Carl Edwards takes the Dodge Dealers 400 today at Dover International Speedway by a comfortable .671 seconds over teammate Greg Biffle after another teammate (Matt Kenseth) pretty much dominated. When Kenseth lost a motor on lap 374, Edwards was home free. This was Carl’s 3rd win of the season and 7th of his Nextel Cup career (moving him into a six-way tie for 58th on the all-time win list with Darel Dieringer, A. J. Foyt, Kasey Kahne, Jim Reed, and Marshall Teague). This was win #5 for Roush Racing on the season, and #100 in their history. And, if that weren’t enough, Edwards takes down $229,250 from the over $5.1M in posted awards. Greg Biffle (2nd) had his best finish since he won at Homestead last November. Dale Earnhardt Jr (3rd) had his best finish since he was runner-up at Pocono in August. Mark Martin (4th) had his best finish since he was 3rd at Texas in April. Casey Mears (6th) had his best finish since he was 5th at Chicagoland in July. Jamie McMurray (8th) had his best finish since he won at Daytona in July. Juan Pablo Montoya (10th) had his best finish since he was runner-up at the Brickyard in August. Michael Waltrip (15th) had his best finish since he was 10th at Michigan in June. Joe Nemechek (22nd) had his best finish since he was 15th at Pocono in June. Kenny Wallace (23rd) had his best finish since he was 21st at Bristol in March. STREAKIN….Tony Stewart has 9 Top-10’s in the last 10 races. Kyle Busch has 4 Top-10’s in the last 5 races. BTW, Mr. Lead Lap had his best finish since he was 6th when we were here in June of 2004. Long-time readers will remember our hero, but if you’re new, that just means the last time we had fewer than six cars on the lead lap at the finish was that Dover event in June of ’04 when we had just five. That “Lucky Dog” thang has just killed ol’ LL. This Week’s Elevator….UP: Operator of the Week is Jeff Burton (+31), followed by Clint Bowyer (+30), Michael Waltrip (+28 ), Mark Martin (+27), Jamie McMurray (+22), and Robby Gordon (+22). DOWN: The Big Dropper was Denny Hamlin (-35), followed by A. J. Allmendinger (-32), Scott Riggs (-28 ), Kurt Busch (-25), Matt Kenseth (-25), and Kyle Petty (-24). In the Chase standings, ten of the twelve spots changed hands today….Jeff Gordon has a two point lead over Tony Stewart at the top. In “Classic” Points, Tony trimmed eight markers from Jeff’s lead, but it’s still a healthy 304 point spread. The only multiple position changes in the Top-30 on the upside belonged to Carl Edwards (6th to 4th) and Mark Martin Martin (26th to 24th). On the down side, Denny Hamlin (3rd to 5th) and David Stremme (24th to 26th) were the biggest droppers.(Stock Car Fans)(9-23-2007)
