CWSE Owner Points Title On The Line At Dover

The driver's championship won't be the only NASCAR title decided at Dover (Del.) International Speedway.

 

Ryan Truex's late-season surge — seven straight finishes of third or better — has pushed the Rob Kaufmann and the No. 00 NAPA Toyota to the top of the owner's standings. Truex's third-place finish last Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway gave the Michael Waltrip Racing organization the lead for the first time all season.

 

While Truex battles Eddie MacDonald for the driver championship, J.D. Gibbs and the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Driven Toyota are also in the mix for the owner's title.

 

Kaufmann leads Gibbs by just 15 points and Rob Grimm, the owner of MacDonald's No. 71 Grimm Construction Chevrolet, by 30 points.

 

Gibbs, who won the owner's title in 2007 with Joey Logano, has held the owner's lead since the second race of the season when then 17-year-old Matt DiBenedetto earned the victory at Tri-County Motor Speedway in Hudson, N.C.

 

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kyle Busch jumped in the car for the combination event with the NASCAR Camping World Series West at Iowa Speedway and made it back-to-back wins.

 

Max Gresham, 16, made his first start at South Boston (Va.) Speedway and turned in a fifth-place performance. DiBenedetto kept the No. 18 in the lead with a fifth at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International and a win at New Hampshire.

 

Gresham was 16th at Adirondack International Speedway in Beaver Falls, N.Y., and then DiBenedetto took a hit when he was involved in an accident while leading on the road course at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Conn., by nearly nine seconds. He wound up finishing 16th.

 

Gresham was back in the car at New Hampshire, finishing ninth after qualifying second and running up front most of the day. This, combined with the third-place finish by Truex, allowed Kaufmann to take over the owner's lead heading into the finale.

 

DiBenedetto will be back in the car for the Sunoco 150.

 

In the first two years in the series, Gibbs' cars have fared well at the 'Monster Mile.' Logano was second in 2007 as was Marc Davis in last year's race.