Qualifying
The front row in Richmond this week looked exactly like the front row last week in Darlington as once again Kasey Kahne put his Ray Evernham owned #9 on the pole. Ryan Newman put his Penkse Dodge #12 on the outside of the front row. Tony Stewart qualified third and Kurt Busch started fourth.
Drop The Green Flag
Tony Stewart took the lead early as there wasn't much excitement early in the race. At one point Kevin Harvick made a pass for the lead but he immediately gave the lead back to Stewart. The first caution of the day came on lap 63 when Johnny Sauter blew a tire and got into the outside wall.
Big news on lap 80 as our points leader Jimmie Johnson got involved in a chain reaction crash. It didn't look too bad but as he was driving it back to the pits something broke and he spun again. His problems would prove to be terminal and Johnson finished 40th. This problem cut into his points lead, but he is still the leader.
Storylines
It was a bad night to be a leader. First points leader Jimmie Johnson had his problems. Then on lap 232 of the 400 lap race Tony Stewart, who was leading the race at the time, spun by himself. Fortunately, everyone was able to avoid him and he continued on.
Some others near the top of the points also had problems. Jeff Gordon entered the race second in points but he had a mechanical problem and spent 51 laps behind the wall fixing it and dropped out after completing a few more laps. Kurt Busch was fourth coming into the race but had a lug nut problem on a pit stop and lost a lap getting it fixed. Only Greg Biffle, third coming into the night, was able to have a solid run and capitalize on Johnson's early problem.
Chasing The Checkers
Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne were the class of the field all night long. Could one of them hold on and take the win? If so, which one? They were both fast and running nose-to-tail through heavy traffic.
The final pit stops came when the caution came out on lap 331 and Kasey Kahne's team beat Tony Stewart's team in the pits giving Kasey critical track position for the final run to the checkers.
Kasey used the clear track advantage and checked out on Stewart to score the very first NEXTEL Cup win of his career.
Top Ten
- Kasey Kahne
- Tony Stewart
- Ryan Newman
- Kyle Busch
- Kevin Harvick
- Greg Biffle
- Eliott Sadler
- Bobby Labonte
- Michael Waltrip
- Jamie McMurray
The Points
Once again Jimmie Johnson had problems. This has seriously eroded his previously-comfortable point lead.
- Jimmie Johnson 0
- Greg Biffle -41
- Jeff Gordon -124
- Elliott Sadler -149
- Kurt Busch -155
- Tony Stewart -165
- Ryan Newman -192
- Kevin Harvick -198
- Jamie McMurray -211
- Mark Martin -218
Next Week
Another Saturday night event comes up next week as the NEXTEL Cup series goes home to Lowes Motor Speedway for their All-Star race. There are no points on the line this week but the winner of the race gets a cool million dollars. That's enough money to see drivers willing to throw away a race car to get a shot at the win. We've truly seen some exiting racing in the past and this year should be just as good. Truly this is one of the five races every year that should not be missed.
