Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon had a ding-dong battle the final 18 laps today at Martinsville Speedway and Johnson prevailed by .065 seconds over his teammate/car owner in the Goody’s Cool Orange 500. We witnessed a fine display of rubbing without wrecking the last 10 laps or so….and it was about as good as it gets on a short-track. This was the third win of the season for Johnson, the 26th of his Nextel Cup career (he’s now tied for 22nd all-time with the Golden Boy Fred Lorenzen), the 153rd for Hendrick Motorsports, and was worth $198,736. They’re now 4 for 6 on the season, btw. That Chevy Charge netted them the top seven spots! NASCAR and the Crew Chiefs are gonna have their work cut out for ’em with the C-O-T. Right front tire problems, brake heat problems, smoldering door foam problems, fuel pump cable problems…..it reads like a weekend to-do list. Tho the cable problems seem to be more of a Chevy deal, you can bet every crew chief is gonna run those thangs till they drop the next two weeks. Don’t ever forget race fans….it’s 14 years today we lost a Champion, Alan Kulwicki. Dale Earnhardt Jr (5th) had his best finish since he was 3rd at Atlanta last October. Scott Riggs (8th) had his best finish since he was 7th at Homestead last November. Ricky Rudd (13th) had his best finish since he was 13th at Texas in November of 2005. Ken Schrader (19th) had his best finish since he was 13th at Kansas last October. STREAKIN….Jeff Gordon has 5 Top-10’s in the last 6 races. Jeff Burton has 5 Top-10’s in the last 6 races. Jimmie Johnson has 4 Top-5’s in the last 5 races. Kyle Busch has 4 Top-10’s in the last 5 races. Tony Stewart has 4 Top-10’s in the last 5 races. Matt Kenseth has 4 Top-10’s in the last 5 races. This Week’s Elevator….UP: Operator of the Week is Matt Kenseth (+23), followed by Kyle Petty (+20). DOWN: The Big Dropper was Kevin Harvick (-35), followed by Jeremy Mayfield (-27), David Gilliland (-23), and Johnny Sauter (-21). Here we are six races into the season and we’ve only had 7 different drivers lead both ends of the “Shaft” this year. Surprisingly there was no movement in the Top-35 in Owner Points this week, but we sure had a lot of shuffling underneath that line. Ken Schrader and the #21 team now hold down 36th just nine markers out of the high rent district with Scott Riggs and the #10 team just 28 points out of the exemption zone. No change in the Top-4 in Driver Points….Jeff Gordon has stretched his lead to 28 over Jeff Burton. Dale Earnhardt Jr (17th to 11th) made the best move forward today while the absent Mark Martin (7th to 15th) and Bobby Labonte (14th to 22nd) fell the most spots.(see full report at stock car fans.com)(4-1-2007)
