Jeff Gordon finally celebrates after 47 losses in a row

The win allowed Gordon to increase his points gap in the Sprint Cup to 162 points over the second place driver, who just happens to be Johnson, and gave him his 82^nd career victory in Sprint Cup, which puts him in sixth place on the list for career victories in the popular series.

Gordon will probably be buying his crew a drink or two after the race, it was their efficiency and skill that allowed him to get out of the pit first under caution on lap 305 to take the lead. The race restarted on lap 309 of 334 with Gordon pulling away from the field, but around lap 319 Johnson started to pull Gordon back in by about two seconds, but he was only able to get as close as three or four car lengths by the time Gordon crossed the line.

The pit stop turned out to be the achilles heel for Carl Edwards, who was in the lead when he pitted, but restarted 11^th on lap 309 after spending an unusual amount of time in the pit and eventually finished 10^th. Edward’s teammate, Greg Biffle, also fell to pit problems, despite having one of the faster cars, when he had problems with lug nuts on his tires during his pit stop, but managed to finish third. The third Roush teammate, Matt Kenseth, also had a slow pit stop due to lug nut problems, and ended up in fifth place.

Tony Stewart once again had a strong race driving for Stewart-Haas, running fast for the majority of the race, without any real pit problems and finished fourth in the grid. The sixth through tenth places were taken by Mark Martin, Juan Montoya, Kurt Busch, Jeff Burton, and the before mentioned Carl Edwards.

Image: Newscom

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Jeff Gordon Wins Samsung 500

NASCAR’s Best Tracks:
5. Richmond International Raceway
4. Daytona International Speedway
3. Lowe’s Motor Speedway
2. Chicagoland Speedway
1. Bristol Motor Speedway

Post from: EveryJoe

DYN List of the Week: Best & Worst NASCAR Tracks

1/30 – Richard Petty will waive the green flag at this year’s Daytona 500, a race that “the King” has won himself on seven different occasions.  Read More.

1/30 – Hershey’s is honoring racing legend Dale Earnhardt by releasing four limited edition collector chocolate bars this month depicting different images of “the Intimidator”.  Read More.

1/30 – Richard Childress is among eight inductees this year into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.  Read More.

1/31 – Billboards at Texas Motor Speedway promoting the Sprint Cup Series’ visit to the track with the wording “Reason # 88: Step-Mom” are being replaced at the request of Kelly Earnhardt, Dale’s sister.  The billboard will now read “Reason # 88: New Car Smell”.  Read More.

1/31 – Johnny Benson ran the fastest lap in the four testing sessions for the Nationwide Series held this week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He turned in a lap of 29.552 in his no. 20 Toyota.  Read More.

1/31 – Cunningham Motorsports has announced that they will expand to the Craftsman Truck Series this year. CHM is already a top competitor in the ARCA Series and is now seeking drivers and sponsors for 2008 to run the trucks.  Read More.

2/1 – Robby Gordon Motorsports has signed a new partnership to align the race team with that of Gillette-Evernham Motorsports. Per the terms of the deal, Gordon’s single car operation will field Dodge’s on the track in 2008, and in return will receive the financial and sponsorship assistance he’s lacked in recent years.  Read More.

2/1 – Due to new state laws in Tennessee banning smoking in most public facilities, smoking at Bristol will now be restricted to the concourse areas.  Read More.

2/1 – Denny Hamlin led the pre-season Sprint Cup testing at California by turning a lap of 39.447 seconds in his no. 11 Joe Gibbs Toyota in the Thursday morning session.  Read More.

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Saturday Morning Quick Fix