Burton wins at Charlotte

The Virginian gave team owner Richard Childress his first victory at Charlotte since 1993 by not changing tyres on his last stop with thirty laps to go, getting the lead of the race and much-needed clean air which enabled him to pace the field in the final part of the race.

"Well, obviously it's a big night for us," Burton said. "(Crew chief) Scott Miller did a great job, made that call there at the end. That's what won the race. More importantly, they got the car in the last two runs the best it was all night. We went up and passed Biffle for the lead, and never gave it back.

"Came on pitroad, the guys did a great job with fuel. We picked up spots on pitroad pretty much all night tonight. Had the car right at the right time. It all worked out for us."

Kasey Kahne took on two new tyres on his last stop and also gained track position like Burton. He then ran on the high groove of the track and moved up to second place, putting a little pressure on Burton in the closing laps. However he ran out of laps to fully close on the RCR driver and eventually had to settle for second.

"We just had some clean air," said Kahne. "We got up towards the front - the car was pretty good. I was real loose into the corner, I tried catching him (Jeff Burton), but came up a little bit short.

"It was a fun run. This track is great. You can move all over and do a lot of things at this racetrack. It was a fun race. I wish we could have got him."

Kurt Busch made a similar strategy to Kahne's work for him to get third in the end, ahead of his brother Kyle who had his best race of the Chase thus far. Jamie McMurray rounded up the top five as the best of the Roush Fenway runners in yet another clouded day for his teammates.

Jimmie Johnson dropped from second to sixth in the closing laps of the race while struggling with a very loose car. He led the most laps during the race and had a solid night in terms of the championship, which he now leads by 69 points over Burton. Greg Biffle finished seventh and remains third in the standing.

Jeff Gordon had a troubled start to his race hitting the wall twice within the first ten laps. He was eventually forced to pit under caution to change tyres and dropped a lap down, which he recovered in one of the first few cautions of the night.

Impressively he was able to get back in contention for victory in the second half of the race and he actually grabbed the lead on lap 204 for the first time. However he pitted during the penultimate caution of the day, losing the lead and never getting it back as most of the other top runners stayed out.

In the last caution he took on four new tyres and fuel despite his rubber being in better shape than his rivals' and eventually finished eighth.

Carl Edwards had a troubled day when he had to pit from second place early on following a loose wheel while he was running second behind Johnson. During a later caution the engine on his car switched off and he eventually came to a halt on the backstraight.

A service truck pushed him into the pits, where his crew spent 15 laps fixing the ignition-related issue. He was classified 33rd and dropped two spots in the Chase, now 168 points behind Johnson.

"We changed all the ignition stuff and the car worked again, so you never know what it could be there," said Edwards. "It's pretty amazing, we have two pretty independent ignition systems and, for some reason they both quit. I just can't believe it.

"We'll fight back, though. We've got a great team and we've just got to get everything we can. We've got five more races."

Roush teammate Matt Kenseth got caught up in an incident on lap 194 when Travis Kvapil hit the right rear corner of his car, sending him hard against the wall on the tri-oval section. The pair finished their race on the spot after they had tried to avoid another incident unfolding in front of them, when Bill Elliott and Paul Menard made contact.

Dale Earnhardt Jr was another Chaser facing trouble when a blown right-front tyre sent him against the turn 2 wall as early as lap 103, putting a premature end to his winning hope while he was running in sixth place.

AJ Allmendinger had a short outing for Michael Waltrip Racing when he crashed on lap 54 while battling for position in the middle of the pack.

Pos  Driver              Car        Laps
 1.  Jeff Burton         Chevrolet   334
 2.  Kasey Kahne         Dodge       334
 3.  Kurt Busch          Dodge       334
 4.  Kyle Busch          Toyota      334
 5.  Jamie McMurray      Ford        334
 6.  Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet   334
 7.  Greg Biffle         Ford        334
 8.  Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet   334
 9.  Mark Martin         Chevrolet   334
10.  David Ragan         Ford        334
11.  Tony Stewart        Toyota      334
12.  Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet   334
13.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet   334
14.  Martin Truex Jr     Chevrolet   334
15.  Reed Sorenson       Dodge       334
16.  Denny Hamlin        Toyota      334
17.  Bobby Labonte       Dodge       333
18.  Brian Vickers       Toyota      333
19.  Scott Riggs         Chevrolet   333
20.  Elliott Sadler      Dodge       333
21.  Ryan Newman         Dodge       333
22.  Sam Hornish Jr      Dodge       332
23.  Regan Smith         Chevrolet   332
24.  Michael Waltrip     Toyota      332
25.  David Gilliland     Ford        332
26.  Paul Menard         Chevrolet   331
27.  Dave Blaney         Toyota      331
28.  Bill Elliott        Ford        330
29.  Casey Mears         Chevrolet   330
30.  Robby Gordon        Dodge       328
31.  Mike Wallace        Dodge       326
32.  David Reutimann     Toyota      321
33.  Carl Edwards        Ford        317
34.  Juan Montoya        Dodge       296
35.  Chad McCumbee       Dodge       296
36.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Chevrolet   289
37.  Joe Nemechek        Chevrolet   278
38.  Ken Schrader        Toyota      255
39.  Mike Skinner        Toyota      254
40.  Tony Raines         Chevrolet   203
41.  Matt Kenseth        Ford        194
42.  Travis Kvapil       Ford        194
43.  A.J. Allmendinger   Toyota       52

Chase For The Cup - Points Standing:

Pos  Driver              Change  Points
 1.  Jimmie Johnson               5878
 2.  Jeff Burton           +2     5809  + 69
 3.  Greg Biffle                  5792  + 86
 4.  Carl Edwards          -2     5710  +168
 5.  Clint Bowyer                 5693  +185
 6.  Kevin Harvick                5671  +207
 7.  Tony Stewart                 5650  +228
 8.  Jeff Gordon                  5633  +245
 9.  Kyle Busch            +2     5552  +326
10.  Dale Earnhardt Jr            5524  +354
11.  Matt Kenseth          -2     5518  +360
12.  Denny Hamlin                 5498  +380