Allstate 400Pre-race notes: After the final off-week in the Nextel Cup Season, the drivers are amped up for the Allstate 400 at historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Just 7 races remain before the start of the Chase, and several high-profile drivers are on the bubble, with the points extremely tight around that 12th-place barrier. Last year Elliott Sadler pulled away from surprise contender Jon Wood to win and kiss the bricks. Who'll be able to celebrate this year? We're about to find out.
Green flag: Polesitter Ryan Newman, an Indiana native, leads the field to the green flag for 160 laps of high-speed action.
Lap 1: CAUTION FLAG #1-Big crash midway through the field. Joe Nemechek stuck his nose in a 3-wide situation in between Bobby Labonte and Kyle Petty and started a 9-car melee. Most of the cars involved escaped with only minor damage though, as only Bobby Hamilton Jr. will not continue on in this event.
Lap 3: Jon Wood just rear-ended Paul Menard on the backstretch after pit stops, and Menard spun around. Luckily, neither car has substantial damage.
Lap 6: Green flag out as several drivers throughout the field pitted with the fear of a cut tire from running over crash debris. Jeff Gordon leads and is followed by Ward and Jeff Burton, Brian Vickers, and Johnny Sauter.
Lap 8: NEAR CRASH! Kurt Busch bounced off the wall exiting turn 2 and into Kyle Busch, who then was knocked into Todd Kluever. Kluever gets nearly completely sideways but keeps his foot in it and scrapes the inside wall but avoids serious damage. He'll lose a lot of ground, but that could've been much worse.
Lap 12: CAUTION FLAG #2-Nemechek and Labonte have collided again. This time, Nemechek pretty much ran over Labonte entering turn 1, and Labonte goes around and into the wall. He'll continue on for now, but he is not happy with the 01 car.
Lap 17: Green flag. Gordon still out front.
Lap 19: CAUTION FLAG #3-Denny Hamlin and Jason Leffler hooked fenders in turn 2 and slammed the wall pretty hard. Leffler is done for the day, while Hamlin will continue.
Lap 20: Big check-up crash. As the field slows down to get behind the pace car, several drivers rear-end each other at the back of the pack. Aric Almirola was the first to hit somebody, as he drilled Scott Wimmer, who tapped Todd Kluever. Those three got away and avoided serious damage, but behind them, Labonte, Reed Sorenson, Kyle Petty, and Stanton Barrett all crashed hard and will not continue on in this race.
Lap 24: Green flag as pit strategy jumbles up the field. J.J. Yeley leads, and is followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff and Ward Burton, and Clint Bowyer.
Lap 33: Jeff Burton has taken over the race lead.
Lap 37: CAUTION FLAG #4-We still cannot get in a long green flag run today. This time, it's Jon Wood who sends Dave Blaney on a vicious crash in turn 4. Entering the corner the 21 hooked the 43 into the inside barrier, and Blaney's heavily damaged racecar slides all the way back into the outside wall. He will not continue on in the event.
Lap 42: Green flag with Jeff Burton in the lead, followed by Vickers, Yeley, Sauter, and Earnhardt Jr.
Lap 43: CAUTION FLAG #5-Cautions breed cautions. This time, it's a Chase bubble guy who is heavily damaged. Matt Kenseth and Michael Waltrip hooked fenders through the trouble spot of the day, the exit of turn 2. They both slammed the wall and spun into the track, where most of the field avoided them. Unfortunately, Denny Hamlin had nowhere to go and slammed the 55, and the 55 bounced right into the 17, causing enough damage that all three will be finished for the afternoon. Kenseth could not afford this at all.
Lap 44: Almirola has rear-ended Wimmer under caution for the second time of the afternoon. Ironic considering that Wimmer was the driver of the 22 previously.
Lap 48: Green flag. Sauter leads, followed by Jeff Burton, Vickers, Carl Edwards, and Yeley.
Lap 53: Vickers to the front.
Lap 55: Kasey Kahne and Greg Biffle hook fenders and nail the wall at the exit of turn 2. Kahne hits pretty hard and spins around, but no caution flag flies.
Lap 59: Biffle has hit pit road to fix a tire rub resulting from the contact with the wall.
Lap 61: Tony Stewart and Earnhardt Jr. suffer the same fate as Kahne and Biffle, but both keep their cars straight and avoid a caution flag.
Lap 62: Kurt Busch to the race lead.
Lap 65: Stewart hits pit road to change tires after the contact.
Lap 69: CAUTION FLAG #6-Elliott Sadler has turned the 01 of Nemechek, who slides through the infield entering turn 4 and pounds the outside wall and climbs the SAFER barrier. His car rests on its side, and Nemechek's challenging afternoon ends before the halfway mark. Meanwhile, Biffle and Stewart are trapped a lap down. Both drivers are borderline Chase contenders right now, and need to hope for a quick yellow while they are still at the tail end of the lead lap.
Lap 73: Green flag. Busch brothers lead with Kurt in front and Kyle in second, while Jeff Burton, Johnson, and Vickers round out the top 5.
Lap 74: CAUTION FLAG #7-Cautions breed cautions. This time, it's a vicious wreck. Ward Burton got into Clint Bowyer entering turn 4, and Bowyer's car slid out of control into traffic and was pounded by Paul Menard and then Kahne. Scott Riggs gets turned sideways as cars scatter, but avoids any damage. Bowyer, Menard, and Kahne are all finished for the afternoon.
Lap 75: Jeff Gordon gets turned sideways by Martin Truex Jr. as the two race back to the caution flag. The driver of the 24 is not happy with Truex Jr.
Lap 79: Green flag. Kyle Busch leads as he passed Kurt racing back to the yellow flag.
Lap 80: CAUTION FLAG #8-Approaching the halfway mark, we've got our 8th incident of the day. Gordon's day has gone from bad to worse, as he and Riggs crash hard entering turn 3. Gordon entered this race in the final Chase slot, and will likely drop out of the top 12 with this DNF.
Lap 85: Green flag. Kyle Busch in front.
Lap 102: Vickers to the lead as we finally settle into a nice green flag run.
Lap 107: Vickers hits pit road for a scheduled stop as Busch takes over the race lead.
Lap 110: Mike Bliss, Sauter, Yeley, Wood, and Almirola all make a stop.
Lap 111: The Busch brothers and Johnson pit, and Casey Mears picks up the race lead. That family has a lot of history at this speedway.
Lap 113: Jeff Burton pits. All of these stops are coming outside of the fuel window, meaning these drivers will have to make one more pit stop.
Lap 114: Biffle pits.
Lap 118: Todd Kluever pits. A large portion of the field is stretching their fuel right now to make it past lap 120. That should put them in the window where they don't have to pit again. It looks like fuel mileage, assuming we don't have another yellow, will determine the winner.
Lap 119: Sadler and Truex Jr. pit, as they couldn't stretch it any longer.
Lap 121: Here we go. Ward Burton, Johnny Benson, Newman, Yeley, Edwards, Jeremy Mayfield, Earnhardt Jr., Wimmer, and McMurray all stop for fuel, and hope to stretch it to the end.
Lap 122: These drivers should definitely make it now with one extra lap of stretching it: Harvick, Mears, Stewart, and Kvapil all pit to round out the cycle.
Lap 123: Kyle Busch cycles back to the lead.
Lap 126: With 35 to go, here's a full-field rundown.
Lead lap: 5, 25, 33, 48, 0, 02, 78, 31, 11, 99, 2, 88, 23, 38, 77, 12, 21, 15, 29, 8, 6, 42
-1 lap: 20, 16, 66
-3 laps: 22
OUT: 24, 91, 07, 1, 9, 01, 17, 55, 09, 43, 18, 41, 45, 95, 19, 34
Lap 131: 30 to go. Busch and Vickers short-pitting has put them WAY ahead of the field. Vickers runs 2nd just a half second behind Busch, and third place driver Kurt Busch is over 7 seconds back. To go back to 4th place Jimmie Johnson you have to go 11.5 seconds behind the leader. Having fresh tires while the majority of the field stayed out on old tires allowed these two to gap the field big time. But, they will still have to pit, which could mean that their large lead means nothing in the long run.
Lap 137: Vickers ducks down pit road for his final stop of the day.
Lap 139: Wood and Kluever pit.
Lap 141: The Busch brothers, Johnson, Sauter, and Bliss all pit. Carl Edwards is the new race leader.
Lap 142: Ward Burton takes the lead using a lapped car to his advantage. Almirola pits.
Lap 143: Burton and Biffle pit. All of the drivers that have pitted so far could not make it on fuel, and are short-pitting to try and make up as much ground as possible in the event that many drivers stretch their fuel to the end.
Lap 145: Yeley, Sadler and Truex Jr. hit pit road. Sadler and Truex Jr. expected to pit, but Yeley pitted inside the lap 120 window. Will some of his fellow lap-121 pitters choose to play it safe as well and not lose ground to the drivers with fresh tires?
Lap 146: Earnhardt Jr. is one of the drivers whose chosen to play it safe, as he makes a stop for a splash of fuel.
Lap 149: McMurray is playing it safe and hits pit road.
Lap 151: 10 to go. 10 cars haven't pit yet, including race leader Ward Burton. Could he pull off the incredible upset as a part-time driver? Tension is thick here at Indy.
Lap 156: 5 to go. The top 8 have not stopped for fuel yet, as well as lapped drivers Stewart and Wimmer. Burton holds a slim advantage over Penske teammates Casey Mears and Travis Kvapil. Ryan Newman is the third Penske car in 4th, but is over 2 seconds behind the top 3.
Lap 157: 4 to go. Burton holds a slim lead.
Lap 157: Burton gets forced to the high groove as one of the drivers with fresh tires gets around him. Mears and Kvapil follow through, and it's Penske 1-2 now.
Lap 158: 3 to go. Mears in command. Can he get the victory?
Lap 158: Oh no! Mears slides out of the groove in turn 2 on his worn tires, and Kvapil and Burton pass through like the red sea was parting.
Lap 158: CAUTION FLAG #9-Horrible timing for Mears! When he slid out of the groove, he hit some chunks of rubber that landed in the racing groove as well as a small piece of metal, and NASCAR is forced to throw a debris caution. This will end the race under caution. Will Kvapil save enough gas under yellow to coast to a victory? (OOC: I have absolutely no idea why the caution came out. I didn't throw it, and there were no crashes anywhere on track to warrant the yellow.)
Lap 159: 2 to go. All the drivers at the front are constantly shutting off their engines. Mears is beside himself on the radio, and angry with the 11 car for getting underneath him to force him out of the groove. Yeley was trying to track down Jeff Burton just ahead of him, as well as get back on the lead lap.
Lap 160: White flag for Kvapi. Should he save enough gas, he will win this race despite not leading a SINGLE LAP under the green flag.
Checkered flag: Travis Kvapil will kiss the bricks at Indy! He crosses the stripe, and proclaims, "We just got a gift today. Let's celebrate and make it count by making the Chase." Mears will not forget this one, as he finishes 3rd. Ward Burton, meanwhile, finishes an incredible second in a part-time effort designed to bring in extra cash at big-money races. Oh, and speaking of big money races, guess who stuns the field again with his second top 5 of the year in just 6 races? That's right, Johnny Benson. But all the focus next week will be on Travis Kvapil, as he will kiss the bricks for the first time in his career, as well as jumping into the top 12 in points.
Results (LL means lead lap, since the margin of victory was under caution):
