Race 19 - Home Depot 350Pre-race-It's an exciting day in NASCAR. We begin the second half of the season in a place the Nextel Cup Series has never been before: Madison, Illinois, just east of St. Louis, at Gateway International Raceway. We've got 350 exciting laps of racing ahead of us on this unique, 1.25 mile egg-shaped flat track. It's got characteristics of Phoenix, New Hampshire, and Darlington, but there's really no other track that can compare to it. There's not a whole lot that you can predict today with no history here, so we're looking forward to seeing who carves their name into the record books.
Green flag-Jimmie Johnson leads the field to the green flag as the Cup Series begins its first ever race at GIR!
Lap 25 - Clint Bowyer to pit road with a vibration, possibly from a loose wheel.
Lap 60 - Really hard to pass so far. All of the drivers have been really tentative.
Lap 70 - Jeremy Mayfield is on pit road first, hoping to short-pit and gain a little ground on track. It's looking like track position will be a major factor in determining who comes through to win this race.
Lap 71: Kevin Harvick takes the lead as Johnson makes his first scheduled stop. Joining Johnson on pit road are Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Mike Bliss, Ward Burton, Tony Stewart, Todd Kluever, Dave Blaney, and Paul Menard.
Lap 72: On pit road are Harvick, Kurt Busch, Bobby Hamilton Jr., Brian Vickers, Casey Mears, Jeff Burton, Stephen Leicht, Joe Nemechek, J.J. Yeley, Johnny Benson, Johnny Sauter, Elliott Sadler, Kasey Kahne, Kyle Petty, Scott Riggs, Juan Montoya, Michael Waltrip, and Denny Hamlin. Ryan Newman temporarily takes over the race lead.
Lap 73: Pit stops for Newman, Bobby Labonte, Jeff Gordon, Travis Kvapil, Carl Edwards, Reed Sorenson, Aric Almirola, Martin Truex Jr., Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jon Wood, Jason Leffler, and Jamie McMurray.
Lap 74: Bowyer cycles through to the lead, but he won't keep it for long with worn tires and needing to pit soon.
Lap 82: Harvick takes the lead.
Lap 97: Bowyer makes his stop.
Lap 107: Jamie McMurray's day ends with a blown engine. He'll finish 42nd.
Lap 123: Aric Almirola, in the 23 this week, goes behind the wall with a trail of smoke following. Looks like an experimental BDR engine has gone sour. He'll finish 41st for the second week in a row.
Lap 131: YELLOW FLAG #1-Ward Burton and Clint Bowyer connect entering turn 1 and spin it around. Burton got moderate damage to the rear while Bowyer gets away with only minor damage.
Lap 136: Green flag back out. Harvick leads Kyle Busch, Vickers, Johnson, and Newman.
Lap 148: Johnson has motored his way from 4th to the lead now since the restart. Passing is at a premium for everyone except the 48 team today.
Lap 164: YELLOW FLAG #2-Newman clips Menard and the 1 spins into the inside wall on the backstretch, taking Yeley with him.
Lap 166: Crash entering pit road. Waltrip rams Hamlin, and Montoya and Yeley stop short to avoid the backwards 09 car and get slammed by the 02. Ward's day is over, he'll end up 40th.
Lap 169: Green flag just shy of halfway. Here's a full-field rundown:
Lead lap: 48, 29, 24, 25, 33, 12, 2, 5, 90, 17, 20, 01, 99, 22, 38, 34, 31, 88, 18, 0, 6, 16, 11
Tail end: 77
-1 lap: 21, 91, 78, 9, 15, 19, 8, 41, 43, 1, 55, 30, 09, 45
-2 laps: 07
OUT: 02, 23, 42
Lap 174: YELLOW FLAG #3-Cautions breed cautions. Kyle Busch clips Sorenson and the two spin into the inside wall on the frontstretch along with Stewart. Leicht gets damage to his right side door as well. Kvapil will be trapped a lap down, while Wood and Sauter were able to squeak by the leader on the restart and get a lap back.
Lap 180: Green flag: Johnson, Harvick, Mears, Nemechek, Bliss the top 5.
Lap 235: Yeley to pit road.
Lap 236: Vickers has moved to second as Nemechek, Bliss, and Menard pit.
Lap 237: Vickers gets to the front. Impressive and sudden charge by the points leader. Mears and Leffler made pit stops that time by.
Lap 238: Harvick, Riggs, Kahne, and Sorenson stop on pit road.
Lap 238: CAUTION FLAG #4-Wood taps Kenseth into a spin in turn 1. We'll see if Harvick was able to stay on the lead lap.
Lap 243: Mears, Nemechek and Bliss were trapped a lap down and will restart at the tail end. Harvick stayed on the lead lap and leads Vickers and Johnson to the green flag.
Lap 244: CAUTION FLAG #5-HUGE CRASH!!!!! At least half the field has piled into a crash on the frontstretch that started right near the leaders. This will change the complexion of this race entirely. It looks like Vickers got into Harvick exiting turn 4 in a 3-wide situation, and Harvick spun across teammate Burton's nose into the inside wall, and Burton then bounced off the wall and back into traffic, where he clipped Gordon and Newman and then was pounded by Waltrip. At that point, cars started checking up and piling in, and in about 3 seconds, the track was blocked. All told, 24 cars were officially involved, but only 5 are eliminated as most drivers were able to slow themselves enough to avoid substantial damage. Out of the race now are: Kluever, Blaney, Waltrip, Biffle, and Sauter.
Lap 249: Green flag with 102 to go. Johnson leads Vickers, Gordon, Newman, and Burton. Harvick was Johnson's only real challenger today, as Vickers only had one run that he could keep up with the top 2. Now that the 29 team is a lap down, we'll see if anybody can touch the 48 team at all.
Lap 250: Vickers uses lapped cars as a pick and gets to the front. Was his strong run before the 4th caution not a fluke after all?
Lap 271: CAUTION FLAG #6-Kahne has stalled on the backstretch with no power.
Lap 272: Earnhardt Jr. just tried to race back to the caution flag, got loose and skidded into the turn 4 grass, got loose going over the curb, and promptly rammed the pit barrier head on. He's done for the day.
Lap 276: Green flag. Vickers now has Kurt Busch in between himself and the 48.
Lap 279: Johnson gets by Busch for 2nd.
Lap 280: And Johnson to the lead. This restart, he's taking no prisoners.
Lap 301: 50 to go. Johnson has stretched his lead to 2.9 seconds.
Lap 305: Jeff Gordon with an early stop, but it will be his final stop of the day. Everyone else needs to stop, so this won't hurt him too much.
Lap 310: Bowyer pits.
Lap 313: Sorenson to pit road.
Lap 317: Leffler makes his final stop. Several drivers are trying to short pit and hope a caution doesn't come out until after everyone else pits to gain a little bit of ground.
Lap 318: Stewart makes a stop.
Lap 319: We may be looking at the bulk of stops coming soon. This time around it's Kvapil and Labonte.
Lap 320: Kurt Busch and Sadler pit.
Lap 321: Hamilton Jr. the only taker this time by.
Lap 322: First large group to pit includes Kyle Busch, Leicht, Wood, Edwards, and Truex.
Lap 324: Nobody pits last time by, and a big group this time. Go figure. It's Vickers, Burton, Mayfield, Bliss, Nemechek, Montoya, Hamlin, and Menard.
Lap 325: Newman, Riggs, Mears, Benson, Harvick, Kenseth, Yeley and Petty pit.
Lap 326: Final car left on track stops. That's your leader, Johnson.
Lap 328: Johnson cycles through back to a 2.5 second lead over Kurt Busch.
Lap 342: That's a shame. Flat tire for Johnny Benson and the 22 team, and they'll lose at least one lap, maybe more. He was running 11th, having a stellar day for BDR.
Lap 344: Another flat tire in the final 10 laps, as Sadler pits out of 15th place.
Lap 350: White flag for Johnson, with a comfortable 1.2 second lead over Kyle Busch.
Checkered flag: Jimmie Johnson dominates the inaugural race at Gateway International Raceway, starting on pole and leading 235 of 350 laps en route to his first victory of the season. Kyle Busch comes home second, marking his 3rd runner-up finish in the past 4 races, and making it 5 consecutive races with a finish inside the top 4. Impressive run for the 5 team again, especially rebounding from a spin midway through the race.
Results:
