2008 Bank of America 500 Review
by Virginia Vroom of Predictem.com
Saturday night’s race at Lowe’s was one where we saw the typical 5 second leads by the leaders and a few guys dominating through the night. In fact, there were very few as compared to the race at Talladega. Jeff Burton was your winner, leading the last 57 laps of the race. He finished nearly a full second ahead of Kasey Kahne, who ran strong on a track where he’s consistently good.
Perhaps the worst victim of the night was Dale Jr. Yet again, Jr. suffered some serious tire issues. He was riding on the high side when his right front just blew out of nowhere and he skirted the outside wall. He managed to tear up his front end pretty good and blew his chances at the night, although he claimed to have a very strong-running car.
When interviewed, Jr. was definitely his old self. The reporter asked if he had any indication that the tire was going down. Being his down-to-Earth self, Jr. explained that he would’ve slowed down if he knew the tire was going to blow. He continued the back and forth with the reporter for a little while as he was constantly being asked extremely mundane and obvious questions. For me, that was the most exciting part of the race. Jr. certainly had fun with the reporter, as evidenced by his sly smirk that he wore the entire time.
Tony Stewart and Brian Vickers also led for several laps. They both pulled out to nearly a 7 second lead over their second-place counterparts. Clean air was the name of the game. Getting out front really made the cars stick. Kyle Busch also had a nice run going, but was overtaken by pit stops.
As far as Jimmie Johnson is concerned, he suffered from handling problems late in the race and managed a respectable 6th place finish. Despite this being a good solid day, Johnson remains disappointed for not performing better and sticking with the top cars. He also needs to consider, though, that Burton won this race by a call from his crew chief for a gas-and-go during his final pit stop. Sometimes, Johnson and crew chief, Chad Knaus aren’t always number one. But then again, I guess the mentality of being disappointed over 6th place is what creates champions. Either way, Johnson is going to have to have some pretty poor races coming up to be dethroned from a third title.
Here are your top ten finishers from Saturday night’s Bank of America 500:
1. Jeff Burton
2. Kasey Kahne
3. Kurt Busch
4. Kyle Busch
5. Jamie McMurray
6. Jimmie Johnson
7. Greg Biffle
8. Jeff Gordon
9. Mark Martin
10. David Ragan
With those finishers, here’s how your current top 12 are sitting:
1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Jeff Burton
3. Greg Biffle
4. Carl Edwards
5. Clint Bowyer
6. Kevin Harvick
7. Tony Stewart
8. Jeff Gordon
9. Kyle Busch
10. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
11. Matt Kenseth
12. Denny Hamlin
Since last week, Jeff Burton moved up two spots while Carl Edwards dropped just as many due to ignition problems here at Charlotte, leaving him 16 laps down early in the race. Burton is 69 points behind Johnson, with Biffle holding strong in third 86 points back. This weekend, we’re going short track racing. We’re at my home track of Martinsville Speedway. This race is ALWAYS a good one, with all the guys losing their tempers. There’s no telling what could happen when we get through with this one. Stay tuned because the points battle isn’t wrapped up yet!
