Jeff Burton led only one lap in Sunday's Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, but he led the lap that mattered the most.
After closely trailing Matt Kenseth for 13 laps, Jeff Burton slipped by Kenseth coming off turn two on the final lap around the 1.5-mile speedway. It was Burton’s first win of the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup season, and the 19th of his fourteen-year career.
Burton praised the 2003 Champion after their intense yet clean battle to the finish.
“Matt’s really good,” Burton said. “He did a great job of putting his car in a position where he could get the most speed out of it. He wasn’t where I wanted to be, but it prevented me from being where I wanted to be on the exit of the corner.”
Jeff Gordon led 173 of the 334, however he was unable to seal the deal and win his first race of the season, and his first win at the Texas Motor Speedway. Gordon seemed almost crestfallen after his fourth place finish.
"Man, I'm just sick… I don't want to give races away. We should have won the race. Another Texas race getting away from us. Out of nowhere, the car just took off and got into the wall and crushed the front fender in,” said the four-time champion.
The real drama occurred on 240 when two-time champion Tony Stewart and rookie Juan Pablo Montoya began to beat and bang. Montoya’s car seemed to lose grip as he would get into the side of Stewart’s Chevrolet. Stewart would spin out in front of Jimmie Johnson, sending the defending NASCAR Nextel Cup champion into the garage for repairs after he was unable to avoid hitting Stewart's car.
You could almost see this one coming. Stewart is arguably NASCAR’s most hot-tempered driver and Montoya has been involved in a skirmish of some kind just about every week. At Martinsville, Montoya spun out Tony Raines, and then ran into Ryan Newman after a restart. In fact, Newman would hunt down Montoya after the race. At Bristol, he ruffled the feathers of Robby Gordon. At Atlanta, Montoya and Jeff Gordon had a disagreement, and of course, at Mexico City, he roughed up his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Pruett.
Neither Stewart nor Montoya were willing to accept blame for the incident.
"He just got inside of us and wrecked us -- it's just racing, I guess," Stewart said ."When you're a rookie you do stuff like that so it's just part of racing.”
"He [Stewart] just got really close to me, he got me loose, I went into him and he spun,” Montoya responded.
A Montoya-Stewart rivalry would be riveting indeed.
Stewart’s problems persisted after the Montoya confrontation. After cutting a tire, he spun out in front of second and third place drivers Dale Earnhardt Jr and Kyle Busch. Earnhardt Jr slowed down to evade Stewart’s spinning car; however, Busch did not slow down enough as he plowed into back of the Budweiser Chevrolet.
Busch left the track without comment, but the 5 crew continued to work on the car. Earnhardt Jr would hop into the 5 car for nine laps, gaining Busch a position in the final race standings, which is equivalent to 3 championship points. So basically, Busch owes Earnhardt Jr a thank you card.
"I really appreciate them asking me," Earnhardt Jr said. "I was honored; it means a lot to me."
Top Five NASCAR Nextel Cup Standings
1. Jeff Gordon, 1136
2. Jeff Burton, 1128
3. Matt Kenseth, 1011
4. Jimmie Johnson, 955
5. Denny Hamlin, 914
Quote of the week
J.J. Yeley after the lap 1 wreck with rookie David Ragan
"I guess at some point he (David Ragan) might realize that the throttle pedal has a hinge on it."
