looking to rebound from his 21st starting position and recapture some of the glory that helped him win this race last year. But, at least he doesn’t have it near as bad as Patrick Carpentier, whom has been rumored to be on the chopping block over at Gillette-Evernham Motorsports. Carpentier, a former IRL driver himself, will start Sunday’s race from the 37th position.

Road course racing has been on the receiving end of more than its chare of criticism from NASCAR fans over the years, and often finds itself on the losing end of such debates. Whether you’re a fan or not, though, one thing cannot be denied, and that’s the fact that this drama-filled season is sure to play a part at Sonoma.

*Credit photo to Newscom.

We all know that Joe Gibbs Racing has established themselves as the powerhouse of the field at this point in time. We know that Roush-Fenway Racing has come a long way in figuring out this new car and that Hendrick Motorsports seems to have lost the edge that they had on everyone else last year. We’ve analyzed potential contractual signings every which way we could, and still found ourselves locked in a guessing game. Been there, done that, but perhaps one of the stories that we haven’t talked nearly enough about are two teams that are holding out hope of getting a driver into contention for the Chase for the Cup for the first time in their team’s history, and another that hasn’t fielded a Chase contender since 2004.

Once considered one of the top organizations in NASCAR, Yates Racing last visited Victory Lane back in the Fall of 2005 when Dale Jarrett drove the no. 88 car to a win at Talladega and the last time they were able to land a driver inside the top-12 in points was with Elliott Sadler back in ‘04. Since those days, the team has gone through a horrendous rebuilding stage and continue to struggle week in and week out to find primary sponsorship of their cars driven by Travis Kvapil and David Gilliland. Both are highly regarded as “underdogs” every Sunday when the series hits the track, and both have failed to land a top-five finish all season long. Still, they’ve continued to push forward, and have managed to turn a few heads along the way, particularly Kvapil. Coming into the season as a driver that nobody really paid much attention to, Travis admittedly got off to a rather slow start. But, something seems to have clicked within this team ever since a solid run at Phoenix turned sour and he finished 22nd. After that race, Kvapil sat 24th in points, but four finishes of 16th or better in the last six races - highlighted with a 6th place run at Talladega and an 8th place run in Darlington - have now moved Travis up six spots in the standings. He’s now 18th in points and trails 12th place, Tony Stewart, by only 150 points.

Red Bull Racing has been the team that quite a few people have been talking about as of late. With Brian Vickers and AJ Allmendinger behind the wheel for the organization, the team managed to qualify for only 40 races in a combined 72 attempts in their inaugural season in 2007. Coming into the season with both cars outside of the top-35 in points and forced to qualify on time, Allmendinger again missed out on the first three events of ‘08 before being replaced temporarily by veteran driver, Mike Skinner. Despite failing to finish inside of the top-25 in any of the five races that Skinner filled in, the move appears to have paid dividends. AJ has been able to take what he’s learned from Skinner and put it to good use on the track, first winning the All-Star Showdown at Lowe’s to make the cut for the All-Star event itself, and then scoring a career best 12th place finish last week at Pocono. Still, the focus of the media on this team has been placed with Brian Vickers, who appears to be on the verge of scoring the second Cup victory of his career. After a disappointing 2007 that brought him only 1 top-five and 5 top-ten’s, Vickers has been impressive on several occassions this year, though it may not always show up in the results column. He’s been strong on all of the superspeedways, but the team really started to turn heads when they established themselves as one of the dominant cars in the Coca Cola 600 before an equipment failure ended their day. Since then he’s bounced back with a 13th place effort at Dover and finished 2nd last week at Pocono. Brian has now moved up to 17th place overall and trails 12th by a mere 112 points.

Rounding out the list of underdogs making a charge towards the Chase is non-other than Petty Enterprises. Despite the fact that this team has more wins than any other organization in the history of the sport and a slieu of championships from when “the King” himself, Richard Petty, drove the car, the company hasn’t celebrated a win since 1999 when John Andretti won at Martinsville, and the closest they’ve come to a bid for the Chase was an 18th place finish in the standings last year from Bobby LaBonte. Now, nobody’s really sure who will drive the no. 45 car next year as Kyle Petty, Chad McCumbee, and Terry LaBonte have all failed to do much with the ride, but Bobby continues to press forward. Though he’s failed to score a top-ten all season long, he does have seven top-15’s and has gone the entire year without a DNF, something that has hindered the team in recent years. Additionally, he’s got six finishes of 18th or better in the last eight races, which started with a 12th place run at Phoenix, and LaBonte now resides in 19th in the standings, trailing his former Gibbs teammate in 12th by 159 points.

As many of the drivers in the top-12 continue to experience their share of misfortunes as they bounce back and forth between the bubble spots, this could be a prime opportunity for one of these teams to capitalize. But, with the recent emergance of guys like David Ragan, the resurgance of Matt Kenseth, and other perrenial Chase hopefuls such as Ryan Newman and Martin Truex Jr. standing between them as well, the guys currently in the top-12 may not be all they’ll have to contend with.

DYN Imposes:
This week, Do You NASCAR also asks its readers …

1. Which driver in these 3 organizations will be the first to score their first / next win?
2. Are consistent top-15 and top-20 runs going to be enough to land a driver in the Chase field?
3. Which of these teams has made the best organizational move(s) in the last 2 years?
4. Will any of these 3 teams get a driver into the 2008 Chase? If so, who?

*Credit photos to Newscom.

Image details: Pocono 500 Qualifying served by picapp.com

For the second time in his Sprint Cup career, Kasey Kahne has turned the quickest qualifying lap at Pocono, thus earning himself the Coors Lite Pole Award. His first pole position at Pocono came back in 2004 when he set the track qualifying record at 172.533 mph. The lap he turned on Friday afternoon was about 2 mph slower and took 52.873 seconds, but it got the job done, nonetheless, and he will start Sunday’s Pocono 500 from the inside of row 1.

Jimmie Johnson was the first driver to qualify for the race and had the pole locked up until Kahne beat him out for the privelege. Johnson’s lap was still good enough to earn him a spot in the front row, though, and he will lineup next to Kahne on the front row of Sunday’s starting grid. The DEI cars of Mark Martin and Regan Smith qualified third and fourth, followed by Joe Nemecheck and Carl Edwards, who will make up row 3 for the start of the race.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will look to rebound from last week’s misfortunes at Dover, and qualifying 7th is a good start for accomplishing that mission. Starting next to him on the outside of row 4 will be AJ Allmendinger, who has been red hot during qualifying these past few weeks. And, completing the top-ten starters for the race will be Scott Riggs and Kyle Busch, who qualified 9th and 10th.

Qualifying 11th through 13th are three drivers that many are expecting to contend for the win on Sunday, as Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart, and Matt Kenseth will occupy those positions. The heavy favorite to win at Pocono, though, is Denny Hamlin, who qualified 16th. Ryan Newman and Jeff Gordon had perhaps the most disappointing runs on Friday, though, as they qualified 27th and 38th respectively. The number 96 Hall of Fame Racing car driven by JJ Yeley was the only car that failed to qualify for the event.

Image details: Best Buy 400 served by picapp.com

For many viewers, about the only real excitement during Sunday’s Best Buy 400 at Dover International Speedway came on lap 18 of the 400 lap event when Elliott Sadler - in an effort to clear the lapped car of Jeremy Mayfield - slid down the track and clipped the nose of David Gilliland, setting off a chain reaction that collected a total of twelve cars. Included in the accident were six drivers that entered the day in the top-12 in points, including Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Tony Stewart. As fate would have it, none of these drivers fell out of the top-12, but there was quite a bit of shakeup in the points themselves, nonetheless.

For Stewart, it marked the second time in just three races that his car had been in an accident that also involved Sadler, the first of which came on the second lap of the Dodge Challenger 500 a few weeks ago at Darlington. In that event, Sadler’s car bobbled getting into Turn 2 and got into Stewart, knocking the toe of Tony’s car in the process. While Sadler was forced to retire to the garage, Stewart found himself two laps down. Despite being able to repair the car enough to give Smoke the fastest car on the track by the end of the race, he was never able to get back onto the lead lap, and thus was forced to settle with a 21st place finish.

Following the race this past Sunday, Stewart sarcastically assumed responsibility for the accident, stating, “If I’m within a half a lap of him, I expect that to happen. It’s my fault. I hit him. When I hit him, it caused all the guys behind us to wreck. So, it’s my fault.”

Stewart has been on the receiving end of a lot of bad luck this season, which also includes a cut tire on the final lap of the Coca Cola 600 that robbed him of his first win of the season, and he’s now dropped to 11th in points, just 35 points ahead of 13th place, David Ragan. But, as Smoke fans already know, not only is it now officially “his time of the year,” but Stewart also has a habit of performing better when he adds a bit of attitude to his walk. A short little feud with Sadler could be the ticket.

Image details: Best Buy 400 Qualifying served by picapp.com

Earlier this week, the Charlotte Observer reported that Jamie McMurray would be parting ways with Roush-Fenway Racing at the conclusion of the 2008 season, but McMurray has denied such allegations. McMurray, who is in the midst of his third full season with Roush-Fenway, stated that those rumors are false and that he plans to remain with the organization at least until the end of 2009, when the team will be forced to shut down one of its five operating teams, though many people feel strongly that the team that team owner, Jack Roush, lets go will simply be handed over to their Ford Racing partners over at Yates Racing.

Despite earning his second top-ten finish of the season this past weekend at Dover and moving up to 22nd in points, Jim Utter from the Charlotte Observer states that McMurray has contacted other teams about racing opportunities for next season, and that his agents have put his name out there as an available driver for 2009. They also stated that Roush has been in several negotiations with sponsor, Crown Royal, in a deal that with pair them up with the no. 16 car of Greg Biffle.

Should the story be true, then adding McMurray’s name to the list of silly season spectacles could add yet another twist to this ongoing saga. Roush has already locked up Carl Edwards to another multi-year deal and appears to be only a few minor details away from re-signing Greg Biffle to his current contract. So, with Bobby LaBonte, Martin Truex Jr, and Elliott Sadler all already being reported as being re-signed with their teams for 2009, and Joe Gibbs Racing going on record by stating that they would not allow Tony Stewart to exit his contract obligations early, that would leave McMurray and Ryan Newman as the two biggest names on the market assuming that Roush’s deal with Biffle does in fact go through.

Richard Childress Racing has already stated that they are in search of a driver to field their fourth Cup car for next season, and the lineup at Penske Racing remains uncertain with Ryan Newman yet to be re-signed and the future of Sam Hornish Jr. with the team potentiall in question. There have also been a few reports that a release from Hendrick Motorsports for Casey Mears might not be out of question, and nobody appears to be safe over at Chip Ganassi Racing, so a potential return for McMurray there could even be in play. So, there could definitely be some opportunities for McMurray should the rumors of his departure from Roush hold true. As stated earlier, however, McMurray told reporters on Monday that as of right now the rumors are false.

“I spoke to Geoff Smith (Roush-Fenway president) this morning … You never know what’s going to happen, but as of today, there’s no truth to that,” says Jamie McMurray.

McMurray first broke onto the Cup scene in 2002 while substituting for an injured Sterling Marlin over at Chip Ganassi Racing. He won the Fall race at Lowe’s that season in only his second career start. He drove the next three seasons full-time for Ganassi, finishing between 11th and 13th in points in each of those seasons. Since moving to Roush in 2006, McMurray has won only one more race (the Pepsi 400 last year at Daytona), and finished 25th in points in ‘06 and 17th in points last year. Jamie fell outside of the top-35 in points following the fifth race of 2008, but has since been able to climb his way back to 22nd thanks to seven top-20 finishes in the past nine races.

DYN Imposes:
This week, Do You NASCAR also asks its readers …

1. Will Jamie McMurray be back with Roush-Fenway Racing in 2009? If not, where will he go?
2. If McMurray is not with the organization, will Roush field a fifth car next season, and who will it be?
3. If McMurray does stay with Roush, which driver will be dropped from the 2010 roster?
4. How long before we can expect to see Jamie Mac back in Victory Lane?

Image details: Dodge Challenger 500 Qualifying served by picapp.com

A few weeks ago following the Dan Lowry 400 at Richmond, things were beginning to look a little grim for car owner, Jack Roush. Ten races into the season, and only two of his five drivers were sitting inside the top-12 in points, though at the time both Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards were less than 120 points away from a potential slip to 13th in the standings. David Ragan was in 14th, Matt Kenseth in 22nd, and Jamie McMurray a very distant 26th. What’s happened since then? Well, things have gotten better to say the least. Biffle and Edwards have solidified their stance inside the Chase field; Ragan and Kenseth still have a good fighting chance to crack the top-12; and Jamie McMurray has evaded the danger zone of falling outside of the top-35 in owners points, and now sits in 22nd.

Matt Kenseth has seen perhaps the most drastic improvement. After scoring only four top-ten finishes through the first ten races of the season, Kenseth has answered back by firing off three consecutive finishes of 7th or better at Darlington, Charlotte, and most recently, Dover, where he earned his first top-five since Fontana two weeks into the season. While Matt still lags back in 16th in the points standings, he’s closed the points gap significantly and now trails 12th place Kasey Kahne by a mere 95 points.

Trailing the points leaders at this point in the season is by no means new territory for the man affectionately referred to as “Weasel”. In 2005 - two years after winning the Cup Championship - Kenseth sat 22nd in points after the first thirteen races. At that time, the Chase field consisted of only the top-ten drivers, and Matt trailed 10th place by a distant 278 points. He would not be denied, however, as he rattled off 9 top-ten finishes throughout the next 13 races and entered the Chase for the Cup 8th in points. He finished the year in 7th, but many Kenseth fans still tout that season as a victory nonetheless.

Since entering the Cup Series full-time in 2000, Kenseth has finished outside of the top-12 in points only during his first two seasons. Since then, he has finished no worse than 8th in the standings, and won the championship for Roush in 2003 - as well as finishing runner-up for the title to Jimmie Johnson in ‘06.

Up until this year, Kenseth had known only one crew chief - Robby Reiser - who had been with Matt during his entire NASCAR career. Robbie has since been promoted within the Roush organization, and Matt found himself struggling with his new Crew Chief, Chip Bolin. Things appear to be coming together at this point, though, and Kenseth could very well be on his way to keeping his Chase streak alive.

Kenseth has long been known as the type of driver that can turn a bad situation into a good one without anyone ever seeing it coming, and that’s exactly what we could be looking at from the no. 17 team this season. Since 2005, in races number 14 through 26 on the schedule (39 races in all over the past 3 years), Kenseth has tallied 3 wins, 13 top-five’s, and 23 top-ten’s, and has a 12.15 average finish over the course of those races. If he can hold true to form, there should be plenty of time left for Kenseth to “weasel” his way back into Chase contention.

Image details: Best Buy 400 served by picapp.com

Kyle Busch stayed atop the Sprint Cup Series points standings, and he did so in convincing fashion by dominating the later portions of the Best Buy 400 at Dover International Speedway, outrunning the Roush-Fenway Racing cars to the finish. The race was 400 circuits long, and Busch was a third place car for over half of them, but his ability to get on and off of pit road quickly enabled him to pass Carl Edwards for the lead during a round of green flag pit stops with 163 laps to go, and there was no turning back after that.

The race had the looks of an exciting one early on with a huge pileup on lap 18 that involved twelve cars, six of which entered the day inside the top-12 in points. Elliott Sadler clipped the front end of the no. 38 Yates car of David Gilliland coming out of the turn, and the contact was enough to send Sadler spinning into the wall. Tony Stewart, who was driving behind Sadlers no. 19 Dodge at the time, ran right into the crash, and it became a domino effect after that, collecting Denny Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne, Clint Bowyer, Bill Elliott, Scott Riggs, Bobby LaBonte, and Paul Menard in the process. Hamlin and Sadler retired their cars following the accident, while Stewart and Harvick spent significant time in the garage. With the exception of Clint Bowyer, Paul Menard, and David Gilliland, all of the other cars found themselves at least one lap down after the mele’.

From that point, things remained relatively uneventful until lap 154, at which point Greg Biffle had led all but four laps, surrending the lead only during the first caution period, at which point Michael McDowell stayed out to lead a lap, and then three laps during a round of green flag stops. Shortly after all of the cars had completed their green flag stops, the no. 84 Team Red Bull car driven by AJ Allmendinger stalled due to a problem with the fuel pressure to bring out the fourth caution flag of the day.

Under caution, Kurt Busch, who had been running inside the top-five for the better part of the day, spent a lot of time on pit road as the team try to correct a problem with the fuel intake. Busch returned to the track, but was two laps down, ending his bid for a much needed quality run. During the same caution period, Jimmie Johnson was caught speeding on pit road and was forced to start at the tail end of the longest line.

Carl Edwards finally took the lead from his Roush teammate on lap 171, marking the first time all day long that Biffle had been passed on the track. Biffle had spotted a problem with car, which they traced back to an altenator problem, and it cost him a bit of time on the track as he was forced to shut off several things in the car to save the battery, including the driver cooling systems.

Edwards held onto the lead until the field was set for their next round of pit stops on lap 232. A few drivers, including Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, and Paul Menard led the race during the exchange, but when the field had cycled through, it was Busch at the front of the pack with a 2 second lead, largely attributed to his ability to get onto pit road much more aggressively, and more quickly than the other drivers.

The caution flag waived only once more for debris in turn 2, much to the dismay of the Roush drivers that trailed behind Busch on the track. The field made two more pit stops under green, and Busch extended his lead on the field each time. He went onto win the race by a 4.225 second margin.

Edwards finished the race in second, followed by fellow Roushketeers Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth in third and fourth place. Jeff Gordon ended a solid day with a fifth place run, and last year’s winner, Martin Truex Jr, finished in sixth and was the final car on the lead lap. Jimmie Johnson recovered nicely from his earlier mistake on pit road, but not as well as he’d have liked to, and he came home in seventh. 8th place went to Jeff Burton, extending his streak to finishing every race this season in the top-15, but he ended his streak of completing every lap run, as he, too, finished a lap down. Dave Blaney and Jamie McMurray finished in 9th and 10th, giving them each their second top-ten finish of the season.

Travis Kvapil put together another nice run with his 11th place finish in yet another unsponsored car, moving him up now to 18th in the points standings. Brian Vickers ran up inside the top-ten for the first half of the race, but was caught speeding on pit road twice, and finished two laps down in 13th place. Ryan Newman had a top-ten run ruined as well, as he experienced the same issues with the fuel intake as his Penske teammate, Kurt Busch, and he went two laps down due to an extended pit stop with 80 laps to go, though he still maintained a 14th place finish.

Busch’s victory now gives Joe Gibbs Racing their season-leading fifth on the season, and extends his points lead over Jeff Burton to 142. Though no drivers dropped out of the top-12, there was quite a bit of shakeup. Greg Biffle jumped up six spots to take over fifth, and less than a hundred points now separates 12th place Kasey Kahne from 16th place Matt Kenseth.

Grades:
the Race: 77%
the Drama: 80%
Coverage: 85%
Pre-Race: 76%

Overall Grade: 79.1

Complete Results (from nascar.com):

 Sprint Cup Series Standings (from nascar.com):