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Kyle Busch’s lament: 'We’re out of fuel’
Jimmie Johnson's wreck overshadows drama of Kurt Busch's victory at TMS
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A look at the day for the Chasers and where they stand now
1Jimmie JohnsonStarted: 12thFinished: 38thStandings change: NoneHis accident on Lap 3 became the story of the race (at least until the Busch brothers started playing gas mileage games). He spent more than an hour off the track trying to get his car rebuilt and back on the track to put in laps. He got 205 in, gaining six places from what could have been a last-place finish.He said it: "That thing was beat up. That was not a fun car to drive. We kept it up to minimum speed and made it."2Mark MartinStarted: 7thFinished: 4thStandings change: NoneHe spent the first half of the race trying to make sense of his car, dropping as low as 16th after the second caution. But he and his crew hit on the right combination in the second half, allowing him to make a steady climb through traffic to wind up with a top-5 finish, his sixth at TMS. He sits 73 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson.He said it: "It comes down to performance. We can’t go out and outperform them 70-something points. But the racing is not over yet. Maybe we can make it exciting."3Jeff GordonStarted: 1stFinished: 13thStandings change: NoneGordon started on the pole and had a golden chance to make up a bounty of points on Jimmie Johnson. But he didn’t have the engine to stay at the top, and a slow pit stop had him 11th by Lap 70. He was 18th on Lap 141 and battled to stay on the lead lap, which he ultimately could not hold onto.He said it: "Our finish is thanks to the hard work by [crew chief] Steve Letarte and this team never giving up. I am just really disappointed in this day — a total missed opportunity that completely got away from us."4Kurt BuschStarted: 3rdFinished: 1stStandings change: Gained twoHe played cat-and-mouse on pit stops and restarts with his brother, Kyle Busch, stealing his sibling’s shot at the three-race weekend sweep. He said it was a bittersweet experience because he knew what Kyle was trying to accomplish. But at the end, he held on to fuel better than his brother and passed him with two laps to go, keeping about another lap of fuel at the finish line.He said it: "I was rooting for him because I knew he was going for the three-win weekend. But Sunday is the big race. It would take five wins in trucks and Nationwide to equal one Cup win."5Tony StewartStarted: 4thFinished: 6thStandings change: NoneStewart cruised through the race with almost nothing to write home about. He didn’t stray much from the fourth through sixth. He spent the first third of the race battling for and winning position out of restarts, but he didn’t have the car to chase down the Busches or Mark Martin.He said it: "We kept talking about what we could do to make the car better. I thought team-wise we had an awesome day working together and making gains at it. We never said, 'Well, we just can’t get it any better.’ We kept throwing things at it to try to make it better."
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