Burton ends winless five years
Jeff Burton ended today one of the longest winning droughts in the Nextel Cup series, after taking his first win in five years - 175 races - at Dover International Speedway
And his timing couldn't be better: Burton's victory has elevated him to the top of the points standing, with just eight races left in the Chase for the Cup.
This four-place jump in the standings, however, came at the expense of Childress Racing teammate Kevin Harvick, who had the early points lead but dropped today to fifth place - effectively trading places with Burton - after retiring from the race with a blown engine.
Burton's win came after he took a daring pass around race leader Matt Kenseth with just six laps to go.
But the overtaking manoeuvre proved redundant: Kenseth, who had the most laps led, ran out of fuel with just two laps left, having gambled on a pit strategy that would have seen him race for 100 laps without a stop.
Kenseth ended up classified in tenth place, and it made no impact on his third position in the Chase standings.
In second place came Carl Edwards, followed by Jeff Gordon, the race's pole sitter, who has also too moved up the standings. Gordon is now in second place and just six points behind Burton.
It was a particularly bad race for Chase contenders Kasey Kahne and Kyle Busch, both pretty much eliminated from any realistic chance of winning the Cup this year.
Busch retired on lap 110 with an engine blow-up, while Kahne crashed into another car and retired on lap 172. They are currently ninth and tenth in the standings.
It doesn't seem much better for those seventh and eighth position, as Dale Earnhardt Jr finished the race three laps behind the leader, battling a difficult car, while Jimmie Johnson - early season favourite and once upon a time points leader - finished 13th after various problems in his pitstops.
But the Chase is still wide open, as race winner Burton knows rather well. "We've got eight (races) to go," he said in Victory Lane. "This still isn't over yet."
Pos Driver Make Laps 1. Jeff Burton Chevrolet 400 Chase 2. Carl Edwards Ford 400 3. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 400 Chase 4. Kurt Busch Dodge 400 5. Greg Biffle Ford 400 6. Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet 400 7. Bobby Labonte Dodge 400 8. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 400 9. Denny Hamlin Chevrolet 400 Chase 10. Matt Kenseth Ford 399 Chase 11. Reed Sorenson Dodge 399 12. Dave Blaney Dodge 399 13. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 399 Chase 14. Mark Martin Ford 399 Chase 15. Dale Jarrett Ford 398 16. Elliott Sadler Dodge 398 17. Jamie McMurray Ford 398 18. David Stremme Dodge 398 19. Ken Schrader Ford 397 20. Jeff Green Chevrolet 397 21. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 397 Chase 22. Casey Mears Dodge 397 23. Tony Raines Chevrolet 397 24. Ryan Newman Dodge 397 25. Kyle Petty Dodge 396 26. Joe Nemechek Chevrolet 396 27. David Gilliland Ford 396 28. Michael Waltrip Dodge 396 29. Brian Vickers Chevrolet 395 30. J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 395 31. Sterling Marlin Chevrolet 393 32. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 366 Chase 33. Tony Stewart Chevrolet 303 34. Scott Riggs Dodge 296 35. Stanton Barrett Dodge 202 36. Scott Wimmer Chevrolet 199 37. Kevin Lepage Dodge 182 38. Kasey Kahne Dodge 172 Chase 39. Travis Kvapil Chevrolet 118 40. Kyle Busch Chevrolet 110 Chase 41. Robby Gordon Chevrolet 98 42. David Ragan Ford 47 43. Derrike Cope Dodge 39 CHASE FOR THE CUP - POINTS STANDING: Pos Driver Change Points 1. Jeff Burton + 4 5351 2. Jeff Gordon + 2 5345 - 6 3. Matt Kenseth 5333 - 18 4. Denny Hamlin - 2 5333 - 18 5. Kevin Harvick - 4 5297 - 54 6. Mark Martin 5276 - 75 7. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 5249 - 102 8. Jimmie Johnson + 1 5215 - 136 9. Kasey Kahne - 1 5169 - 182 10. Kyle Busch 5127 - 224
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