On a night when championship point racing was at a premium, a non-chaser stole the show at the Bank of America 500. Jamie McMurray picked up his third win of the season after overtaking Kyle Busch on a restart with 20 laps to go and never looked back.
McMurray had already picked up two big wins this season. Scoring a win at the Daytona 500 to open the season and adding another 500-mile win when he kissed the bricks at Indianapolis.
Busch was the man to beat all night long, leading a race-high 218 laps, but fell victim again to a late-race caution, finishing second.
“It was a really great race for us,” Busch said. “A great feeling there up until about 20 to go. I apologize to everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing for not being able to bring it home tonight. I don’t know what the caution was for—apparently a mouse ran across the race track or something.”
Point leader Jimmie Johnson had another stellar finish at Charlotte by coming home in third, but it wasn’t as easy as the result might have implicated.
Following a four-tire stop, Johnson got a scare on lap 34 when he spun coming out of turn two due to a flat left rear tire. After restarting in 37th, Johnson picked off opposing drivers one-by-one and found himself back in the top 3 in just 100 laps.
“The finish was great but the first half of the race was a disaster for us,” Johnson said. “I’m so relieved. I’m so glad to be sitting in here after a third place finish and still leading the points. I hope that tonight’s performance will lead us to a championship.”
Other drivers’ championship hopes didn’t receive the shot in the arm that they needed. Tony Stewart, who entered Saturday’s race in fifth place and just 107 points behind Johnson, was involved in an early incident and never recovered, finishing 21st. Stewart lost 70 points to Johnson and now sits 177 behind, a seemingly insurmountable number with just
Jeff Gordon sat on the pole and entered the night in fourth place in the standings, just 85 points behind his Hendrick Motorsports teammate. Gordon had alternator and battery problems though, and faltered to a disappointing 23rd place finish. Gordon is now 156 points behind Johnson in the championship standings.
Gordon hasn’t won since an early-season victory at Texas in 2009, a streak that has now reached 60 races. After finally working his way back into the top 20, Gordon was penalized for entering the pits too fast on lap 291.
Denny Hamlin, who began the night 36 points behind Johnson, made a 19-spot improvement from the start and finished fourth. Hamlin now stands 41 points behind Johnson for the championship point lead.
Either Hamlin or Johnson have won the last eight races at Martinsville, setting up a showdown at next week’s stop.
Kevin Harvick fought his No. 29 Penzoil Chevrolet all night long but maintained his third-place point standing by finishing eighth and now finds himself 77 points behind Johnson heading to Martinsville.
Following Saturday’s race, it looks like a three-man hunt for the championship with only five races to go, as only Hamlin (41) and Harvick (77) are within 150 points of Johnson.
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