Racing under the lights at Charlotte, or rather, Lowes Motor Speedway is always exciting, particularly during the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Saturday’s race, the only night race in the Chase, was no exception.
It may not be a Talladega race, but the race did falter some of the Chasers’ hopes of Championship glory as it brightened the hopes of others.
Carl Edwards, who started the second “big one” at Talladega a week ago, could not get away from a bad mistake — a mistake he was sorry for. The person not allowing him to get away from it was in fact, Edwards.
Following the incident, Kevin Harvick, a fellow Chaser who was caught up in the wreckage, called Edwards a “pansy” for the whole incident or rather the way he drove that day.
After getting wind of the accusation, supposedly, Edwards wrote a note “thanking” Harvick for his kind words on national television and sent it to Harvick via Harvick’s pilot before leaving Talladega.
The letter was not readily known to the press (or the public) until an incident during Nationwide practice Thursday in which both men had a confrontation that turned a bit physical.
Edwards, whose garage stall was two down from Harvick’s, walked down to Harvick and began to casually talk about the incident. The talking became heated between the two and quickly ended with no punches actually being thrown, but the confrontation became the talk of the weekend.
As much as Edwards wanted the whole incident to be over, it was apparent that would not be case.
After starting second in the Bank of America 500, thanks to qualifying being rained out Thursday, Edwards’ hopes were punctured as his No. 99 Ford experienced something mechanical early on. During the third caution, his car lost power, and despite trying every button and knob to get it to come back on, he was unable to do so.
Before the restart, he brought his car down pit row and the crew went under the hood to figure out the problem. They eventually figured it out and Edwards was sent back to the track — 16 laps down. He finished 33rd and fell from second in the points to fourth, 168 behind leader Jimmie Johnson.
Edwards wasn’t the only Chaser to experience misfortune Saturday night.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., may not have made it to the lead before his right front tire blew out, but his No. 88 Chevrolet looked as if it may have been a car to contend for the win. It it wasn’t bad enough that his tire blew sending him into the wall, the fact that he planned to pit the next lap did. He finished 36th, several laps down, and is now 354 points behind the leader in 10th.
Matt Kenseth fell back to 11th in points, 360 points behind the leader, after being involved in someone else’s wreck midway through the race, finishing 41st.
After his controversial win at Talladega, it was Tony Stewart whom many thought would win the race. In fact, he did look like the car to beat, but unfortunately he had a late race pit road speeding penalty. The penalty sent him, along with a few other drivers, to the back of the field during one of the final restarts. He finished 11th and is still seventh in the points, 228 behind the leader.
Hoping to repeat last year, Jeff Gordon, who has been winless since this year, had troubles early on. He hit the wall a few times from the get-go, came in to repair problems and a went a lap down. He got his lap back, almost as quickly as he had it taken away, and managed to get to the front thanks to pit strategy. He wasn’t the Jeff to win, but he did finish eight.
Jeff Burton, No. 31 Chevrolet, held off Kasey Kahne (No. 9 Dodge), who was attempting to make history by winning all three racing events held at LMS in a single year. (He won the All-Star Race IV and the Coca-Cola 600 back-to-back in May.)
Both Kahne and Burton took a risk with the last pit stop with 34-laps remaining. Burton, the leader, took only gas, as Kahne, who was seventh, took gas and two right-side tires, came out third. Points leader Jimmie Johnson, separated the two at the restart.
Kahne, who isn’t the best on restarts, was quickly passed by Kurt Busch’s No. 2 Dodge as Johnson and Burton battled for the lead. Kahne’s momentum picked up and he passed Busch and then Johnson, who had backed off of Burton. While Johnson was being passed by both Kurt and then Kyle Busch, Kahne, driving a loose car, picked up speed and tried to catch up to Burton. The 1.841 seconds gap at lap 322 went down to 0.700 seconds on lap 331, three laps to go. Kahne wasn’t able to catch Burton finishing 0.946 seconds behind Burton.
History making it wasn’t, but exciting it was. It also gave hope to this Kahne fan, who has been hoping for something to look forward to. I think I got it.
Burton moved from fourth to second in the points and is only 69 points behind Johnson. Along with Biffle, it looks as if it’s three for the title and it may just come down to the final race at Homestead in November.
For now it is on to the 1.5-miler that is Martinsville Speedway for the sixth race in the Chase where anyone, Chasers and non, can win the infamous Martinsville grandfather clock.
Don’t miss:
From Martinsville
- Sprint Cup qualifying, Friday at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN2
- Kroger 200 (Craftsman’s truck race), Saturday at 2:30 on SPEED
- TUMS QuikPak 500 (Sprint Cup race), Sunday at 1 p.m. on ABC
Loading ...
