Jeff Gordon won the Dodge/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway, scoring his 74th NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory in his 453rd career start.
Gordon remained seventh on NASCARs all-time winners list, two victories shy of Dale Earnhardt who has 76 victories.
Gordon scored his first victory in 2006 and became the 10th different race winner in 2006.
This is Gordons ninth victory on a road course. Gordon is the all-time winner on road courses.
Gordon won from the 11th starting position, only the third time in 18 races at Infineon Raceway that a driver has won from outside the top 10.
This was Gordons fifth victory and 10th top-10 finish in 14 races at Infineon Raceway. Gordon has scored nine finishes in the top three at Infineon.
Gordon scored his seventh top-10 finish in 16 races this season and climbed from 11th to eighth in the point standings.
Gordon led the most laps for the third time in 2006. He also led the most laps at Talladega and Michigan.
Race winner Gordon led two times for 44 laps, including the final 23 laps.
This was team owner Rick Hendricks 144th NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory. Hendrick has scored five NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victories at Infineon, all by Gordon. This is Hendricks 14th career road-course victory.
Hendrick Motorsports has won at least one race each season 1986-2006, 21 consecutive years.
Notebook Items
Ryan Newman (second) scored his fifth top-10 finish in 16 races in 2006. It was his fourth top-10 finish in five races at Infineon Raceway. He remained 17th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings.
Terry Labonte (third) scored his first top-10 finish since fall Richmond in 2005 where he finished ninth. It marked his 27th top- 10 finish in 57 races on a road course. It is his eighth top-10 finish in 18 races at Infineon Raceway.
Greg Biffle (fourth) scored his ninth top-10 finish in 16 races in 2006. It was his in first top-10 finish in four races at Infineon Raceway. Eight races ago Biffle was 232 points behind 10th. With his fourth-place finish, Biffle is now ninth. Biffle has climbed from 23rd to ninth in points in the seven races since Talladega. Biffle has scored seven straight top-10 finishes – the longest top-10 streak of his career. After 16 races in 2005, he moved into first in the point standings, 22 points ahead of Jimmie Johnson who struggled at Infineon with a 36th-place finish – the only time that Biffle has led the point standings.
Kurt Busch (fifth) scored his fifth top-10 finish in 2006. This was his third top-10 in five races at Infineon Raceway.
Jeff Burton (seventh) had moved from 21st to seventh in the point standings from Martinsville to Dover and had remained seventh in the points for last three races. Burton climbed from seventh to sixth in the point standings. He has scored 10 straight top-15s since Martinsville.
Jimmie Johnson (10th) remained first in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings, 101 points ahead of second-place Matt Kenseth. Johnson has scored top-15 finishes in 15 of the 16 races in 2006.
Denny Hamlin finished 12th at Infineon Raceway and extended a streak of seven straight top-15 finishes.
At least one of the Raybestos Rookie-of-the Year contenders has scored a top-15 finish in all 16 races this season.
Streaks that Ended at Infineon Raceway
Dave Blaney (39th) ended a 33-race streak of running at the finish that began at New Hampshire last July, which was the longest current streak. Kevin Harvick takes over the streak – running at the finish in 28 straight races.
Dale Earnhardt Jr finished 26th at Infineon Raceway and ended a streak of six straight top-15 finishes.
Kasey Kahne finished 31st at Infineon Raceway ending a streak of four straight top-10 finishes.(NASCAR Statistical Services)(6-25-2006)
