Dodge Challenger 500 Race Review

Darlington Raceway -- 05/10/08

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Sunday May 11 2008 2:05am

Compared to last week's Richmond race which resulted in several crashed cars and thousands of crashed message board servers across the internet, tonight's Darlington race - for all its hype - was anticlimactic.

There was plenty of green flag racing, but not much passing and even less drama overall. And for once the driver who led the most laps, Kyle Busch, also won the race, no doubt to the chagrin of many fans and NASCAR promoters - not just because of his lack of popularity, but because of the uncontested 3.115-second margin he led by at the end.

There were only eight cautions all night and all were for one or two-car mishaps - quite surprising since many pundits predicted that the record speeds produced by the new glass-smooth surface, combined with the narrowness of the track, would result in a caution-filled wreckfest.

But a number of factors worked against that theory, including the hard tire that Goodyear brought, a small fuel cell, the COT itself, and drivers who were focused more on racing the track and trying to stay out of the fence than anything else.

The end result was a tepid, uneventful race with several drivers particularly unhappy about the difficulty passing, most of which took place on pit road.

Here are some representative comments from several drivers who finished in the top 10:

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (4th)- "Track position was everything. You could not pass, period. That was the worst I have ever seen it as far as trying to be able to pass."

Jeff Burton (10th) - "After that first caution, it seemed like we went forever. No real surprises. The track is pretty cool - it's just almost too fast because it's hard to pass. It's so aerodynamic sensitive now, more than it's ever been."

Matt Kenseth (6th) - "The only little thing frustrating is the racing was kind of weird at the end. Everybody is riding around half-throttle and when you have a hard tire and a little fuel cell, everybody is trying to stretch that last five laps, so that was kind of weird."

Jeff Gordon (3rd) - "Tonight was tough, but it wasn't the toughest Darlington that I've ever driven, just because you really couldn't even get up to a guy to pass him. You know, a lapped car had to let me go in order for me to pass him."

Kyle Busch (winner) - "This place became aero tight. It became one of those aero sensitive race tracks because there is only one lane you can run around this place that is the fast way around. Any time that you want to get by somebody, you just have to save your stuff and try to maneuver past them somehow, someway. But it's hard to do."

One of the more memorable moments of the evening came early on, with Elliott Sadler crowding Tony Stewart into the wall shortly after the green flag. Sadler took responsibility for what he described as a "rookie mistake" and finished 42nd, while Stewart finished two laps down at 21st.

Another disappointed driver was Greg Biffle, who started on the pole and led 95 laps before loose wheels and a subsequent mechanical failure ended his day. "It is really frustrating, but you know what - I've just become accustomed to expecting it, because just week after week it's something. Something breaks. Something falls off. We've got wheels loose. We had wheels loose twice tonight. I don't know - I know everybody is trying their hardest, the guys are digging their hearts out. But the fact of the matter is in this sport, in this day and age, you cannot leave the wheels loose."

Race winner Kyle Busch, who led 169 laps, had his own share of problems, including a missed lug nut that resulted in a pit road penalty, and several hard contacts with the wall. In the end, however, no one could compete with the No. 18 Toyota's raw horsepower.

Busch is now tied with Carl Edwards for three wins each in the Cup series and maintains his number one position in the standings, with Jeff Burton in 2nd and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 3rd also stationary in the rankings.

Perhaps the most notable change in the top 12 was the ascent of Jeff Gordon, who climbed from 13th to 10th to finally join the ranks of potential Chase contenders.

Ryan Newman and Kasey Kahne each lost two spots to fall out of the top 12.

Other notable top-10 runs included David Ragan, 5th, Travis Kvapil, 8th, and Dave Blaney, 9th. There were no Dodge drivers in the top 10 - Kurt Busch was the highest finishing Dodge at 12th. Michael McDowell had the best rookie run at 28th.

This week, the series heads to Lowe's Motor Speedway for the All-Star Challenge. There will be no points on the line - just a million-dollar purse.