Live on Type Delay: Kansas
Before this race started, based on what we saw on Saturday's Nationwide race at Kansas, we thought this had the makings of a California style race. So far, it isn't like that at all.
Clint Bowyer, a contender or the championship got black-flagged at the start for the same reason Dale Earnhardt, Jr did earlier this year--passing before the starting line at the beginning of the race. This is just an example of how focused these drivers are. It is okay to pass on the outside during a restart, but not at the initial start of the race. A lapse of memory regarding that rule is an indication of concentration on trying to get to the front of the field as quickly as possible. Bowyer got off of the pit road after his drive-through penalty just ahead of Johnson, the leader, and stays on the lead lap.
Matt Kenseth takes the lead on lap 16. Kyle Busch is having engine problems again . This time it seems to be a fuel pressure problem. Three weeks in a row, the 18 team is having mechanical issues. Unbelievable.
A lot of fast cars started from the back. Tony Stewart has made up eighteen spots after starting forty-first. Juan Pablo Montoya had to start at the rear after his pole-winning time was disallowed due to NASCAR officials finding that his team had too much air pressure in the rear shocks, is moving up well, himself. Jeff Burton had to start at the rear due to an equipment change, after his tachometer failed before the start of the race, but he also has a fast car.
Martin Truex Jr takes the lead from Kenseth around lap 38. Green flag pit stops begin around lap 50. Carl Edwards has trouble in the pits again, as Brian Vickers has to cut in front of him to get out his pit. This is a spotters problem, and the 99 car will overcome any setback.
After the pit stops cycle through, Kenseth retains the lead, and there are 29 cars now on the lead lap. Truex is second, Johnson is third, but Johnson takes second around lap lap 63. Caution on lap 75 after Ryan Newman slides across the track and scrapes the wall.
It seems that Kyle Busch's car is fixing itself, and his car seems to be running normally now. All the leaders pit, and the order coming off of pit road is Kenseth, Mears, Truex, and Jeff Gordon. Kenseth has to reenter the pits due to a loose lug-nut. Carl Edwards is like a bull in a china shop on pit road, and has an incident with the 22 and 31 cars. It wasn't Carl's fault, though. At the restart, the top five are Mears, Truex, Gordon, Greg Biffle, and Jimmie Johnson. Johnson moves up fast after the restart, and passes Biffle, then, on lap 85, Jeff Gordon, and is threatening Truex for second. Easy Jeff Gordon follows Johnson into third. That 48 car looks fast again.
Jeff Gordon wasn't feeling well before the beginning of the race, but it seems that he will stay in his car for the race, not wanting to get out of a good car like the one he has today. There's the fire, guts, and determination we love to see in the top drivers.
Johnson and Mears are racing hard for the lead, with Mears following the line that made Johnson's move to the front so successful. That means Johnson no longer has that line, and we are seeing some good racing. The caution comes out on lap 92, and Mears maintains the lead. The caution came out as Kyle Petty spun out, and Scott Riggs lost his drive shaft. Mears stays out, but the cars behind him pit. Mark Martin comes off of pit road first, after a two tire stop. Kyle Busch gets the lucky dog pass.
It only takes a few laps for Johnson to pass the cars that took two tires on the last pit stop, and he has taken second by lap 106. He takes the lead from Mears on lap 107. Biffle is moving up as well, and it is shaping up to be another race between the 16 and the 48. Dale Earnhardt, Jr and Kevin Harvick have moved into the top ten. Tony Stewart is running fifteenth. Elliott Sadler's team is showing that they have something, as they are crashing the party in the seventh position. Further back, Kurt Busch is wrecking all the way around the track without hitting anything. That should be counted as a great save, but his car is not handling well at all.
Caution on lap 117 as Joey Logano loses traction and scrapes the wall. Patrick Carpentier is the lucky dog, after David Reutimann, who was the first car one lap down at the last restart, raced his way onto the lead lap.
Again, the leaders all pit. Truex is off first after a two tire stop, Johnson, Bowyer, Biffle and Jeff Gordon fill out the top five. Before the lap is over, the 17 and 5 cars make contact, and Kenseth does a great job of saving the car and keeping it from sliding up into traffic.
On lap 130, Johnson and Truex are having an exciting battle for the lead, then Brian Vickers and Tony Stewart tangle and Stewart spins into the infield. This is weird, because the 83 team pits just in front of the 20, and they have had issues in leaving the pits. The booth bunnies on TV are suggesting that this may be retaliation on the part of Vickers for the 20 team allegedly not giving the 83 team enough room in the pit stalls. I guess since Kyle Busch is having problems, it's Vickers' turn to have issues with everybody else on the track. read more...
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