Good Sam Club 500

Earning Richard Childress Racing its 100th win in NASCAR Sprint Cup, Clint Bowyer took the

checkered flag in Talladega on Sunday for his first win of the season and fifth of his career. This win caps the end of his time with RCR as at the end of 2011 he is parting ways with his team and owner to begin an association with Michael Waltrip Racing starting in 2012. Utilizing the slingshot move in the final seconds of the race, Bowyer shot passed his teammate Jeff Burton to edge out a win by .018 seconds.

Tandem racing was again the order of the day at the Talladega Superspeedway for the running of

the Good Sam Club 500. Behind the one two finish of RCR teammates Bowyer and Burton, Dave Blaney

was powered to third by Chaser Brad Keselowski who took fourth. Teammates for Red Bull Racing Brian Vickers and Kasey Kahne managed a fifth and sixth. Chasers Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin pulled off seventh and eighth, while Michael Waltrip teammates Michael Waltrip and Martin Truex Jr. sewed up ninth and tenth. Pole sitter Mark Martin finished in twentieth while his Hendrick teammates, all of whom are in the Chase, clustered their finishes in 25th for Dale Earnhardt Jr., 26th for Jimmie Johnson, and 27th for Jeff Gordon.

After Talladega’s crap shoot the NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase points find Carl Edwards in the lead

with a fourteen point advantage over second place sitter Matt Kenseth who picked up one position. Brad Keselowski jumped three spots to land in third, eighteen points behind Edwards. Tony Stewart edged up one position to be in fourth, nineteen points back from the lead. Kevin Harvick dropped three spots to fifth with a deficit of twenty-six points. Kyle Busch tumbled two spots to sixth forty points in the hole. Five-time defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson bettered his position by one to inhabit seventh, fifty points behind Edwards. Kurt Busch fell one spot to eighth while Dale Earnhardt Jr. held firm at ninth. Jeff Gordon gained one spot to tenth and Denny Hamlin, out of last place for the first time since the Chase began, gained one spot to sit in eleventh. Ryan Newman fell two positions and found himself sitting in twelfth.

Next week the action returns to short-track racing in Virginia for the Tums Fast Relief 500 run at Martinsville Speedway. The broadcast will be on Sunday, October 30th at 1:30p on ESPN. Be sure to tune into the race and then return here for the Race Recap at this site!