Jimmie Johnson led 195 laps and dominated the AAA 400 at Dover on Sunday afternoon to take his fourth win of the 2009 season. With a scant six lead changes shared among four drivers, the vast majority of the racing action took place further back in the top 10. The win moved the driver of the No. 48 Lowes Chevrolet within 10 points of teammate Mark Martin, who finished a distant second.
Martin, running in the top five throughout the day, never managed to lead a lap but maintained his Championship Chase point’s lead, which is now only 10 points over Johnson.
Juan Pablo Montoya continued his late-season charge and finished fourth at the Monster Mile on Sunday afternoon. The top-five finish for the driver of the No. 42 Polaroid Chevrolet moves him to within 65 points of the lead as the NASCAR Sprint Cup series moves to Kansas City.
Kurt Busch, one of four drivers to take a lead on Sunday, led twice for 99 laps and finished sixth on the day to stay within 75 points of Chase leader Martin.
Regular season points leader Tony Stewart, after five consecutive races outside of the top 10, finished ninth at Dover on Sunday and may be recovering from a late-season slide that now finds him in fifth place in the Chase and 106 points back of the leader, well within striking range over the final eight races.
Denny Hamlin, after seven straight races in the top 10, dropped two laps off the pace and saw a late season surge of momentum come to an abrupt halt on Sunday afternoon. The mid-pack finish for Hamlin now finds him 108 points off the lead and looking to recover from what is hopefully a temporary setback in his championship hopes.
Ryan Newman, with five consecutive top 10 finishes, continues to run strong. His 10th-place finish at Dover displays the strength of the Stewart-Haas team but the driver of the No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet will need top fives to contend for the 2009 championship.
Jeff Gordon, perhaps the forgotten member of the HMS chasers, recovered from a less than stellar first week of the Chase at Loudon to post a sixth-place finish at Dover. The former champion is now 122 points back of teammate Mark Martin and is looking to find something that will allow him to contend with the HMS frontrunners.
Greg Biffle, driver of the 3M Ford Fusion for Roush Fenway Racing, finished just outside of the top 10 at Dover coming home 13th on the day and is now 138 points back in the Championship Chase.
Brian Vickers, finishing with seven top 10s over the final nine races of the regular season, now has two straight non-top 10 races in the Chase. The enthusiasm and momentum needed to make the Chase has quickly subsided and the driver of the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota will need to “step up his game” to compete over the final eight races of 2009.
Carl Edwards ran in the shadow of teammate Greg Biffle for most of the race on Sunday afternoon, and just as Biffle, finished just outside of the top 10 in 11th place. The driver of the No. 99 AFLAC Ford Fusion, with two consecutive Chase finishes outside of the top 10, will be looking for a trip to victory lane as the 1.5-mile quad oval looms…having always been a favorite.
Kasey Kahne recovered from the engine failure of the first Chase race at Loudon to post a top-10 finish at Dover. The early weekend engine failure of teammate Elliot Sadler, while no doubt weighing heavy on Kahne, was cast aside as the driver of the No. 9 Budweiser Dodge finished eighth but still remains a distant 189 points back in 12th place.
After two straight visits to a 1-mile tracks, one perhaps a bit more competitive than the other, the Championship Chase now moves to the very fast Kansas Speedway. Speeds will be considerably higher this weekend and the competition will continue to focus on the Chasers. With all 10 Chase races being won by championship contenders in 2008 and that same trend continuing in 2009, there is little reason to believe anyone outside of the top 12 will step up to break the streak.
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