Kasey Kahne led early and often tonight at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and took the Coca-Cola Pit Stop 600 by a comfortable margin over Jimmie Johnson. In a race where we saw more action in the pits and less racing than we’ve ever had in Charlotte (thanks to a miniscule fuel cell), it was Kahne getting his third win of the season and the fourth of his career (the first one not from the pole, btw). Kahne is now tied for 68th on the all-time win list. Kasey’s victory was worth a healthy $428,114 from the over $6.4M in posted awards….and this was win #10 for Ray Evernham.
Carl Edwards (3rd) had his best finish since he was 3rd at California in February.
Reed Sorenson (10th) equaled his career-best finish tonight. He was also 10th at Atlanta in March.
Jeff Green (12th) had his best finish since he was 11th here last May.
STREAKIN….Matt Kenseth has 5 Top-10’s in the last 6 races.
Jeff Burton has 5 Top-10’s in the last 6 races.
This Week’s Elevator…UP: Operator of the Week is a tie between Jamie McMurray (+25) and Robby Gordon (+25), followed by Jeff Green (+23) and Paul Menard (+22). DOWN: The Big Dropper was Jeff Gordon (-23), followed by Kevin Harvick (-22) and Brian Vickers (-20).
Scott Riggs led today (8 times for 90 laps) for the first time since he led once for 19 laps at Michigan last August. He’s the 39th driver to lead a lap this season….last year’s number was 51.
Jimmie Johnson lengthens his points lead tonight to 109 over new second-place driver Matt Kenseth. It’s looking more and more like the “Chase” will once again be a ten-man event as the spread from 1st to 10th is now beyond that all-important 400 point level. Carl Edwards (17th to 14th) and Reed Sorenson (23rd to 20th) made the best moves forward tonight while Brian Vickers (21st to 27th) fell the most spots.(Stock Car Fans)(5-28-2006)
