though Gordon sits 11 races without a victory, it was nice to see back to back strong finishes. Finishing 3rd at Darlington and with the cleanest right sides out of any driver is pretty good. he moved himself into 10th in the standings. Strong pit stops, and keeping up with the track was key to this finish. It’s nice to see that the hard work of testing is starting to pay its stride. Greg Bifle had this race at hand. But loose wheels and tough luck the lady in black ended his night and not in victory lane.He lost two positons and now sits 11th in points.Ryan Newman the third of the darlington testers had a rough night. Finshed 37 after starting 32. He got lapped early and never really recovered. he lost two postions in points and sits outside the top 12 tied with kasey Kahne. So really even though Bifle should have won this race, Gordon ran the most consistent all day and came out with a top 5 finish.

My biggest surprises: David Ragan moving into 12th in the points. it’s nice to see some of these drivers really improving week to week.

Disappointments: Smoke. And this was not by his own fault. Sadler hit the flat part of track and wrecked him 2 laps in. But with his win the night before he was a contender for saturdays race. Even with a tough night for him he didn’t loose any ground but he didn’t gain any ground.

With Kyles win he now is tied with Carl Edwards with series win, and man can this boy drive. From the back of the feild to the lead. Can Kyle keep this up alls eason i am not so sure. But he is a definite contender this year.

There are a few pit crews that need to be recognized…the 24 crew what a couple weeks they have had, battling hard, clean pit stops and making the right calls throughout the last couple weeks. What a rebound so far for them. Travis Kvapil crew, great pit stops and the right calls for track position.

My what happened to them of the week: Kurt Busch and Jimmy Johnson. After both qualifying well, they fell behind on adjustments and really never caught up. Kurt was runnign with the leaders for a while but struggled near the end of the race. Even with the gain of two positons he needs to win out and he has no room for error. Now JJ had a tough weekend, crashed both cars and went to abckup car and really struggled with adjustments throughout the race. Even with his struggles he gained a postion but he was considered a contender.

So on to the allstar race, a non points event. So vote for your favorite driver thats not locked into the event!!

After that, its on to the coke 600. Which I am particulary looking forward to because it is on my birthday!! So enjoy this weekends racing and see ya in a few..