#24-Jeff Gordon (steamin’ all the way) had enough water to make it to Victory Lane today at Darlington Raceway and took the Dodge Avenger 500 for his third win of the season. Career victory #78 (and 7th at Darlington) was #157 for Hendrick Motorsports (their 8th of the season) and keeps them a perfect 5 for 5 in C-O-T races. NASCAR’s certainly got a problem if Hendrick continues to take all these COT races. Denny Hamlin (2nd) had his best finish since he was runner-up at Martinsville last October. Ryan Newman (4th) had his best finish since he was runner-up at Infineon last June. Carl Edwards (5th) had his best finish since he was 5th at Phoenix last November. Sterling Marlin (13th) had his best finish since he was 11th at Lowe’s last October. STREAKIN….Jeff Gordon has 7 Top-5’s in a row. Jimmie Johnson has 5 Top-5’s in the last 6 races. Denny Hamlin has 5 Top-10’s in the last 6 races. Matt Kenseth has 5 Top-10’s in the last 6 races. This Week’s Elevator…..UP: Operator of the Week is Ryan Newman (+25), followed by Matt Kenseth (+24), Jeff Burton (+24), Mark Martin (+23), and Tony Stewart (+20). DOWN: The Big Dropper was Ken Schrader (-33), followed by Brian Vickers (-28 ), Casey Mears (-24), and Reed Sorenson (-24). No move-ups into the Top-35 in Owner Points this week, but the #22 of Dave Blaney moves up to 36th….he’s 75 markers behind the new 35th place team of Casey Mears. Jeff Gordon tacks another 20 points onto his lead….it’s now 231. The top five remain unchanged this week. Ryan Newman (19th to 14th) made the best move forward today while David Stremme (17th to 22nd) fell the same number of spots.(Stock Car Fans)(5-13-2007)
