Dover recap
Still catching up on the past two weeks. I am, of course, ecstatic about the outcome of this race because Ryan Newman is my boy, my preseason pick to win it all. Yes, he's got a hole to dig himself out of, but the other Chase candidates can't get through the next eight races unscathed... can they?
GLENN'S TEN (an awesome 7-for-10):
* Jeff Gordon (winner) -- 3rd, Started 21st and complained about his car all day, but still got a great finish out of it and takes the points lead by 1.
* Kurt Busch -- 5th, Led a few, but couldn't keep it up front when it counted.
* Ryan Newman -- 1st, Only led 325 of 400 laps and won by more than 7 seconds. They're going to have to change his nickname from Rocket Man to The Dover Kid.
* Jimmie Johnson -- 10th, Just snuck in. Penalty didn't help.
* Matt Kenseth -- 32nd, What might have been. Had one of the strongest cars before nailing the tire barrier guarding the entrance to pit road.
* Tony Stewart -- 6th, He and Robby Gordon seem to have a thing going after the incident at Loudon last week. They were mixing it up again early in this race and Tony was none too happy with Robby in the postrace comments. Wonder where this will lead? Another probabtion for Tony, probably.
* Mark Martin -- 2nd, Couldn't repeat the July win but gave it a good run. Mark sounds way too happy these days. Moves up a couple notches in the points...
* Rusty Wallace -- 13th, Was in the top 10 for quite a while before unscheduled stop for tire problems.
* Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- 9th, A quiet, solid day.
* Kasey Kahne -- 42nd, Engine blew apart after 13 laps.
REST OF THE TOP 10:
* Dale Jarrett -- 4th, Snagged this spot from Kurt Busch three laps from the finish, thus handing the points lead to Jeff Gordon. DJ is going to surprise some people these next few weeks.
* Jeremy Mayfield -- 7th, Yawn.
* Jamie McMurray -- 8th, Fighting for 11th spot in the points just isn't as much fun as racing for a title.
OTHER NOTABLES:
* Ricky Rudd -- 12th, Is the Fatback factor starting to become a factor?
* Bobby Labonte -- 14th, See Ricky Rudd. With McSwain on board this might have been a top 10.
* Elliott Sadler -- 20th, A wrinkle in the Chase.
* Jeff Burton -- 33rd, Haven't seen a guy that pissed off with his car for hitting the wall in a long while.
Next week... Checkers and wreckers at Talladega.
