2008 UAW-Dodge 400

2008 UAW-Dodge 400

Race details[1][2]
Race 3 of 36 in the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
The 2008 UAW-Dodge 400 program cover, with artwork by Sam Bass.
Date	March 2, 2008 (2008-March-02)
Official name	UAW-Dodge 400
Location	Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas, Nevada
Course	Permanent racing facility 1.5 mi (2.41 km)
Distance	267 laps, 400.5 mi (644.542 km)
Weather	Temperatures of 77 °F (25 °C); wind speeds of 28.9 miles per hour (46.5 km/h)[3]
Average speed	127.729 miles per hour (205.560 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing
Time	29.613
Most laps led
Driver	Carl Edwards	Roush Fenway Racing
Laps	86
Winner
No. 99	Carl Edwards	Roush Fenway Racing
Television in the United States
Network	Fox Broadcasting Company
Announcers	Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip, Larry McReynolds
Nielsen Ratings	7.1/13 (Final) 6.2/12 (Overnight) (12.1 million)[4]

The 2008 UAW-Dodge 400 was the third stock car race of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. It was held on March 2, 2008, before a crowd of 153,000 in Las Vegas, Nevada, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, an intermediate track that holds NASCAR races. The 267-lap race was won by Carl Edwards of the Roush Fenway Racing team, who started from second position. Hendrick Motorsports driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished second and Edwards's teammate Greg Biffle was third.

Kyle Busch, the pre-race Drivers' Championship leader over Ryan Newman, won the pole position with the fastest overall lap time in the qualifying session. Busch led the first twenty laps until he was passed by Edwards. He held the lead until the first green-flag pit stops and regained the position after the stops ended. Busch retook the lead on lap 81 and held it until he was passed by Matt Kenseth. Jeff Gordon took over the lead on lap 163, before Earnhardt became the leader on the 181st lap and maintained this position until Edwards regained it 14 laps later. The race was stopped for 17 minutes when Gordon crashed on lap 262, and car parts were strewn into the path of other drivers, requiring officials to clean the track. Edwards maintained the lead at the restart and held it to win the race. There were 11 cautions and 19 lead changes by nine different drivers during the race.

It was the second victory in succession that was achieved by Edwards over the course of the season, and the ninth of his career. He was later issued with a 100-point penalty after his car was found to violate NASCAR regulations, dropping him from first to seventh in the Drivers' Championship. Kyle Busch increased his lead over Ryan Newman to twenty points as a consequence. Ford took over the lead of the Manufacturers' Championship, five points ahead of Dodge. Chevrolet moved clear of Toyota in third place, with 33 races left in the season. The race attracted 12.1 million television viewers.