Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 M&M’s Indiana Jones Toyota, led the three-car Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) contingent at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway by winning Saturday night’s Dodge Challenger 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. It was Busch’s seventh career Sprint Cup victory, his third of the season and his first at Darlington.
The win marked JGR’s fourth Sprint Cup win of 2008, as Busch won March 9 at Atlanta Motor Speedway and April 27 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, while Denny Hamlin won March 30 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The 62nd point-paying Sprint Cup victory for JGR marked the second weekend sweep of the season, as Tony Stewart won Friday night’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race. The first JGR weekend sweep came just two weeks ago at Talladega where Stewart captured the Nationwide Series race win while Busch won the Sprint Cup event.
Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota for JGR, finished seventh in the Dodge Challenger 500, marking his seventh top-10 finish in the 11 races contested so far this season.
Busch remains the lead JGR driver in the championship point race, as well the overall leader in Sprint Cup points. Busch’s victory extended his margin over second-place Jeff Burton to 79 points after round 11 of 36.
Hamlin and Stewart occupy the fourth and eighth slots, respectively. Hamlin gained two positions while Stewart maintained his position.
Finishing second to Busch in the Dodge Challenger 500 was Carl Edwards, while Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and David Ragan rounded out the top-five. Matt Kenseth, Hamlin, Travis Kvapil, Dave Blaney and Burton comprised the remainder of the top-10.
An offseason repaving project smoothed the asphalt on the egg-shaped, 1.366-mile superspeedway, and the new surface gave the entire field fits. It made the track extremely fast and grippy, forcing Goodyear to bring a very sturdy tire that could handle the speeds and survive long runs. The combination of the smooth surface, hard tires and narrow racing line put passing at a premium, and forced several drivers, including Busch, into the wall for the infamous "Darlington stripe."
The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the May 17 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race from Charlotte, N.C., where Busch, Hamlin, and Stewart are all eligible to participate in the non-point-paying event.