Qualifying
Chip Ganassi Racing teammates swept the front row as Reed Sorenson sat on the pole along side his rookie teammate Juan Pablo Montoya. Ryan Newman and Dale Earnhardt Jr. made up row number two and Kasey Kahne rounded out the top five.
Drop Of The Green
Reed Sorenson got a good start and lead lap one. He maintained the lead all the way to the first caution which came on lap 14 when Jeff Green cut a tire and crashed.
Although Dale Earnhardt Jr. beat Reed Sorenson off of pit road it was Tony Stewart who beat them both. Tony was the leader when they went back to racing but Dale Jr. got past Tony and set sail.
Junior and and Stewart were the class of the field for most of the day.
Storylines
Indianapolis Motor Speedway was hard on the NEXTEL Cup stars today. The first 1/3 of the race saw a bunch of drivers' Brickyard dreams dashed. There were six crashes in the first 60 laps. These incidents took out a number of favorites including Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman.
After the race Tony Stewart said "This one is for every one of those fans in the stands that pull for me every week and take all the bulls--- from everybody else." This might become a big deal.
Fans might remember that in October of 2004 Dale Earnhardt Jr. said "It don't mean s---" in a post-race victory lane interview. NASCAR fined Junior $10,000 and took away 25 driver points and 25 car owner points. This penalty knocked Junior from the point lead. Given NASCAR's policy of escalating penalties we have to wonder if and how much they will fine Stewart for this statement.
Chasing The Checkers
The race settled down and Tony Stewart took a huge lead over Kevin Harvick as the race moved into the final fifty laps.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. blew up with 25 laps to go bringing out the caution. This set up a 20 lap dash to the finish. Kevin Harvick jumped under Tony Stewart on the restart to take the lead.
Stewart had the faster car but Harvick slammed the door with fifteen laps to go. Two laps later Stewart tried again but still couldn't make the pass work.
With ten laps to go Stewart got a run and made the pass. Then Harvick tried the cross-over move and attempted to pass him back. Stewart had too much for Harvick and was able to get clear on the outside.
Tony Stewart then set sail with nobody in front of him to disturb his air. Stewart rolled on to easily claim his second Brickyard 400 victory.
Top Ten
- Tony Stewart
- Juan Pablo Montoya
- Jeff Gordon
- Kyle Busch
- Reed Sorenson
- Mark Martin
- Kevin Harvick
- Jeff Burton
- Dave Blaney
- Matt Kenseth
The Points
The top twelve remained stable this week as Ryan Newman had trouble early in today's race. Kurt Busch was able to take over thirteenth in the points just thirteen points behind twelfth place Dale Earnhardt Jr. who blew a motor late in the race.
The Race to the Chase is heating up as the battle for the twelfth and final Chase position has just six races remaining until the cutoff.
The top twelve are now:
- Jeff Gordon -0
- Denny Hamlin -371
- Matt Kenseth -377
- Jeff Burton -443
- Tony Stewart -452
- Carl Edwards -494
- Kevin Harvick -588
- Kyle Busch -597
- Jimmie Johnson -607
- Clint Bowyer -671
- Martin Truex Jr. -741
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. -859
Next Week
Pocono Raceway will host the return of the NEXTEL Cup stars. When NASCAR last visited here seven weeks ago Jeff Gordon won the rain-shortened race with a great decision from his pits. Hopefully the weather will be better this weekend and we can see the whole show.
