2008 SPRINT CUP RACE 12: Coca-Cola 600 @ Lowe's

The Sprint Cup Series remained at Lowe's for the longest race of the season, 600 miles at Lowe's, AKA "The Marathon". Kyle Busch scored the All-Star pole the week before and went on to score the pole for the 600 as well. He beat out All-Star winner Kasey Kahne for the top spot. Like the All-Star race, there were several drivers who led laps but weren't there at the end. Brian Vickers led a ton of laps but blew a tire in Turn 1/2. He smacked the wall hard and his tire bounced into the infield. Towards the halfway point and after, Dale Earnhardt Jr. appeared to have a car to win the race yet got into the wall due to a cut tire. Jimmie Johnson also ran well all night but his engine expired and had to retire. Could the bad luck continue for our frontrunners? Well, yes. Tony Stewart looked to have the race winning car in the final laps as he got by Kasey Kahne also avoiding trouble all night. Stewart and Kahne ran 1-2 as everyone had to stop for fuel to go the distance at Lowe's. Kahne pit first but may have pitted a bit too long for the fuel he needed. Soon after, Tony came in and got off pit road quickly. That put a big gap between him and Kahne. As cars pit, Stewart reassumed the lead and appeared to have the car on cruise control until the finish. However on 3 laps to go, Lady Luck wasn't so lucky again and Stewart's tire went down entering Turn 1. That forced him to make a pit stop the next time by to replace it since his tire was shredding to pieces. Kasey Kahne reassumed the lead and drove off to claim his second Coke 600 victory and back-to back wins at Lowe's. Jeff Gordon and Dale Jr. salvaged good finishes despite Jeff running midpack all race with handling issues and Dale Jr hitting the wall earlier. They streteched fuel mileage to claim Top 5s. David Reutimann pulled off a Top 10 as well as Carl Edwards who was out of gas coasting across the line. Three Chevys, three Fords, two Dodges and two Toyotas got Top 10 finishes.

The Top 10:
1. #9 Kasey Kahne (Dodge)
2. #16 Greg Biffle (Ford)
3. #18 Kyle Busch (Toyota)
4. #24 Jeff Gordon (Chevrolet)
5. #88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Chevrolet)
6. #31 Jeff Burton (Chevrolet)
7. #17 Matt Kenseth (Ford)
8. #19 Elliott Sadler (Dodge)
9. #99 Carl Edwards (Ford)
10. #44 David Reutimann (Toyota)

The concrete mile at Dover would be next for the Cup Series.