Gordon wins again!
Well what's this? Super G does the victory lane double for the 19th time in his career. That is 66 wins for the 4-time champ, and just 10 shy of a certain Dale Earnhardt — Sr., not Jr. As is typical for Fontana, fuel mileage became an issue at the end and dramatically changed the fortunes of several teams.
It was a mediocre 4-for-10 day for Glenn's Ten. Let's run down the list:
* Jimmie Johnson (winner) -- 2nd, Jimmie ran well but finished better than he should have thanks to the fuel issue. Closes in on Little E for the points lead.
* Rusty Wallace -- 35th, Got banged around from start to (early) finish. He was on the receiving end of Tony Stewart's wild driving in the first 10 laps, then later he tagged a spinning Kurt Busch and went behind the wall for a while. He was understandably steamed at Stewart after the race. Always fun to hear drivers talk about how they had a car capable of winning when they're standing next to it in the garage mid-race.
* Jeff Gordon -- 1st, And he almost made it look easy. The car ran up front all race, then took charge in the final 40 laps when it counted most. Bobby Labonte looked a bit stronger at the end, but fuel was the difference.
* Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- 19th, A tough day for Driver 8. Slid backward quickly, and only avoided going a lap down until the final laps because there were so many timely cautions. Never did get the car right, and lost about half his points lead to Johnson.
* Matt Kenseth -- 4th, Where else would you expect for the #17 to finish? Ran out front for a while, and I started to worry he might have what it took to win the thing. But fortunately the car wasn't as strong toward the end.
* Kurt Busch -- 23rd, Looked decent even after the crash with Wallace. But if you tag the wall enough times it won't improve your handling. That's what Busch did, and he paid for it with a mediocre finish.
* Tony Stewart -- 16th, NASCAR to Tony: This ain't bumper cars, buddy! He tagged Rusty Wallace twice, crunched fenders with Jeff Gordon once, and got air under Ricky Rudd — and that's just the stuff we saw on camera. Amazing he finished where he did, but don't expect this sort of stuff to go unrequited forever. (Richmond in two weeks...)
* Jamie McMurray -- 15th, Suuuure, the week I finally pick him he finishes outside the top 10. /8-(
* Ryan Newman -- 3rd, This looks a lot better than it was. He gained about three spots on the final two laps when cars ahead of him ran out of fuel. First top 10 at Fontana, up to 7th in points.
* Kasey Kahne -- 13th, Burned by fuel economy (ran out) and rookie impatience (hit wall) after running in first much of the race. The car was in third when the trouble started. Second highest rookie of the race.
REST OF THE TOP 10:
* Bobby Labonte -- 5th, Coasted home and lost three positions on the last lap. With an extra gallon of gas and about five more laps I think he would have overhauled Gordon.
* Brendan Gaughan -- 6th, Top rookie. Best finish of the year.
* Terry Labonte -- 7th, Best finish since winning Darlington last September.
* Casey Mears -- 8th, Fuel issue allowed him to crack the top 10 late. Still gunning for his first top five.
* Kevin Harvick -- 9th, Don't know why I didn't pick him, given this is his home track. Looked pretty average most of the day.
* Ward Burton -- 10th, Hung around in the leap group all day and rewarded with a show.
OTHER NOTABLES:
* Jeremy Mayfield -- 14th, Former winner here, but like teammate Kahne burned by poor fuel economy.
* Greg Biffle -- 33rd, Looked like a top five car until ignition problems left him laps down.
* Jeff Green -- 37th, Started third and ran in the top five about the first 50 laps. Then got a lap down. Then dropped out.
* Kyle Petty -- 39th, Got an early start on his annual Charity Ride after dropping out on lap 41.
Next week... Mother's Day, and another bye on the schedule. But in two weeks we get our first Saturday night event under the lights at Richmond.
