Darlington Raceway - Dodge Avenger 500

RACE WINNER: JEFF GORDON

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: 8th (started 21st)

- He basically had a great night! As much as he dislikes this track he ran very well and made a running joke with Tony Jr. on how many times he got a Darlington stripe. The Bud team was caught with illegal mounting brackets for the New Car's wing during prerace inspection. Big penalties are expected, and as Jeff Hammond has stated, he think Tony Jr. will be suspended for several races.

Martin Truex Jr.: 11th (started 25th)

- Came back from 1 lap down after pitting under green and having a caution come out soon after. This team continues to improve and impress.

Kurt Busch: 12th (started 18th)

- Another race where pit strategy didn't exactly work in Kurt's favor, and yet another solid Top 15 finish for the Miller Lite team.

David Reutimann: 33rd (started 14th)

- The last race for Domino's until the Chase was miserable for David and the team. The handling of the Camry was pretty bad and although Frankie improved it things didn't get any better. Near the end of the race it began to overheat and it cooked the engine as well as David's finish.

Casey Mears: 35th (started 11th)

- Casey was running very well when his engine began to give him trouble. It had started to overheat and finally the engine cooked. It was really disappointing because the car was very good and a Top 10 looked plausible.

Michael Waltrip: DNQ

- He was awesome in practice which made me nervous about qualifying. It seems ironic but then more than ever I didn't get my hopes up. I didn't want to expect him to qualify because he was good in practice, and unfortunately I was right in thinking that.

Dale Jarrett: DNQ

- Just a bad lap...

Other Notes:

- Although I wish someone other than Jeff Gordon or Jimmie Johnson would win, I was really amazed that Jeff's engine lasted till the end with all that water shooting out!

- I felt so awful for Brian Vickers and AJ Allmendinger. Brian was running well when Jamie McMurray couldn't use a little more patience and plowed into the back of him. I don't buy his excuses either because from his in-car camera you can hear him let off and then hit the gas again. AJ was doing a wonderful job on the track he likened to falling off a cliff until a blown tire sent him and Kyle Busch into the wall. It's such a shame. TRB has really gotten their stuff together.