#17-Matt Kenseth led the final 51 circuits tonight at Bristol Motor Speedway en route to a victory in the Sharpie 500 over Kyle Busch in what was a relatively (for Bristol anyway) mild short-track race. Hardly any punches considered and just a little jawing post-race. These guys are going soft on us! It’s been quite a week for Matt. He won the Nextel Cup event last Sunday at Michigan, the Busch race last night, and the Cup race tonight. He’s cashed in to the tune of $609,282 in the last seven days! The win tonight was the fourth of the season for Kenseth, the 14th of his Cup career (he’s tied with Dick Hutcherson & LeeRoy Yarbrough for 44th on the all-time win list) and the 94th for Roush Racing (pretty strong week for Cactus Jack when you consider Mark Martin won the Truck race on Wednesday). Going back to back in this event nets Matt $336,516 from the over $6M in posted awards.
Dale Earnhardt Jr (3rd) had his best finish since he was 3rd at Michigan in June.
Scott Riggs (4th) had his best finish since he was runner-up at Michigan in August of 2005. His Top-5 gives us 26 drivers at that level this year… last year’s number was 30.
Ken Schrader (13th) had his best finish since he was 12th at Daytona in July.
Dale Jarrett (15th) had his best finish since he was 12th at Talladega in April.
Michael Waltrip (16th) had his best finish since he was 11th at Atlanta last October.
Travis Kvapil (20th) had his best finish since he was 19th at Pocono in June.
Kevin Lepage (21st) had his best finish since he was 21st at Lowe’s last October.
Kenny Wallace (30th) had his best finish since he was 29th at Lowe’s last May (only five races).
STREAKIN….Denny Hamlin has 6 Top-10’s in a row.
This Week’s Elevator….UP: Operator of the Week is Dale Earnhardt Jr (+37), followed by Carl Edwards (+32). DOWN: The Big Dropper was Kurt Busch (-36), followed by Elliott Sadler (-30), Kyle Petty (-26), Reed Sorenson (-26), and Bobby Labonte (-20). This was Jr’s second Op of the season. Still a tight battle in Owner Points for that all-important 35th spot in the standings. 34th to 36th is separated by only 21 markers with Sterling Marlin still on the outside looking in….he trails Kyle Petty by 16 points.
Jimmie Johnson & Matt Kenseth clinched their spots in the “Chase” tonight. Johnson’s lead is down to 7 points over Kenseth (it’s gonna be five one way or the other in two weeks anyway). Kevin Harvick is on the verge….his “Magic Number” is 27th the next two races. Kasey Kahne’s gotta find a way to make up 90 points in two races, but with the weekly shuffle in positions 4-10 you can bet none of those guys are too comfortable. Kyle Busch (7th to 4th), Ryan Newman (18th to 15th), and Scott Riggs (22nd to 19th) all made the best moves forward this week, while Mark Martin (4th to 10th) fell the most spots.(Stock Car Fans)(8-26-2006)
