Bank of America 500 Race Review

Lowe's Motor Speedway -- 10/11/08

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Sunday Oct 12 2008 12:58am

It was an eventful night in Charlotte for many of NASCAR's Chase for the Championship contenders but, in the end, nine Chasers finished 16th or higher, with just three finishing 33rd or lower -- and only two pairs of Chasers swapped spots in the standings, while the other eight drivers maintained their positions.

The race winner was Jeff Burton, whose fuel-only pit strategy got him to the front of the field and into the clean air that was so beneficial for leaders throughout the race. Burton fended off a serious challenge from five-time Lowe's winner Jimmie Johnson, who took two fresh tires but finished 6th. Kasey Kahne tried to close the gap on Burton as well, but could never quite catch him.

Johnson was the overall lap leader Saturday with 67 laps up front, though Burton was not far behind with 58.

Other top lap leaders included Brian Vickers, 64, Jeff Gordon, 47, and Tony Stewart, 42.

Finishing behind Burton in the top 5 were Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, and Jamie McMurray.

Rounding out the top 10 were Johnson, Greg Biffle, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and David Ragan.

Tony Stewart finished 11th, Clint Bowyer, 12th, and Kevin Harvick, 13th, with Denny Hamlin 16th.

The three Chase contenders having greatest difficulty at Charlotte were Carl Edwards, who finished 33rd, Dale Earnhardt Jr., 36th, and Matt Kenseth, 41st.

Jeff Gordon was actually the first Chase contender to have problems, sideswiping the wall on the first lap of the race and then hitting it harder a few laps later. He was forced to pit for fresh right side tires and went a lap down, but fought back all night to lead a number of laps. Pit strategy hurt Gordon in the end though, when a four-tire stop got him mired back in traffic. Without clean air on the nose, Gordon was able to muster just an 8th-place finish.

Carl Edwards had a lot of distractions this past week after triggering the big wreck last weekend in Talladega which took out two Roush teammates and a number of other good cars. He followed that up with a physical altercation in the Nationwide garage with Kevin Harvick in Charlotte. Edwards' problems continued at Lowe's with an electrical issue necessitating a change-out of both ignition boxes. He restarted 16 laps down in 39th-place after repairs and finished 33rd.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. blew a right side tire on lap 103 and hit the wall very hard causing significant damage to the 88 car. Though he eventually rejoined the race, he was over 40 laps down in 39th place and finished 36th. It was the second time in two weeks that Earnhardt suffered a major tire blow-out and a hard crash; the first was in practice for Talladega last week.

Matt Kenseth also seemed to be repeating his Talladega woes at Charlotte as he was once again the hapless victim of someone else's collision. After starting 9th, Kenseth was motoring along around lap 194 when contact between Paul Menard and Bill Elliott triggered a wreck that collected Tony Raines, Travis Kvapil, and Kenseth. The 17 car was not reparable and Matt finished 41st.

Tony Stewart, who seemed to have the fastest car in the early going, was caught speeding on pit road on lap 260 and served a pass through penalty. He finished 11th.

Despite what sounds like a fairly hectic race, there were only two pairs of Chase drivers who changed positions in the standings. Near the top of the points, Jeff Burton's victory boosted him two spots in the standings, past Greg Biffle in 3rd, to take 2nd place behind Jimmie Johnson. Burton is now 69 points out of 1st, while Biffle is 86 back. Burton supplants Carl Edwards, who fell two spots to 4th, 168 out - making Burton and Biffle the only Chase drivers within a one-race striking distance of Johnson.

At the other end of the Chase standings, Matt Kenseth fell two spots to 11th, with Kyle Busch up two to 9th.

Overall, the race included 10 cautions for 48 laps, and 24 lead changes among 16 different lap leaders.