Winners and Losers: Sylvania 300

Finally the actual race and all the talk of championships and pressure and strategy is put to the side at least for the drivers. They get to work and do what they do best, that’s race to win.

With all the anticipation and the buzz surrounding what is a wide open Chase, see which drivers were the winners and which were the losers.

Winners


Mark Martin

Leading the points in the first race of the Chase is not always the best position to be in. For Mark Martin though he was relaxed and wasn’t worrying about points, he was focused on the race.

Martin started 14th after a disappointing qualifying. They weren’t the best car early in the race. Martin dropped back early to as far back as 16th but a stellar first pit stop put them into the top 10. After that stop they never ran outside the top again.

Martin gave feedback when needed and worked traffic perfectly. He survived the multiple late race cautions and a hard charging Juan Pablo Montoya.

The win secured him the top position in the chase and only lost him five points from where he started on Sunday.

Martin gives credit to everyone around him, but face it, he is the favorite for the Championship right now.

That is all that matters.

Points: First

Clint Bowyer

For Clint Bowyer not making the Chase was a tough blow to a driver who had made the las two Chase. This year he can play spoiler without the pressure the Chase brings. On Sunday Bowyer quietly ran a great race, and a top 10 finish to show for it.

Bowyer started a little off on their setup. They were struggled with a loose race car early but Bowyer was able to give good information on what he needed in his car. Bowyer got great track position after a series of solid pit stops.

At one point he was running in the top three battling for the lead. He fell back in the end to 10th but let it be known Bowyer won’t go down quietly even if he won’t win a championship.

His impressive today should only fuel this team not only for the remainder of this year, but to get them back into the Chase next year.

Points: 15th

Elliott Sadler

What a run for Elliott Sadler, we know he can run well on the restrictor plate tracks. Sadler hasn’t shown strength on intermediate and short tracks. Today though they struggled with a race car early but Sadler was able to give solid feedback to his crew.

They battled track position all day long but when it counted and mattered most they were able to hold position through the late restarts. An eighth place finish is exactly what this team needed to change momentum.

Sadler has a lot riding on the final 10 races and even though he has a ride secured he has never been a contender for a championship.

That starts right now for Sadler.

Points: 24th


Losers


Kasey Kahne

During Kasey Kahne weekly press conference he seemed a bit unsure of who was in charge at Richard Petty Motorsports. With many questions unanswered and no real leadership Kahne could only name Kenny Francis as the one he turns to.

One of the questions was the engine department, this week the engine shop director was let go and that was not was the reason for an engine failure. Let's be honest though this engine failure should make Kahne nervous going forward.

What momentum they had coming into today has all but disappeared.

Kahne early on was moving forward but sensed there was an issue on the backstretch he could hear the engine missing. Few seconds later the engine blew and their day was over.

They dropped all the way to 12th in the standings and that would be the best they would be able to do.They would finish 38th.

Kahne needs leadership and while Francis is a strong leader, if they want to have success in the chase there needs to be a man pulling the strings from behind the curtain.

Otherwise Kahne might be an afterthought in the Chase.

Points: 12th

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

With all the focus on the Chase drivers, there are a few drivers that are already looking to improve for next year. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is one of those drivers, but in recent weeks they have been showing improvement on the track.

Earnhardt started mid pack but quickly was moving forward, in 50 laps he was in the top 10. He was running in the top five before halfway.

This team has seen a turnaround and they are running better. Earnhardt had flawless pit stops and the feedback to the team allowed them to keep up on the car.

Earnhardt and his team are communicating the best he has all year long with his Lance McGrew his crew chief.

The results though don't show that.As we have seen throughout the year trouble on a late restart David Reutimann got into Earnhardt who went hard into the wall.

This should have been a solid top 10 finish turn into a 27th place finish. This was not of his doing with drivers checking up in front of him, he had nowhere to go.

Earnhardt fans should start to feel better progress is being made, albeit too late for 2009.

Points: 21st

David Stremme

As we took the green flag on Sunday the top ten was covered with Chase drivers but a couple drivers had surprising qualifying laps and one of them was David Stremme.

They were using the same setup that Kurt Busch had in his car, and the speed proved that. They were top five in practice, and were looking forward to racing on Sunday.

He ran up front for the first 100 laps but soon began to fall backwards. The handling on this car was going away and the adjustments on pit road were sending them backward.

Then on lap 193 there was contact with AJ Allmendinger sent him spinning. He ended up two laps down and finished 28th.

Stremme is out of a ride at the end of this year and is auditioning for his future in this sport.

Points: 31st

Lucky Dog…



Bobby Labonte

When the weekend began Bobby Labonte was fighting to get into the race. After a stellar qualifying lap that put him eighth, Labonte was in.

The question that remained was would he race all 300 laps? With limited sponsorship they didn’t have enough money for pit crew or tires.

Labonte a former champion went to work and through negotiations he was able to secure enough money to complete the race. It paid off as he ended up leading the race at one point.

You know it’s a tough economy when a former champion is struggling to run a full race. Labonte shouldn’t have been in this position but a sponsorship deal with his other car No. 96 saw him in a car he hasn’t driven before late in the year.

For Labonte if he had a great ride who knows what the results would be, but that is one too many ifs at this point in his career.

Points: 29th

Final Lap…

The first race is over and the standings had a major shakeup and this won’t be the last time this happens.

We saw what was expected the Chase drivers dominated both the good and the bad stories on Sunday.The race was pretty good we saw some great battles throughout the field..

The coverage though was less than impressive, for the first race of the playoffs. ESPN seemed to be struggling with covering not only the Chasers but everyone else.

Sometimes they were so focused on the Chasers they were missing the good racing back in the pack.

The post race coverage was pitiful by ESPN.

I know it is football season but if you want to make the Chase relevant the TV coverage needs to improve. NASCAR fans want to hear from their drivers. The least they could do is talk to the Chase drivers if nothing else.

Don’t want to miss football coverage then cut the pre race show down that way NASCAR fans get everything they want also.

Next up is Dover, who will rebound? Who will play spoiler? Who will take checkers?

See you next Sunday.