How big would the margin of victory have been without the penalty? Kasey Kahne dominated tonight’s SONY HD 500 at California Speedway, leading eight times for 130 laps, and pulled away to a 3.4 second victory in the Nextel Cup event…..in spite of getting caught for speeding on pit road! Reed Sorenson tried to steal it, but ran out of fuel on the penultimate lap and Kahne cruised by for his 5th win of the season (that’s the most of any driver this year) and 6th of his career (he’s now solo in 62nd place on the all-time win list). Win #12 for Ray Evernham gives Kasey a sweep of the weekend (he took the Busch event last night as well), and was worth $279,214 from the almost $6M in posted awards. By doing all he could do points wise, Kasey is now just 30 markers out of the “Chase” with one race left.
Dale Earnhardt Jr (2nd) had his best finish since he won at Richmond in May. Clint Bowyer (3rd) had his career-best finish tonight. His previous best was 4th at The Brickyard in August. Dale Jarrett (10th) had his best finish since he was 9th at Atlanta in March. Casey Mears (14th) had his best finish since he was 7th at Daytona in July. David Gilliland (32nd) tied his career-best finish tonight. He was also 32nd at Infineon in June. STREAKIN….Denny Hamlin has 7 Top-10’s in a row. Tony Stewart has 5 Top-10’s in the last 6 races. This Week’s Elevator….UP: The Operator of the Week is tie. Dale Jarrett (+26) and Mark Martin (+26) share the honors followed by Carl Edwards (+20). DOWN: The Big Dropper was Brian Vickers (-39), followed by Kurt Busch (-26) and Ryan Newman (-21). This is BD #3 for Vickers this season.
Matt Kenseth re-assumes the points lead from Jimmie Johnson tonight for the first time since we left Phoenix in April. Matt’s got a 9 point margin. There are a number of scenarios where we could have a tie for the 10th and final qualifier for the “Chase”….we’ve got only 11 drivers with a chance this year with one race to go. Dale Earnhardt Jr (9th to 6th) made the best move forward in the standings this week, while Jeff Burton (7th to 10th) and Brian Vickers (17th to 20th) fell the most spots. Tony Stewart, Mark Martin, and Jeff Burton will spend most of next week wanting to know where the #9 car is.(Stock Car Fans)(9-3-2006)
