Carl Edwards and Kasey Kahne dominated the night and finished one-two with Carl Edwards pulling off his famous post-race backflip at the short-track racers paradise.
Qualifying
Kasey Kahne looked to turn his disappointing 2007 season around and took the pole for the Sharpie 500. Rookie Juan Pablo Montoya started along side in second. The second row was made up of Roush-Fenway Racing's Jamie McMurray and his rookie teammate David Ragan. Dave Blaney rounded out the top five in his Bill Davis Racing Toyota.
Drop Of The Green
Kasey Kahne jumped out to the early lead in his Evernham Dodge. Kahne lead until he caught the back of the field. Carl Edwards then swapped the lead back and forth with Kahne as the leaders were battling through heavy traffic.
The new race track layout made its presence felt right off the bat. Not only were drivers two and three wide right off the bat we saw an unusual amount of green flag racing early in the race. This race ran clean-and-green until lap 125. I can't remember a Bristol race ever running that long without an early yellow. This was truly a different Bristol.
Storylines
This was the first race on the new Bristol Motor Speedway. Since the NEXTEL Cup stars were here in the spring Bristol Motor Speedway added progressive banking, made the track and pit stalls wider and smoothed out the transitions into the turns. The overall effect of these changes is that Bristol Motor Speedway now has two grooves.
Bristol used to be a one-groove race track. Drivers protected the bottom since as the fast way around. As a result the only way to pass was to bump each other out of the way. This raised tempers and frequently brought out the yellow flag.
Tonight's race saw a lot more side-by-side and green flag racing than ever before. If a driver was faster he had another groove available to pass with. This made the new race track configuration an integral part of the 2007 Sharpie 500.
Chasing The Checkers
With 32 laps to go Carl Edwards lead over Kasey Kahne and Clint Bowyer as the field took the final green flag of the night. The top three got clear on the restart with a few carlengths separating them.
Carl Edwards car was working great all night long and he was tough to beat. He worked his way out to a second and a half lead over Kasey Kahne and then eased his way through some late traffic to take the win.
Top Ten
- Carl Edwards
- Kasey Kahne
- Clint Bowyer
- Tony Stewart
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Kurt Busch
- Ryan Newman
- Bobby Labonte
- Kyle Busch
- Greg Biffle
The Points
The top five drivers in the points are now locked into the 2007 Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup. Those five drivers are now only racing for wins until the Chase starts as nothing else will help them in the points.
In the very-important battle for twelfth Kurt Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Ryan Newman finished together on the race track tonight so Kurt Busch maintained his twelfth place points position. Kurt has a 158 point lead over Junior. He just needs to keep the other two in sight for the next two races to clinch the final spot in the Chase.
The top twelve are now:
- Jeff Gordon -0
- Tony Stewart -349
- Denny Hamlin -353
- Matt Kenseth -419
- Carl Edwards -422
- Jimmie Johnson -523
- Jeff Burton -528
- Kyle Busch -558
- Clint Bowyer -638
- Kevin Harvick -694
- Martin Truex Jr. -695
- Kurt Busch -703
Next Week
Next week the series heads out west to California Speedway. When the NEXTEL Cup drivers raced here in February Matt Kenseth had the field covered and rolled home to the easy win. Kenseth also won the Busch race on Saturday to sweep the weekend. Can Matt Kenseth put together another dominating win and gain ten valuable bonus points in the Chase?
