Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon increased his lead in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series standings from nine to 68 points by snaring his sixth win of the season at Lowe’s Motor Speedway Oct. 13 in a 505-mile event marred by 15 caution periods that consumed 62 of 337 race laps. The four-time series title winner kept his No. 24 Chevrolet near the rear of the 43-car field for a good portion of the event before taking a green-white-checkered flag finish by 0.579 of a second over fellow Chase for the NEXTEL Cup contender Clint Bowyer. Kyle Busch finished third, Jeff Burton placed fourth and Carl Edwards rounded out the race top-five that consisted solely of championship-eligible drivers. Gordon, who had a 317-point lead turned into a 20-point deficit at the beginning of the 10-race Chase for the NEXTEL Cup on Sept. 16, is tied with teammate and defending series champion Jimmie Johnson for the series lead in wins and leads the series in top-five finishes with 19 and top-10 finishes with 25.
Gordon has posted two straight wins and top-five finishes in five of the past six races. Johnson wheeled out a 14th-place finish at the track which bears the name of his primary car sponsor. He snapped his top-five finish streak at two. Bowyer held onto to the third position in the series standings for the third consecutive week with his second second-place finish and third top-five finish in his past five races. Kyle Busch and Burton each gained two positions in the series standings after their Lowe’s performances. Busch moved from eighth to sixth with his third top-five performance in his past five races while Burton moved from 12th to 10th with his second top-10 finish in his past four races. Edwards moved into the series top five for the first time in seven races after ascending from sixth to fifth with his second top-five finish in his past four starts. Overall, three championship contenders gained positions in the standings, three lost spots and six held steady.
Tony Stewart kept hold of the fourth spot with his seventh-place effort at Lowe’s, Kurt Busch remained seventh in the standings despite a 26th-place finish and Denny Hamlin held on to ninth place with a 20th-place finish. Kevin Harvick slipped the most positions in the standings by moving from fifth to eighth following his 33rd-place Lowe’s finish. Race No. 6 in the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup standings will get underway Oct. 21 at 1:00 p.m., on ABC Television, MRN Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio Channel 128. The top-10 in the standings are: Gordon (Leader: 5,880 points, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet), Johnson, (Second: -68, Hendrick Motorports, Chevrolet), Bowyer (Third: -78, Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet), Stewart (Fourth: -198, Joe Gibbs Racing, Chevrolet), Edwards (Fifth: -240, Roush Racing, Ford), Kyle Busch (Sixth:-280, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet), Kurt Busch (Seventh: -315, Penske Racing, Dodge), Harvick (Eighth: -328, Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet), Hamlin (Ninth: -349, Joe Gibbs Racing, Chevrolet), Burton (10th: -366, Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet), Truex, Jr., (11th: -378, Dale Earnhardt, Inc., Chevrolet) and Matt Kenseth (12th: -442, Roush Racing, Ford).
EDWARDS BID FOR LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY NBS WIN ENDS WITH INCIDENT
NASCAR Busch Series leader and former Kentucky Speedway race winner Carl Edwards’ quest for his fifth win of the season fell short at Lowe’s Motor Speedway Oct. 12 when his No. 60 Scotts Winterguard Ford was involved in an accident on Lap 134 of 200. Damage sustained by the car ended Edwards night after he had led the 300-mile event three times for a total of 60 laps. Edwards’ misfortune opened the door for Richard Childress Racing star Jeff Burton’s fourth series victory of the season. He grabbed the lead from Greg Biffle on Lap 140 and led a race-high 61 laps en route to a comfortable 1.598-second win over second-place driver Kyle Busch. Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Aric Almirola and Denny Hamlin respectively rounded out the race top five. Edwards finished worse than 30th for the second consecutive race but holds a robust 638-point lead over Michael Waltrip Racing driver David Reutimann in the series standings with four races remaining on the 2007 docket.
The series will enjoy an off week before closing the campaign with four straight races. Drivers will be back in action Oct. 27 at Memphis Motorsports Park. Kevin Harvick took a 2006 victory at the track in a race Johnny Sauter started from the pole position. Memphis race coverage is scheduled to being at 3:00 p.m., on ESPN2, the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius Satellite Radio Channel 128. The top 10 drivers in the series standings entering the race are: Edwards (Leader: 4,276 points, Roush Racing, Ford), Reutimann (Second: -638, Michael Waltrip Racing, Toyota), Harvick (Third: -753, Kevin Harvick, Inc., Chevrolet), Jason Leffler (Fourth: -825, Braun Racing, Toyota), David Ragan (Fifth: -977, Roush Racing, Ford,), Bobby Hamilton, Jr. (Fifth: -1,012, Team Rensi Motorsports, Ford), Greg Biffle (Seventh: -1,140, Roush Racing, Ford), Stephen Leicht (Eighth: -1,230, Robert Yates Racing, Ford), Marcos Ambrose (Ninth: -1,289, Wood Brothers/ JTG Racing, Ford), and Kenseth (10th: -1,295, Roush Racing, Ford).
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