Dodge Challenger 500 - May, 10, 2008

A freshly repaved surface may have made racing at the "track too tough to tame" faster, but it certainly didn't tame the Lady in Black. Eight cautions punctuated the racing action, but countless cars careened off the SAFER barriers throughout the evening. In fact, a quick look at the right side of Kyle Busch's race-winning car resembled that of a 35th-place machine.

Busch, the 23-year old Joe Gibbs Racing pilot, took the lead from his former Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jeff Gordon, on lap 285 and never looked back, capturing his third win of the 2008 season in the Dodge Challenger 500 at Darlington Raceway.

Carl Edwards finished second, while Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and David Ragan rounded out the top five.

Snap-on's Jeff Burton retained his second-place standing in the Sprint Cup points battle with a 10th-place run, his seventh top 10 of the season.

"Toward the last third of the race, I drove way more aggressively and my car got a lot better too," Burton said. "But we didn't hit anything all night and that was a good thing. We were tight then loose then back to tight. We were our best there at the end but I'm proud of the AT&T team for fighting and because of that we were able to get another top 10."

Kurt Busch wasn't far behind Burton. The Las Vegas-native finished 12th after a fifth-place qualifying run and jumped two spots in the point standings to 22nd in the process. A late-race pit miscue set Busch back, but he was able to charge back to salvage a respectable result.

"Kurt had told us earlier in the race that he was having a serious vibration up there in the right front area," crew chief Pat Tryson explained. "We were running sixth when we came in for the pit stop with about 90 laps left. The bolts holding the right-front hat had sheared, leaving the wheel spacers loose and not sitting properly. When we went to put the right front tire on, the wheel wouldn't fit flush. By the time we were able to get it on there right, it had taken its toll.

"We fell back as far as 20th or so and Kurt raced his guts out to get back up there to 12th," Tryson added. "What's so disappointing is that for about a quarter of the race Kurt had the fastest car out there. We have to get better overall. Kurt knows that and we all know that. We have to have the equipment capable of getting the job done. Rest assured that we're all trying the best we can to see that we are doing that week-in and week-out."

Martin Truex Jr. survived a lap 301 incident in Turn 3 with Denny Hamlin to finish 14th while Clint Bowyer was on his bumper in 15th. Bowyer, who won at Richmond last weekend, now owns eight consecutive finishes of 15th or better.

"We didn't have the best night but it could have been a lot worse," Bowyer said. "Everyone on the Jack Daniel's Chevrolet kept their heads in the game and we came out of here with a halfway decent finish. Gil and all the boys kept working on it during every stop and we ended up okay. We got a lap down a couple of times but we stayed after it all night and finished on the lead lap. We'll take that and go on to Charlotte."

Series veteran Mark Martin drove his DEI Chevy to a 16th-place run and was just glad to get out of Darlington with a solid performance.

"This was a really tough race," said Martin. "But these guys on this U.S. Army team are just incredible. They just don't give up and they got us so many positions on pit road. We were able to just hang in there and bring home a respectable finish.

"You don't always have the fastest car out there and everything doesn't always go perfect. On those nights you just have to dig deep and give it all you have. That is what these guys did tonight and I'm incredibly proud to drive their car each week."

Bill Elliott, driving the legendary No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford, drove to a 30th-place showing. Paul Menard, Ryan Newman, Sam Hornish Jr. and Kevin Harvick lined up 36th & 39th.

Newman, in particular, had a tough night. The No. 12 Dodge fought a damaged splitter, a pass-through pit penalty and a broken rear end all before lap 238. After extensive repairs to the latter, he returned to finish 37th.

Newman's Penske Racing teammate, Hornish, fared about as well. Two separate tire problems ended his evening.

"The handling on the Mobil 1 Dodge was good and we were picking up spots," Hornish recounted. "The right front tire went down and the front end of the race car just went straight. Unfortunately, sometimes it seems the days we feel good about the car we hit a bump."

The circuit returns to its backyard in Charlotte with the running of the annual All-Star race next Saturday afternoon. Snap-on's Kurt Busch, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton, Kevin Harvick, Mark Martin, Ryan Newman and Martin Truex Jr. will all participate in the event.

The next points race, the Coca-Cola 600, will be held on Memorial Day weekend in Charlotte.

Clint Bowyer:
May, 9, 2008 | Darlington, S.C. -- Clint Bowyer increased his lead in the Nationwide Series point standings over Kyle Busch to 112 points after a second-place run in Friday night's Diamond Hill Plywood 200. Following a late-race caution, Bowyer lined up second to Tony Stewart for a green-white-checker finish. He couldn't catch Stewart in the two-lap shootout, though, and brought the car home for his fifth top-five finish of 2008.

Steve Wallace:
May, 9, 2008 | Darlington, S.C. -- Steve Wallace overcame a hard crash in practice, avoided several hard crashes throughout the race and recorded his second-straight top-five finish with a sterling run in the Diamond Hills Plywood 200.

"I got us in a hole by wrecking our primary car in practice, but my guys worked hard and our backup car was just as good," Wallace said afterward. "I had a little bit of a hard time figuring out the racetrack at first -- I've only been here one time before tonight -- but I knew once the race started, the pace would change and I'd have a good idea of what we needed.

"We really had a better-driving car than our finish showed -- we had a car that could have been fast enough to finish second. We were faster than the 03 car and the 2 car, but when I got right behind them, my car just got too tight. I could get up enough momentum in three and four to get up next to them, but it just seemed like they had better power than we did, so they could pull us up off the corner pretty hard.

"With that said, I'm really excited about the way our day turned out. Our team has a lot of momentum heading into Charlotte. I can't thank my guys enough; (crew chief) Harold Holly has turned this whole team around. I really think that we're going to be knocking on the door of victory lane pretty soon."

Marcos Ambrose:
May, 9, 2008 | Darlington, S.C. -- Marcos Ambrose had a great run in the Diamond Hill Plywood 200 at Darlington Raceway. After qualifying 20th, Ambrose and his No. 59 JTG Racing team was one of the last cars to pit in the first scheduled sequence. He led two laps while others cycled through their pit stops and when a timely caution flag flew, Ambrose found himself 15th.

As the race wound down, Ambrose avoided the eight cautions that plagued the event, including the final pileup with two laps remaining, and wheeled his car to a 10th-place run, his second of the season.

"We got a bit of damage early but it was a night when plenty of people got a lot more damage than we did," Ambrose said of his night. "We fought the car all night and kept making small repairs at our stops and it was at its best towards the end of the race.

"This track is so tough that it's really about fighting the conditions rather than the competitors. That's what we did for a lot of the race tonight.

"We deserved to finish where we did tonight. We had a really good run in the Kingsford car and we were at the front when it matters in the last part of the race."

Sam Hornish Jr.:
May, 9, 2008 | Darlington, S.C. -- Sam Hornish Jr. drove one of the finest races of his short stock car career in the Diamond Hills Plywood 200. Racing at Darlington, dubbed the "track too tough to tame," Hornish held a steady wheel throughout the evening, missing the eight accidents that plagued the event and running to an 11th-place finish.

Kevin Harvick:
May, 9, 2008 | Darlington, S.C. -- Kevin Harvick, a two-time Busch/Nationwide Series champion, plodded through a tough 200 miles of racing at Darlington Raceway and was able to avoid the majority of the on-track carnage. Harvick finished 13th after skating through the final wreck that set up a green-white-checkered finish.

Harvick, driving his own KHI Chevys, now has seven top 15s in nine Nationwide starts this season.

Jeff Burton:
May, 9, 2008 | Darlington, S.C. -- Jeff Burton and his Richard Childress Racing No. 29 Chevy had a rough outing in the Diamond Hill Plywood 200 from Darlington Raceway on Friday evening. After qualifying sixth, Burton suffered damage in an accident and finished 21st.

"I've had some great success in the Nationwide Series at Darlington," Burton said. "I just love running there and the history of the track. When I think of NASCAR's history, Darlington comes to my mind. I went there as a kid and watched races and to me it's a special place. Any chance that I get to run the Holiday Inn Chevrolet at Darlington, then I am going to take it."

Kelly Bires:
May, 9, 2008 | Darlington, S.C. -- Kelly Bires had the run of his young career going in Friday evening's Diamond Hill Plywood 200 at Darlington Raceway until heartbreak hit late. The 23-year-old Bires ran among the lead pack all night in his first ever trip to Darlington and found himself ninth on a restart with three laps remaining.

A massive wreck on the restart, started when second-place Mark Martin had a fuel pickup problem, bottled the field up. Bires darted high and appeared to be through the melee, but was tagged from behind and spun into the outside wall along the frontstretch.

Bires, who was credited with a 24th-place finish, talked about the incident afterward:

"We had new tires so we were really making a run there at the end and we would have grabbed another couple of spots. It would have been a really good recovery. The No. 5 car slowed, I think he was low on fuel or he missed a gear, and I was already around him but drilled from behind and it put us in the wall. It was one of those deals and not anyone's fault.

"I am looking at the positives, because we had a great car and the outcome could have been a top five, but certainly a top 10 if we got through that wreck. We keep running well and we've been consistently there and that was a big goal of ours this season."

Bobby Hamilton Jr.:
May, 9, 2008 | Darlington, S.C. -- Bobby Hamilton Jr. and Team Rensi qualified 18th for the Diamond Hill Plywood 200 at Darlington but blew an engine with 47 laps remaining and settled for a 30th-place finish. It was Hamilton's first DNF of the 2008 season.