#17-Matt Kenseth won the Sharpie 500 at the Bristol Motor Speedway, dominating the race by leading 415 of 500 laps and vaulting himself into 11th in Drivers Points, only 11 points out of 10th. The win is Kenseth’s first in 56 races, when he won at Las Vegas in March 2004. The win is the 10th of his career. #31-Jeff Burton was 2nd, his best finish since his 3rd at Phoenix in April. The rest of the top-5 were #16-Greg Biffle, who was a lap down and got the lucky dog, #21-Ricky Rudd and #2-Rusty Wallace. Points leader, #20-Tony Stewart lingered around 15-20th most of the race, but was able to come home 8th and increased his points lead to 213 points over #48-Jimmie Johnson who DNF’d with a broken motor. #8-Dale Earnhardt Jr. went down a lap three times, got the lucky dog all three times and after the crew made numerous changes, Dale Jr. finished 9th. #24-Jeff Gordon finished 6th and is now 10th in the points and currently in the Chase for the Nextel Cup, leading 11th in points #17-Kenseth by 11 points. #88-Dale Jarrett let his emotions get the best of him and took out #12-Ryan Newman, along with himself and innocent #29-Kevin Harvick [who should had followed #25-Vickers thru the wreck]. Newman had spun Jarrett a few laps before and Jarrett caught up to Newman a few laps later and hit Newman in the rear, spinning both, pretty much killing Harvick’s chance of making The Chase and really hurting Jarrett’s chance. Newman is still in the Chase, in 9th. #0-Mike Bliss made a late race charge, after getting spun out in the Jarrett/Harvick mess and getting a Lucky Dog, finishing 7th for his best finish of the season.
For my race rundown with lap leaders, caution info, race notes and lucky dogs, see my Bristol Race Info/Rundown Page
For race results and links, see Jayski’s Bristol Race Results Page. (8-27-2005)
