Good news for the many fans who are tired of
seeing Kyle Busch win races this year: He didn't win Sunday at Michigan. Bad
news: They are likely tired of seeing Carl Edwards up front and he wound up
winning. Edwards was able to hold off Busch and the rest of the field to take
the win at the 3M Performance 400. It was his fifth win in the
Sprint Cup Series and also
finished off the weekend sweep after winning the Nationwide Series race there on
Saturday. His 84 of the 200 laps led was the most of any driver. While Busch
has officially secured a place in The Chase, you can basically pencil Carl
Edwards in as well.
There were seven cautions in the race. Four of those caution flags fell after
lap 165. The biggest caution on the day was the second one, which fell on lap
86. Paul Menard made
contact with
Ryan Newman, who then slid into
Dave Blaney. After that,
Blaney slammed into the wall, causing his car to briefly go into the air. He
was uninjured in the wreck.
Several drivers in contention for The Chase found troubles Sunday. One of them
was Kasey Kahne. He was
never able to get in contention, then fell out after 162 laps with engine
troubles. He wound up finishing 40th. Kahne remains in Chase position, but is
11th in the standings, 47 points ahead of 13th place
Clint Bowyer. Another
driver with troubles was
Denny Hamlin. He had a solid day actually, until lap 194, when his
engine blew. Hamlin finished 39th, and sits on the bubble for The Chase, just
26 points ahead of Bowyer.
It wasn't a great day for
Hendrick Motorsports either. Just a bit shy of the halfway mark of the
race, Jeff Gordon and
Jimmie Johnson knocked into each other. Not long after that, Gordon
brought out the caution on lap 98, when his right front tire blew, causing him
to hit the wall. Gordon finished 111 laps and wound up 42nd. Gordon fell three
spots to ninth in the points, 82 ahead of Bowyer. As for Johnson, he finished
17th, the last car on the lead lap. After winning the June race at Michigan,
Dale Earnhardt Jr. looked
to be a good bet to do it again early. But he found himself in the wall in the
race's late stages. Dale finished a lap down in 23rd. But unlike Gordon, both
Johnson and Earnhardt are in solid spots to make The Chase. They are both in
the top five of the points standings.
On the weekend where reports came out that UPS was close to sponsoring him for
the 2009 season, David Ragan
had another great run. Ragan led three laps on his way to a third place
finish. Fourth place finisher
Greg Biffle and fifth place
Matt Kenseth both improved
their chances for making The Chase. Biffle moved up three spots to seventh (145
points ahead of Bowyer) while Kenseth moved up two spots to tenth (74 ahead of
Bowyer).
Mark Martin had a solid day, finishing sixth. Pole sitter
Brian Vickers also had a
good day, leading 21 laps on his way to a seventh place run.
Kevin Harvick's eighth
place finish allowed him to move up three places in the points standings to
eighth (103 ahead of Bowyer).
Elliott Sadler and Jamie McMurray rounded out the top ten.
Other notable finishes included
Jeff Burton in 11th,
Tony Stewart in 12th (Stewart moved up to sixth in the points while
Burton remained in fifth and soildly in Chase position), Clint Bowyer in 20th,
and Ryan Newman 21st.
After Michigan, there are now only three races remaining before The Chase
begins. This weekend marks a favorite for
NASCAR fans: Night racing
at Bristol. The trucks will compete Wednesday night in the
O'Reilly 200. The
Nationwide Series will race Friday night in the
Food City 250. The Sprint
Cup will finish the weekend Saturday night in the
Sharpie 500.
By: CrimsonCowboy