Qualifying
Greg Biffle was the class of the field during Friday's qualifying. This was Greg Biffle's first pole in over two years and only the second of his career. Greg's only other pole position was at the 2004 Daytona 500.
Tony Stewart had the second fastest lap to start on the outside of the front row. Jimmie Johnson started third and Kyle Busch rolled off fourth. Saturday's Busch Series winner Kasey Kahne rounded out the top five.
Drop The Green Flag
Greg Biffle took the early lead but Tony Stewart turned up the heat immediately and took over the top spot on lap three. Stewart set the pace for the early portion of the race as the patiently drivers settled in for the long run.
Up until the first caution at lap forty Tony Stewart was clearly the class of the field. Mark Martin was climbing his way through the pack from his 18th place starting spot to second place. Mark declared it the best car he had driven in a long, long time.
Mark Martin won the race off pit road and then lead the next fifty laps until the second caution flag flew on lap 90.
Storylines
Yawn. Once again a cookie-cutter race track provided a very boring race. The good news for Las Vegas NASCAR fans is that the bulldozers are already standing by. When the NEXTEL Cup series returns to Las Vegas in 2007 the track will feature progressive banking maxing out at 20 degrees. Currently Las Vegas features only 12 degrees of banking in the corners.
Chasing The Checkers
Matt Kenseth lead the entire second half of the race but Jimmie Johnson was closing the gap when the yellow flew with just four laps to go. This set up a green-white-checkers dash to the finish.
Jimmie Johnson was able to make the pass coming off of turn four on the final lap as they charged back to the finish line. Jimmie made his way around the outside and beat Matt back to the line by a car length.
Top Ten
- Jimmie Johnson
- Matt Kenseth
- Kyle Busch
- Kasey Kahne
- Jeff Gordon
- Mark Martin
- Jeff Burton
- Greg Biffle
- Casey Mears
- Denny Hamlin
The Points
In three races Jimmie Johnson has two wins and a second. Johnson is off to an incredible start for 2006 and is showing that having your regular crew chief on the pit box isn't all that important. Chad Knaus hasn't been able to be at the speedway all season long since he is still serving a NASCAR suspension.
The points are now:
- Jimmie Johnson -0
- Matt Kenseth -52
- Kasey Kahne -85
- Casey Mears -86
- Mark Martin -110
- Kyle Busch -137
- Clint Bowyer -151
- Elliott Sadler -155
- Jeff Gordon -166
- Jeff Burton -167
Next Week
Next week the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup stars make their way to the fastest race track in NASCAR. Atlanta Motor Speedway will host NASCAR's best next week. Drivers will peak out above 200MPH at the end of the straights. It's a white-knuckle ride as fast-fast-fast will be the key phrase of the week.
