Jeff Gordon started on the pole. It was his first pole of 2013 and he needed to race his way in the Chase for the second year in a row. He got off to a good start as the green flag waved and he led the first lap. Early on, Gordon held onto the lead well and it looked like he a good hold on the field. But Brad Keselowski, another driver looking to make the Chase, passed Gordon for the lead on lap 49. Keselowski held onto the lead until Kurt Busch was able to pass him on lap 65. This led to the first round of green flag pit stops of the race on lap 91. During the stops, Jimmie Johnson, a championship contender who had to start at the back due to missing qualifying, was caught speeding on pit road and received a pass through penalty. Brad Keselowski cycled around to the lead after the stops were completed. His lead was short lived as Matt Kenseth passed him for the lead on lap 105. Kenseth's lead was even shorter lived as Kurt Busch passed him for the lead on lap 110. This led to the first caution of the race on lap 135. Debris was spotted on the track in turn 3. David Gilliland received the lucky dog. Like the Nationwide race on Friday, not much strategy would be used during this race. All the lead lap drivers came to pit road to take four tires and Jamie McMurray came out as the leader after Kurt Busch's team had trouble on his stop. This caused Busch to fall a good ways back. It would be interesting to see if Busch's crew could get everything straightened out and get him back to the front.
The race went back green and Brad Keselowski was able to get past McMurray for the lead. Keselowski held the lead until the second caution of the race waved on lap 206. David Stremme got loose in turn 4 and went for a spin. He was able to get his car stopped on the outside of the track and continue on without damage. Mark Martin received the lucky dog. All the lead lap drivers came to pit road for four tires and Kurt Busch's crew redeemed themselves by getting him out first. The race went back green and Busch was able to hold onto the lead. On lap 218, Brad Keselowski was able to get past him for the lead. This led to a championship contender having trouble. On lap 119, Jimmie Johnson, who was locked into the Chase, came to pit road due to a battery issue. The team tried to fix the problem on pit road, but they decided it was too much to fix on pit road and Johnson went to the garage. Johnson's team would get him back on track, but he would be a good many laps down. A few laps later on lap 224, Jeff Gordon made an early move to pit road. He had a problem that he couldn't diagnose and the team changed all four tires. They could not figure out the problem immediately, but they found out that it was a loose right front wheel. This cost him a lot of time and hurt his chances for the Chase. This led to the third caution of the race on lap 267.
Debris was spotted on the backstretch of the track. Jeff Gordon received the lucky dog. All the lead lap drivers came to pit road with Clint Bowyer coming out as the leader. Juan Pablo Montoya was caught speeding on pit road and was forced to start at the back of the field on the restart, but he didn't start far back enough on the restart and he had to make a pass through on pit road. The race went back green and Clint Bowyer held onto the lead. Bowyer held onto the lead until the second round of green flag pit stops of the race began on lap 337. During the stops, the fourth caution of the race waved on lap 343. Jimmie Johnson lost a tire on the frontstretch and slammed the outside wall causing debris to go on the track and Johnson to have huge damage. Jeff Gordon received the lucky dog. The caution during the stops put a lot of drivers in difficult situations. Many of the leaders had already pitted, but eleven drivers had stayed out and were on the lead lap including Carl Edwards, Martin Truex Jr., Paul Menard, Ryan Newman, and others. This allowed them to pit and stay up front while drivers who had already pitted had to take the wave around and start at the back of the field. It would be interesting to see if this allowed certain drivers to make the Chase.
The race went back green and Carl Edwards held onto the lead on the restart. It looked like he would run away with the win, but Ryan Newman, who was looking for a wild card spot, was coming. He made it all the way up to second and made it up to Edwards. With 10 laps to go, Newman was able to get past Edwards for the lead. This put Newman in the Chase as the second wild card driver, but it would all change in just a few laps with the fifth caution of the race on lap 393. Clint Bowyer got loose (I am going to rid myself of all bias from this situation on my recap, but if you do happen to want to know my opinions, check out this week's edition of my opinions) exiting turn 4 and went for a spin. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was behind him, dodged him and avoided damage. Bowyer slid to a stop on the apron of the frontstretch and was able to continue on without damage after replacing his tires. Juan Pablo Montoya received the lucky dog. The lead lap drivers once again came to pit road for tires with Paul Menard and Mark Martin taking two tires. This allowed Menard to start first on the restart. The race went green for the final time and Edwards beat Menard to the line by a car length. Normally, this would give a penalty to Edwards, but NASCAR did not hand one down and he continued to lead. Edwards went on to win easily, but the more important part of the final restart was who made the Chase. Joey Logano was able to get past Marcos Ambrose on the final restart and this put him in the Chase. Ryan Newman was unable to get past Kurt Busch on the final restart and this put Martin Truex Jr. in the Chase based on a tiebreaker. It was a crazy and controversial finish to the final regular season race as Carl Edwards was able to win his second race of the year.
Normally, the final race of the regular season is pretty crazy, but this race was insane. You had championship drivers struggling, drivers looking to get into the Chase struggling, drivers looking to get in the Chase fighting real hard, drivers spinning possibly to help their teammates, and a driver jumping the final restart to take the win. I take nothing away from Carl Edwards because he fought hard for that win and he earned it. I also take nothing away from Martin Truex Jr. because he fought hard with a broken wrist to get into the Chase and he did. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, Joey Logano, and Martin Truex Jr. were the final drivers to punch their ticket to the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship. Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman, and Brad Keselowski came just short of making the Chase. Now, we know the twelve drivers that will have ten weeks to win the championship and who will be at the top of the standings as the series heads to the first Chase race at Chicagoland. Will Brad Keselowski repeat at Chicagoland after missing the Chase, will Jimmie Johnson right the ship heading into the Chase, or will another Chase driver win and advance his chance to win the title? We will have to wait until next Sunday to find out.
(More Stats Down Below!)
Cautions:
1st Caution: Lap 135- Debris was spotted on the track in turn 3.
2nd Caution: Lap 206- David Stremme got loose exiting turn 4 and went for a spin.
3rd Caution: Lap 267- Debris was spotted on the backstretch of the track.
4th Caution: Lap 343- Jimmie Johnson blew a tire on the frontstretch and slammed the outside wall causing debris to go on track.
5th Caution: Lap 393- Clint Bowyer spun exiting turn 4.
Lucky Dogs:
1st Caution: David Gilliland
2nd Caution: Mark Martin
3rd Caution: Jeff Gordon
4th Caution: Jeff Gordon
5th Caution: Juan Pablo Montoya
Top 5 Finishers:
1st: Carl Edwards
2nd: Kurt Busch
3rd: Ryan Newman
4th: Jamie McMurray
5th: Paul Menard
Notables Not in Top 5:
6th: Matt Kenseth
7th: Martin Truex Jr.
8th: Jeff Gordon
11th: Kevin Harvick
13th: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
14th: Kasey Kahne
17th: Brad Keselowski
19th: Kyle Busch
22nd: Joey Logano
25th: Clint Bowyer
30th: Danica Patrick
40th: Jimmie Johnson
Credits:
-My Own Notes
-Statistics:
http://www.nascar.com/en_us/sprint-cup-series/leaderboard/leaderboard-live.html
http://www.nascar.com/en_us/sprint-cup-series/lapbylap/view-all-laps.html
http://www.nascar.com/en_us/sprint-cup-series/live-standings.html?intid=livestandings_livestandingsleaderboard_08292013
http://racing-reference.info/race/2013_Federated_Auto_Parts_400/W
-Image:
http://www.trbimg.com/img-522bea6c/turbine/lat-carl-wre0011239298-20130907/600
