NASCAR Sprint Cup: Darlington- Busch’s Third Win Of The Season
May 11, 2008
CIA Stock Photo, Inc.
Greg Biffle started from the pole with Dale Earnhardt Jr. along side in second. Biffle set a new qualifying record by going 7 mph faster than the old record held by Ward Burton. This is due to the new track surface that was put down after last year’s race.
Shortly after the first caution, another caution would come out on lap 12 for Sam Hornish pounding the wall in turn 3. The leaders would stay out but some of the cars at the back of the field came to pit road for adjustments.
The race would go back to green with Biffle still the leader. Kyle Busch would take the lead from Biffle on lap 17 and drive away from the rest of the field. Biffle would catch up to Busch when he started to lap cars. Biffle would take the lead back on lap 40.
Busch would continue to lead until lap 110 when Biffle took the lead back. Another set of green flag stops started around lap 115 with Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin, and Carpentier all leading laps before making their pit stops. Biffle came out leading the race after pit stops concluded with Busch hot on his tail.
Busch would once again race dirty and knock Biffle out of the way to take the lead back on lap 128. Biffle would make a great save and continue in second place.
Gordon would lead until Kyle Busch took the lead with 97 laps to go. He had worked his way back to the front after his pit road infraction on lap 140 of the race.
Busch was the leader when a caution flag came out with 88 laps to go for debris. All the leaders made pit stops with Gordon coming out first.
The race would stay green till the checkered flag with Kyle Busch leading the whole way. Busch dominated the final half of the race after Biffle dropped out. It was Busch’s third win of the season and his first at Darlington.
“Luckily, the team gave me a really strong car tonight, because I like to knock the wall down,” quipped Busch, who recovered from a loose lug nut that brought him back to the pits on Lap 60 and cost him track position. “We had a really good piece tonight.”
“I can’t tell you how many times he [Busch] tried to give the race away by hitting the wall,” Gordon said. “You wouldn’t believe how torn up the right side of his car was.”
“We didn’t have a car that could get up there and challenge for the win, so we just brought it home in one piece,” said Gordon, who jumped from 13th to 10th in the championship standings.
“We tried and tried and tried a lot of things, and every time we got it a little bit better. But every time we tried to get it better than that, we went the wrong way with it. So, we just had to settle for a car that was a third-place car and hope we could get track position—and we did.”
“I had loose wheels all night,” said Biffle, who led 95 laps before his early exit. “Then I think the motor blew up. All I want is equipment that stays together.”
