Just so everybody is aware, since there are two pit lanes at Bristol, I'm not covering any green flag pit stops, whether it is unscheduled or just a regular cycle of stops.
Race 24 - Sharpie 500Pre-Race Notes - Stakes are high. Just 3 races before the Chase. Points are at a premium. And where are we? None other speedway than Bristol Motor Speedway, the World's Fastest Half-Mile. It's the only race at BMS this season, which means that the typical Saturday night slugfest should commence at 7:30 sharp. The biggest wild card will be the track surface. With progressive banking added, it's a distinct possibility that the high line could be the fastest way around the track. The focus for much of tonight will be on the Chase bubble drivers, but the past couple of years have seen this track give us some surprise finishers in the top 10. Will we see some of that again?
Green flag-Jimmie Johnson leads the field to the green flag.
Lap 13-Johnson has already hit the backmarkers, with A.J. Allmendinger and Robby Gordon the first to impede his progress.
Lap 51-50 laps in the books, and we're down to 31 cars on the lead lap. Robert Yates teammates Elliott Sadler and Jeremy Mayfield are trying to hang on to a lead lap spot. They're both bubble drivers struggling early on.
Lap 78-Trouble on the backstretch! Travis Kvapil and Allmendinger make contact and slide into the inside wall. No caution flies, but Kvapil has taken it behind the wall with race-ending suspension problems. That is a massive blow to his Chase hopes.
Lap 101-100 laps in and no cautions have flown on the resurfaced bullring. Casey Mears is in second place, just 0.91 seconds behind Johnson. At one point, he was almost 4 seconds back. That's what having solid lapped cars in front of you can do. Johnson has put almost half the field a lap down now and is fighting with some stronger racecars.
Lap 116-YELLOW FLAG #1-Car upside down! Jamie McMurray got clipped by Kevin Harvick and went HARD into the outside wall and flipped over because of how hard he smacked it. He barrel rolls to a stop but is clipped by Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Meanwhile, cars go scattering all around. Kasey Kahne, Dave Blaney, and Clint Bowyer all spun in synchronization into the inside wall while Bobby Labonte and Todd Kluever tangled up near the outside wall.
Lap 122-Green flag: Johnson leads Mears, Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman, and Joe Nemechek.
Lap 167-YELLOW FLAG #2-Kyle Busch got into Mears and sent the Blue Deuce spinning on the backstretch. Nobody suffers any serious damage though.
Lap 173-Green flag: Johnson still in command, with Brian Vickers, Newman, J.J. Yeley, and Nemechek rounding out the top 5.
Lap 181-Kevin Harvick has lost the camshaft on his #29 Chevy.
Lap 190-YELLOW FLAG #3-Another chain reaction crash. Paul Menard skids into the outside wall in turn 2 and gets drilled by Jeff Gordon. Carl Edwards, Jason Leffler, Mears, Greg Biffle, and Michael Waltrip all pile in and suffer some damage.
Lap 191-Oh no! Kyle Busch, despite being a lap down, tried to pit with the leaders and got to Jimmie Johnson's inside. Johnson had no idea he was there and tried to force his way onto pit road but ended up pounding the pit barrier. The driver that won the pole and has led every lap so far is out of the race.
Lap 196-Green flag. Newman is the new leader with Vickers, Nemechek, and Johnny Sauter the only cars on the lead lap. (OOC: NR2003 on Bristol is a pain in the ass with cars getting lapped under yellow).
Lap 201-Contact with the leaders! Vickers tries a bump and run after dogging Newman for several laps and Newman scrapes the wall while Nemechek goes 3 wide to the inside and grabs the lead. Great racing up front!
Lap 206-YELLOW FLAG #4-HUGE CRASH! Matt Kenseth and Jeff Burton tangled exiting turn 2 with Kyle Busch and Burton was left sitting in front of oncoming traffic. Things happen fast at Bristol, and eventually the track got blocked. A lot of driver piled in hard, but everyone walks away. Here's the list of drivers not already mentioned that got damage in this one: Kurt Busch, Stanton Barrett, Carl Edwards, Leffler, Jon Wood, Biffle, Mears, Kluever, Bobby Hamilton Jr., Kyle Petty, Martin Truex Jr., Mayfield, Sadler, Yeley, Stephen Leicht, Reed Sorenson, and Allmendinger.
Lap 212-Green flag: Vickers, Newman, Nemechek, and Sauter.
Lap 216-Newman to the lead.
Lap 251-Full field rundown at the halfway point.
Lead Lap: 12, 25, 01, 78
-1 lap: 7, 11, 0, 55
-2 laps: 88, 15, 43
-3 laps: 91
-4 laps: 22, 16
-6 laps: 2
-7 laps: 00
-27 laps: 6 (OOC: Just kept going on and off pit road for the rest of the race)
OUT: 34, 38, 45, 90, 33, 21, 41, 17, 5, 31, 95, 19, 99, 23, 48, 24, 1, 29, 9, 07, 8, 42, 20, 18, 77
Lap 251-YELLOW FLAG #5-Oh boy. Todd Kluever exited pit road and got clipped by Aric Almirola and Jeremy Mayfield. Scott Riggs, Kenny Wallace and Truex Jr. also get damage, with Riggs getting the worst of it.
Lap 252-What the heck??? Two cars are upside down at the pit wall! Apparently Jeremy Mayfield tried to slide down the banking and go straight to pit road but Mike Bliss tried to avoid the incident using that same pathway and they collided right at the entrance and took out the sand barrels big time. We'll go under red flag to clean this up. Luckily, all drivers are okay.
Lap 257-Green flag with Vickers leading.
Lap 264-Newman to the lead.
Lap 265-And Vickers takes it right back.
Lap 290-Newman moves back to the point. He wants this win after a winless 2006 season and no wins so far this season.
Lap 292-Vickers isn't having any of it, as he retakes the lead.
Lap 296-YELLOW FLAG #6-Michael Waltrip and Casey Mears make contact, and Vickers and Nemechek wreck hard as Waltrip slides down the banking. Truex Jr., Sauter, Robby Gordon, and Dave Blaney also get into the wreck. That's more than half of the remaining field.
Lap 303-Vickers, Sauter, and Nemechek are sidelined now, so Newman is the only car on the lead lap with 198 to go on the restart. Just 9 cars are left in it.
Lap 401-100 laps to go. Newman is on cruise control with a 1 lap advantage over Yeley.
Lap 449-YELLOW FLAG #7-Debris in turn 3. If Yeley stayed out 2 laps longer he would've gotten to pit under yellow and gotten onto the lead lap.
Lap 454-Green flag for Newman.
Lap 468-Yeley gets a lap back the hard way. Newman isn't pushing right now, but he'd be best served to get the 11 back a lap down.
Lap 475-With 26 to go Yeley has gone back down a lap. He's worn the rear tires off of it.
Lap 491-10 to go for Newman.
Lap 500-White flag.
Checkered flag-Ryan Newman cruises to a one lap victory over the rest of the field and earns his first win of 2007 and 14th win of his career as he clinches his spot in the 2007 Chase for the Nextel Cup. Also, congratulations to both J.J. Yeley (2nd) and Aric Almirola (4th) for getting their first career top 5 finishes tonight. Martin Truex Jr. (3rd) and Kenny Wallace (5th) complete the underdog-filled top 5.
