(Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
Points: Sixth
Brian Vickers
We didn’t hear much about Brian Vickers tonight, and sometimes that's a good thing. The last time he was at Daytona, he was part of the controversial wreck involving Dale Earnhardt Jr. and some of the leaders.
Vickers was hoping this one would turn out a bit different.
Vickers ran in the top 15 all day long. He worked the draft, and was able to make the right moves, avoiding the numerous wrecks and spinouts.
Vickers seventh-place finish was much-needed. They were falling back in the points, but Vickers has shown that he can run well on plate races. Vickers' chase chances are over, but like we said last year he could build on finishes like these.
The way Vickers season is going, one week he looks like the driver we all expected to see a year ago, and then he has races where you wonder who is behind the wheel. Saturday was the latter.
Points: 17th
Losers
Mark Martin
This was the last thing Mark Martin needed. With three wins, if he makes the chase, he would be sitting in second to Kyle Busch in the standings. Right now, he wouldn’t make the chase and he would be like Kasey Kahne in 2008, sitting on the outside looking in with multiple wins.
On Saturday, he was running up front when he started to back out of the throttle and did not realize that Matt Kenseth was on the outside. Kenseth tapped him and Martin went spinning hard into the inside wall.
Martin took full responsibility and said that he made the mistake. They went to the garage and got to work. With points so important, they were able to get back on the track and finished 38th.
Martin can’t afford to have another race like this—not when the top 12 won’t be changing much in the next eight weeks.
Points: 13th
Casey Mears
Casey Mears had a strong car all weekend long. He was top five in speeds, and with qualifying rained out, he was going to have to work his way up front. He did just that. He was climbing to the top 10 when he got tapped and spun out.
He got damage to the back of the car and was forced to work on it in the garage. They finished a disappointing 34th. They had a lot of hope coming into this weekend.
Crew Chief Todd Berrier had found so much success at this track, that this race was circled on the calendar.
Mears is showing some signs of life and improvement. His finishes don’t show that, but the improvement is there.
Points: 22nd
Kyle Busch
Say what you want about Kyle Busch, but he is willing to risk everything for a win.
In the final laps, Busch took the lead from Stewart and was in blocking mode. In an effort to block the hard-charging Stewart, Busch put a block on him and ended up sideways and went hard into the wall.
With nowhere to go, many drivers clipped or hit Busch in the process. Busch, clearly upset, got out of his car and started to storm off. Safety officials scrambled to get Busch in the car, and to get checked by the medical service.
It took four officials to get him in the car but he did end up there.
If Busch wants to blame anyone he needs to look in the mirror. Busch didn't want to comment after the race, which plays into the hands of his haters.
For everyone else, we all want to know what he was thinking?
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