Tony Stewart was much the best this afternoon and it was just a matter of time till he got by Ricky Rudd late (lap 100) to prove it. Tony won today’s Dodge/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway after dominating much of the second half (leading 39 of the 110 laps). This was Stewart’s second road course win in a row, fourth r/c win in his career, his 20th win overall (he’s tied for 29th on the all-time win list with Speedy Thompson), and he becomes our 8th different winner this season. Win #43 for Joe Gibbs Racing was worth $348,761 from the over $5.3M in posted awards.
Ricky Rudd (2nd) had his best finish since he was 2nd at Kansas last October. His Top-5 finish gives us 27 drivers at that mark this season…. last year’s number was 31.
Kurt Busch (3rd) had his best finish since he won at Phoenix in April.
Rusty Wallace (4th) had his best finish since he won at Martinsville in April of 2004.
Dale Jarrett (5th) had his best finish since he was 5th at Bristol in April.
Elliott Sadler (6th) had his best finish since he was 6th at Talladega in April.
Ron Fellows (8th) was the best of the road-course ringers today.
Brian Simo (10th) had his career-best finish today. His previous best was her in June of 2000 when he finished 36th. Fellows’ and Simo’s Top-10 finishes now bring us up to 36 drivers to score a T-10 this season, last year we had 39 of ’em.
Robby Gordon (16th) had his best finish since he was 15th at Darlington last November.
Boris Said (17th) had his best finish since he was 6th here last year (only six races).
STREAKIN….Rusty Wallace has 4 Top-10’s in the last 5 races.
This Week’s Elevator….UP: Operator of the Week is Elliott Sadler (+36), followed by Ron Fellows (+35), Greg Biffle (+27), Dale Jarrett (+25), and Jeremy Mayfield (+25). DOWN: The Big Dropper was Jimmie Johnson (34), followed by Jeff Gordon (-32), Dale Earnhardt Jr (-32), Kyle Busch (-27), and Scott Pruett (-22). Sadler is now tied with Michael Waltrip and Kyle Busch with three Ops this season.
Joe Gibbs Racing also accomplished another win of sorts this weekend as Terry Labonte raced them into the Top-35 in Owners Points (by five markers over the #4). Jason Leffler will now have an exemption into the Pepsi 400 on Saturday, and Mike Wallace will have to qualify on time.
We’ve got a change at the top of the standings this week as Greg Biffle now leads Jimmie Johnson by 22 points. It’s the first new leader we’ve had since JJ took the point leaving Las Vegas.
Johnson’s troubles also brought two more drivers under the “Stayin’ Alive” line as we’ve got 13 in the “Chase” at the moment.
We had three drivers (Dale Jarrett, Travis Kvapil, and Ricky Rudd) in the Top-30 advance three spots this week, while Carl Edwards (4th to 9th) fell the most positions.(Much more at Stockcarfans.com)(6-26-2005)
