In what was described at the Tale of Two Races, Team Chevy drivers Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet, Clint Bowyer, No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet and Jamie McMurray, No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet finished third, fourth and fifth respectively in the LifeLock.com 400.
Gordon led twice for a total of 47 laps while Bowyer led once for one lap and McMurray led once for 72 laps. Two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Gordon remains second in the point standings. Bowyer now sits 12th in the standings while McMurray, who started on the pole, moved up to 18th in the points order.
The Chicagoland Speedway race started in the daylight with second place qualifier Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, jumping to the lead and setting a blistering pace at the front of the field. But as day turned into night, the track changed dramatically as did the complexion of the race.
After leading for 92 laps, Johnson was involved in an on-track incident that sent him spinning into the grass and relegated the four-time defending champion to a 25th place finish. He remains third in the standings with seven races remaining to the start of the Chase.
Points leader Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet, suffered an equally disappointing night when he spent several laps in the garage to repair a faulty fuel pump assembly. He finished 34th but remains in the points lead with 103 points over second place Gordon.
Jeff Burton, No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet, moved up one spot in the Chase standings to seventh with his seventh place finish in tonight’s 267-lap/400-mile race.
Two-time NSCS champion Tony Stewart, No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet, finished ninth in the race and remains ninth in the standings.
David Reutimann (Toyota) was the race winner with Carl Edwards (Ford) in second).
RANK DRIVER POINTS BEHIND 1 Kevin Harvick 2745 Leader 2 Jeff Gordon 2642 -103 3 Jimmie Johnson 2557 -188 4 Denny Hamlin 2542 -203 5 Kurt Busch 2524 -221 6 Kyle Busch 2488 -257 7 Jeff Burton 2465 -280 8 Matt Kenseth 2446 -299 9 Tony Stewart 2389 -356 10 Carl Edwards 2345 -400 11 Greg Biffle 2292 -453 12 Clint Bowyer 2286 -459 13 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 2271 -474 14 Mark Martin 2249 -496 15 David Reutimann 2190 -555 16 Ryan Newman 2187 -558 17 Kasey Kahne 2166 -579 18 Jamie McMurray 2105 -640 19 Joey Logano 2103 -642 20 Martin Truex Jr. 2060 -685 21 Juan Montoya 2044 -701 22 A.J. Allmendinger 2021 -724 23 Paul Menard 1981 -764 24 Scott Speed 1838 -907 25 David Ragan 1836 -909 26 Brad Keselowski 1830 -915 27 Elliott Sadler 1750 -995 28 Marcos Ambrose 1739 -1006 29 Sam Hornish Jr. 1695 -1050 30 Regan Smith 1599 -1146 31 Bobby Labonte 1467 -1278 32 Robby Gordon 1383 -1362 33 Travis Kvapil 1303 -1442 34 David Gilliland 1260 -1485 35 Kevin Conway* 1233 -1512 36 Brian Vickers 1158 -1587 37 David Stremme 825 -1920 38 Mike Bliss 799 -1946 39 Joe Nemechek 763 -1982 40 Max Papis 736 -2009
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