Camping World RV 400 Review
by Virginia Vroom of Predictem.com
Talk about an incredible finish and the rising of a dark horse! Yesterday’s race at Dover ended with one of the most exciting finishes in recent history. Imagine seeing all three of your team’s cars running in the top three spots, running each other down for the win and also for a championship. Jack Roush had to be a proud man, and by the looks of it, he was ecstatic at the end of the race.
With a 1-2-3 finish, the Roush guys are in strong contention for a championship, as Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards, and Matt Kenseth all battled it out. It was a clean round of last laps with a bunch of classy racers. Edwards was hilarious after coming off a second place finish, astounding that he had taken over the points lead. Kenseth, although rarely cracking a smile, finally had one on his face, coming home with a very respectable third place finish. The winner, Greg Biffle, seems to be rising from the ashes.
In my own humble opinion, Biffle has never gotten the credit or respect that he deserves. He’s a very talented and consistent driver that had a patch of bad luck last year, keeping him away from his chase dreams. This year, he seems to be turning it all around with two consecutive wins and a good shot at this weekend’s Kansas race. It’s actually a good reflection of how Jimmie Johnson dominated the Chase last year.
Some other guys weren’t so lucky this weekend. Kyle Busch was one of them. In fact, Busch is almost statistically eliminated from winning the Championship at this point. In all actuality, this is why I am not a huge fan of the format. Busch dominated the regular season, winning race after race and leading an unprecedented amount of laps. Fan or not, it’s hard to deny that fact. Now, two races into the Chase format, Busch can no longer realistically be the champion because of two bad races. Now consider someone like Jeff Gordon or Kevin Harvick who both had two or more terrible races during the regular season but are still in a much better seat than Busch at this point when it comes to the Championship. That’s just how I see it, though I’m not a Busch fan. It just seems like there’s some more reformatting that needs to happen to make the system fair.
Either way, Busch suffered engine problems, and his day ended early, saying “We’re done” when asked about his championship hopes. Edwards, who came home second, questioned crew chief Bob Osborne’s call for a two-tire stop on the final pit of the day when the rest of the drivers took four. It turns out that Edwards very well may have lost the race because of that call, but he wasn’t bothered by it in the least. Pole sitter Jeff Gordon suffered, yet again, from a car with bad handling. He couldn’t quite get things right with his car, falling back into the teens for most of the day after leading 30 laps early. Teammate Jimmie Johnson was working pit strategy and looked as though he was going to pull off another win. He just wasn’t strong enough when it came down to it, unable to hold off the Roush brigade.
One other driver worth mentioning, although not in the Chase, is Jaime McMurray. He dominated much of the race before Robby Gordon ended up driving him into the wall. Leave it to Gordon to wreck another potential winner. I understand not wanting to get lapped because of the lucky dog position, but Gordon takes it to another level in nearly every race, inhibiting the championship contenders and the race leaders. Enough is enough, Robby. It’s time to understand your place.
That being said, let’s take a look at your top ten finishers at the Monster Mile:
1. Greg Biffle
2. Matt Kenseth
3. Carl Edwards
4. Mark Martin
5. Jimmie Johnson
6. Kevin Harvick
7. Jeff Gordon
8. Clint Bowyer
9. Jeff Burton
10. Michael Waltrip
That’s right, I said Michael Waltrip! He’s actually starting to prove something. Anyway, those finishes definitely shook up the points. Here’s your current top twelve:
1. Carl Edwards
2. Jimmie Johnson
3. Greg Biffle
4. Jeff Burton
5. Kevin Harvick
6. Clint Bowyer
7. Tony Stewart
8. Jeff Gordon
9 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
10. Matt Kenseth
11. Denny Hamlin
12. Kyle Busch
The biggest movers were Harvick, with 5 positions gained. Both Gordon and Bowyer gained 3 positions this weekend. The biggest losers were undeniably Kyle Busch and Earnhardt Jr. who are pushing father away from being in contention for the championship this year. Johnson and Biffle are both tied for second place.
This weekend, we’re headed to Kansas, which is notoriously another great Roush track. Keep your eyes peeled as there’s sure to be some more big movers as the last 8 races of the season head our way.