May 10, 2008
- Busch Wins at Darlington: #18-Kyle Busch won the Dodge Challenger 500 at Darlington Raceway for his 3rd win of 2008 and his 7th career win. He dominated the later stages of the race and led 169 laps on the night. #99-Carl Edwards was second, with the rest of the top-10 being #24-Jeff Gordon, #88-Dale Earnhardt, Jr., #6-David Ragan, #17-Matt Kenseth, #11-Denny Hamlin, #28-Travis Kvapil, #22-Dave Blaney, and #10-Jeff Burton (who continues his streak of finishing every lap this season). Pole sitter #16-Greg Biffle broke a transmission midway through the race and finished 43rd. There were 8 cautions for 31 laps and 15 leaders with 35 lead changes.
Darlington Race Results Awards Page.(5-10-2008) - UNOFFICAL Drivers Points Standings [after Darlington race 11 of 36]:
1) #18-Kyle Busch 1690 [3 wins]
2) #31-Jeff Burton 1611 -79 [1 win]
3) #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. 1556
4) #11-Denny Hamlin 1500 -190 [1 win]
5) #07-Clint Bowyer 1490 -200 [1 win]
6) #48-Jimmie Johnson 1442 -248 [1 win]
7) #99-Carl Edwards 1400 -290 [would be 4th without 100 pt penalty] [3 wins]
8) #20-Tony Stewart 1397 -293
9) #29-Kevin Harvick 1396 -294
10) #24-Jeff Gordon 1326 -364
11) #16-Greg Biffle 1308 -382
12) #6-David Ragan 1266 -424
other chase contenders
13) #12-Ryan Newman 1264 -426 [1 win]
14) #9-Kasey Kahne 1264 -426
15) #1-Martin Truex Jr. 1230 -460
16) #42-Juan Montoya 1190 -500
Points Standings on my Drivers/Owners Points after Darlington page.(5-10-2008) - Darlington International Raceay Penalty Report:
Car #, Reason, Penalty, Lap Issued
1 #19 Pitting before Pit Road is Open TE 2
2 #12 Outside half pit box tire violation/Team member not in contact with the outside tire. PT 64
3 #20 Pitting before Pit Road is Open TE 141
4 #18 Lug nut(s) not installed MCI 141
5 #66 Lug nut(s) not installed MCI 141
6 #40 Excessive speed – Exiting pits TE 142
7 #10 Outside half pit box tire violation/Team member not in contact with the outside tire. PT 201
8 #55 Excessive speed – Exiting pits TE 250
9 #77 Excessive speed – Exiting pits TE 278
10 #84 Pitting before Pit Road is Open TE 281
11 #05 Pitting before Pit Road is Open TE 281
12 #43 Removing equipment from assigned pit area SG 303
PT – Pass through
TE – Tail end of the longest line
SG – Stop and Go
OL – One lap
ND – NASCAR discretion
MCI – Must come into pits(NASCAR Statistics)(5-10-2008) - Top-35 in Owner Points and guaranteed a starting spot at Lowe’s:
one change in the top 35 as Hornish falls out and Blaney jumps in. The points between 35th and 36th is now 18
The teams are NOT locked in past the next race as the owners points change after each race.
30) #00-McDowell/Waltrip Racing 878 +72
31) #44-Reutimann/Waltrip Racing 873 +67
32) #41-Sorenson/Ganassi Racing 872 +66
33) #55-Waltrip/Waltrip Racing 851 +45
34) #01-Smith/Dale Earnhardt Inc 835 +29
35) #22-Blaney/Bill Davis 824, 18 points ahead of 36th
these teams/ drivers must qualify by speed:
36) #77-Hornish/Penske Racing 806 -18 points out of 35th
37) #96-Yeley/Hall of Fame Racing 730 -94
38) #40-Franchitti/Ganassi Racing 690 -134
39) #70-Sauter/Haas CNC Racing 679 -145
40) #84-Allmendinger/Red Bull Racing 654 -170
For the owner points standings, see my Drivers/Owners Points Standings page.(5-10-2008) - Darlington International Raceway Fast Facts
.. Kyle Busch won the Dodge Challenger 500, his ninth victory in 125 Sprint Cup Series races.
.. This is his third victory and eighth top-10 finish in 2008.
.. This is his first victory and second top-10 finish in four races at Darlington Raceway.
.. Busch became the 43rd different race winner at Darlington and at 23 years, eight days – the youngest. He beat Terry Labonte (9/1/1980) by nine months and eight days.
.. Carl Edwards (second) posted his seventh top-10 finish of 2008 and his fourth in five races at Darlington.
.. Jeff Gordon (third) posted his fifth top-10 finish in 2008, tying his season best set at California. It is his 19th top-10 in 28 races at Darlington.
.. Michael McDowell (28th) was the highest finishing rookie.(NASCAR Statistics)(5-10-2008) - John Andretti gets Indy 500 ride: John Andretti will attempt to qualify for his ninth Indianapolis 500 in the #24 Roth Racing car. Andretti, who started 24th and finished 30th last year in a Panther Racing-prepared car in his first Indy 500 since 1994, will replace Jay Howard in the seat for the race. Howard, the 2006 Firestone Indy Lights champion, passed the Rookie Orientation Program earlier in the week and practiced May 6. He has finishes of 22nd, 14th, 13th and 13th in IndyCar Series races this season. “As a result of the days lost due to weather, and losing our chief engineer (David Cripps) days before the start of this month, we found ourselves behind the 8-ball,” team president Margaret Roth said. “John brings with him a wealth of experience, which can help us build two competitive cars for the 500. Jay will be back at Milwaukee. He has our full support. He’s a great driver.”
“I want to feel it out a little bit, and see what we can do,” Andretti said on the way to pit lane for the tail end of practice preceding qualifications for the first 11 spots in the 33-car field. He topped 220 mph on three laps. Team owner-driver Marty Roth will attempt to qualify for his fourth 500-Mile Race in the #25 car. He has a high finish of 24th in 2004.(Roth Racing), Andretti skipped Darlington and Lowe’s testing to find an Indy 500 ride and Jeff Green attempted and failed to get the #34 Chevy into the race at Darlington.(5-10-2008) - Labonte supposedly agrees to contract extension with Petty’s UPDATE 2: Bobby Labonte has reached an agreement to remain in the #43 car at Petty Enterprises after this season, sources told ESPN.com on Saturday. Labonte has been widely speculated as a candidate to drive the fourth car at Richard Childress Racing, but Petty officials have remained adamant that he will spend the rest of his career with the organization and that he is determined to be the driver that puts the 43 back into Victory lane. David Hovis, a spokesman for Petty Enterprises, said the team had nothing to announce Saturday about Labonte’s future. “We still remain 100% convinced that Bobby will be with Petty Enterprises next season,” Hovis said. Sources said Labonte’s new deal will be announced as soon as details concerning a new sponsor are worked out. General Mills, Labonte’s current sponsor, will be on the fourth car at RCR next season.
Robbie Loomis, the vice president for racing operations at Petty, has been the most outspoken on Labonte’s commitment to Petty Enterprises. He remained that way on Saturday. “As far as I know Bobby Labonte will be with us for a long time,” he said before the Sprint Cup race at Richmond International Raceway. “I feel confident where we’re at with Petty Enterprises and with Bobby. In due time Petty Enterprises will have a lot of announcements coming forward.” One is that a Petty has finalized a deal with New York-based Medallion Financial as a business partner. Loomis said that could come within the next month to six weeks. The other concerns Labonte’s new sponsor. General Mills, Labonte’s current sponsor, will be on the fourth car at RCR next season. Loomis said negotiations for a new sponsor are going well, noting Labonte’s “brand is clean like the Petty’s.”(ESPN.com), one rumored sponsor for the #43 team has been Caterpillar, whose deal with Bill Davis Racing and the #22 Toyota runs out at the end of 2008.(5-3-2008)
UPDATE 2: from an ESPN.com post from #43 crew chief Jeff Meendering: “As for reports that Bobby Labonte has signed with the team, I don’t think that anything is set in stone there. They are getting really close on working everything out. But to say anything is set in stone might have been some speculation. When everything started blowing up with that story, the guys on our team never paid any attention to that. We have really good management here that takes care of that and allows us to go to the track and race. I still feel like Bobby will be here next year, but I know they’re not totally done with it. I think they’re getting close, though.”(ESPN.com)(5-10-2008) - Stewart praises Goodyear: Only two months ago, #20-Tony Stewart angrily blasted Goodyear after the Atlanta race, saying the company had given him “the most pathetic racing tire I’ve ever been on in my professional career.” But it was a joyful, smiling Stewart who praised Goodyear for its research and hard work in delivering tires that helped the Joe Gibbs Racing star to his first win Friday night on NASCAR’s oldest superspeedway, Darlington Raceway. “I really want to give Goodyear a pat on the back,” he said. The company made two trips since March to test tires on Darlington’s slick, new surface, repaved at a cost of $7 million for the first time since 1995. The results were absolutely perfect for Stewart. “I’m the first one to tell them when they screw up and I want to be the first one to tell them when they do a good job, too,” Stewart said.(ESPN/AP)(5-10-2008)
- Problems with #99 rear housing? #24-Jeff Gordon would like NASCAR to look into the way Roush Fenway Racing is adjusting the rear housing on Carl Edwards’ #99 Ford to create a competitive advantage. Edwards has won three times on 1.5-mile tracks this season and was in position to win a fourth before having late engine problems. Many in the garage said during testing at Lowe’s Motor Speedway earlier this week that the yaw created — Edwards’ car appears to be going sideways on the straightaway, creating more side force heading into the turns — by turning the rear housing to the right gives Edwards a competitive advantage. ” … NASCAR knows it’s happening,” Gordon said on Friday at Darlington Raceway. “They are the ones that see the cars come through inspection. They see it. When cars can’t even get on the scales because they’re running sideways, it’s something they need to address.” Series director John Darby said there are no plans to further police the rear housing adjustment, noting NASCAR already has a rule restricting more than a quarter-inch change plus or minus. He added that Hendrick Motorsports, for which Gordon drives, was the first to experiment with the rear-housing adjustment on the new car and that Edwards’ #99 team was one of the last. “They [complain] when we’ve got too many rules and then they want us to create more,” Darby said of teams in general. “The process is so simple. There are limits on how far they can go.”(full story at ESPN.com)(5-10-2008)
- #08 gets sponsor for Lowe’s races: #08-EM Motorsports owner John Carter announced that Natural Styles, creator of “Fueled Up Beyond All Recognition (FUBAR) Performance Drink” and “FUBAR Performance Bar” will become the primary sponsor for the #08 Sprint Cup Series team. This association will begin with the Sprint Showdown, which takes place May 17th, at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, NC. Tony Raines will pilot the EM Motorsports Dodge Charger in the event. Natural Styles, a Mesa Arizona based operation, has production facilities in Utah and California with a line up of new age – functional, “All Natural” beverages and 100% Organic performance bars.(Tony Raines.com)(5-10-2008)
- Busch Wins at Darlington: #18-Kyle Busch won the Dodge Challenger 500 at Darlington Raceway for his 3rd win of 2008 and his 7th career win. He dominated the later stages of the race and led 169 laps on the night. #99-Carl Edwards was second, with the rest of the top-10 being #24-Jeff Gordon, #88-Dale Earnhardt, Jr., #6-David Ragan, #17-Matt Kenseth, #11-Denny Hamlin, #28-Travis Kvapil, #22-Dave Blaney, and #10-Jeff Burton (who continues his streak of finishing every lap this season). Pole sitter #16-Greg Biffle broke a transmission midway through the race and finished 43rd. There were 8 cautions for 31 laps and 15 leaders with 35 lead changes.
Darlington Race Results Awards Page.(5-10-2008) - UNOFFICAL Drivers Points Standings [after Darlington race 11 of 36]:
1) #18-Kyle Busch 1690 [3 wins]
2) #31-Jeff Burton 1611 -79 [1 win]
3) #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. 1556
4) #11-Denny Hamlin 1500 -190 [1 win]
5) #07-Clint Bowyer 1490 -200 [1 win]
6) #48-Jimmie Johnson 1442 -248 [1 win]
7) #99-Carl Edwards 1400 -290 [would be 4th without 100 pt penalty] [3 wins]
8) #20-Tony Stewart 1397 -293
9) #29-Kevin Harvick 1396 -294
10) #24-Jeff Gordon 1326 -364
11) #16-Greg Biffle 1308 -382
12) #6-David Ragan 1266 -424
other chase contenders
13) #12-Ryan Newman 1264 -426 [1 win]
14) #9-Kasey Kahne 1264 -426
15) #1-Martin Truex Jr. 1230 -460
16) #42-Juan Montoya 1190 -500
Points Standings on my Drivers/Owners Points after Darlington page.(5-10-2008) - Top-35 in Owner Points and guaranteed a starting spot at Lowe’s:
one change in the top 35 as Hornish falls out and Blaney jumps in. The points between 35th and 36th is now 18
The teams are NOT locked in past the next race as the owners points change after each race.
30) #00-McDowell/Waltrip Racing 878 +72
31) #44-Reutimann/Waltrip Racing 873 +67
32) #41-Sorenson/Ganassi Racing 872 +66
33) #55-Waltrip/Waltrip Racing 851 +45
34) #01-Smith/Dale Earnhardt Inc 835 +29
35) #22-Blaney/Bill Davis 824, 18 points ahead of 36th
these teams/ drivers must qualify by speed:
36) #77-Hornish/Penske Racing 806 -18 points out of 35th
37) #96-Yeley/Hall of Fame Racing 730 -94
38) #40-Franchitti/Ganassi Racing 690 -134
39) #70-Sauter/Haas CNC Racing 679 -145
40) #84-Allmendinger/Red Bull Racing 654 -170
For the owner points standings, see my Drivers/Owners Points Standings page.(5-10-2008) - Darlington International Raceay Penalty Report:
Car #, Reason, Penalty, Lap Issued
1 #19 Pitting before Pit Road is Open TE 2
2 #12 Outside half pit box tire violation/Team member not in contact with the outside tire. PT 64
3 #20 Pitting before Pit Road is Open TE 141
4 #18 Lug nut(s) not installed MCI 141
5 #66 Lug nut(s) not installed MCI 141
6 #40 Excessive speed – Exiting pits TE 142
7 #10 Outside half pit box tire violation/Team member not in contact with the outside tire. PT 201
8 #55 Excessive speed – Exiting pits TE 250
9 #77 Excessive speed – Exiting pits TE 278
10 #84 Pitting before Pit Road is Open TE 281
11 #05 Pitting before Pit Road is Open TE 281
12 #43 Removing equipment from assigned pit area SG 303
PT – Pass through
TE – Tail end of the longest line
SG – Stop and Go
OL – One lap
ND – NASCAR discretion
MCI – Must come into pits(NASCAR Statistics)(5-10-2008) - Darlington International Raceway Fast Facts
.. Kyle Busch won the Dodge Challenger 500, his ninth victory in 125 Sprint Cup Series races.
.. This is his third victory and eighth top-10 finish in 2008.
.. This is his first victory and second top-10 finish in four races at Darlington Raceway.
.. Busch became the 43rd different race winner at Darlington and at 23 years, eight days – the youngest. He beat Terry Labonte (9/1/1980) by nine months and eight days.
.. Carl Edwards (second) posted his seventh top-10 finish of 2008 and his fourth in five races at Darlington.
.. Jeff Gordon (third) posted his fifth top-10 finish in 2008, tying his season best set at California. It is his 19th top-10 in 28 races at Darlington.
.. Michael McDowell (28th) was the highest finishing rookie.(NASCAR Statistics)(5-10-2008) - Bodine to run Nationwide race at Darlington UPDATE 2 Brings home 4th place finish: Todd Bodine and Germain Racing will next take to the track on May 9th at Darlington Raceway with the #03 Germain Motor Company Toyota in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, followed by more Truck Series action in the Lumber Liquidators Tundra on Friday night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway on May 16th.(Germain Racing PR)(4-28-2008)
UPDATE: Mike Hillman Jr. will serve as crew chief for the #03 Germain Motor Company Toyota. This is his first race back atop the pit box since he began serving a suspension issued by NASCAR following an infraction found before qualifying in the Truck Series race at Daytona. Bodine has one win, seven top five and 14 top-ten finishes at Darlington in 20 starts in the Nationwide Series.(Germain Racing PR)(5-9-2008)
UPDATE 2: After starting from the 15th position, Todd Bodine brought the #03 Germain Racing Toyota home with a respectable 4th place finish. Todd’s comments: “We actually had a car to win and I goofed up and got up in the wall on three and four when I was behind Matt (Kenseth) and that really messed it up. It took the right front fender and pushed it in and then I pushed after that. We had a great night, great pit stops — the guys doing a hell of a job and just proud to be here racing. It’s great to be able to finish a Nationwide race in the top-five with all of these Cup guys. It just shows this old truck team is pretty tough.”(Toyota Motorsports PR)(5-10-2008)
Main Page | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997