Burton comes from way back to win
Jeff Burton had the biggest come-from-behind win ever in a Busch Series race at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Del., overcoming a 36th-place starting position for his second victory of the season.
Burton, eighth in the Nextel Cup standings, grabbed the lead for good with 18 laps left and pulled away to win the caution-marred race. He has 22 career Busch victories.
“We were really good, but on long runs we were unbelievably good,” Burton said. “The car was fast all day. The race at the end was a lot of fun. It doesn’t get much better than that.”
Carl Edwards, who led most of the early laps, finished second for his sixth top-five finish of the season. Kurt Busch was third as the Cup regulars again dominated the series.
Burton’s win made Nextel Cup regulars a perfect 14 for 14 in Busch races this season.
Johnson struggling
Jimmie Johnson’s spot at the top of the Nextel Cup points standings is about the only thing going right for him at Dover.
Johnson nearly wrecked his car when he spun out in qualifying, earned a season-worst 42nd spot for today’s race, and then was told he has to share a pit stall at the outdated speedway.
“I’ve never been in this position,” Johnson said. “I’m not sure what to expect.”
Johnson will start 42nd – he hadn’t been lower than 25th – in the 43-car field, causing an unusual predicament for him. Dover only has 42 pit stalls, so he’ll have to share his spot with Scott Wimmer.
Whichever driver is ahead on the race track will get pitting priority. Johnson will get the first chance to move out to his own stall if another team is knocked out and vacates its spot in today’s Neighborhood Excellence 400.
Castroneves earns pole
Helio Castroneves had to work hard to win the pole for the inaugural Watkins Glen (N.Y.) Indy Grand Prix last fall. Rain made it easier the second time around.
Showers and a crowded schedule on track at Watkins Glen International forced the IRL to cancel qualifying for the Indy Grand Prix. That gave Castroneves the No. 1 starting slot for today’s race because he posted the fastest lap in the first two rounds of practice.
Starting alongside Castroneves on the front row will be fellow Brazilian Tony Kanaan, and lurking in the second row will be Marco Andretti, who was third fastest of the 19 cars that will start the race.
Track takes toll
The torn-up cars strewn among the team transporters behind pit road told the story: The Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wis., is being very unkind to drivers in the Champ Car World Series.
The open-wheel series, which will hold its only oval race of the season today on the treacherous flat track at Wisconsin State Fairgrounds Park, has taken a series of jolts since practice began Friday.
Oriol Servia and Nelson Philippe tested the track’s new energy-absorbing SAFER Barriers on Friday, with Philippe checked out at a nearby hospital for neck and back pain before being cleared to drive.
On Saturday, former series champion Cristiano da Matta, Alex Tagliani and Bruno Junqueira, racing on an oval for the first time since breaking his back in a crash during the May 2005 Indianapolis 500, all slammed into the wall. None was injured.
Two-time defending Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais, winner of the first three races this season, earned his third pole of the season and the 21st of his career with a “cautious” lap of 175.394 mph.