At the opposite end of the spectrum Jimmie Johnson came into Charlotte as a serious contender for his sixth consecutive championship. A late race incident cost him five places in the points and made him a longshot in the 2011 Championship battle.
Qualifying
Chasers swept the top three spots with Tony Stewart posting the quickest time in qualifying. Starting next to Stewart was Matt Kenseth who missed the pole by just six one-thousandths of a second.
Kenseth's Roush-Fenway teammate, and current point leader, Carl Edwards was third quickest.
Non-Chasers A.J. Allmendinger and Greg Biffle rounded out the top five.
Kyle Busch had to change the engine after qualifying so he was forced to start from the back.
Drop Of The Green
Tony Stewart got the jump into turn one and Matt Kenseth dropped in behind him and the two ran single-file with Tony Stewart steadily pulling away.
Greg Biffle was on the move early and made his way past Kenseth into second place and starting chipping away at Stewart's lead.
Biffle caught Stewart for the lead as the race remained green all the way to the first round of pit stops. They entered pit road nose-to-tail and left exactly the same way with Stewart maintaining his lead after the series of green flag pit stops had cycled through.
We were clean-and-green through the entire early going with Tony Stewart holding onto the lead until Greg Biffle tracked him down, passed him and then went on to dominate first third of the 2011 Bank of America 500.
Biffle continued to lead until his team missed one lugnut during green flag pit stops and forced Biffle to pit a second time. This mistake may have cost Biffle the race win as his dominant race car was suddenly one lap down in twenty-seventh.
The pit road mistake by Biffle's team left the lead for Matt Kenseth but it wasn't long before the second caution of the night tightened up the field and put Greg Biffle back on the lead lap.
Storylines
Kyle Busch would not be denied tonight in Charlotte. After being forced to start last due to an engine change Kyle Busch steadly marched through the field all night long.
Kyle took the lead with one third of the race remaining and was a major factor for the rest of the night.
The biggest story of the night though was still to come as Jimmie Johnson would make headlines of his own in the closing laps.
The 2011 Chase for the Cup changed in a instant as Jimmie Johnson crashed hard with eighteen laps to go in the race. Johnson was working under Ryan Newman for seventh when he lost control and slammed the outside wall.
Instead of a top ten finish Jimmie Johnson ended up 34th and suffered a major setback in his drive for his sixth consecutive Championship. Jimmie fell from third in points back to eighth.
Chasing The Checkers
This race saw a number of long green flag runs so when Kyle Busch brought the field to the green flag with 31 laps to go there was a good chance that this one would run clean all the way to the checkers.
Kyle Busch lead Carl Edwards to the green. Kyle made the outside lane work and lead easily into turn one over Edwards and Matt Kenseth.
Kenseth quickly got around Edwards for second and started to pressure Kyle Busch for the lead. Kenseth was running a slightly higher line in the corners looking for a way around.
Kyle Busch kept his Toyota glued to the bottom line until he tried to block Kenseth with 25 laps to go. Kenseth dove to the bottom and made the pass work as they charged side-by-side through the tri-oval.
Kenseth had a faster car and was able to put a few carlengths between himself and Busch as the laps ticked away.
The caution for Jimmie Johnson closed the field up for one final restart with twelve laps to go.
Kenseth got free on the restart ahead of Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards. Edwards put a move on the bottom of Kyle Busch but couldn't make it stick. While those two raced for second Matt Kenseth pulled away and was able to cruise to the win.
Top Ten
- Matt Kenseth
- Kyle Busch
- Carl Edwards
- Kasey Kahne
- Marcos Ambrose
- Kevin Harvick
- A.J. Allmendinger
- Tony Stewart
- Denny Hamlin
- Ryan Newman
The Points
Carl Edwards posted another solid top three finish and extended his lead slightly over Kevin Harvick. This is still an awesome battle as the top three drivers are separatedby just seven points with five races remaining.
No new drivers were eliminated from contention but Jimmie Johnson is in serious trouble. Johnson needs to make up 35 points and pass seven very talented teams in order to win his sixth cup. It's not impossible but it's going to take an impressive string of finishes over these final five races.
The 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Standings:
- Carl Edwards -0
- Kevin Harvick -5
- Matt Kenseth -7
- Kyle Busch -18
- Tony Stewart -24
- Brad Keselowski -25
- Kurt Busch -27
- Jimmie Johnson -35
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. -60
- Ryan Newman -61
- Jeff Gordon -66
- Denny Hamlin -86
