Jeff Gordon played possum most of the race and led exactly one lap today at Talladega Superspeedway (the last one) and won the UAW-Ford 500 in yet another wild ‘Dega finish…..he bested his teammate Jimmie Johnson by .066 seconds. Gordon completed the sweep (he won here in April) to take his 12th plate win (that’s the tops), his 5th of 2007, and the 80th of his Nextel Cup career (he’s 6th all-time). This was win #13 for Hendrick Motorsports this season and #162 in their history. It was worth $246,036 from the over $5.3M in posted awards. We didn’t see the “Big One” till lap 146 today….and it was a 11 car job! We’ll see some scrambling in the RCR/DEI engine program after today. No less than 5 motor problems amongst the 7 cars, and one car may have wrecked before they had a chance to blow (the #15 of Paul Menard). A passel of empty seats again today, but they tell us the estimated crowd was 155,000. Go figure…. 22 leaders….42 lead changes. Typical ‘Dega in any car! Dave Blaney (3rd) tied his career-best finish today. He was also 3rd at Darlington in March of 2003. His Top-5 moves us up to 31 drivers at that mark….you’ve got to go back to 2004 for the last time we had that many. Denny Hamlin (4th) had his best finish since he was runner-up at Watkins Glen in August. Ryan Newman (5th) had his best finish since he was runner-up at Pocono in June. Tony Raines (9th) had his best finish since he was 7th at Lowe’s Motor Speedway last October. His Top-10 gives us 41 drivers at that mark this season….the last time we had more was 43 in 2005. Jeff Green (13th) had his best finish since he was 6th at Loudon in June. Aric Almirola (30th) has his career-best finish today. His previous best was 31st at California in September. This Week’s Elevator….UP: Operator of the Week is Kurt Busch (+34), followed by Jeff Gordon (+33), Johnny Sauter (+27), and Casey Mears (+23). DOWN: The Big Dropper was Brian Vickers (-36), followed by Martin Truex Jr (-29), Joe Nemechek (-28 ), Bobby Labonte (-27), John Andretti (-25), and Jeff Burton (-22). Jeff Gordon takes the lead over Jimmie Johnson in the Chase by nine markers. Some of those “Magic Numbers” are encroaching on double digits. In “Classic” points, Ryan Newman (16th to 14th) and Greg Biffle (14th to 16th) switched places. See full report at Stock Car Fans.(10-7-2007)
