Burton wins at Charlotte
Jeff Burton scored his second victory of the season in the Bank of America 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway, making a big jump in the Chase standing where he now ranks second
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
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments