Juan Pablo Montoya and Kyle Busch were beating and banging during the race. This came to a head under caution when Montoya turned into Kyle and spun him out. Clearly we haven't heard the last of this story yet.
Qualifying
Rookie Patrick Carpentier scored the first pole of his career this weekend in New Hampshire. Veteran Bobby Labonte started along side in second.
The second row was made up of Kevin Harvick and Scott Riggs while Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounded out the top five.
Drop Of The Green
The inside lane got a huge jump on the start as Carpentier and Kevin Harvick lead the field into turn one. Carpentier overdrove turn three but managed to hang on and lead lap one.
Harvick and Labonte shuffled Carpentier back to third. And Kevin Harvick started to put some distance between himself and the rest of the field until Dale Earnhardt Jr. reeled him in and took over the top spot 45 laps in.
There wasn't much going on early in the race. The first 85 laps ran clean and green as drivers were being patient in the early going and not battling each other for position.
Storylines
Juan Pablo Montoya will likely make news later this week. It appeared that he intentionally turned Kyle Busch around under caution.
In the post race interview Montoya gave a long description of the beating and banging that preceded the wreck and then admitted that he hit Busch on purpose.
Kyle Busch claimed that he had no idea what happened but was quick to point out a couple of incidents earlier in the race where he felt slighted by Montoya.
NASCAR typically issues its fines and penalties on Tuesdays. I know that NASCAR will have more to say about this incident then.
Chasing The Checkers
As the race crossed through the halfway point the TNT crew announced that weather was just 30 miles away. This one didn't look like it was going to go the full distance.
The green flag flew with 23 laps to go. Kurt Busch stayed out to claim the lead over Michael Waltrip, J.J. Yeley and Martin Truex Jr. Just two laps later the caution flew for an incident but the weather rolled in before they could get restarted.
Kurt Busch's team made a great strategic call to be out front when the weather came. NASCAR called the race fairly quickly and Kurt Busch claimed the win.
Top Ten
- Kurt Busch
- Michael Waltrip
- J.J. Yeley
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Elliott Sadler
- Reed Sorenson
- Casey Mears
- Denny Hamlin
- Jimmie Johnson
- Bobby Labonte
The Points
The top six in points remained stable this week. Kyle Busch still holds a 64 point lead over Jeff Burton with just nine races remaining until The Chase begins.
At the back of the top twelve Matt Kenseth was bumped from the twelfth spot by Kevin Harvick. Harvick is now in the twelfth and final Chase qualifying spot by 15 points over Kenseth.
The top twelve are now:
- Kyle Busch
- Jeff Burton -64
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. -144
- Carl Edwards -234
- Jimmie Johnson -276
- Jeff Gordon -325
- Denny Hamlin -346
- Greg Biffle -377
- Tony Stewart -454
- Kasey Kahne -465
- Clint Bowyer -475
- Kevin Harvick -480
Next Week
Next week the Sprint Cup series reaches its traditional halfway point. The Cup stars will return to Daytona for the Coke Zero 400. This race will roll off next Saturday night under the lights in Daytona.
