From the Crossville Chronicle – Crossville, TN Wed. Sept. 24, 2008
By Joe Dunn
As the Nascar Sprint Cup Series race number two of the Chase at Dover International Speedway in Dover, De. ended, it was Jack Roush teams 1-2-3. Last week’s winner Greg Biffle once again made a late race charge to the front with teammates Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards finishing second and third.
Kyle Busch, the hottest driver of the 2008 season has plummeted from first to last in the Chase in it’s first two weeks. At New Hampshire it was a broken sway bar and Sunday at Dover it was engine failure, leaving Busch 210 points behind the leader with 8 races left. Joining Busch in the Chase dive is Dale Earnhardt Jr. who spent the better part of the season in the top 5, his 24th place finish at Dover (3 laps) has relegated him to 9th place, 129 points behind Edwards.
Carl Edwards remains the leader going into the third race at Kansas Speedway, holding a 10 point advantage over Jimmie Johnson and Greg Biffle, both tied for second. Biffle who won last years race as Kansas is the favorite this week as he has come alive in the chase. Jeff Burton, Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer, all within 106 points of Edwards still have a realistic shot at being part of the mix. Matt Kenseth’s strong finish at Dover moved him up to 10th, but that still leaves him 167 points behind. He will need all top 3 finishes throughout with multiple drivers having some bad luck along the way, not a likely scenario.
A lawsuit announced a few weeks ago by Gillette-Evernham Motorsports against Robby Gordon was settled late last week. The lawsuit verified rumors earlier in the year that a merger was planned. Evernham strongly denied the rumors then, but with the Breach of Contract Lawsuit it became a public record. The plan was for Gordon to sell his entire operation at the end of the season and become a driver for GEM. It seems with the settlement that it was an avenue for GEM to back out of the deal. Robby Gordon Motorsports will be leasing engines from Penske Racing for the remainder of the season, this is a first for Penske. The strongest rumors have Gordon going back to Chevy for 2009 with a possible merger with DEI.
Rick Hendrick announced Monday that Brad Keselowski, driver of the #88 JR Motorsports, Navy Chevrolet in the Nationwide series will attempt to start two Sprint Cup races before the end of the season. Keselowski, of Rochester Hills, Mi. will drive the #25 GoDaddy.Com Chevrolet at Lowes Motor Speedway for the October 11 Bank of America 500 and the November 2, Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Kyle Busch led 157 of the 200 lap Camping World 200 Nascar Nationwide Series race Saturday at Dover with Mike Bliss finishing second followed by Brad Keselowski, Scott Wimmer and Carl Edwards. Clint Bowyer finished 10th but still holds a 186 point advantage over second place Edwards in the standings. Keselowski at third in the standings is the highest series Regular in the points.
The Nascar Craftsman Truck Series was at Las Vegas Saturday as Mike Skinner picked up his first win of the season. Points leader Johnny Benson’s day ended early with a wreck that left him 27th on the day. Benson still is the leader, but the bad finish leaves him only 1 point ahead of Ron Hornaday.
The Nascar Sprint Cup Series and the Nationwide Series both head to Kansas this week with the Kansas Lottery 300 NWS race Saturday on ESPN2 at 2pm (ct) and the Camping World 400 NSCS race Sunday on ABC at 12 noon (ct). The Craftsman truck series is off this week.
