AT&Terrific: Burton wins at Charlotte

Jeff Burton earned his second win of the season and 21st of his career Saturday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway, thanks in part to crew chief Scott Miller's risky pit calls late in the Bank of America 500. In conjunction with other Chase contenders having troubles, Burton moved into the second position in the point standings, 69 behind Jimmie Johnson.

“Scott Miller did a great job, made that call there at the end,” Burton said. “That’s what won the race. More importantly, they got the car, the last two runs, the best it was all night. We went up and passed (Greg) Biffle for the lead, and never gave it back.

“Scott made just a great call. I'm sure everybody was questioning it. Hell, I was questioning it. I was thinking, ‘I don’t know if this will work or not.’ But it did.”

Burton's No. 31 Chevrolet led 58 of 334 laps. He took the lead over Biffle's Ford on lap 277 and following the pivotal call on pit road on lap 298, held off a hard-charging Johnson at the restart.
 
Johnson, who has dubbed the Lowe's facility as “his house,” referring to his five-race winning record during an eight race span on the 1.5-mile track, tried repeatedly to pass Burton following the restart on lap 301 but Burton, despite having older tires after opting for fuel only, held off the challenges. Johnson had two fresh right side tires, but struggled with the handling on his Chevrolet.

“He’s always been on my radar screen,” Johnson, who faded to sixth, said of Burton in the championship standings. “I think in ’06 he led most of the Chase. He’s been doing this a long time. He knows the tracks. He’s revitalized RCR over the years. I think we can all give him a lot of credit for the turnaround RCR has had. He knows how to race hard. He's been out there a long time. He knows how to race and get points.”

Kasey Kahne won the All-Star race and the Coca-Cola 600 at LMS in May and given a few more laps, could have pulled off another. Instead, he settled for second.

“It was a good run,” Kahne said. “I’m glad we finished where we did. We had a nice try to catch the 31. He was fast. We tried, but just didn't get to him. But it was still a good run for our Budweiser Dodge. First top 5 in a while, so that feels pretty good.”

Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch and Jamie McMurray closed out the top 5.

Johnson was sixth with Biffle sliding into seventh. Biffle remains third in the Chase standings.

Carl Edwards was the first Chase contender to suffer a severe blow on Saturday, having ignition problems on lap 67. He finished the race 17 laps down in 33rd and fell to fourth in the standings.

Edwards's finish caps off a sour week for the Roush Fenway Racing driver. Following an accident he caused the previous week at Talladega, Kevin Harvick made a comment referring to Edwards in an unpleasant light on national television. Edwards responded by approaching Harvick in the Nationwide Series garage at Lowe’s on Thursday. Reportedly, Harvick turned to walk away from Edwards but Edwards grabbed Harvick, as if to turn him around to finish the conversation. The two got into a scuffle and as revealed in photos released on Saturday, it appears at one point that Edwards reached for Harvick's throat. Harvick shoved Edwards and he landed on Harvick’s car, denting the hood.
 
NASCAR has not issued any fines or suspensions for the incident but did call the two into the NASCAR hauler for a discussion.

Harvick finished Saturday's race 13th.

Chasers Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Matt Kenseth had troubles as well, finishing 36th and 41st, respectively.

Earnhardt cut a tire on lap 103, sending his Chevrolet hard into the Turn 2 wall.

Kenseth was involved in a wreck with Travis Kvapil and Tony Raines on lap 196.

Jeff Gordon had troubles early, bouncing off of the wall on two occasions before being forced to the pits only nine laps into the 500-mile race for repairs. He fell a lap down but received the free pass on lap 55. He worked his way into the lead on lap 203 but like Biffle, a decision for four tires on lap 298 left him eighth at the finish, unable to reclaim track position.

Mark Martin and David Ragan closed out the top-10 finishers.

Del.icio.us | Digg it | Athlon Sports RSS Feeds