Gordon Ends Penske Dominance, First Four Drivers Knocked Out of Title Hunt

Jeff Gordon celebrating his win at the Monster Mile (Photo: Google Images)

After a string of three races where Roger Penske's Fords wound up in victory lane, it looked as if that trend would continue after Kevin Harvick's dominant No. 4 Chevy blew a tire midway through the AAA 400 at Dover on Sunday. Once he pitted, Brad Keselowski took the lead and it looked as if Penske would have their fourth straight win. But it was four-time champion Jeff Gordon who passed Keselowski with 95 laps to go and scored his fourth win on the year and end the Penske duo's stranglehold on the winner's circle.

Kevin Harvick started on the pole and led almost the entire first half of the race over second place starter Keselowski before he lost a tire on lap 248. The culprit? A broken valve stem. The same issue that ruined another potential winning drive when NASCAR visited Dover last June. However, Harvick's chances weren't totally deflated. Rodney Childers and his team did a great job of repairing the Budweiser Chevy and keeping their driver on the lead lap. Because of their quick work and an even quicker car, Harvick was able to mount a spectacular charge and finish 13th on the day. They might not have won the race, but they might have shown that they will be very tough to beat for the championship, as they sit third in points heading to Kansas.

However, it wasn't all comebacks and winning runs for every driver. Four Chase contenders were eliminated from the title race after this race. AJ Allmendinger, Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch and Aric Almirola will all have to wait until 2015 to vye for the Sprint Cup. Because for them, this year's champion-ship has sailed.

The Dinger was tenth in points going into Dover, but after finishing 23rd at the Monster Mile, he came up just two points shy of twelfth place Kasey Kahne who finished 20th on the day. "It was an awful day," said Allmendinger. "I'm not going to take a moral victory out of it to miss by two points. We know (the JTG Daugherty team) is making steps in the right direction. We kept throwing the kitchen sink at it every stop. We just missed it all weekend."

Kurt Busch might have a Martinsville grandfather clock, but he'll have to
wait till next year to collect another Sprint Cup (Photo: Google Images)

The Nextel Cup Champion in 2004, Busch was looking to add a Sprint Cup to his trohpy case a decade after his first title. But the Las Vegas native came up six points shy of transferring to round two. After scoring a win at Martinsville with a team that was assembled very late in the offseason, they were never consistent enough to run for a title. "It was just tight the last 100 miles," Busch said. "I felt like we were in good position to advance, but you just can't expect to advance by running 18th. You have to be more competitive. You've got to have better lap times every time you go and hit the track. We don't get to advance to the championship but we can still run for pride and run for wins."
Biffle is also a perennial title contender and a champion in both NASCAR's Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series. But his season has been far from stellar. It's been 50 races since Biffle's last win at Michigan and, like Busch's team, they have lacked speed and consistency all season long. "Part of you wants to just pull it, put (the car) in the garage, while the other half of you is racing as hard as you can to get in the Chase. This is the way it's gone all season. We're just searching for speed and (we) struggled all day. We've worked hard, trying to fix our problems, but it just hasn't come together yet."

Like Allmendinger, Almirola was also a long shot to advance to round number two. But after two strong runs at Chicago and Loudon, it looked as if Dover would be another track to continue their momentum and maybe advance in the title fight. But after running mid pack all day, it just wasn't in the cards for the No. 43 team. "It just didn't work out for us. I hate it," Almirola said. "We picked a bad day to run the way we did and we can't blame anybody but ourselves. My car didn't have any grip. You can't go fast without grip. Right now, it's pretty disappointing."

Now twelve drivers will compete for a spot in round three of the Chase for the Championship, a fight that begins this weekend at Kansas Speedway with the Hollywood Casino 400. Hopefully round two can start off as excitingly as round one ended.