Rating the Race: UAW-Dodge 400
NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series kicked off their first race of March with a bang this Sunday in Sin City when they visited Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the UAW Dodge 400. Heading into the weekend, Kyle Busch and his no. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team was the talk of the town as he came into the race as the series’ points leader and turned in the fastest lap during qualifying to win the Coors Lite Pole Award at his hometown track where he held a current streak of three consecutive top-ten finishes. But, alas, as is the case with so many races, by the time the checkered flag waived there was a new name at the tip of NASCAR fans’ tongues as Carl Edwards pulled away from the field in the closing laps to secure the win for his no. 99 Roush Racing team for the second week in a row.
Kyle Busch looked like the car to beat early in the race as he led the first 21 laps, but was soon overthrown by eventual race winner Carl Edwards. Carl surrendered the lead on lap 48 during a round of green flag stops that gave the cars of Scott Riggs, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Robby Gordon the opportunity to lead laps as they had all pitted during the race’s only caution to that point back on lap 9. Once the pit stops cycled through, however, it was Edwards right back to the front. During those stops, Kurt Busch and Elliott Sadler were both penalized for being too fast on pit road and were pushed a lap down.
The next caution came on lap 69 for debris, and with only 17 cars on the lead lap, Jeff Burton stayed out to lead the race, but Kyle Busch regained the helm about 11 laps later. At this point, Joe Gibbs Racing’s dynamic duo was looking pretty solid yet again with Busch leading and Stewart charging through the field, but on lap 109 Stewart blew a right front tire that sent him sailing into the wall, cutting his race short for the second day in a row.
Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon, and Dale Junior all exchanged the lead throughout the course of the next three cautions before Edwards took control again with 73 laps to go. Edwards had been shuffled back through the field earlier when NASCAR penalized him for having a tire roll across pit road during an earlier stop under caution. After battling fiercely to regain his track position, it appeared as though maybe it just weren’t meant to be, because when the 7th caution came out for debris in turn 2, Edwards’ crew lost yet another tire on pit road, but this time NASCAR determined that a cameraman had inadvertently interfered with Edwards’ pit crew, and thus no penalty was handed down and Carl was able to restart third.
Matt Kenseth won that race off of pit road on lap 219 and was the new leader once again with 48 to go. Two cautions and 18 laps later, it was Edwards back to the front, and he just took off from the rest of the field. Kenseth then lost the second position to Earnhardt with just 14 laps to go, but then Kurt Busch – who had battled all day to regain his position on the lead lap and finally did – blew a tire and smacked the wall to bring out the 10th yellow of the day with just 11 laps left.
The restart came with five laps left and the field lined up behind Edwards, Junior, Kenseth, and Jeff Gordon. In an odd occurrence, Junior spun his tires on the restart causing the cars of Gordon and Kenseth to split him. Once both cars had cleared the 88, Gordon’s car barely slid up the track, but it was enough to make slight contact with Kenseth. The rub sent Kenseth spinning around on the track – although he was able to not touch anything or anyone – but, it sent Gordon hard into the inside wall and his entire radiator actually came out of the car and shot across the track. After a red flag was flown to give the track crew ample time to cleanup the radiator fluid, the green flag dropped for the final time with 2 laps left. There was never really another race for the top spot after that, but it was fun watching Junior and Greg Biffle fight for second, which Junior won. The Richard Childress cars of Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton rounded out the top-five. Kyle Busch went onto finish 11th. Also of note is that Denny Hamlin was the highest finishing Toyota in 9th, Kasey Kahne had the highest Dodge in 7th, and to everyone’s surprise, Jimmie Johnson – who won this event for the previous three years running – finished in 29th despite not having any on-track incidents the entire day. All in all, I thought it was a pretty exciting race, and definitely the best showing we’ve seen from NASCAR so far in 2008.
Grades (on a 100 point scale):
The Race: 94%
The Drama: 89%
Coverage: 81%
Pre-Race Ceremonies: 78%
Overall Grade: 88.8%
*Note - the Race accounts for 50% of score; Coverage & Drama is 20% each; Pre-Race is 10%Race Results (credit nascar.com):
| FIN |
ST |
CAR |
DRIVER |
MAKE |
SPONSOR |
PTS/BNS |
LAPS |
STATUS |
| 1 |
2 |
99 |
Carl Edwards |
Ford |
Dish Network |
195/10 |
267 |
Running |
| 2 |
8 |
88 |
Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
Chevrolet |
National Guard / AMP Energy |
175/5 |
267 |
Running |
| 3 |
6 |
16 |
Greg Biffle |
Ford |
3M |
165/0 |
267 |
Running |
| 4 |
17 |
29 |
Kevin Harvick |
Chevrolet |
Shell / Pennzoil |
160/0 |
267 |
Running |
| 5 |
24 |
31 |
Jeff Burton |
Chevrolet |
AT&T Mobility |
160/5 |
267 |
Running |
| 6 |
38 |
6 |
David Ragan |
Ford |
AAA Insurance |
150/0 |
267 |
Running |
| 7 |
37 |
9 |
Kasey Kahne |
Dodge |
Budweiser |
146/0 |
267 |
Running |
| 8 |
29 |
28 |
Travis Kvapil |
Ford |
Yates Racing |
142/0 |
267 |
Running |
| 9 |
27 |
11 |
Denny Hamlin |
Toyota |
FedEx Kinko’s |
138/0 |
267 |
Running |
| 10 |
3 |
8 |
Mark Martin |
Chevrolet |
U.S. Army |
139/5 |
267 |
Running |
| 11 |
1 |
18 |
Kyle Busch |
Toyota |
M&M’s |
135/5 |
267 |
Running |
| 12 |
10 |
19 |
Elliott Sadler |
Dodge |
Stanley Tools |
127/0 |
267 |
Running |
| 13 |
11 |
5 |
Casey Mears |
Chevrolet |
Pop-Tarts / CARQUEST |
124/0 |
267 |
Running |
| 14 |
15 |
12 |
Ryan Newman |
Dodge |
ALLTEL |
121/0 |
267 |
Running |
| 15 |
18 |
1 |
Martin Truex Jr. |
Chevrolet |
Bass Pro Shops / Tracker |
118/0 |
267 |
Running |
| 16 |
23 |
70 |
Jeremy Mayfield |
Chevrolet |
Haas Automation |
115/0 |
267 |
Running |
| 17 |
39 |
43 |
Bobby Labonte |
Dodge |
Cheerios “Circle of Helping Hearts” |
112/0 |
267 |
Running |
| 18 |
35 |
41 |
Reed Sorenson |
Dodge |
Target |
109/0 |
267 |
Running |
| 19 |
31 |
42 |
Juan Montoya |
Dodge |
Texaco / Havoline |
106/0 |
267 |
Running |
| 20 |
13 |
17 |
Matt Kenseth |
Ford |
USG Sheetrock |
108/5 |
267 |
Running |
| 21 |
19 |
49 |
Ken Schrader |
Dodge |
Qtrax.com |
100/0 |
267 |
Running |
| 22 |
40 |
15 |
Paul Menard |
Chevrolet |
Johns Manville / Menards |
97/0 |
266 |
Running |
| 23 |
34 |
38 |
David Gilliland |
Ford |
FreeCreditRep ort.com |
94/0 |
266 |
Running |
| 24 |
43 |
83 |
Brian Vickers |
Toyota |
Red Bull |
91/0 |
266 |
Running |
| 25 |
36 |
26 |
Jamie McMurray |
Ford |
Crown Royal |
88/0 |
266 |
Running |
| 26 |
26 |
22 |
Dave Blaney |
Toyota |
Caterpillar |
85/0 |
266 |
Running |
| 27 |
30 |
96 |
J.J. Yeley |
Toyota |
DLP HDTV |
82/0 |
266 |
Running |
| 28 |
21 |
07 |
Clint Bowyer |
Chevrolet |
Jack Daniel’s |
79/0 |
265 |
Running |
| 29 |
33 |
48 |
Jimmie Johnson |
Chevrolet |
Lowe’s |
76/0 |
265 |
Running |
| 30 |
5 |
27 |
Mike Skinner |
Toyota |
Bad Boy Mowers |
73/0 |
265 |
Running |
| 31 |
22 |
55 |
Michael Waltrip |
Toyota |
NAPA AUTO PARTS |
70/0 |
265 |
Running |
| 32 |
41 |
45 |
Kyle Petty |
Dodge |
Wells Fargo |
67/0 |
265 |
Running |
| 33 |
42 |
40 |
Dario Franchitti * |
Dodge |
Target |
64/0 |
265 |
Running |
| 34 |
28 |
01 |
Regan Smith * |
Chevrolet |
Coors Light |
61/0 |
264 |
Running |
| 35 |
4 |
24 |
Jeff Gordon |
Chevrolet |
Nicorette / DuPont |
63/5 |
262 |
Off Track |
| 36 |
7 |
66 |
Scott Riggs |
Chevrolet |
State Water Heaters |
60/5 |
260 |
Running |
| 37 |
14 |
00 |
David Reutimann |
Toyota |
Aaron’s Dream Machine |
52/0 |
258 |
Running |
| 38 |
9 |
2 |
Kurt Busch |
Dodge |
Miller Lite |
49/0 |
255 |
Off Track |
| 39 |
16 |
44 |