After seven races, Dodge has seven wins and six poles. Jack Sprague is the only non-Dodge driver to win a pole this season, capturing the pole last weekend in Darlington in his Rick Hendrick owned, NetZero No. 24 Chevrolet.
The aero rules changes made a few weeks going into the race at Gateway International Raceway don't seem to be having the desired effect. NASCAR made the changes because it appeard to have too much of an advantage and Ford seemed to be lagging behind. Changes were made hoping to slow Dodge down and speed Ford up a little. Chevrolets seemed to be in the middle, so they were left alone.
Dodge still seems to be dominate. The only time the manufacturer didn't dominate since the rules change was in qualifying last week at Darlington as Sprague captured the first non-Dodge pole.
The changes don't seem to have helped Ford any either. The highest finishing Ford this weekend at Pikes Peak was that of Rick Crawford in ninth. Ford did place two trucks in the top-10 with Chuck Hossfeld rounding out the top-10 in a Ford.
Chevrolet would seem to be doing fairly well if one were to take a look at the entire top-10 without considering that Chevy has yet to claim a win this year. Half of the top-10 Sunday were Chevrolet trucks; however, three of the top-five trucks including the winner were Dodges. Chevy may not seem to have the stronghold they've held in the series in years past, but it is faring better than Ford.
One thing Chevrolet can look to and feel hopeful is the fact that if a little bad luck was taken out of the equation, Sprague may have found himself in victory lane in Pikes Peak. Sprague seemed to have a dominate Chevy, but a pit road miscue resulting in him having to pit again to put on a lug nut probably cost the two-time champion the win.
Here's how the top-10 looked: 1. Joe Ruttman (Dodge) 2. Scott Riggs (Dodge) 3. Jack Sprague (Chevy) 4. Ted Musgrave (Dodge) 5. Ricky Hendrick (Chevy) 6. Matt Crafton (Chevy) 7. Travis Kvapil (Chevy)
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