Because Kansas Speedway is a mile and a half track similar to Chicagoland, many people complain that Kansas is a cookie cutter track. But the finish of Sunday's Banquet 400 in the NASCAR Nextel Cup race was one of the strangest ever. That's what happens when fuel mileage is part of the equation. But this was really weird. Kasey Kahne won another pole.
Remember last week when Kasey Kahne-#9 UAW/Dodge Dealers Dodge was taken out by a Tony Stewart-#20 Home Depot Chevy spinout? It was almost deja vu all over again for points leader Jeff Burton-#31 Cingular Chevy. A Robby Gordon-#7 Harrah's Chevy spinout brought out a caution on lap 10. Everyone pits but Ryan Newman-#12 Alltel Dodge stays out to take the lead. Jimmie Johnson-#48 Lowe's Chevy & Kahne quickly pass Newman. Then Newman spins out right in front of Burton on lap 17. Somehow Burton doesn't crash and Jeff Gordon-#24 Dupont Chevy & Kevin Harvick-#29 Reese's Chevy go through the infield grass to avoid Newman. Scott Riggs-#10 Valvoline Dodge takes the lead on lap 29 and then Riggs & Clint Bowyer-#07 Jack Daniels Chevy swap the lead for a while.
A caution for debris comes out on lap 59. After pit stops, Dale Earnhardt Jr-#8 Budweiser Chevy has the lead. Kyle Busch-#5 Kellogg's Chevy takes the lead on lap 80. Kevin Harvick is 22nd and Matt Kenseth-#17 DeWalt Ford is 26th with ill handling cars. A Jamie McMurray-#26 Irwin Industrial Tools Ford spin brings out a caution on lap 132. Harvick's crew changes a right rear shock. His car improves somewhat and he finishes 15th. Kenseth's crew could never find out what was wrong with his car and he finishes 23rd. Then a Kenseth spin brings out a caution on lap 145. On the ensuing pit stops, Denny Hamlin-#11 FedEx Chevy gets a pit road speeding penalty and has to go to the back. Then he spins out on lap 152. He finishes 18th. Clint Bowyer leads.
Clint Bowyer took two tires on his pit stop and continues to lead untill Jimmie Johnson passes jim on lap 167. Then Bowyer hits the wall on lap 173. Carl Edwards-#99 Office Depot Ford gets two tires on his pit stop to take the lead. Johnson takes the lead on lap 181. A J.J. Yeley-#18 Interstate Batteries Chevy spin brings out a caution on lap 195. Everybody pits. Most guys don't have enough fuel to go 70 laps to the end but some guys will try to make it.
Jimmie Johnson has a four second lead but he will have to stop for fuel. Jeff Gordon's crew chief Steve Letarte says they will try and make it to the end but then Gordon comes to pit road on lap 242 and says he's not getting any fuel. It turns out to be a broken camshaft and Gordon finishes 39th. Ouch. Green flag pit stops begin on lap 252. Kasey Kahne plans to stay out but runs out of fuel and spins while trying to get on pit road on lap 262. They can't get him started and he finishes 33rd. Double ouch. Johnson pits on lap 263 but is penalized for speeding on pit road and finishes 14th. Tony Stewart inherits the lead and Casey Mears-#42 Texaco Havoline Dodge is second. Stewart runs out of fuel on the last lap but has a big enough lead to coast to the finish line for the win. Mears runs out of fuel too but finishes second. Mark Martin-#6 AAA Ford finishes third and moves up to third in the points. That was one goofy finish.
Congratulations to Tony Stewart, crew chief Greg Zipadelli and car owner Joe Gibbs on the win. big top ten finishes for Casey Mears, Dale Jarrett, Brian Vickers & Clint Bowyer. Jeff Burton finishes fifth and has a 69 point lead over Denny Hamlin. Next week it's Talledega time. Here's the top ten of the race.
#/Driver/Sponsor/Make/Owner
1.20/Tony Stewart/Home Depot/Chevy/Joe Gibbs
2.42/Casey Mears/Texaco Havoline/Dodge/Chip Ganassi
3.6/Mark Martin/AAA/Ford/Jack Roush
4.88/Dale Jarrett/UPS/Ford/Robert Yates
5.31/Jeff Burton/Cingular/Chevy/Richard Childress
6.99/Carl Edwards/Office Depot/Ford/Jack Roush
7.5/Kyle Busch/Kellogg's/Chevy/Rick Hendrick
8.25/Brian Vickers/Garnier Fructis/Chevy/Rick Hendrick
9.07/Clint Bowyer/Jack Daniels/Chevy/Richard Childress
10.8/Dale Earnhardt Jr/Budweiser/Chevy/Dale Earnhardt Inc.
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