Qualifying
Kasey Kahne claimed his sixth pole of the season in his Evernham Dodge. His teammate Scott Riggs started along side in second. Kyle Busch qualified third in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Another Evernham Motorsports Dodge qualified fourth as Elliott Sadler started on the outside of row number two. Jeff Burton rounded out the top five in his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.
Point leader Jimmie Johnson qualified fifteenth and his nearest competitor Matt Kenseth started the race nineteenth.
Drop The Green Flag
Kasey Kahne jumped out to the early lead over teammate Scott Riggs. Jimmie Johnson moved up into the top ten by lap seven.
The two big stories of the day were non-events in the early going. Kasey Kahne continued to lead comfortably in the early part of the race. Also, there was no time in the first 100 laps of the race where Jimmie Johnson lost the point lead.
Storylines
Jimmie just needed to keep Kenseth in his sights all day long or finish twelfth or better to win the 2006 Championship. Johnson was in the top twelve by lap five and smoothly into the top ten by lap seven. The biggest story of the week turned out to be a non-event as Johnson never gave up the point lead. In fact, Johnson was never in any real danger of losing the point lead throughout the race.
Chasing The Checkers
The final green flag of the race was a two lap dash to the checkers. Greg Biffle had the lead over Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick.
Greg Biffle got a good restart, got away cleanly and held on for the win.
Top Ten
- Greg Biffle
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Denny Hamlin
- Kasey Kahne
- Kevin Harvick
- Matt Kenseth
- Scott Riggs
- Carl Edwards
- Jimmie Johnson
- Clint Bowyer
The Points
Jimmie Johnson was never out of the point lead today. He needed only a top twelve finish to clinch the Championship and cruised home to a comfortable ninth.
Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson, crewchief Chad Knaus and the entire Hendrick Motorsports organization on being the 2006 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Champions.
The top ten in points are now:
- Jimmie Johnson -0
- Matt Kenseth -56
- Denny Hamlin -68
- Kevin Harvick -78
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. -147
- Jeff Gordon -219
- Jeff Burton -247
- Kasey Kahne -292
- Mark Martin -307
- Kyle Busch -448
Next Week
The next NEXTEL Cup race on the schedule is the 2007 Daytona 500 in February. The 2006 season is in the books and it has been a great one. Stay tuned in the offseason for all the latest NASCAR news as teams prepare to do battle again in just 12 weeks.
