If Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon or Clint Bowyer end up with the 2007 Championship their ability to avoid disaster today in Kansas will have been a key point in their Chase.
Qualifying
Jimmie Johnson qualified on the pole in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, however he crashed during practice and had to change to a backup car. Because of this Jimmie Johnson had to drop to the back of the pack for the start of the race.
Matt Kenseth started on the outside of row number one.
Scott Riggs benefited from Johnson's troubles as the third place qualifier moved up to the pole for the green flag. Jeff Gordon was fourth quickest in qualifying and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five.
Drop Of The Green
The outside line moved first allowing Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon to complete the first lap running first and second. Kenseth and Gordon held onto the lead until the rain came, they pitted, and NASCAR threw the red flag on lap 15.
When green flag racing resumed after a 45 minute delay the drivers seemed content to settle down and put some laps in the books. Matt Kenseth lead until Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon drafted past on lap 45. Those three were the class of the early running as Jimmie Johnson was working his way back to the front in his backup car.
Storylines
Kudos to NASCAR for not calling the race on lap 148 when the skies opened up and the rain came for the second time. Since the race was past halfway NASCAR could have declared the race official and sent everyone home. It was raining very hard and most fans would have accepted a final decision right then. Instead NASCAR held out for the rain to stop, got the track to dry and gave the fans an additional 70 laps of racing. This is a great move by NASCAR as they tried to give the ticket-holding fans as much of a show as they could.
However, I think NASCAR botched the call at the finish line. It appeared the Greg Biffle was out of gas and was not able to maintain pit road speed as the field came to the checkered flag. Since Biffle was not able to keep up he should have lost his position and been credited with third. I'm not sure I understand why Clint Bowyer was not credited with the win?
Chasing The Checkers
With twenty-three laps to go Greg Biffle held the lead over Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer. Biffle was able to get away to a little bit of a lead but Jimmie Johnson was storming through the field. Johnson was posting the fastest laps of anyone on the race track but he restarted in ninth.
With ten laps to go Johnson was up to third place but Greg Biffle was holding a huge lead. Juan Pablo Montoya had a tire come apart and brought out the yellow flag with four laps to go. Because NASCAR had declared 210 laps would be the official distance there was no green-white-checkered finish and Greg Biffle was awarded the win.
Top Ten
- Greg Biffle
- Clint Bowyer
- Jimmie Johnson
- Casey Mears
- Jeff Gordon
- Kevin Harvick
- Reed Sorenson
- Elliott Sadler
- Kasey Kahne
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The Points
Seven Chasers had problems this week as Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Martin Truex Jr., Jeff Burton, Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin all had big problems during today's race.
Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer are all within nine points of the lead but fourth place Tony Stewart is now more than 100 points behind.
The top twelve are now:
- Jimmie Johnson
- Jeff Gordon -6
- Clint Bowyer -9
- Tony Stewart -117
- Kevin Harvick -126
- Kyle Busch -136
- Carl Edwards -142
- Martin Truex Jr. -158
- Kurt Busch -177
- Jeff Burton -186
- Matt Kenseth -219
- Denny Hamlin -248
Next Week
Talladega Superspeedway will host the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup next week. This will be the first ever restrictor plate race for the Car of Tomorrow. Anything can happen at Talladega and with the unknown Car of Tomorrow thrown into the mix this race is truly the biggest wildcard of the 2007 Chase for the Cup.
