Tony Stewart had ’em covered again today (for the second week in a row) and even with a couple of late cautions, a green/white/checker, and a late charge by Jimmie Johnson…..Stewart won today’s Dickies 508.5 at Texas Motor Speedway for his 5th win of the season, becoming the 12th different winner in the 12 races at this venue. Career win #29 for Tony puts him in 20th solo on the all-time list, and was worth a staggering $521,361 from the over $7.1M in posted awards. This was the 7th win on the season for Joe Gibbs Racing (they won 10 in 2000) and their 54th all-time. The last two weeks we’ve run 664 laps…..Tony’s only led 414 of ’em.
Clint Bowyer (5th) had his best finish since he was 3rd at California in September.
Mike Bliss (23rd) had his best finish since he was 12th at Homestead last November (only 4 races).
STREAKIN….Jimmie Johnson has 4 Top-5’s in a row.
This Week’s Elevator….UP: Operator of the Week is a tie between Kyle Petty (+24) and Matt Kenseth (+24), followed by Tony Raines (+22) and Martin Truex Jr (+20). DOWN: The Big Dropper was Elliott Sadler (-35), followed by Robby Gordon (-30), Kasey Kahne (-29), Brian Vickers (-26), and Ken Schrader (-24).
One big happening today…..Kyle Petty moves ahead of Sterling Marlin in 35th on the Owner Points list. That means he’s exempt into next week’s race and Sterling will have to qualify on time. As we head into 2007 with so many new teams you don’t want to have to sweat it out thru the Duals to make the Daytona 500, so we’ll keep an eye on this one for the next two weeks.
Every spot changed in the Chase today, and our new leader is Jimmie Johnson with a 17 point margin over Matt Kenseth. Just five races ago Johnson was 165 points in arrears in 8th place. Realistically, it’s down to a five man “Chase” with just two races to go, and the drivers in 3rd, 4th, and 5th are gonna need some help.(Stock Car Fans)(11-6-2006)
