Catchfence

Richard Childress Racing’s Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer had a plan to stay with each other in tandem drafting at Talladega Superspeedway, and that plan succeeded with Bowyer pushing Burton to the lead until it was time to “sling shot” himself to victory in the NSCS Good Sam Club 500.

This was Bowyer’s first win of the 2011 season, his fifth series career win, his second series win at the “World’s Fastest Speedway” and gives Richard Childress Racing their 100th series win.

Following Bowyer and Burton (who finished 0.018 seconds behind) to the drop of the checkered flag was Dave Blaney finishing in third, Brad Keselowski finishing fourth and Brian Vickers finishing in fifth.

Rounding out the top-ten finishing positions were Kasey Kahne coming in sixth-place, Tony Stewart (who led the most laps – 30 of 188) seventh, Denny Hamlin eighth, Michael Waltrip ninth and Martin Truex Jr., finishing in the tenth position.

With only four races left, Carl Edwards remains at the top of the series’ point standings, and  now leads Roush Fenway Racing teammate, Matt Kenseth, by 14 points.

RACE NOTES:

Best Finish Among the “Chase” Drivers: Brad Keselowski, 4th
Worse Finish Among the “Chase” Drivers: Ryan Newman, 38th.
Average Speed: 143.404 MPH
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 29 Mins, 14 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 0.018 Seconds
Lead Changes: 72 among 26 drivers
Cautions: 9 for 38 laps
Attendance: 105,000

Unofficial Top-12 in the Point Standings: 1. Carl Edwards – 2237 (Leader) 2. Matt Kenseth – 2223 (-14 Points Behind the Leader) 3. Brad Keselowski – 2219 (-18) 4. Tony Stewart – 2218 (-19) 5. Kevin Harvick – 2211 (-26) 6. Kyle Busch – 2197 (-40) 7. Jimmie Johnson – 2187 (-50) 8. Kurt Busch – 2185 (-52) 9. Dale Earnhardt Jr. – 2163 (-74) 10. Jeff Gordon – 2155 (-82) 11. Denny Hamlin – 2153 (-84) 12. Ryan Newman –  2149 (-88).

Next Up: The TUMS Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, Oct. 30th, with an approximate start of 2:20 PM (ET) and ESPN beginning their (pre-race) television coverage at 1:00 PM (ET).

2011 NSCS Good Sam Club 500 Race Results

Fin	Str	Car	Driver	Team	Lap	Pts	BPts	Status	TLd	LLd
1	3	33	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet 100 Years Chevrolet	188	47	4	Running	8	25
2	25	31	Jeff Burton	Caterpillar Chevrolet	188	43	1	Running	7	26
3	41	36	Dave Blaney	Golden Corral Chevrolet	188	42	1	Running	1	1
4	16	2	Brad Keselowski	Miller Lite Dodge	188	41	1	Running	1	1
5	30	83	Brian Vickers	Red Bull Toyota	188	40	1	Running	3	3
6	26	4	Kasey Kahne	Red Bull Toyota	188	39	1	Running	2	4
7	12	14	Tony Stewart	El Monterey/Office Depot Chevrolet	188	39	2	Running	5	30
8	31	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Office Toyota	188	36		Running
9	23	15	Michael Waltrip	Aaron's/DarrellWaltripNASCARHallofFame Toyota	188	36	1	Running	1	1
10	37	56	Martin Truex Jr.	NAPA Auto Parts Toyota	188	34		Running
11	9	99	Carl Edwards	Subway Ford	188	34	1	Running	1	1
12	7	27	Paul Menard	Serta/Menards Chevrolet	188	32		Running
13	36	0	David Reutimann	Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota	188	31		Running
14	18	16	Greg Biffle	3M Ford	188	31	1	Running	1	1
15	4	21	Trevor Bayne(i)	Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford	188	0		Running
16	38	51	Landon Cassill(i)	PhoenixConstruction/ThankATeacher Chevrolet	188	0		Running
17	42	13	Casey Mears	GEICO Toyota	188	27		Running
18	11	17	Matt Kenseth	Jeremiah Weed Ford	188	27	1	Running	7	21
19	19	9	Marcos Ambrose	Stanley Ford	188	26	1	Running	1	3
20	1	5	Mark Martin	GoDaddy.com Chevrolet	188	25	1	Running	2	2
21	17	38	Travis Kvapil(i)	Long John Silver's Ford	188	0		Running	1	1
22	40	34	David Gilliland	WorldHungerRelief/fromhungertohope.com Ford	188	22		Running
23	15	42	Juan Pablo Montoya	Energizer Chevrolet	188	22	1	Running	2	16
24	35	20	Joey Logano	The Home Depot Toyota	188	20		Running
25	6	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	DietMountainDewPaintthe88/Natl Guard Chevrolet	188	20	1	Running	1	2
26	2	48	Jimmie Johnson	mylowes Chevrolet	188	19	1	Running	1	1
27	5	24	Jeff Gordon	Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet	188	18	1	Running	1	1
28	8	6	David Ragan	UPS My Choice Ford	188	17	1	Running	1	1
29	39	1	Jamie McMurray	Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet	184	16	1	Running	8	12
30	22	78	Regan Smith	Furniture Row Chevrolet	180	14		Accident
31	24	43	AJ Allmendinger	Best Buy Ford	179	13		Running
32	13	29	Kevin Harvick	Jimmy John's Chevrolet	179	13	1	Running	6	13
33	34	18	Kyle Busch	M&M's Halloween Toyota	175	12	1	Running	2	5
34	32	32	Terry Labonte	C&J Energy Ford	175	10		Running
35	21	47	Bobby Labonte	Scott Products Toyota	173	9		Accident
36	14	22	Kurt Busch	Shell Pennzoil Dodge	173	9	1	Accident	1	1
37	43	7	Robby Gordon	SPEED Energy/MAPEI Dodge	173	8	1	Rear Gear	3	10
38	10	39	Ryan Newman	U.S. ARMY Chevrolet	172	7	1	Running	4	5
39	33	71	Andy Lally #	TRG Motorsports Ford	162	6	1	Accident	1	1
40	29	66	Michael McDowell	HP Racing, LLC Toyota	6	4		Clutch
41	27	87	Joe Nemechek(i)	AM/FM Energy Pellet & Wood Stoves Toyota	4	0		Rear Gear
42	28	55	JJ Yeley	Front Row Motorsports Ford	3	2		Wheel
43	20	97	Kevin Conway(i)	Extenze Toyota	2	0		Vibration

(i) Ineligible for Points in this Series
# Denotes Rookie