We had a Ford in Victory Lane today, and that’s a sight we haven’t seen since February. Come to think of it, we hadn’t seen one of those back- flips in a while either…. Carl Edwards broke the Chevy twelve race winning streak today at Michigan International Speedway as he took the Citizens Bank 400 by 3.668 seconds…and he was pulling away. It’s the first victory for Edwards since he won at Texas in November of 2005, his 5th career win (he’s now tied for 63rd on the all-time win list), and the 97th for Roush Racing (or the first for Roush-Fenway). It was worth $177,850 from the over $5.1M in posted awards. Dale Earnhardt Jr (5th) had his best finish since he was 5th at Martinsville in April. Michael Waltrip (10th) had his best finish since he was 7th here in June of 2005! He’s the 37th different driver to score a Top-10 this season….we’re closing in on last year’s number of 38. Bill Elliott (11th) had his best finish since he was 11th here in August of 2005. Paul Menard (12th) had his best finish since he was 7th at Atlanta in March of 2006. David Reutimann (15th) had his career-best finish today. His previous best was 22nd at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in October of 2005. John Andretti (27th) had his best finish since he was 20th at Homestead in November of 2004 (only six races). A. J. Allmendinger (31st) tied his career-best finish today. He was 31st at Lowe’s Motor Speedway last month. STREAKIN….Jeff Gordon has 10 Top-10’s in the last 11 races. Tony Stewart has 5 Top-10’s in the last 6 races. The Rookie Report: Paul Menard (12th) grabs this award for the third time this season. He was followed by David Reutimann (15th), David Ragan (21st), A. J. Allmendinger (31st), and Juan Pablo Montoya (43rd). Another week when all five freshmen made the event. This Week’s Elevator….UP: Operator of the Week is Tony Stewart (+38), followed by Jamie McMurray (+27), Paul Menard (+26), and David Reutimann (+25). DOWN: The Big Dropper was Ryan Newman (-33), followed by J. J. Yeley (-27), Joe Nemechek (-25), Brian Vickers (-25), and Greg Biffle (-24). Michael Waltrip led a lap today for the first time since he led a lap at Talladega Superspeedway last October. Paul Menard led a lap today for the first time since he led one lap at Homestead last November. We’ve now had 44 drivers lead a lap this season….last year’s number was 48. Johnny Sauter padded his margin in the race for 35th in Owner Points today. His lead over Scott Riggs is now out to 41 markers. Dale Earnhardt Jr moves back into the Chase today, while Mark Martin falls out. Jeff Gordon’s margin over new second place points man Denny Hamlin is 264. Casey Mears (23rd to 19th) made the best move forward today, while Tony Raines (24th to 27th) fell the most spots. It wasn’t that long ago when Casey Mears was in danger of falling out of an exempt qualifying spot, was it?(Stock Car Fans)(6-17-2007)
