Johnson Earns Lap Leader Award
Jimmie Johnson led six times for 95 laps to earn WIX Filters Lap Leader of the Race honors in Saturday night’s Bank of America 500. Hamlin claimed the award for the fourth time this season and has led 1,070 laps in 19 races this season. Johnson also led the most laps of any driver at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, earning a five-point bonus. Johnson spun off Turn 2 on lap 232, bringing out the 12th caution of the race but still recovered to post a 14th-place finish on the lead lap. Johnson is second in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series championship standings, 68 points behind leader Jeff Gordon. Johnson leads third-place Clint Bowyer by 10 and fourth-place Tony Stewart by 130. Jeff Gordon leads Tony Stewart by two races (7-5) in the overall WIX Filters Lap Leader standings.
Race and Commercial Breakdown For The Bank of America 500
Total number of commercials: 153 (in 2006: 142)
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 73 (in 2006: 78)
Total number of brief promos of products/services during the race broadcast: 16
Total number of companies or entities advertised in brief promos or crawlers: 14 (companies: Bank of America, Allstate, Chevy, ABC HD presented by DLP HDTV, ESPN Monday Night Football, GoodYear, Toyota, ‘Cavemen’, ‘Desperate Housewives’, Martinsville Speedway, espn.com/techcenter, espn.com/autotech, espn.com/communications)
Total amount of time these brief promos take during broadcast: app. 2 min. 5 sec.
Also, there are the following race statistics during the broadcast, sponsored by companies:
AT&T ‘Crew Chief Challenge’
Ford ‘Lap Leaders’
ESPN Dish ‘Tech Center’
Chevy ‘Cutaway Car’
FedEx ‘Race Rundown’
AFLAC ‘Trivia Question’
Sprint ‘Speed Lap’
Allstate ‘Good Hands Move of the Race’
Start time to record race/commercial periods 09//07: 7:34 PM (in 2006: 7:04 PM)
End time to record race/commercial periods 09/08/07: 11:59 PM (in 2006: 11:09 PM)
Jeff Gordon Wins At Lowe's
Jeff Gordon didn't know if he'd have enough fuel to finish the race, the car had sputtered on the final two restarts and each time his Chevrolet did come to life, Gordon would run as fast as anyone on the track. After a lengthy red flag, for oil on the track, the race restarted with Gordon in the lead -- but his car sputtered and pole sitter Ryan Newman shot past him for the point. It looked like Newman had the field covered and there would be no catching him. But Newman overdrove the corner and crashed, giving the lead back to Gordon. That set up a green-white-checkers finish. It took several extra laps to clean up the mess and still Gordon's engine was missing as though it was starving for fuel. Gordon rode the low line of the track so the gas would pick up better and on the final restart, managed to hold off Clint Bowyer to win the Bank of America 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Saturday night. Gordon had failed to finish the last five races at Lowe's and his goal when the race started was just to finish the 500 miles. Jeff Gordon won his first Cup race at this track in 1994, thirteen years ago. The win on Saturday night was his 81st career victory.
It was the second straight victory for Gordon, he also won the Talladega Superspeedway race last Sunday. It was the sixth victory for Gordon in 2007 and is the win leader for the year. Gordon also stretched his Nextel Cup point standings over Jimmie Johnson to 68 and 78 over third place in the standings, Clint Bowyer. -- Kyle Busch finished third and RCR driver Jeff Burton was fourth. Carl Edwards had a good run, driving to a fifth place finish followed by Dave Blaney in a Toyota, Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne, David Stremme and Michael Waltrip to round out the top ten. Six drivers in the Chase for the Championship suffered troubles of one sort or another. Kevin Harvick pitted twice early in the race for tire problems and finished 33rd (seven laps down), Matt Kenseth crashed and finished 34th. Kurt Busch had several encounters, once in a pit collision and then the car sounded like it was running down one cylinder, he finished 26th. Denny Hamlin was 20th with transmission troubles, Jimmie Johnson was 14th after spinning and then stopping for fuel with three laps to go. Tony Stewart had a pit collision with two different cars but managed to drive back to the seventh position. The Nextel Cup Series moves to Martinsville Speedway next Sunday, October 21st for the Subway 500. This will be the 32nd race in the 36 race schedule.
To read the full article...(Insider Racing News) For full final race results...(Insider Racing News) For top-40 Nextel Cup drivers points...(Insider Racing News)
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