2008 AT&T 550

The 2008 AT&T 550 was the 36th and final race of the 2008 NASCAR Mobil 1 Series Season. It was ran on November TBA, 2008 and was known to be arguably the most infamous race in series history. The season had been a strange one, in which everyone was inconsistent and what would transpire would be the biggest championship battle in series history, the playoff format from 1979 to 1999 always had six drivers in contention for the title. Since this format started in 2000, the most drivers ever in contention heading into the last race was four in 2002, which Irwin would happen to be involved in. The 2008 AT&T 550 at Oregon had nine drivers in contention for the championship,

## Points Battle

Heading into Oregon, the points battle was this tight (the farthest you can be back in order to take the points lead from someone is 150 while to tie them is 151), leader Timothy Green III (4113) had four wins and had just taken the points lead heading into this race and he was looking for his sixth championship and fourth in a row, Mickey Benson, sat 3 points behind (4110) Green III, Benson had just 1 win but was arguably the most consistent out of everyone, as his worst finish in the last 12 races was 17th. Sitting third in points, 5 points behind, was Kevin Polaris (4108), who after taking a sabbatical year in 2007, came back to score 2 wins and one of them was the GasTrac 600. He was second in points for most of the year but fell off in the last 5 races, lowering his hopes for a second title. Fourth in the standings, sitting just 11 points behind Green III, was Rusty Cleveland (4102), who had 5 wins and led the points toward the end of the season but had three DNFs in the last 6 races. David Cooper sat fifth in points, 23 points behind Green III (4090). He was the only one of the nine with no wins, but he was consistent enough to get the most laps led, and he had 7 poles too. Sitting sixth in points was Jack Wendell, who sat 30 points behind Green III (4083). He had 3 wins and no DNFs, with a worst finish of 31st, the problem was that even though he had no DNFs, he finished in the back multiple times, leading him to lose ground in the title hunt. Seventh in points was Harry Phelps, 58 points back to the lead (4055), he had 2 wins and only four top fives, but had the most top 10s at 27. The problem was his five DNFs in the last six races. Eighth in points, 83 points back was veteran and 2004 champion, Rash McSpot (4030), he had 1 win and a respectable statbook, leading to him being able to contend for the championship. Finally, sitting in ninth, 131 points back, was Robby Irwin (3982), with his 8 wins, and a filp-flop season.

The start of the race had Benson on pole, Phelps in third, Green III in fourth, Wendell in seventh, Irwin in tenth, Polaris in fourteenth, McSpot in sixteenth, Cooper in twenty-first, and even though Cleveland was the best in practice, he drifted through turns one and two on his qualifying lap, leading to starting in thirty-fourth. At the start of the race, Cleveland moved up fast and Benson lost the lead to Rick Aston. On lap 13, Timothy Green III got around Mickey Benson and had the lead in the championship, then all of a sudden, Robby Irwin started tearing through the pack. By lap 18, he was in front of all the contenders but was not leading the championship. Irwin took the lead on lap 22 from Aston and held it for a while. The championship contenders were all super close to each other by lap 50 and at one point, were all one position away from each other. When the first pit cycle took place on lap 51, Irwin was the leader and everyone was on different strategies. The first caution came out on lap 63 and the field was all bunched up again, at this point, Kevin Polaris was leading the points, by 3 over Green III. At the green flag, Rash McSpot got loose and bunched up the field and fell down to 25th. As Rusty Cleveland moved into the top five, Irwin was losing time and the other seven were closing in. On lap 74, Cleveland took the lead and was leading the championship. In the second pit cycle, Cleveland lost a ton of time on pit road by overshooting the stall, and David Cooper hit the back of Edwin Quinn as he came out. Irwin took back the lead and then on lap 95, another caution flew, and Irwin was the leader. He was within 60 points to the lead. As Irwin continued to lead, Jack Wendell moved up the field and almost wrecked Irwin when he moved to second. They swapped the lead for about 20 laps and by lap 130, Rusty Cleveland was back in the top 10. Eight of the nine contenders were in the top 15 except Rash McSpot who was a lap down in 23rd. As the sun set on Oregon Speedway, 197 laps out of 425 had been completed. Under the lights, Wendell led and was leading the championship. Another caution flew on lap 212, this time, Rash McSpot had slammed the wall in turn 3, ending his hopes at a second title. McSpot still ran the race but wouldn’t come back until lap 335. On the green flag, Wendell spun his tires and fell back a lot and Irwin took back the lead. Polaris and Benson swapped the lead for the championship throughout the night but it all came down to the last pit cycle.

The last pit cycle took place on laps 396-413, Irwin led, Cleveland was in the top five, Wendell and Cooper were in the top 10, while the others were outside the top 15. Once the cycle started, Green III took two tires and moved up front, while the rest all took four tires and then, a caution flew. Every one of the contenders had gotten back to the lead lap. On lap 416, the final ten laps of the 2008 season began, Green III lost the lead to Irwin after one lap, and was desperately trying to hold the field at bay, but unfortunately lost a cylinder and dropped like a rock. With five laps to go, Cleveland was trying to get to Irwin and by then everyone behind them began to fade but they were losing time. With two laps left, Cleveland was right on Irwin’s bumper and on the white flag, coming off of turn 2, got loose and spun and the whole field went berserk when no caution was thrown and Irwin coasted to the win, and everyone froze. Who was the champion? After the spin, Cleveland spun in the racing lane and everyone had to slow down tremendously, and Oregon Speedway's backstretch was very narrow at the time, so many people lost positions, and since not many people were out of the race, the contenders lost so many spots as many people spun out and blocked the track. After review, it was official, Robby Irwin had made up over 131 points to win his ninth championship by tying Jack Wendell and Mickey Benson but Irwin won because he had the most wins and Wendell had 3 and Benson had 1 so they finished second and third respectively. While Irwin won and maximized points, Wendell finished 28th, Phelps 25th, Cooper 29th, Benson 37th, Polaris 38th, Green III 40th, Cleveland 39th, and McSpot 36th.

### End of Race

1. Robby Irwin 4167
2. Jack Wendell 4167
3. Mickey Benson 4167
4. David Cooper 4166
5. Timothy Green III 4161
6. Kevin Polaris 4157
7. Rusty Cleveland 4153
8. Harry Phelps 4143
9. Rash McSpot 4085

The 2008 season ended with Irwin getting a miracle ninth title and the top 8 all spread out by just 24 points (McSpot was 82 off the lead), and the top three were tied, fourth was one point out, fifth was six points out, sixth was ten points out, seventh was fourteen points out, and eighth was twenty-four points out.