Race 17 - Sharp Aquos 500Pre-Race Notes: Welcome to a beautiful day here in Fontana, California. The temperature is 81 degrees without a cloud in the sky, and we're about to go racing. This is the first track we'll visit for the second time this season, as Matt Kenseth looks to defend his narrow victory over Travis Kvapil.
Green flag: Kyle Busch, who dominated last week's race but couldn't nail down a victory, leads the 42-car field to the green flag.
Lap 2: Kvapil has quickly taken command in a typical frenzied start of the race here at California.
Lap 3: Move points leader Brian Vickers to the top of the scoring pylon.
Lap 11: Jeff Burton has taken over the race lead.
Lap 15: Vickers retakes the lead. Hendrick Motorsports, coming off a solid week, is off to a fast start. Vickers leads with Jeff Gordon in 3rd, Busch in 6th, Jimmie Johnson in 7th, and development driver Landon Cassill in 8th.
Lap 17: Burton back to the front. These two top drivers both have really fast cars early on.
Lap 18: Gordon has found his way to the lead courtesy of all the back and forth racing between the 25 and 31.
Lap 24: Burton back in front.
Lap 43: After stalking the 31 for several laps, Vickers has finally gotten back around Burton.
Lap 45: Burton doesn't like 2nd place. He is once again in front. Great racing for the lead early on here.
Lap 50: Kevin Harvick takes over the race lead as Burton and Vickers lead the first charge of green flag pit stops. Cassill, Casey Mears, Joe Nemechek, Johnson, Kyle Petty, and Todd Kluever follow.
Lap 51: Greg Biffle, Gordon, Bobby Labonte, Ryan Newman, Bobby Hamilton Jr., Kenseth, Johnny Sauter, Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer, Mike Bliss, Martin Truex Jr., Scott Riggs, Dave Blaney, Ken Schrader, Paul Menard, Reed Sorenson, Robby Gordon, Derrike Cope, and Aric Almirola all make a stop.
Lap 51: CAUTION FLAG #1-While a huge group of cars pit, A.J. Allmendinger slows suddenly on the frontstretch and is creamed by Jeremy Mayfield. Mayfield slides up and hits the frontstretch wall then is absolutely clobbered by J.J. Yeley. Both the 88 and 11 are done for the day.
Lap 56: Let's give a full-field rundown to catch up on who got trapped a lap down and who is on the tail end of the lead lap.
Lead lap: 29, 5, 77, 38, 19, 21, 55, 99, 8, 42, 09, 9, 33
Tail end: 44, 25, 17, 24, 43, 34, 2
1 lap down: 16, 12, 78, 0, 07, 18, 45, 31, 1, 41, 20, 01, 15, 92, 22, 48, 7, 74, 6, 91
Out: 88, 11
Lap 57: Biffle and Newman have raced their way onto the lead lap just one lap after the restart.
Lap 58: Kvapil moves to first as Bliss, Sauter and Bowyer all get their laps back.
Lap 59: Inside line is moving, as Kyle Busch takes back the lead and Burton gets back on the lead lap.
Lap 60: Bliss, Sauter, Bowyer, and Hamilton Jr. all have fallen a lap down again.
Lap 61: Busch starting to settle in 5 laps after the restart, as Burton has been re-lapped.
Lap 63: Blaney loses a lap.
Lap 66: Biffle falls back to a lap down.
Lap 68: Penske duo of Mears and Newman both lose a lap at the same time.
Lap 71: Mears and Burton regain a lap. Burton is not gonna stay quietly a lap down.
Lap 72: Newman back on the lead lap.
Lap 77: February winner Kenseth goes a lap down.
Lap 79: Once again the same Penske duo gets lapped in synchronization.
Lap 84: Kyle Busch taking no prisoners out front, lapping teammate Jeff Gordon.
Lap 85: Two more Hendrick cars get lapped by a Hendrick driver, as Vickers and Cassill fall victim to the speedy 5 car.
Lap 86: Vickers back on the lead lap.
Lap 87: Vickers lapped again.
Lap 88: Michael Waltrip on pit road for an unscheduled stop.
Lap 99: Jeff Gordon gets a lap back.
Lap 100: Gordon loses a lap as Ken Schrader starts what should be the next pit stop cycle.
Lap 101: Sorenson and Almirola are the next to stop for 4 tires and fuel.
Lap 102: This time it's Vickers, Mears, Cassill, Blaney, Sauter, Biffle, Kluever, and Derrike Cope.
Lap 103: Kvapil moves to the lead as Busch pits along with Jeff Gordon, Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Labonte, Hamilton Jr., Nemechek, Harvick, Johnson, Elliott Sadler, Menard, Jon Wood, Truex Jr., Petty, and Jamie McMurray.
Lap 105: Kvapil, Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Riggs finish the pit cycle. Jeff Gordon has to pit again after detecting a severe right side vibration, likely resulting from a vibration. A quick right-side tire change and the 24 is away, but he'll really lose a lot of ground for that issue.
Lap 106: Busch cycles back to the front. Mears, Burton, and Vickers have all regained a lap through the pit stop cycle.
Lap 108: Burton down a lap.
Lap 113: Mears down a lap.
Lap 114: Mears back to the lead lap.
Lap 116: Mears again loses a lap.
Lap 123: Vickers gets lapped.
Lap 129: Nemechek with an unscheduled stop.
Lap 138: Vickers on the lead lap.
Lap 139: Waltrip pits, he's off cycle.
Lap 140: Vickers lapped again.
Lap 146: All day long with this group. Vickers and Mears unlap themselves.
Lap 147: Burton to the lead lap.
Lap 148: Just like that, the 25 and 2 are once again lapped.
Lap 149: Burton, along with Denny Hamlin, loses a lap.
Lap 150: Schrader and Sorenson start a pit cycle.
Lap 151: Mears and Almirola pit.
Lap 152: Kvapil takes over the race lead as Busch pits. Following him are the 25, 34, 16, 33, 15, 1, 42, and 74 teams.
Lap 153: Pitters: 31, 12, 44, 78, 17, 43, 99, 38, 21, 8, and 6.
Lap 154: This should complete the cycle: 77, 48, 29, 18, 0, 24, 20, 7, 45, 19, 91, 09, 07, and 9.
Lap 155: Busch recycles to the lead. With about a 50 lap window for fuel, most of the drivers should be in good shape from here on out.
Lap 157: Vickers and Hamilton Jr. back on the lead lap.
Lap 161: Hamilton Jr. lapped again.
Lap 163: Burton back to the lap lap.
Lap 168: Nemechek makes his scheduled stop, off cycle just like Waltrip.
Lap 174: McMurray loses a lap.
Lap 176: Schrader loses an engine that has really sounded sick for the past 50 laps. He was by far the slowest car on track.
Lap 177: Kahne gets lapped.
Lap 179: Dale Jr. gets lapped.
Lap 185: Burton gets lapped.
Lap 187: Mears loses a lap.
Lap 190: Jon Wood is now a lap down.
Lap 190: CAUTION FLAG #2-Jason Leffler, having a great 7th place run, has stalled on the backstretch. That's a shame for the 19 team.
Lap 195: Green flag. Here's the final full-field rundown of the day:
Lead lap: 5, 77, 29, 38, 99, 33, 25
Tail end: 2, 31, 8, 21, 44
1 lap down: 12, 07, 48, 9, 34, 18, 78, 42, 0, 17, 09, 16, 45, 20, 15, 43, 7, 1
2 laps down: 41, 6, 91, 22, 74, 24, 55
3 laps down: 19, 01
OUT: 92, 88, 11
Lap 196: Robby Gordon is blowing up in the back of the pack as Burton, Dale Jr., and Wood all get lapped.
Lap 201: 50 to go. Cassill getting lapped.
Lap 202: Cassill back to the lead lap.
Lap 203: The 44 and 31 switch places. 31 on lead lap, 44 -1.
Lap 205: Johnson gets a lap back as Kyle Busch appears to be losing the handle on his Chevy. Harvick is just 0.35 seconds back as Cope loses an engine.
Lap 206: Bowyer to the lead lap.
Lap 207: Mears loses a lap and Cassill gets one back.
Lap 208: Cassill lapped by your NEW LEADER, Harvick.
Lap 210: Kvapil gets by Kyle Busch. Could it be possible that Busch will dominate for the second race in a row and not be able to finish the job?
Lap 214: Bowyer lapped by his teammate.
Lap 224: Vickers pits with an unknown vibration.
Lap 225: Nemechek on and off pit road. He's down a cylinder and 20 mph slower than the leaders.
Lap 228: Early pitters. 41, 42, and 43. Everyone likely has to pit once more.
Lap 229: Menard and Waltrip pit.
Lap 230: Newman, Dale Jr. and Petty pit. These guys all still have at least 10 more laps of fuel, but they could be trying to shortpit and gain some valuable track position.
Lap 231: 21, 20, and 19 pit, in numerical order. Still, none of the leaders have peeled off.
Lap 232: 77, 78, 91, and 09 pit. Kvapil pitting may force the hands of Harvick and Busch.
Lap 239: Nobody has pitted since Kvapil and the other 3 on lap 232. He's pounding down some serious lap times, and it'll be interesting to see if Harvick will still be leading after he pits.
Lap 240: Now more pitters are coming, with Mears and Edwards.
Lap 241: To pit road: 48, 24, 34, 44, 18, 17, 15, 16, 33, 38, 0, 6, 9, 22.
Lap 242: Burton and Bowyer pit along with the other 2 leaders, Harvick and Busch.
Lap 245: 6 to go, Harvick has a 0.96 second lead over Kvapil, but the 77 has been a stronger short run car.
Lap 246: 5 to go, and the 77 and 29 are side by side at the line. Kvapil had clear racetrack while Harvick had to deal with a lapped car, and easily caught the UPS machine.
Lap 247: Kvapil moves in front despite 10 laps more on his tires. Harvick's not gonna give it up easily though, as both these guys could desperately use a victory.
Lap 248: Burton goes down a lap, that might've been Harvick's last hope. He was counting on his teammate to give Kvapil fits, but the 77 made short work of the 31.
Lap 250: White flag for Kvapil. He can cruise now with a .8 second lead.
Checkered flag: Kvapil uses a late charge to earn a much-needed first victory of the season, catapulting him closer to Chase contention. Kyle Busch once again dominates, but falters all the way to 4th at the checkered flag.
FYI, I made a mistake in calculations last week for the yellow drivers, so here are the correct standings after race 17.
