3M Performance 400 Race Review

Michigan International Speedway -- 08/17/08

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Sunday Aug 17 2008 8:10pm

If you read my Michigan pre-race practice/qualifying update, you may recall that I focused quite a bit on Jeff Gordon and the fact that this race would be critical for the No. 24 team.

Gordon and crew chief Steve Letarte were clearly hoping to rebound from last weekend's unexpectedly bad 29th-place finish at Watkins Glen. But even they could not have predicted what happened to Gordon on Sunday.

After two slow pit stops early in the race which Gordon described as "terrible", he found himself four-wide on lap 91 with Reed Sorenson on the bottom, then Gordon, teammate Jimmie Johnson, and Tony Stewart near the wall. Sandwiched between Stewart and Gordon, Johnson bounced off the 20 and then ricocheted off the right side of 24.

Johnson had a tire rub after the collision and pitted, while Gordon stayed on the track. Six laps later, Gordon's tire went down, sending him hard into the wall with major right-side damage. Though he would try to return to the track after repairs, the team eventually called it quits and Gordon finished 42nd. Only Marcos Ambrose, whose engine expired early in the race, finished worse.

The dismal showing dropped Gordon three spots in the standings from 6th to 9th. He was one of three Chase contenders to fall that distance in the points after Michigan - Denny Hamlin and Kasey Kahne both lost engines and finished 39th and 40th, respectively.

Kahne fell three spots to 11th and Hamlin three spots to 12th - now just 26 points above 13th place.

On the plus side, it appears that the fastest car did win the race today, with Carl Edwards leading the most laps, 84 of 200, and holding off Kyle Busch through several late race restarts for the win. Edwards pit crew was instrumental in getting him to the front and making sure he stayed there.

Although there had been speculation that the Roush-Fenway cars might not be as dominant at Michigan as they have been in the past (Edwards excluded), all five Roush cars finished in the top 10 with four in the top 5 - Edwards, Ragan, Biffle and Kenseth - and Jamie McMurray at 10th.

Still, Matt Kenseth substantiated those pre-race rumors after the race: "It was a struggle, to say the least. We were way off. We were really good here in the spring and probably had a car fast enough to win the race, but we were just really off today … We got here and right off the truck we weren’t right, and just could never hit it. So even though we finished fifth - that’s a bright spot, but disappointed with how we performed."

Matt was one of four Chase contenders to improve in the point standings today, though the top five in points (Busch, Edwards, Johnson, Earnhardt Jr. and Burton) all stayed the same. Kenseth climbed two spots to 10th and Biffle up three to 7th. Tony Stewart, who also struggled with his car's handling, finished 12th and moved up one spot to 6th, while Kevin Harvick finished 8th and moved up three spots to 8th.

The day started off with promise for three of the four Hendrick Motorsports drivers, with Johnson, Earnhardt Jr. and Gordon all starting in the top 5. Johnson fought back from his run-in with Stewart to finish 17th, while Gordon finished next to last.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., meanwhile, looked strong in the early going, taking the lead for the first time on lap 8 and leading three times for a total of 43 laps - second only to race winner Edwards. But, as has been the case for the 88 car so many times this year, handling got worse as the day wore on, with Junior eventually in the wall and finishing 23rd.

Polesitter Brian Vickers ran well all day, leading 21 laps and finishing 7th, though he was not in contention for the win at the end. Kyle Busch led 34 laps and looked like the only real challenger to the stout 99 car of Edwards, but Busch did not display his characteristic aggressive speed on the late-race restarts (three cautions in the last 20 laps), and Edwards was able to pull away each time.

Other notable finishes included David Ragan, 3rd, tying the best finish of his Cup career, Mark Martin, 6th, Elliott Sadler, 9th, and Michael Waltrip, 19th. Waltrip moved up one place in the standings and is now four spots to the good side of 35th-place.

Rookie Brad Coleman, who replaced J.J. Yeley in the No. 96 DLP car, finished 38th in his Cup debut.