The fastest car in the field got punted as Greg Biffle took a hard hit off of Kurt Busch's front bumper. Overall it was a fast, safe day as Texas Motor Speedway hosted an interesting 500 miles of NASCAR NEXTEL Cup racing.
Qualifying
Kasey Kahne took the pole for the Samsung/RadioShack 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Rookie J.J. Yeley started on the outside of the front row in second. Mark Martin and Jeff Green made up row number two and Greg Biffle rounded out the top five starters.
Matt Kenseth qualified sixth but had to go to the back of the pack for the start because he had a problem and needed to change the engine before the race.
Drop The Green Flag
Mark Martin came from the third starting position to lead lap one as the inside lane moved ahead on the start. Greg Biffle moved up quickly to take the lead over Mark Martin, Jeff Green, J.J. Yeley and a hard charging Kurt Busch.
Greg Biffle dominated this race in 2005. At this point in the race he already looked to be unbeatable in 2006. He stretched out a commanding lead by lap 20. The rest of the pack struggled just to stay in the same time zone as the smoking fast Biffle.
Storylines
Greg Biffle had utterly dominated the first 83 laps of the race when he slammed the wall and ended his day. Kurt Busch spun him on the straightaway. Greg Biffle spun all the way into turn three and crushed the outside wall. Biffle did come up just a tick early but Kurt Busch clearly should have given him the extra inch.
It was a good day for rookies today. Rookie Denny Hamlin showed a lot of strength all day long. Denny lead 41 laps during today's race. For most of the second half of the race Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr. and Reed Sorenson were all running in the top ten.
Sorenson had trouble on the final pit stop and dropped back but Clint Bowyer temporarily replaced him in the top ten. Clint Bowyer crashed on the very last lap to end his promising run. Denny Hamlin finished fourth and Martin Truex Jr ended up in eighth.
Chasing The Checkers
Kasey Kahne won the race off pit road to lead them to the final green flag with seventeen laps to go. Tony Stewart was hot on his heels. Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer and Denny Hamlin completed the top five when that last green flag flew.
Kenseth got past Stewart in just five laps and set sail for Kahne. However, Kahne had just too big a lead and this one was not in doubt as they raced to the checkered flag.
This was Kasey Kahne's second win of 2006 and Texas Motor Speedway's eleven different winners in eleven races.
Top Ten
- Kasey Kahne
- Matt Kenseth
- Tony Stewart
- Denny Hamlin
- Kevin Harvick
- Jeff Burton
- Scott Riggs
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Mark Martin
- Bobby Labonte
The Points
Jimmie Johnson came back from being a lap down early in the race to finish eleventh and maintain the points lead. Matt Kenseth moved up to second as Mark Martin gained points on the leader but slipped into a tie for third with Kasey Kahne.
Kevin Harvick raced his way into the top ten in points as Elliott Sadler's bad luck dropped him out of the top ten.
The top ten in points are now:
- Jimmie Johnson -0
- Matt Kenseth -15
- Kasey Kahne -46
- Mark Martin -46
- Tony Stewart -97
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. -112
- Kyle Busch -113
- Jeff Gordon -152
- Kevin Harvick -204
- Casey Mears -218
Next Week
Next week the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup series takes it's traditional Easter break. The NASCAR Busch Series will be racing on Saturday afternoon at Nashville Superspeedway.
