A look back at Jeff Burton's 21st career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win in Saturday night's Bank of America 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway including news, notes and observations by the RacingOne staff.
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Inside Line Jeff Burton outran Kasey Kahne to the checkered flag to pick up his second win of the season and third career Sprint Cup Series victory at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Photos
Keys to Victory Lane A last pit stop for fuel only gave Burton the top spot and he led the remaining 58 laps of the race to move into the second spot in the Chase standings. Complete Results
Zero to Hero Kyle Busch was hit with a pit road speeding penalty but rebounded to finish fourth.
Rookie of the Race Sam Hornish, Jr. came home 22nd to lead the freshman class.
Notables Jeff Gordon slapped the wall twice but was able to notch an eighth-place finish. Reed Sorenson started 30th and finished 15th. And Scott Riggs began the night 33rd and notched a 19th-place finish.
Chase for the Cup Jimmie Johnson leads Burton, who went from fourth to second, by 69 points with Greg Biffle third, 86 behind. Carl Edwards dropped to fourth.
Bank of America 500 Loop Data Leaders • Average Running Position: Jimmie Johnson - 3.6 • Fastest Early In a Run: Jimmie Johnson - 177.975 mph • Fastest Late In a Run: Tony Stewart - 174.387 mph • Fastest Laps Run: Tony Stewart - 48 • Fastest on Restarts: Jimmie Johnson - 173.566 mph • Most Passes During Green Flag Conditions: Robby Gordon - 100 • Laps In Top 15: Jeff Burton and Jimmie Johnson - 333 • Quality Passes: Kyle Busch - 65 • Speed in Traffic: Kyle Busch - 175.197 mph
Pit Stops • Burton captured his 21st career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win in his 506th career start. Detailed Active Driver Wins • Burton won the 89th race for car owner Richard Childress. Detailed Active Car Owner Wins • Burton became the ninth driver to win at Lowe's from the fourth position. He was the 183rd driver overall to win a race from that position. Starting Position Facts • Burton won the 36th race for Chevrolet at Lowe's. All-Time Manufacturer Wins • Kasey Kahne (second) posted his fifth top-10 finish in ten races at Lowe's Motor Speedway. • Kurt Busch (third) posted his third top-10 finish in 17 races at Lowe's Motor Speedway. • Kyle Busch (fourth) posted his third straight top-five finish at Lowe's Motor Speedway. • Jamie McMurray (fifth) posted his best finish of the season to date. • Jimmie Johnson (sixth) finished in the top 10 for the first time at Lowe's Motor Speedway since the spring of last year. • Greg Biffle (seventh) posted his fifth top-10 finish at Lowe's Motor Speedway in 12 starts there. • Jeff Gordon (eighth) has posted 18 top-10 finishes in 32 starts at Lowe's Motor Speedway. • Mark Martin (ninth) has now finished in the top 10 in 11 of his 21 starts this season. • David Ragan (10th) has finished in the top 10 in the last three races of the season. • The 334-lap race saw 24 lead changes among 16 drivers and an average speed of 133.699 mph. Lap Summary (pdf) • Ten caution flags were thrown for 49 laps. • The Bank of America 500 lasted 3 hours, 44 minutes, 50 seconds.
Lug Nuts • Carl Edwards is now starring in the new CBS show "Worst Week." • Seems like the fall is when "The Carl" shows up - Martinsville and his battle with Matt Kenseth and now Charlotte and Kevin Harvick. • Although we'd be lying if we didn't say out loud it would have been nice to see that little sneer wiped off Harvick's face. • Dale Earnhardt Jr. has a lot of the same luck he had with DEI over at Hendrick, doesn't he? • Tony Stewart needs a speedometer in his car, at least on pit road. • The Michael Waltrip Racing magic didn't take long to find A.J. Allmendinger. • Kasey Kahne must wish there were 10 races a year at Charlotte. • Kurt Busch makes a comeback.
Garage Talk • "I guarantee you if I had the week to do over again, the last seven days would be a lot different." - Carl Edwards • "We were junk at the end." - Jimmie Johnson • "I'm so bummed I got in the wall early." - Jeff Gordon • "I feel like an idiot, honestly." - A.J. Allmendinger • "Well, hell no! I would have slowed down if I knew the tire was going to blow." - Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
RacingOne Rating On a scale of one to 10 solvent savings institutions, which is a rarity these days and fortunately race sponsor Bank of America is, we'll give Saturday night's race a six. Long dull stretches in the middle didn't help but the racing continues to get better as the evolution of the new Sprint Cup car goes on. Some excitement with pit strategy down the stretch, Kahne moving up in the closing laps, Burton tightening up the points battle and the Edwards/Harvick saga made for an interesting night and weekend anyway. Now it's Chase wild card number two and one of our favorite stops on the schedule, Martinsville Speedway next Sunday.
