By Ryan - Posted on October 5, 2011
Kurt Busch was able to take advantage of mistakes by Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards to take his first Chase victory at Dover International Speedway on Sunday. Johnson could not seem to get going on the last two restarts and Carl Edwards was cited for speeding on pit road, Edwards led the final 42 laps to the checkered flag.
In spite of the blunders by Johnson and Edwards, they (along with all of the other Chase drivers) picked up points on Tony Stewart, who had led the points standings after winning the first two Chase races. He finished 25th at Dover after fighting the handling on his car all day. His problems caused him to lose his hold on the points standings, falling nine points behind Edwards and Kevin Harvick.
After experiencing frustration with a 22nd place result last week at New Hampshire, Kurt Busch marveled about how well everything went at Dover. "It was just perfect execution today, with pit stops and with making the car better during the race," Busch said. "I couldn't be happier right now. To win a Sprint Cup race in the Chase, this is what it's all about. This is the playoffs. We had everything go wrong for us last week. We had everything go right for us this week. We just need nice smooth races from here."
It was simply an added bonus that he was able to beat out Jimmie Johnson for the win. The two drivers have had quite a history, particularly this year. "To beat your arch nemesis, that's just icing on the cake. That's pretty sweet," said Busch.
Kasey Kahne and Matt Kenseth finished in the top 5, and Kyle Busch, A.J. Allmendinger, Clint Boyer, Marcos Ambrose, and Harvick rounded out the top 10. This race was definitely a mixed bag for Chase drivers, as Jeff Gordon finished 12th, Denny Hamlin finished 18th, Brad Keselowski came home 20th, Ryan Newman came in 23rd, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 24th. Barring significant difficulty for the leaders in multiple races, these results just about spell the end of the championship hopes for Earnhardt, Newman, and Hamlin.
