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JENSEN: Goody’s Cool Orange 500 Blog UPDATED
Written by: Tom Jensen   
03/30/2008
Martinsville, Va.
 
Jeff Burton finished the better of the two with a 13th place finish in Daytona. (Todd Warshaw/Getty Images Photo) ยป More Photos

SPEEDtv.com's Tom Jensen blogs the latest news heading into the Goody's Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Check back for updates and don't forget to leave your comments below!

Blog Post: Sunday, March 30, 2008 07:50 PM

BURTON TAKES OVER POINTS LEAD Jeff Burton, who won two weeks earlier in Bristol and finished third in Sunday’s Goody’s Cool Orange 500, is the new NASCAR Sprint Cup points leader after Kyle Busch lost a rear-end gear and finished 38th.

“We were good,” said Burton. “We just got a little loose there at the end. Real proud of my guys. From where we were yesterday to where we are today, a big gain and just real proud of that. That’s a sign to me you’re not always going to be good in practice and to me when you can overcome and have a good day, that’s a good sign.”

Burton now leads his Richard Childress Racing teammate Kevin Harvick by 39 points, with Greg Biffle falling to third, 60 markers in arrears of Burton. Dale Earnhardt Jr. moved up a spot to fourth (-69), while Busch is now fifth (-84), one spot ahead of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Tony Stewart (-104). Seventh is Kasey Kahne (-129), then race-winner Denny Hamlin (-157), Jeff Gordon (-166), Jimmie Johnson (-169), Ryan Newman (-174) and Clint Bowyer (-175). Nine of the top 12 drivers race for RCR, Joe Gibbs Racing, or Hendrick Motorsports.

On the bottom of the points rung, the guys outside the top 35 in owner’s points who will have to qualify on speed next weekend at Texas include Sam Hornish Jr. (3 points behind 35th), David Reutimann (-20), Dario Franchitti (-22), Dave Blaney (-65) and Kyle Petty (-111).

JAMIE JUMPS If there was anyone as happy as race-winner Denny Hamlin on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, it had to be Jamie McMurray, who began the weekend outside the top 35 in owner points and was stellar from Friday on. McMurray qualified fifth in his Roush Fenway Racing Ford, finished eighth in the Goody’s Cool Orange 500 and moved all the way to 31st in owner points, meaning he’s now safely locked in at Texas.

McMurray, in obvious need of points, drove conservatively en route to his eighth-place run. “I had to race those guys a little bit differently than I would have if we hadn’t been in that situation (as far as the point standings),” said McMurray. “When guys would get underneath me, I would just let them go because we had to finish well today so we could have a little bit of a buffer in the points when we go to Texas. That was a really solid day. We made our car better as the day went on and at the end had one of the best cars, but I just gave up a couple of spots there.”

Needless to say, McMurray felt a huge burden lifted from him afterwards. “Even in 2003 when I had to make it on time I wasn’t really expected to because I was a rookie and it was a brand-new team,”
said McMurray. “That was a totally different feeling last weekend. I learned a lot about myself and fans. I never really understood how loyal NASCAR fans are and having the weeks that I had and everything and to support a guy that doesn’t win very often, that’s a really loyal fan and that kind of makes you feel good.”

For McMurray’s four teammates, the race was a mixed bag. After running third in the late stages of the race, Carl Edwards ran out of gas on the last lap and fell to ninth, while Matt Kenseth had two collisions with David Gilliland, including a retaliatory shot that earned Kenseth a two-lap penalty. He finished 30th, 10 spots behind Greg Biffle.

Besides McMurray, David Ragan was the squad’s other bright spot, as he finished 11th on the lead lap. “I feel like we had a good car, a car that could have contended for the win if we were in the right place at the right time, but those guys gambled on fuel and we made the right call coming in and getting some tires,” said Ragan. “The cautions just didn’t fall how we needed to and the lapped cars raced us pretty hard there at the end. It was a good effort, but a little disappointing when you have such a good car and you don’t quite get the finish you want, but we’ll take it.”

TOUGHING IT OUT Elliott Sadler overcame serious back pain to drive his Gillett Evernham Motorsports Dodge to a 15th-place finish in the Goody’s Cool Orange 500 Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. Sadler went the distance, despite having Dennis Setzer on hand as a standby.

“I took a few Tylenol and I felt great when the race was on,” said Sadler. “I’m a little sore. I’ll definitely be feeling this in the morning. It was pretty much the same soreness the whole time.”

ROUGH START Michael McDowell finished a more than respectable 26th in his first NASCAR Sprint Cup race, but in the process earned the enmity of Jeff Burton, who blasted the rookie for holding him up when Burton was attempting to run down race-winner Denny Hamlin in the late going.

“I thought we had something (for Hamlin),” said Burton, not usually the excitable sort. “We started coming back on him and then that kid in the 00 (McDowell), he’s going to learn some manners or I’m going to them to him. He can choose it however he wants it, but it will be one way or the other.”

“I’m sorry if I held him up,” countered McDowell. “It wasn’t the intention, but I was racing the 28 (Travis Kvapil) and the 16 (Greg Biffle) at the time. We were trying to keep this thing in the top 35 (in owner points) and that’s real important.” McDowell’s car is 25th in owner points following the race.


GOODY’S COOL ORANGE 500 RESULTS
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