Gordon has a close-up view of Busch's contact with the wall -- until Busch pulled away.
"I can't tell you how many times he (Busch) tried to give the race away by hitting the wall," Gordon said.
"You wouldn't believe how torn up the right side of his car was."
Whether Busch's car was torn up or not, Gordon knew his No. 24 Chevrolet was no match for the No. 18
Toyota.
"We didn't have a car that could get up there and challenge for the win, so we just brought it home in one
piece," said Gordon, who jumped from 13th to 10th in the championship standings. "The No.18 was in an
unbelievable class of his own. Carl and his crew got their stuff better there at the end.
"We tried and tried and tried a lot of things, and every time we got it a little bit better. But every time
we tried to get it better than that, we went the wrong way with it. So, we just had to settle for a car
that was a third-place car and hope we could get track position -- and we did."
Edwards, who is tied with Busch for a series-best three victories this season, likewise had nothing for the
23-year-old driver, who became the youngest winner in Darlington history.
"I wanted to beat him real bad," said Edwards, who gained three spots to seventh in the points standings.
"Now we're tied for most wins."
Biffle had the dominant car for the first two-thirds of the race, despite pitting early on Lap 194 with a
loose right rear wheel. By Lap 210, Biffle had regained the lead as pit stops cycled through, but he
brought the car to pit road again on Lap 224, this time with a blown engine. Biffle finished 43rd.
"I had loose wheels all night," said Biffle, who led 95 laps before his early exit. "Then I think the motor
blew up. All I want is equipment that stays together."
Fourth-place starter Tony Stewart lost his bid to win his first Cup race at Darlington on Lap 2, when
contact with Elliott Sadler's Dodge sent the No. 20 Toyota into the Turn 1 wall. Stewart finished 21st, one
lap down.
Notes: Ragan climbed two spots in the Cup standings to 12th, the last Chase-eligible position. . . Ryan
Newman (37th) and Kasey Kahne (22nd) fell out of the top 12. . . Blaney's No. 22 Toyota supplanted the No.
77 Dodge of Sam Hornish Jr. (38th) in the top 35 in the owner points standings. Blaney won't have to
qualify on speed at Charlotte in two weeks. Hornish will. . . The average speed of 140.350 mph broke the
record of 139.958 mph set in March 1993 by the late Dale Earnhardt.
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