Greg Biffle finally broke through tonight at Darlington Raceway as he held off a charging Jeff Gordon to take the Dodge Charger 500. Biffle led the most laps (7 times for 170 circuits) and takes his second straight victory at this hallowed oval…..his first win of the season and the 10th of his NEXTEL Cup career. He’s now tied for 50th on the all-time win list with Donnie Allison and Sterling Marlin. This was win #91 for Roush Racing, and was worth $290,175 from the over $5.4M in posted awards.
Ryan Newman (6th) had his best finish since he was 3rd at Daytona in February.
Ken Schrader (15th) had his best finish since he was 9th at Daytona in February.
STREAKIN….Matt Kenseth has 4 Top-10’s in the last 5 races.
Jeff Burton has 4 Top-10’s in the last 5 races.
This Week’s Elevator….UP: Operator of the Week is Matt Kenseth (+28 ), followed by Martin Truex Jr (+25), Kyle Busch (+22), Kyle Petty (+22), Tony Raines (+22), Jimmie Johnson (+21), and Joe Nemechek (+20). The Big Dropper was Brian Vickers (-33), followed by Carl Edwards (-32), Jamie McMurray (-27), Elliott Sadler (-23), Kevin Harvick (-23), David Stremme (-21), Kasey Kahne (-20), and Clint Bowyer (-20). That’s two in a row for Vickers in one of the most active “Shafts” we’ve seen in awhile (almost 35% of the field in play).
Jimmie Johnson stretches his points lead out to 93 tonight. We’ve now got our “Stayin’ Alive” line up to the Top-10 only…..last year at this time we had 15 drivers still eligible for the “Chase”. We’ve got something we don’t see often…..a 3-way tie for 23rd. Greg Biffle’s victory moved him up six spots in the standings (20th to 14th), while Kevin Harvick (5th to 9th) and Carl Edwards (13th to 17th) fell the most spots.(more at Stock Car Fans.com)(5-13-2006)
