We had a “fuelish” finish today, but then that’s nothing new for MIS. Jeremy Mayfield topped off on lap 149 and made it last today as he won the GFS Marketplace 400 at Michigan International Speedway for his first victory of the season. As the cars who stayed out tried various strategies (gas & go, two tires, four tires) Mayfield just kept moving up and ended up in the frontstretch grass (and hopefully Victory Lane after that) with his 5th career win and the 7th for Ray Evernham. Jeremy is now in a 7-way tie for 61st on the all-time win list….this one was worth $181,550.
It was another race with tire troubles (we had five left rears and one right front by my count) and trash on the front-grills all day long as well.
Scott Riggs (2nd) had his career-best finish today. His previous best was 4th at Daytona in February.
Bill Elliott (11th) had his best finish since he was 9th at The Brickyard in August of 2004 (only 9 races).
Tony Raines (31st) had his best finish since he was 28th at Dover last September (only 4 races).
STREAKIN….Tony Stewart has 9 Top-10’s in a row.
This Week’s Elevator…UP: Operator of the Week is Tony Stewart (+31), followed by Greg Biffle (+25), Rusty Wallace (+25), and Kevin Harvick (+20). DOWN: The Big Dropper was Kyle Busch (-39), Mike Bliss (-31), Elliott Sadler (-31), Kasey Kahne (-26), Terry Labonte (-20), and Stuart Kirby (-20). High, Wide, and Racey made the “Shaft” a busy place today.
Tony Raines led a lap today for the first time since he led one lap at Atlanta in October of 2003. He’s the 47th different driver to lead a lap this season….last year we had 50 different leaders.
Tony Stewart padded his lead today….it’s now 126 over Jimmie Johnson. There were no changes in who’s above the “Stayin’ Alive” line….Dale Jarrett is 51 points out of the “Chase”.
We lopped seven more drivers from the Championship…we’re down to only the Top-25.
Scott Riggs (31st to 26th) made the best move forward in the points today, while Kyle Petty (27th to 30th) fell the most spots.(Stock Car Fans)(8-21-2005)
