Somebody give that man a pot pie! “Everthing’s up to date in Kansas City” after all (my apologies to Rodgers and Hammerstein) as we ended up with the top-two finishers today running on the apron and mass confusion as to where anybody finished in the Banquet 400 at Kansas Speedway. Tony Stewart ran out of fuel on the backstretch but coasted to his 3rd win of the season today (the 27th of his Nextel Cup career) over an out-of-gas Casey Mears (see a pattern here?). Tony’s win was worth a healthy $346,361 from the almost $6M in posted awards and moved him into a solo 21st place on the all-time win list. This was win #52 for Joe Gibbs Racing….and it was certainly a sweet one for Zippy and the gang.
Casey Mears (2nd) had his best finish since he was runner-up at Daytona in February.
Mark Martin (3rd) had his best finish since he was runner-up at Atlanta in March.
Dale Jarrett (4th) had his best finish since he won at Talladega last October. His Top-5 gives us 28 drivers at that level this season….last year we had 30 of ’em.
Bill Elliott (16th) had his best finish since he was 11th at Michigan in August of 2005.
Travis Kvapil (19th) had his best finish since he was 19th at Pocono in June.
Sterling Marlin (20th) had his best finish since he was 16th at Loudon in July.
David Gilliland (22nd) had his career-best finish today. His previous best was 27th last week at Dover.
Todd Kluever (32nd) had his career-best finish today as well. His previous best was 41st at Chicagoland in July.
STREAKIN….Jeff Burton has 5 Top-10’s in the last 6 races.
This Week’s Elevator….UP: Operator of the Week is Casey Mears (+31), followed by Dale Jarrett (+28 ), Ken Schrader (+23), Bill Elliott (+23), Carl Edwards (+21), and Tony Stewart (+20). DOWN: The Big Dropper was J. J. Yeley (-36), followed by Kasey Kahne (-32), Scott Riggs (-32), Elliott Sadler (-31), and Jeff Gordon (-28 ). Mears is now tied with Tony for most Ops this season (4)….and the “Shaft” is sure bottom-heavy with Evernham Dodges this week.
Jeff Burton stretches his lead in the “Chase” to 69 markers over new second place man Denny Hamlin. Mark Martin makes the big move up to third this week and we can hang our first “Magic Numbers” of the playoffs. Kasey Kahne will be eliminated if Burton runs fifth or better the final seven races. In “Classic” Points this week Tony Stewart (9th to 7th) and Martin Truex Jr (23rd to 21st) made the only multiple postition positive moves in the Top-40, while Jeff Gordon (5th to 8th) fell three spots.(Stock Car Fans)(10-1-2006)
