Jimmie Johnson passed Mark Martin on lap 377, then held off his teammate Kyle Busch to take today’s MBNA RacePoints 404 at Dover International Speedway. It was his third win of the season (he won at Lowe’s in May and Las Vegas in February), his third at Dover, the 17th of his career (he’s tied with Jeff Burton, Marvin Panch, and Curtis Turner for 37th on the all-time win list) and the 137th for Hendrick Motorsports. It was worth $296,641 from the over $4.9M in posted awards. Another Green/White/Checker today….and still we survived it! Lately, you could get in more trouble under caution!
Rusty Wallace (3rd) had his best finish since he was runner-up at Pocono in July.
Mark Martin (4th) had his best finish since he was 3rd at Pocono in July.
Elliott Sadler (6th) had his best finish since he was 6th at Infineon in June.
Kyle Petty (8th) had his best finish since he was 8th at Bristol in April.
Dave Blaney (20th) had his best finish since he was 20th at Pocono in July.
J. J. Yeley (25th) had his career-best finish today. His previous best was 27th at Atlanta last October.
STREAKIN…..Rusty Wallace has 4 Top-10’s in the last 5 races.
Kyle Busch had 3 Top-5’s in the last 4 races.
This Week’s Elevator….UP: Operator of the Week is Kyle Petty (+26), followed by Jeff Burton (+25), and Carl Edwards (+23). DOWN: The Big Dropper is a tie between Dale Earnhardt Jr (-27) and Sterling Marlin (-27), followed by Bobby Hamilton Jr (-25), Matt Kenseth (-24), and Scott Wimmer (-20). Little E has the most Ops this season (5), but surprisingly (with the way his season has gone) this is his first BD of the year.
In the “Chase” Standings we had a major shakeup as Jimmie Johnson grabs the point by 7 markers over Rusty Wallace. We’ve got six drivers within 23 points of the lead, and everybody from 7th on down’s got a major hill to climb.
In “Classic” points, Elliott Sadler has claimed that all-important 10th loser spot by 40 points over Kevin Harvick. Sadler (14th to 11th) and Kyle Petty (31st to 28th) made the best moves forward today, while four drivers (Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray, Jeff Gordon, and Dale Earnhardt Jr) all fell two spots each.(Stock Car Fans)(9-25-2005)
