Redstate Sports

By Leon H Wolf Posted in NASCAR — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Once again, Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon found themselves fighting for the number one spot with just a few laps to go - this time, however, Matt Kenseth had a better car to hold the lead with, and won the GFS Marketplace 400 going away. Kenseth had the strongest car of the day, leading over 80 laps and remaining in the top 10 throughout virtually the entire race. It was a vintage Kenseth race on an oval track which reminded us all of why he's the only driver within sniffing distance of Jimmie Johnson at this point. With the win, Kenseth virtually locked up one of the top two spots going into the chase; at this point he and Johnson are basically battling over five standings points. With the second-place finish, Gordon strengthened his hold on a spot in the Chase, and Tony Stewart wiped away most late-season doubts with another very strong finish.

Kasey Kahne finished in a very strong fourth, and is now 49 points behind Dale Jr. for the final Chase spot. None of the three races remaining has a track that inherently favors either driver, so this one could ultimately be decided by who finishes better at Richmond (the last pre-chase race). Surprisingly, Kahne did not manage to finagle his pit stops in such a manner as to lead a lap in this race, despite being near the top all race long; only time will tell if he will miss those five bonus points in the end.

The race was also filled with other interesting stories. Elliott Sadler made his Evernham Motor Sports debut, and ran a very strong race, ultimately notching a top-10 finish. Sadler's replacement in the M&M's car, David Gilliland, crashed on the 53rd lap and finished (barely) in 38th place.

Kurt Busch was once again a big story in this race - for the first half of the race, Busch was in serious contention - then after a mid-race tire change, Busch's car inexplicably began behaving erratically. Busch could be heard complaining to his team that his car was "way loose," and made an unscheduled pitstop to adjust this problem. Despite the adjustments, Busch spun out into the track infield a few short laps later, and went back into the pit for more work on the car. After re-entering the track, Busch complained to his team that his car was still so loose that it was "out of control," and subsequently he spun rear-end first into the wall, earning a devastating DNF that officially nailed shut the 2004 champ's chances of making the Chase for the Cup this year.