Chicagoland 400 Race Review

Chicagoland Speedway -- 07/12/08

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Sunday Jul 13 2008 11:20pm

How dominant has Kyle Busch been so far in this season's 19 racesΔ

After winning in Chicago on Saturday night, Busch leads the series in these statistical categories:

Wins (7) - The next closest driver is Carl Edwards with 3.

Top-5 finishes (12) - The next closest drivers (a three-way tie) have 7.

Top-10 finishes (13) - Tied with Carl Edwards.

Laps Led (1065) - The next closest driver is Denny Hamlin with 670.

Average Finish (9.5) - The next closest driver is Jeff Burton with a 10.7.

Total points - Busch has a 262-point lead over Dale Earnhardt Jr. in second.

In addition, Busch was leading the loop data stats heading into Chicago in these categories: Box Score, Overall Driver Rating, Average Running Position, Miles Led, and Fastest Early in a Run.

There were a few instances at Chicagoland where it looked like someone other than Busch might prevail - this despite the fact that he led the most laps - 165 of 267 (62%). Busch started on the pole thanks to the rain-out of qualifying on Thursday. He also won Friday's Nationwide race.

But everything seems to be going Busch's way this year, just as misfortune strikes his competitors time and again:

Carl Edwards, who looked very strong in practice, took the lead from Busch at lap 44 and led 15 laps overall. Edwards finished 32nd after suffering a broken splitter.

Matt Kenseth, who also appeared to have a car capable of winning, led seven laps before having a tire go down as he was battling Busch at the front of the field. After pitting, Kenseth found himself a lap down in 37th place. He fought back admirably for a 7th-place finish.

Greg Biffle, who used pit strategy to gain track position early on, took the lead at lap 56 and led at total of 43 laps - second only to Busch. Though he finished 4th, Biffle did not have the horsepower at the end to challenge Busch and said his car was not as good as it needed to be in traffic.

Then there was Jimmie Johnson, who ran in the top 5 for most of the day and passed Busch outright with 17 laps to go. Johnson pulled ahead with the clean air on his nose, but David Gilliland's blown engine with six laps remaining brought the field together and set up the final restart.

The race restarted with two laps to go, with Johnson in the lead and Busch in second. Here's a description of what happened next from each driver's perspective:

Busch: Jimmie was going to bring us down slow. I remember this from the short track days when somebody was in your mirror and you creep up on them - you stop and they’ll go up on you. Well, I just went. I pushed Jimmie Johnson to go and was like let’s go man, here we go. That was the saving grace right there, was a good restart. I just had to go to the outside because he was going to block the bottom in turn one and two … I knew when Jimmie got us here that clean air was going to be it. Luckily, we got that caution and got back by him.

Johnson: We had a great car there at the end. I passed the 18, got going, and on the last restart I should have given him the inside. There's no way I thought with how good my car was that I couldn't have got away from him through one and two, and somehow he got to the outside. As soon as he broke the plane in my bumper, I knew I was in trouble, and sure enough, I was.

So it was Busch taking the checkers once again, followed by Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Greg Biffle, and Tony Stewart.

Rounding out the top 10 were Brian Vickers, Matt Kenseth, David Ragan, Martin Truex Jr., and Ryan Newman.

While the top six in points all held serve, there was quite a shakeup in the standings between 7th and 13th place.

The biggest climbers were Greg Biffle and Kevin Harvick, who each moved up four spots to 7th and 9th respectively. Matt Kenseth moved up one spot and Tony Stewart up two.

Denny Hamlin, who finished several laps down in 40th place after his ignition box failed early in the race, plummeted five spots to 12th.

Meanwhile, Clint Bowyer, who finished 22nd, fell out of the top 10, dropping three spots to 13th. Bowyer is now 27 points behind Hamlin.

Amazingly, just 35 points now separate the six drivers between 7th and 12th: Biffle, Kenseth, Harvick, Stewart, Kahne and Hamlin.

Those six, along with the rest of the field, will have to live with the uncertainty for two long weeks, as the Cup series takes a rare weekend off.

But the next race should be worth waiting for: Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Brickyard 400 on Sunday, July 27th.