Qualifying
The front row was all Dodge as Kasey Kahne put his Evernham Motorsports Dodge on the pole with teammate and fellow Dodge driver Scott Riggs along side in second.
The second row was all Chevrolet as Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson and Brian Vickers qualified third and fourth. J.J. Yeley rounded out the top five in his Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet.
Drop The Green Flag
On lap fifteen Ryan Newman spun right in front of Chaser Jeff Burton. In order to avoid the wreck Chasers Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick turned hard to the left and spun through the infield grass. None of the four cars involved seemed to take on any significant damage, but this could have been a huge event in the 2006 Chase For The Cup.
Jimmie Johnson took over the lead from Kasey Kahne after that incident. Then Scott Riggs and Clint Bowyer took their turns at the point.
Storylines
After the early excitement that nearly eliminated three Chase For The Cup contenders there was much more Chaser excitement in this race.
Matt Kenseth struggled all day trying to make his car handle. Matt limped home in 23rd.
Rookie Denny Hamlin was caught speeding on pit road and had to fall to the rear of the field. Hamlin was involved in a wreck shortly after his pit road error and finished 18th.
Jeff Gordon also had problems as he had a fuel pressure problem late in the race. He coasted to pit road under green late in the race and couldn't get the car running. Gordon suffered a DNF and finished 39th.
Late in the race Kasey Kahne ran out of fuel, dove towards pit road and spun the car. Kahne finished 33rd after he got the car righted, fueled and restarted.
Chasing The Checkers
Jimmie Johnson lead the most laps during the race and had a healthy lead late in the race over Jeff Burton, Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Because of the timing of the previous yellow everyone was just a few laps short on fuel. This caused a scramble late in the race as everyone had to dash to pit road for a splash of fuel.
Jimmie Johnson was headed for the pits when Kahne spun. Johnson turned back up onto the track assuming that the yellow flag was going to come out. When it didn't Johnson lost a bunch of time on the track. When he did pit next time by he was penalized for too fast on pit road. Johnson ended up 14th.
Tony Stewart decided to try to stretch his fuel and steal the win. Tony ran out of fuel on the back stretch of the final lap. He coasted around on the apron and took the victory. Second place Casey Mears also ran out of fuel on the last lap and coasted home on the apron.
This bizarre finish was very exciting as it was in doubt right to the checkers.
Top Ten
- Tony Stewart
- Casey Mears
- Mark Martin
- Dale Jarrett
- Jeff Burton
- Carl Edwards
- Kyle Busch
- Brian Vickers
- Clint Bowyer
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The Points
Jeff Burton held onto his point lead with a strong fifth place finish. Mark Martin was the top finisher among the Chasers and was rewarded with a jump from sixth up to third in points. Jeff Gordon was the biggest loser as he fell four places in the points to sixth.
The top ten in points are now:
- Jeff Burton -0
- Denny Hamlin -69
- Mark Martin -70
- Matt Kenseth -84
- Kevin Harvick -96
- Jeff Gordon -120
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. -123
- Jimmie Johnson -165
- Kyle Busch -233
- Kasey Kahne -273
Next Week
Next week is wildcard weekend in the Chase For The Cup as the teams make the trip to Talladega Superspeedway. Talladega is a restrictor plate race track which means that the engines are intentionally cut way down on horsepower. The cars are stuck in a big pack all day long and a mistake by any one driver often causes the scary multi car wreck known as "The Big One." This means that drivers are often a victim of a crash that they had nothing to do with.
