Dodge Dealers 400 - An Attrition Test

by Bruce Simmons

Carl Edwards won one heck of an attrition test in the Dodge Dealers 400 at Dover International Speedway.

Everyone thought New Hampshire was going to be the mixer, but Dover turned to look more like a post Bristol race rather than a 1 mile track! 13 Cautions, 9 leaders with 14 lead changes and 66 laps under caution.

Denny Hamlin showed his cards early, but didn’t hold on to the lead as Matt Kenseth came to the front early on after that and showed he had this track under control, until he blew up with 26 laps to go and Carl Edwards took over from there as he led the field through a few caution periods, with Greg Biffle coming in 2nd, Dale Earnhardt Jr in 3rd, Mark Martin 4th and Kyle Busch 5th.

This was a hard race on the Cup Contenders.
Jeff Burton (7th) slow at the front end of the race;
Tony Stewart (9th) off the lead lap;
Clint Bowyer (12th) accident;
Martin Truex Jr (13th) caught up in the Kurt Busch pile up;
Jimmie Johnson (14th) flat tires;
Kevin Harvick(20th), flat tires;
Kurt Busch (28th) loses a tire and wrecks in the closing laps;
Denny Hamlin (38th) accident;

There were only 6 cars on the lead lap at the end of the race.
Unofficial Results

As far as the Chase standings go:
Jeff Gordon assumed the lead with 5340 pts
Tony Stewart 2nd with 2 pts back.
Carl Edwards 3rd, with 3 pts back.
Jimmie Johnson 4th, 4 pts behind the leader.
Kyle Busch 5th, -10 pts.
Clint Bowyer 6th, -18 pts.
Followed by Martin Truex Jr, Jeff Burton, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch & Denny Hamlin.

Right now, it’s pretty a tight points race up front! 8 races to go!
Unofficial Standings