Chasing the Chase – Week 1: Gordon is the biggest loser

[media-credit name=”Simon Scoggins” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Brad Keselowski won the opening race for the chase at the Chicagoland Speedway. Keselowski held off Jimmie Johnson during the final 35 laps and captured his fourth win of the season, eighth of his career and his first at Chicagoland.

“The Miller Lite Dodge today was great. It seemed like this race was about 20 laps longer than I wanted it to be but either way, it worked out and we got us some Miller Time here. We’re in victory lane race one in the Chase. It feels like round one of a heavyweight title bout. You know it’s good to win it, it feels great, but there are a lot of rounds left. It’s a good start but a long ways to go.” Keselowski said.

Keselowski also took over the series points lead by three over Johnson.

Jeff Gordon entered Chicagoland Speedway with high hopes after overcoming a 12 point deficit to Kyle Busch at Richmond for the final spot in the chase. On lap 188 while running fourth, had his throttle stick while entering turn 1. Gordon had heavy right side damage and took it to the garage for repairs. Gordon finished 35th and now remains 12th in the series standings, 47 points out.

Matt Kenseth also had trouble on lap 169.  A right front shock fell off and he fell back to 24th place.  He was able to pit and make repairs on lap 191 and salvaged a 18th place finish.

The other chase contenders finished as follows:

Johnson 2nd, Kasey Kahne 3rd, Tony Stewart 6th, Dale Earnhardt Jr. 8th, Martin Truex Jr.9th, Clint Bowyer 10th, Kevin Harvick 12th, Greg Biffle 13th and Denny Hamlin 16th.

Official Chase Standings/Stats
After race 1 of 10
GEICO 400, Chicagoland Speedway

http://www.speedwaymedia.com/cup/chase.php

Pos. Driver (+/-) Top-5 Top-10 Bon. Avg St Ave Fin Laps Ttl Laps Points Bnd
1 Brad Keselowski 3 1 1 4 13 1 267 267 2056 0
2 Jimmie Johnson 0 1 1 2 1 2 267 267 2053 -3
3 Tony Stewart 0 0 1 1 29 6 267 267 2048 -8
4 Denny Hamlin -3 0 0 1 8 16 267 267 2041 -15
5 Kasey Kahne 6 1 1 0 6 3 267 267 2041 -15
6 Clint Bowyer 0 0 1 1 9 10 267 267 2041 -15
7 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 0 0 1 0 4 8 267 267 2039 -17
8 Greg Biffle -3 0 0 0 22 13 267 267 2037 -19
9 Martin Truex Jr. 1 0 1 0 18 9 267 267 2035 -21
10 Kevin Harvick -1 0 0 0 35 12 267 267 2032 -24
11 Matt Kenseth -3 0 0 1 3 18 266 267 2030 -26
12 Jeff Gordon 0 0 0 0 19 35 190 267 2009 -47

*Note: These stats consist of only the final 10 chase races. (http://www.speedwaymedia.com/cup/chase.php)

Biggest loser after race 1: Jeff Gordon. Gordon lost another 35 points to the leader and is now 47 points out.

Biggest gainer after race 1: Keselowski was three points out of the lead and now holds a three point advantage.

Biggest movers after race 1 (+/-): +Kasey Kahne moved up five positions. -Hamlin, Biffle and Kenseth all lost three positions.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SpeedwayMedia.com

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