Friday, October 12 Lowes Motor Speedway Concord, North Carolina

Jeff Burton did a "Polish" victory lap to celebrate his win in the Dollar General 300.

Burton Wins Fourth Race Of Season, Extends Owner Points Lead
By Reid Spencer, Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

CONCORD, N.C. (October 12, 2007)—In a war of attrition—and on the night of a milestone—Jeff Burton pulled away from Kyle Busch during an 11-lap green-flag run to the finish to win the Dollar General 300 Busch Series race Friday night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

Burton finished 1.598 seconds ahead of Busch and extended the lead of his No. 29 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet to 116 points in the owner’s standings over the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevy driven by Denny Hamlin, who finished fifth. Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran third, followed by Aric Almirola.

“We had a really good car, and we got better as the night went along,” said Burton, who started at the rear of the field because of an engine change and drove to the front to win his fourth Busch race of the year and the 26th of his career. “We had some luck today, and we just got it right when it counted. It was fun to drive.”

Burton was losing ground to second place Earnhardt before the 10th and final caution flew on Lap 186 after Reed Sorenson crashed into the Turn 4 wall.

“I was glad to see that caution,” Burton said. “I don’t think I would have been able to hold Junior off.”

After qualifying 36th Friday afternoon, Jason Keller became the career leader in Busch Series starts when he took the green flag in his 418th race. Though Keller, 37, surpassed the 417 starts of Tommy Houston, who retired at age 51 in 1996, his night ended early in a crash on Lap 133.

Neither of the two strongest cars—the No. 60 Ford of series points leader Carl Edwards and the No. 16 Ford of polesitter Greg Biffle—finished the race.

The Roush Fenway teammates dominated the first two-thirds of the race, with Edwards having led 60 laps and Biffle 51 by the time they came to the pits on lap 128 under caution for Blake Bjorkland’s blown engine. Earlier, Edwards had opened an advantage of 5.137 seconds over Biffle, before NASCAR waved the yellow flag for debris on the racetrack on Lap 86.

But the race changed dramatically moments after a restart on Lap 133. Jimmie Johnson, running ninth, lost control of the No. 48 Chevrolet, igniting a wreck that also collected Edwards, who had lost nine positions in the pits while his crew inserted a spring rubber in the right rear. The crash also eliminated the cars of Keller and Matt Kenseth.

“I should have just locked it down and slid,” Edwards said, second-guessing his attempt to steer around the wreck. “But there were a lot of people behind me. We had the best car. Too bad we couldn’t win.”

Through no fault of his own, Biffle met disaster one lap after the subsequent restart on Lap 138. With a fuel-only stop under the previous caution, Clint Bowyer had taken the lead, but he lost control of his No. 2 Chevy at the Turn 4 exit and slid up into Biffle’s Ford, knocking the polesitter out of the race.

“Clint didn’t take any tires, and he was trying to hold us off,” Biffle said. “We had four new tires. Usually, experienced guys don’t make mistakes like that. It’s inexperienced guys driving over their heads a little bit that make mistakes like that.

“It’s really, really terrible, because that was almost about like a gimme win for us tonight if something crazy like that didn’t happen.”

Note: Despite a scrape with the wall, David Reutimann finished 12th and remained mathematically alive in the race for the Busch Series drivers championship. He trails Edwards by 638 points.

Complete race results and point standings in the Event Stats section below...

Checkered Flag Fast Facts

• Jeff Burton won the Dollar General 300, his 26th victory in 278 NASCAR Busch Series races.
• This is his fourth victory and 15th top-10 finish in 17 races in 2007.
• This is his third victory and 12th top-10 finish in 28 races at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
• Kyle Busch (second) posted his sixth top-10 finish in nine Lowe’s races.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. (third) posted his fourth top-10 finish in eight races at Lowe’s.
• David Ragan (sixth) was the highest finishing rookie.
• Carl Edwards retained the points lead and now leads the NASCAR Busch series point standings by 638 points over David Reutimann. Kevin Harvick is 753 points back and still in the running for the 2007 championship.
• Richard Childress (No. 29) retained the lead in the car owner championship, leading Joe Gibbs (No. 20) by 116 points and Jack Roush (No. 60).

Schedule/Broadcast Times*

Final Practice: Thursday, October 11 (ESPN2 at 7 p.m./AT)

Qualifying: Friday, October 12 (ESPN2 & TSN-HD at 5 P.M./AT)

Pre-Race Show: Friday, October 12 (ESPN2 & TSN-alt at 8 p.m./AT)

Race: Friday, October 12 (ESPN2 & TSN-alt at 9 p.m./AT)

*AT is one hour ahead of ET, i.e. if it's 2 p.m./AT - it's 1 p.m./ET...

Event Stats PDF files unless otherwise noted

Entry List

Starting Lineup

Race Results

Points Standings (Driver)

Point Standings (Owner)


Former Busch Series champ Tommy Houston (left) was on hand at Lowe's to congratulate Jason Keller on his 418th series start at Lowe's, breaking Houston's previous start record of 417...

Green Flag Fast Facts
The Race: Dollar General 300
The Place: Lowe’s Motor Speedway
The Date: Oct. 12, 20071
Track Layout: 1.5-mile oval
Race Purse: $1,268,191
2006 Winner: Dave Blaney
2006 Pole: Carl Edwards
Pre-Race Schedule (track time/ET): Thursday: Practice, 1-2:00 p.m.; Rookie Practice, 2:20-2:50 p.m.; Final Practice, 6-7:00 p.m. Qualifying, 4:05 p.m. (impound).
Year-To-Date Standings: click here

Track Map



Green Flag Notes

• Let the 2007 NASCAR Busch Series championship scenarios begin. Driver standings leader Carl Edwards (No. 60 Scotts Wiinterguard Ford) has his first opportunity Friday night to reach the main goal he set for the 2007 season. If Edwards – who has led the standings since the third race of the season at Mexico City – leaves Charlotte with a lead of 781 or more points, he will have clinched the title. He currently leads second-place David Reutimann (No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota) by 696 points. Reigning series champion Kevin Harvick (No. 33 Dollar General Chevrolet) – who clinched the 2006 championship at this event last year – is in third place, 818 points behind Edwards. And don’t look now, but there are three teams in the running for the NASCAR Busch Series owner championship. The No. 29 Holiday Inn Chevrolet of Richard Childress Racing – shared this year by Jeff Burton (who will drive the car at LMS) and Scott WImmer (in the No. 21 AutoZone Chevy for RCR this week) – leads the owner standings by 54 points over the Roush Fenway Racing No. 60 Ford. But the No. 20 Rockwell Automation Chevrolet of Joe Gibbs Racing is in third place, only 76 points behind the No. 29. Denny Hamlin will be behind the wheel of the No. 20 Friday night at LMS.
• Tony Eury Jr. and Bruce Cook will be new faces atop pit boxes at LMS this week. Last week Eury, the Director of Competition for JR Motorsports, was named interim crew chief for the No. 88 U.S. NAVY Chevrolet of Brad Keselowski for the remainder of the season. Meanwhile, Bruce Cook, the former car chief on Stephen Leicht’s No. 90 CitiFinancial Ford, will officially take over as Leicht’s crew chief at LMS. Cook will replace Cully Barraclough, who moved over to oversee the efforts of the No. 88 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series entry.
• David Reutimann has registered a series-best 1,601 points over the last 12 races.
• Two-time series champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 8 Menards Chevrolet) is entered in what may be his last NASCAR Busch Series race for DEI. It will be the first time Earnhardt will race against Brad Keselowski since the youngster has been driving for JR Motorsports.
• Reed Sorenson will drive the No. 66 HomeLife Communities Dodge in place of Steve Wallace this week. The one-time- only developmental switch has been made by team owner Rusty Wallace to afford Steve the opportunity to sit out and observe.
• Despite finishes of 39th, 32nd and 34th in his last three races, David Ragan (No. 6 Discount Tire Ford) continues to hold a solid 24-point lead over second-place Marcos Ambrose (No. 59 Kingsford Ford) in the Raybestos Rookie standings with five races to go. He’s on a quest to become the first driver to win the award in both the NASCAR Busch Series and in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series. Ragan trails Juan Pablo Montoya in the premier series rookie standings by 14 points with six races remaining. To help reverse his NASCAR Busch Series slump, his team will run a reverse paint scheme at Lowe’s Motor Speedway this week. It will be the first time in the four-year sponsorship history of Discount Tire that a reverse scheme has been used. “We never leave the shop without thinking we have a legitimate chance to win,” crew chief Mike Kelley said, “(but) if this new look gives us some extra luck this weekend, I am all for it.”
• Future faces of the series will be on display in Charlotte this week. Eighteen-year-old Bryan Clauson (No. 41 Dodge) and a pair of 22-year-olds – Blake Bjorklund No. 28 Pupperoni/MilkBone/NineLives/Kibbles & Bits Chevrolet) and Jeremy Clements (No. 36 McGill Motorsports Chevrolet). Clauson is the “veteran” of the group with recent starts at Richmond International Raceway and Kansas Speedway while Bjorklund made his debut at California last month. Clements debuted in 2003 at age 19 at Pikes Peak International Raceway.

IMPORTANT: All information, schedules and/or scheduled events is/are subject to change without notice. Please check with the source to confirm.