Centurion Boats at The Glen Race Review

Watkins Glen International -- 08/10/08

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Monday Aug 11 2008 10:50pm

So who knew that the road course at Watkins Glen would produce one of the scariest collisions of the entire seasonΔ

With just eight laps left in the race, a huge multi-car pileup ensued after rookie Michael McDowell pinched David Gilliland into the wall. Among the drivers involved were Dave Blaney, Sam Hornish Jr., Bobby Labonte, Joe Nemechek, Ryan Newman, Max Papis, Reed Sorenson and Michael Waltrip.

Labonte was taken to an area hospital for further evaluation after complaining of rib and abdominal pain on the right, but was treated and released.

That incident was just one of a number of twists and turns in the race, but most of them took place behind winner Kyle Busch, who led four times for 52 of 90 laps and crossed the finish line with a 2.275 second lead ahead of second-place Tony Stewart.

As I reported before the race, Busch's win accomplished two things beyond just another notch on the 23-year-old's belt: He became the first driver in NASCAR history to win three road course races in one season, and secured his spot in this year's Chase which starts in four races.

The only other driver to lead more than a lap or two was Dale Earnhardt Jr. Starting from the outside of row one alongside Kyle Busch, Junior took the lead on lap 2 and held it until a lap 29 pit stop, handing the lead to Busch.

Though Earnhardt ran in the top 10 for the mid portion of the race after pitting, he inexplicably failed to pit with the leaders on lap 57 - and when he pitted under caution 10 laps later, he came back out in 31st place.

Earnhardt finished the race 22nd and fell two spots in the point standings from 2nd to 4th.

A few other potential Chase contenders had sub-par runs at the Glen, including Greg Biffle, who finished 21st, Clint Bowyer, 23rd, Ryan Newman, 26th, and Jeff Gordon, 29th.

Gordon managed to hang on 6th in the standings, though the team never had the car dialed in for the multi-race road course winner. Biffle fell two spots to 10th, while Bowyer dropped below the Chase cutoff this week to 13th.

Among the Chase contenders who improved their positions were Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, and Matt Kenseth. They all had top 10 finishes except Kenseth, who finished 12th - good enough to move him back up to 12th in the standings.

Behind Busch and Stewart in the finishing order were Marcos Ambrose, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Martin Truex Jr. rounding out the top 5.

Ambrose's drive from back to front was particularly impressive and a big boost for the No. 21 Wood Brothers team. AJ Allmendinger also brought home a respectable 11th-place finish.

The top five in the point standings - Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Jeff Burton - have now put some distance between themselves and the next set of drivers. Burton at 5th is 309 points out of first; Gordon at 6th is 500 points back.

The gap between Matt Kenseth at 12th and Clint Bowyer at 13th is just 22 points.
Of course, the points will be reset for the top 12 at the start of the Chase, with each driver awarded 10 bonus points per win during the regular season - currently eight wins (80 bonus points) for Kyle Busch, four for Carl Edwards, two each for Kasey Kahne and Jimmie Johnson, and one for Earnhardt, Bowyer, Kurt Busch, Hamlin, Burton, and Newman.

Potential Chase drivers Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle and Kevin Harvick remain winless this year after 22 races.