Joe Gibbs Racing Race Report Samsung 500
JGR Finish: Kyle Busch (Started 3rd, Finished 3rd / Running, completed 339 of 339 laps in a green/white/checkered finish)
Denny Hamlin (Started 14th, Finished 5th / Running, completed 339 of 339 laps in a green/white/checkered finish)
Tony Stewart (Started 24th, Finished 7th / Running, completed 339 of 339 laps in a green/white/checkered finish)
Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota, led the three-car Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) contingent at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth by finishing third in Sunday’s Samsung 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. It was Busch’s third top-five finish in his last four Sprint Cup races at Texas and his fourth top-five of the 2008 season.
Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota for JGR, finished fifth to score his second consecutive top-five finish and his fourth top-10 of the year. Hamlin won last week’s Sprint Cup race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota for JGR, finished seventh and now has five top-10 finishes in 2008. It was also his eighth top-10 result in 13 Sprint Cup races at Texas.
For the first time since September 2007 at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway, all three JGR cars finished in the top-10 of a Sprint Cup race. In that event, Stewart finished second, Hamlin was sixth and former JGR driver J.J. Yeley was 10th.
Busch remains the lead JGR driver in the championship point race, as his third-place finish moved him up two spots to third in the standings after round seven of 36. Stewart and Hamlin occupy the fifth and seventh positions, respectively, with each driver gaining one position.
Carl Edwards won the Samsung 500 to score his 10th career Sprint Cup victory, his third of the season and his second at Texas. Edwards joined Jeff Burton as the only multiple race winner in Sprint Cup competition at Texas.
Finishing .399 of a second behind Edwards was Jimmie Johnson, while Busch, Ryan Newman and Hamlin rounded out the top-five. Burton, Stewart, Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth and Clint Bowyer comprised the remainder of the top-10.
There were six caution periods for 27 laps, with five drivers failing to finish the 339-lap race, which was extended five laps beyond its scheduled 334-lap distance due to a green/white/checkered finish.
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