It was a drama filled week entering the third race of the Chase at the “Monster Mile”, Dover International Raceway. Last week’s winner Clint Bowyer was fined, had his crew and car chiefs suspended and was docked 150 points after NASCAR found that their car was illegal.

The penalty set off a war of words between Bowyer, his team owner Richard Childress and Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin, which spilled over on track during practice Saturday when Bowyer’s teammate Kevin Harvick made contact with the No. 11, sending both cars to the garage with damages. Series officials also had to separate the teams in the garage area.

Gaining from the problems his fellow Chasers were having was defending champ Jimmie Johnson. Johnson won his second pole of the year on Friday for Sunday’s AAA 400.

Would the rain stay away? Would the feud between Harvick and Hamlin continue? Would a non Chaser play spoiler?

Johnson was able to jump ahead and grab an early lead. Points leader Hamlin dropped to fifth after being passed by Juan Pablo Montoya.

Reed Sorenson, who started 12th, was trapped on the outside and began sliding back, unable to get to the bottom line. On lap seven Harvick had worked his way up to 28th.

On lap 14 A.J. Allmendinger took the lead from Johnson and began driving away from the four time champ. Further back Johnson’s teammate Gordon got by Ryan Newman for 12th on lap 22, with Reutimann also looking to take advantage of Newman.

At the front, Allmendinger began dodging his way through lap traffic. Hamlin dropped another spot to sixth after getting passed by fellow Chaser Greg Biffle. By lap 30 the field was becoming fairly spread out.

The first caution of the race came out on lap 39 for a caution light. With the yellow flag flying the field hit pit road; Allmendinger won the race off followed by Truex, Biffle, Montoya, Johnson, Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Gordon, McMurray and Edwards rounding out the top ten.

Dinger led the field to the green on lap 44, just getting ahead of second place Truex. Just behind them Hamlin was able to get by Johnson on the outside for the fifth position. Harvick had a pit crew member injury himself during the stop and dropped back several positions, restarting in 26th. Contact between Newman and David Reutimann sent the No. 00 into the wall, and brought out the race’s second caution.

Allmendinger again led the field to the green on lap 57 but Truex hung with him for a corner, but the No. 43 was able to shake him and pull away. Montoya moved past Biffle for third, making the top three all non-Chase drivers. Johnson was also able to get by Biffle to take the fourth spot. On lap 65 Hamlin got passed by both Busch brothers to drop to eighth and Harvick had managed to work his way back up to 16th.

Johnson was able to take third on lap 76, and Allmendinger had a two second lead over second place Truex. Running in 22nd was Mark Martin, who after an illegal shock was found on his No. 5 had to start 42nd on the field. Truex began complaining of a vibration on lap 87, as did Jamie McMurray.

Harvick made his way into the top 15 by getting by Newman on lap 94. Montoya and the elder Busch continued their battle for fourth and fifth with Busch taking the spot, and Harvick and his teammate Bowyer battled side by side for the 14th spot.

Allmendinger’s four second lead was erased when he hit pit road on lap 114, beginning the cycle of green flag stops, along with Stewart. McMurray, Hamlin, Busch, Menard and several others would come down in the laps to follow. Johnson hit pit road on lap 118 with Truex, Kurt Busch, Harvick and others. Tony Stewart was too fast entering pit road, and fell three laps down because of his pass thru penalty. Once stops cycled out it was Allmendinger back to the lead.

Hamlin continued his conservative run on lap 142, moving past Montoya for the sixth spot as Montoya began running at the top of the track with his loose No. 42 Chevrolet. Montoya continued to fall back, dropping spots to Kenseth and Edwards and eventually falling to ninth by lap 146. Further back in the pack Harvick tonined to move up, running 13th, and his teammates Bowyer and Burton both made their way past McMurray to run just behind the 29 in 14th and 15th, respectively.

Bowyer bounced off the wall on lap 151, and though he complained to his crew of a tire rub no caution came out on track for the incident. He would fall to 20th and drop a lap to the leaders. Johnson moved into second on lap 166, and teammates Edwards and Kenseth battled for seventh with Cousin Carl taking the spot. Just behind them their teammate Biffle took 11th from Montoya, who still continued to fall.

Harvick was on the bumper of Montoya on lap 170, looking to take 12th away while Allmendinger came down pit road complaining of handling issues; he had a right rear tire going down. Johnson then took the lead.

Biffle came down pit road on lap 185 along with Bowyer, who was serving a pass thru penalty. Kenseth looked to come down on lap 187, locking up his tires and missing the line, eventually causing him to loose his left front, bringing out another caution.

Allmendinger, Earnhardt, Ambrose and Biffle were among those who were trapped a lap down due to the caution coming out during the green flag stop cycle. The rest of the leaders hit pit road under the yellow; Johnson led the field off followed by Truex, the Busch brothers Kyle and Kurt, Gordon, Hamlin, Logano Edwards, Burton and Harvick rounding out the top ten. However, Kurt Busch was too fast on pit road and had to make a pass thru penalty.

Johnson led the field to the green on lap 194, and Kyle Busch and Gordon began battling for third as Hamlin tried to get around Logano for sixth. On lap 196 Hamlin and RCR driver Jeff Burton battled side by side as Burton moved into sixth. Edwards was also able to get by the No. 11, sending Hamlin back to eighth.

A loose wheel brought Truex down pit road on lap 207, and the axle broke as they went to leave pit road, sending him to the garage. Meanwhile Busch was closing in leader Johnson, Logano moved his way into third, and Harvick passed Menard for the ninth spot. Jeff Gordon seemed unhappy with his car and he dropped three positions to sixth. Burton was also making strides, running fourth on lap 217.

Truex, as well as the cloud cover, returned to the track on lap 239. Harvick was running on the bumper of the No. 39 of Newman, and just in front of him was the No. 11 of Hamlin, who Harvick tangled with during the first practice on Saturday.

Kyle Busch slapped the wall on lap 249 but was able to continue and, with the leader in lap traffic, was able to creep up on the No. 48 who led by just under three seconds. Green flag stops began on lap 264, and leader Johnson along with Edwards came in four laps later, giving Kurt Busch the lead. With 130 laps to go Johnson cycled back to the lead.

Johnson’s lead was dwindling on lap 287, having just over a second gap between he and second place Busch. Caution for the fourth time came out on lap 291 for debris. Kyle Busch was able to beat Johnson off pit road, followed by Edwards, Logano, Gordon, Burton, Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Newman and Paul Menard, who’d been running in the top 15 for the majority of the race.

Busch got a great restart on lap 296 when Johnson spun his tires and was challenged for second by Logano. Behind them the older Busch and Burton ran side by side with Burton taking fourth, but Busch not ready to give up. Further back in the pack Allmendinger got wicked loose but was able to save his No. 43 and continue on without incident.

With just 100 laps left in the AAA 400 Hamlin began stalking Gordon for the eight spot, and Busch pulled away to a one and a half second lead over Logano.

On lap 321 Johnson overtook second from Logano, but was still several seconds behind the leader. Burton would also make his way around the No. 20, sending the sophomore driver back to fourth. Allmendinger, recovering from his earlier woes, moved past Newman after the pair battled side by side for several laps, re-entering the top ten.

Johnson had caught Busch with 63 laps to go, running all over the back of the leader and taking the lead a lap later. Busch though wasn’t ready to give up the top spot and ran side by side with the No. 48. Johnson, though, was able to clear Rowdy, but the side by side racing and a very fast Cat Chevrolet was helping Burton in third catch the leaders.

With 56 laps to go Burton caught Busch and took second place while Menard was looking to take seventh from Gordon. With 50 laps to go, Burton had Johnson’s lead down to just one second. Would he be able to catch the defending champ and redeem RCR?

Logano was able to get by teammate Busch for third and with 42 to go Harvick hit pit road so the No. 29 team could fix their struggling RCR Chevy. With 39 remaining Hamlin and Allmendinger both came down pit road, followed by Gordon and Kyle Busch. Logano, Burton, Newman and Johnson came down on lap 37 along with Kurt Busch. Mark Martin came down pit road the following lap. The afore mentioned Gordon had trouble on his stop with a dropped lugnut, costing the No. 24 valuable time. Edwards came down with 35 remaining and with stops cycled through Johnson was the leader followed by Burton and Logano. Gordon fell to 12th after his stop.

The field was very spread out with 15 laps to go with Johnson holding a two second lead over Burton. Nothing changed as the laps dwindled down and Johnson, after his rough outing in Loudon, won the AAA 400.

“There is this huge weight off my shoulders that we were able to come and win a Chase race. We are in this thing,” Johnson said in Victory Lane.

Next the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rolls into Kansas Speedway for the Price Chopper 400 presented by Kraft Foods. Coverage begins at 1 pm Eastern time on Sunday, October 3rd on ESPN.

Top Ten: Johnson, Burton, Logano, Ku. Busch, Edwards, Ky. Busch, Menard, Newman, Hamlin and Allmendinger.

 

Chasers results: Johnson (win), Burton second, Ku. Busch fourth, Edwards fifth, Ky. Busch sixth, Hamlin ninth, Gordon 11th, Harvick 15th, Kenseth 18th, Biffle 19th, Stewart 21st and Bowyer 25th.

Unofficial Points

Hamlin

Johnson -35 (+4)

Kyle Busch -45

Kurt Busch -59 (+1)

Harvick -65 (-3)

Edwards -73 (+1)

Burton -80 (+2)

Gordon -83 (-4)

Biffle -140 (-1)

Stewart -162

Kenseth -165

Bowyer -235