March 20, 2006
- Harvick’s price tag too high for GM? #29-Kevin Harvick has set too high a price tag in his contract renegotiations with General Motors, and it now seems unlikely that car owner Richard Childress will renew the deal, according to sources. The two have set an early April deadline. Harvick drives Nextel Cup [and Busch] cars for Childress, and also fields a Truck for Ron Hornaday and two Busch cars, for Burney Lamar, Ron Fellows, Tony Stewart and himself, all under Kevin Harvick Inc. Toyota would likely be willing to support Harvick with a full Nextel Cup-Busch-Truck package, but it is unclear if GM is willing to match that. And it’s unclear if Harvick would back down on his price in order to stay with Chevrolet. That is all raising speculation about who Childress might hire to replace Harvick if Harvick does move on.(Winston Salem Journal); Harvick has been rumored to the Red Bull Toyota team and to Michael Waltrip Racing’s 2nd team.(3-20-2006)
- Kahne wins at Atlanta: #9-Kasey Kahne won the Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Las Vegas Motor Speedway, dominating the final 80 laps for his 2nd win of his career [other was Richmond last May] and 1st of the year. It is the first Dodge to win at Atlanta since Richard Petty won there in March 1977. Kahne is the first driver to win the spring race from the pole since Buddy Baker in 1979. #6-Mark Martin was 2nd, followed by #8-Dale Earnhardt Jr., #24-Jeff Gordon and #20-Tony Stewart. Points leader, #48-Jimmie Johnson finished 6th and now leads the points by 50 over Kahne. #45-Kyle Petty came home 8th, his best finish since an 8th at Dover last Sept. #41-Reed Sorenson was the highest rookie of the year candidate with a 10th place finish. Johnson is now the only driver to score a top-10 finish in all four races of the 2006 season. #23-Bill Lester ran the whole race, but fell 6 laps down and finished 38th. There were 8 cautions for 43 laps and 27 lead changes with 12 leaders.
Race Results on my Atlanta Race Results/Awards Page.
Points Standings on my Drivers/Owners Points after Atlanta page.
Race Rundown: see my Atlanta Race Info/Rundown Page for my race rundown page, laps led, top 10, race notes, lucky dogs and more.(3-20-2006) - Unofficial Driver Points Standing after Atlanta [4 of 36 races]:
#48-Johnson, 690
#9-Kahne, 640, -50
#17-Kenseth, 612, -78
#6-Martin, 600, -90
#42-Mears, 554, -136
#24-Gordon, 539, -151
#8-Earnhardt Jr., 534, -156
#5-Busch, 530, -160
#88-Jarrett, 490, -200
#07-Bowyer, 471, -219
For drivers/owners points, see my - Jayski’s Drivers/Owners Points after Atlanta page.(3-20-2006)
- Atlanta Race Notes:
• Kasey Kahne won the Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, scoring his second career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory in his 76th career start. Kahne won from the Bud Pole.
• Kahne’s last victory came at Richmond, 29 races ago. He also won that race from the Bud Pole.
• It was his first victory and fourth top-five finish in five Atlanta races.
• Kahne scored his third top-five finish in four races this season. All four of his finishes in 2006 have been top 15s.
• Kahne moved into second in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings, the highest ranking of his career.
• Kahne led four times, including the final 80 laps. He did not lead the most laps
• Dodge scored its first Atlanta victory since Richard Petty won this race at Atlanta in 1977 – 29 years ago.
• The last victory from the Bud Pole at Atlanta came in the fall of 1996 by Bobby Labonte.
• Eight of the last nine race winners at Atlanta have won from a top-10 starting position.
• This was team owner Ray Evernham’s eighth NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory and first at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
• Evernham Motorsports has won at least one race each season 2001– 2006, six consecutive years.
Notebook Items
• The last time a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup race was won from the Bud Pole was by Matt Kenseth at Bristol in August 2005.
• The best start to a season (after four races) was done twice. Herb Thomas (1954) and Bill Elliott (1992) each scored three victories in the first four races.
• Mark Martin (second) has finished in the top-five in the last four races at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He has scored four straight top-15 finishes to start the season. Martin climbed from fifth to fourth in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings. One year ago Martin ranked fifth.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. (third) scored his sixth top-five finish in 14 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He climbed from 11th to seventh in the NASCAR NEXTEL cup standings.
• Jeff Gordon (fourth) scored his 12th top-five finish in 28 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It marked his second topfive finish in 2006, both in the last two races.
• Tony Stewart (fifth) scored his fifth top-five finish in 15 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It was his second top-five finish in 2006. The defending NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Champion climbed from 19th to 12th in the point standings.
• Jimmie Johnson (sixth) has finished four top-10 finishes, including two victories, in the first four races in 2006. He is the only driver to start the 2006 season with four top-10 finishes. He remained first in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings. Johnson has ranked among the top-10 in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings for 73 straight races, a streak that began after race No. 4 at Atlanta in March 2004.
• Paul Menard (seventh) scored his career best NASCAR NEXTEL Cup finish.
• Reed Sorenson (10th) was the highest finishing Raybestos Rookie-of-the Year contender in the 2006 Golden Corral 500. It marked the first top-10 finish of his short career.
• Greg Biffle (16th) led the most laps (128) in the Golden Corral 500. The last time he led the most laps in a race was at California two races ago where he finished 42nd.
• All seven of the 2006 Raybestos Rookie-of-the Year contenders have competed in all four races in 2006 and two scored top-15 finishes in today’s race.
• Joe Nemechek (17th) has been running at the finish in the last 36 races, a streak that began at Bristol last April and is the longest current streak.(NASCAR Statistical Services)(3-20-2006) - Rumblings – Atlanta: a day late but Kasey Kahne certainly wasn’t a dollar short today at Atlanta Motor Speedway as he captured the Golden Corral 500 by daylight. Kasey’s win from the pole (he’s the first driver to do that since Matt Kenseth accomplished that feat at Bristol last August) was the second of his NEXTEL Cup career (he’s tied for 92nd on the all-time win list) and the 8th for Ray Evernham. This victory was worth $203,664 from the over $4.8M in posted awards and puts the #9 Dodge on the Winners Circle Plan this season. Most of the action today came on pit road. We had loose lug nuts, accidents, a crew member run over, and the seemingly ever-present tire problems.
Dale Earnhardt Jr (3rd) had his best finish since he won at Chicagoland last July.
Paul Menard (7th) had his career-best finish today. His previous best was 27th at Watkins Glen last August.
Kyle Petty (8th) had his best finish since he was 8th at Dover last September.
Reed Sorenson (10th) had his career-best finish today. His previous best was 21st at California last month.
Scott Riggs (11th) had his best finish since he was runner-up at Michigan last August.
STREAKIN….Jimmie Johnson has 6 Top-10’s in the last 7 races.
Mark Martin has 4 Top-10’s in the last 5 races.
This Week’s Elevator….UP: Operator of the Week is Kyle Petty (+24), followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr (+23), Dale Jarrett (+22), Terry Labonte (+21), and Jamie McMurray (+20). DOWN: The Big Dropper was Bobby Labonte (-39), followed by Kevin Harvick (-33), Kurt Busch (-28 ), Denny Hamlin (-24), Jeff Burton (-22), Carl Edwards (-22), and Jeremy Mayfield (-21). Petty Enterprises captures both ends of a very busy “Shaft” today.
Jimmie Johnson retains the points lead after today….but new second place man Kasey Kahne is just 50 markers in arrears. Kyle Petty (33rd to 24th) made the best move forward this week, while Carl Edwards (23rd to 30th) went seven spots in the wrong direction.(StockCarFans.com)(3-21-2006) - Raybestos Rookies; where they stand: Following Atlanta the Rookie of the Year point standings are; Erik Darnell 41, Kyle Krisiloff 25, Aric Almirola 21, Erin Crocker 19, Kerry Earnhardt 16, Robert Richardson 16, Joey Miller 15, Chad McCumbee 13, Boston Reid 11, Kraig Kinser 10, Sean Murphy 10, Bobby East 9, Scott Lagasse Jr. 6, J.R. Patton 1.(NASCAR PR)(3-20-2006)
- BDR’s Lester to qualify for Cup race: Bill Lester will pilot the #23 Nextel Cup entry for Bill Davis Racing at Atlanta. He’ll be the first black driver to attempt to qualify for a Cup Series race in 20 years. Before this week, the last black to start a Cup event was Willy T. Ribbs at Michigan on June 15, 1986. Prior to that, George Wiltshire and Randy Bethea each had a run at a Cup race in 1975. Wendell Scott started 495 times in NASCAR’s premier series and remains the only black to win a Cup race, at Jacksonville, Fla., on Dec. 1, 1963. Lester was the first black to compete in a Busch Series event in 1999, the first to start a Truck Series race in 2000, the first to win a pole for a modern-era NASCAR race in 2003, the first to win $1 million, and the first to lead a top division race in more than two decades.(nascar.com)(3-14-2006)
UPDATE: Lester qualifed 19th in the #23 Waste Management Dodge with a speed of 190.502.(3-18-2006)
UPDATE 2: Lester finished the event in the 38th position, six laps down from the race winner, but with a tremendous amount of experience from his career first Nextel Cup race. His next Cup series event is scheduled for June 18 at the Michigan International Speedway.(BDR PR)(3-20-2006)
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