Qualifying
Three Chasers are starting in the top five in this, the first race in the 2006 Chase For The Cup. Kevin Harvick took the pole with fellow Chaser Jeff Gordon on the outside of the front row. The second row featured non-Chasers Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman. Rookie Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five in his first Chase For The Cup event.
Drop The Green Flag
Kevin Harvick got the jump when the green flag flew to lead the early going. Harvick dominated the weekend coming into the race as he was quickest in both practice sessions and put his car on the pole in qualifying. Harvick looked like he might run away and hide.
Jeff Gordon also had a fast horse this week as he took a turn at the top. Leading a big chunk of the first half of the race.
Storylines
Earlier this week Jimmie Johnson said that you can't win the Championship in New Hampshire, but you can lose it. Drivers in The Chase need to generate consistent good finishes. A bad finish in New Hampshire would put any driver behind the curve in trying to win the 2006 Championship. Unfortunately two drivers in The Chase had troubles today that really has them fighting an uphill battle for the rest of the season.
Kyle Busch was caught up in a wreck just three laps into the race. Kyle Busch then finished the job on lap 189 as he wrecked hard. Kyle ended up 38th.
Jimmie Johnson dropped a cylinder in his engine around lap 45. Then on lap 89 Johnson was the victim of bad track position as he got caught in someone else's incident. Johnson finished the race in 39th position.
Chasing The Checkers
With 30 laps to go the green flag flew with Kevin Harvick, Brian Vickers, Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton out front on old tires. The drivers behind them all stopped for tires for the sprint to the finish.
Kevin Harvick had a big 2.5 second lead, but Kyle Petty blew his engine forcing a final restart with just four laps to go. Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart in second and third were gaining on Harvick when the yellow flew. But catching a driver and passing him are two different things.
Stewart got around Gordon on the restart but Kevin Harvick took advantage of the clean race track took his team to Victory Lane and took over the point lead.
Top Ten
- Kevin Harvick
- Tony Stewart
- Jeff Gordon
- Denny Hamlin
- Brian Vickers
- Elliott Sadler
- Jeff Burton
- J.J. Yeley
- Dave Blaney
- Matt Kenseth
The Points
By winning today Kevin Harvick took over the point lead. This is the first time that Harvick has ever been out front in the points. Jimmie Johnson's troubles dropped him from second spot all the way back to ninth overall.
The Chase is underway and only Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch have really dug deep holes for themselves. They will need to be perfect over the last nine races to get their Championship hopes back on track.
The top ten in points are now:
- Kevin Harvick -0
- Denny Hamlin -35
- Matt Kenseth -41
- Jeff Gordon -50
- Jeff Burton -64
- Mark Martin -75
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. -81
- Kasey Kahne -110
- Jimmie Johnson -139
- Kyle Busch -146
Next Week
The Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup heads to Dover Delaware for race number two. The Monster Mile is a tough concrete mile oval that has been compared to Bristol on steroids. 400 miles here is a workout as the track demands that you be on top of your game for four hours straight. This race can be exhausting.
