Race 25 - USG Sheetrock 400Pre-race Notes-2 races are left before the Chase, and some big names are currently on the outside looking in. Travis Kvapil, Matt Kenseth, and Tony Stewart are among the high-profile superstars that wouldn't make the playoffs if last week was the cutoff race. But they have 2 more chances to make some ground up on 12th place Greg Biffle, the defending Champion. 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway should be an excellent opportunity for Matt Kenseth, who typically excels on the intermediate tracks. Overall though, we should see a much tamer race than last weekend's wild wreckfest at Bristol.
Green flag-Last week's winner Ryan Newman leads the 42 car field to the green flag.
Lap 6-Hard crash in turn 2! David Stremme has climbed the fence, and now his car comes back down on all four tires and he will drive away. He got collected when Todd Kluever turned Joe Nemechek into the outside wall. Despite a brutal impact, no caution flags came out for the incident. And now it looks like Nemechek is done for the day with serious internal damage. That's HUGE! He came into this race 10th in points, with little margin for error. This has become a golden opportunity for those on the outside looking in.
Lap 24-CAUTION FLAG #1-Bobby Hamilton Jr. loses an engine and gets run over by several drivers. Scott Riggs, Aric Almirola, Dave Blaney, Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin, and Kluever all get a piece of it.
Lap 29-Green flag with Newman still in the lead. Following closely behind him are Kurt Busch, Brian Vickers, Travis Kvapil, and Kevin Harvick.
Lap 31-CAUTION FLAG #2-BIG stack-up in turn 4. Denny Hamlin got clipped by Jon Wood and those two creamed the outside wall. Johnny Sauter, Jeff Green, Kahne, Michael Waltrip, Reed Sorenson, and Steven Wallace all get a piece of it. It looks like only Waltrip will be knocked out of the race though.
Lap 36-Green flag out again. Harvick leads as Newman pitted, and Vickers, Kvapil, Clint Bowyer, and Tony Stewart now round out the top 5.
Lap 36-CAUTION FLAG #3-Cautions breed cautions. This time, it's a monster wreck on the backstretch that happened when Dave Blaney's damaged racecar caused drivers to go in all sorts of directions to get past. It looks like Matt Kenseth and Mike Bliss made contact trying to squeeze around the slow #43 machine, and all hell broke loose. Newman got a tiny piece of damage when he hit the outside wall, but Kenseth, Green, and Blaney definitely got the worst of it. That pretty much ends Kenseth's Chase hopes. Other drivers that got minor damage include Jeremy Mayfield, Kyle Busch, and Elliott Sadler.
Lap 41-Green flag. More varying pit strategies has put Bowyer out front, followed by Bobby Labonte, Jamie McMurray, Carl Edwards, and Kasey Kahne.
Lap 41-CAUTION FLAG #4-And it continues. This time, it's a big wreck exiting turn 4 that probably came as a result of some slower cars in the top 10 that didn't pit. Jimmie Johnson tried to thread the needle and get past both Kahne and Kyle Petty in one fell swoop but his move backfired, and a number of drivers crashed, mostly as they tried to slow down and get past the incident up near the wall. Kvapil, Biffle, Paul Menard, Hamlin, Wallace, Casey Mears, and J.J. Yeley are officially listed as involved, but only Wallace, Kahne, and Petty are eliminated. Kvapil has significant damage though, and will struggle the rest of the day. That's a big blow to his Chase hopes.
Lap 46-Green flag out again. We'll see if we can complete a full lap this time. Bowyer still leads and is followed by Sorenson, Stewart, David Ragan, and Vickers.
Lap 46-CAUTION FLAG #5-It just doesn't stop. Another multi-car wreck is out, this time as Jeff Burton and Elliott Sadler wreck hard in turn 4 along with Newman and Edwards. Edwards and Newman only got minor damage, but Sadler's car is destroyed. He was a big-time longshot to make the Chase as it was, and this serves as the final nail in the coffin to last year's runner-up's Chase chances.
Lap 52-Green flag with Kurt Busch leading Johnson, McMurray, Labonte, and younger brother Kyle.
Lap 53-CAUTION FLAG #6-At least we made it a full lap this time! Now the yellow flag is out for a wreck near the back of the pack exiting turn 2. Jon Wood clipped Aric Almirola, and Brian Vickers had nowhere to go. Sauter, Harvick and Biffle all get caught up as well, and Biffle gets the worst of it. He's the bubble guy right now, so he really couldn't afford a bad finish. Luckily, Nemechek will finish much lower in the race today and will fall behind the 16, so Biffle can survive getting leapfrogged by a driver and stay in the top 12.
Lap 56-Jason Leffler has lost an engine under the yellow flag.
Lap 58-Green flag. Tony Stewart making the most of some Chaser struggles as he holds the lead, followed by Bowyer, DEI teammates Earnhardt Jr. and Menard, and Kyle Busch.
Lap 59-CAUTION FLAG #7-Two different wrecks happen simulatenously and Jeff Gordon turns Aric Almirola and in turn David Ragan, while Jeff Burton and J.J. Yeley wreck just in front in turn 2. Ragan is the only one to survive this incident.
Lap 64-Green flag as Ganassi teammates, despite AWFUL seasons, run 1-2. Sorenson 1st, McMurray 2nd, and Vickers, Earnhardt Jr., and Bowyer round out the top 5. It's truly a battle of attrition right now.
Lap 64-CAUTION FLAG #8-Clint Bowyer is raging on the radio right now because he has no way of finding out how good his car is, and we're already almost a quarter of the way through this event. The caution has flown as Vickers and Earnhardt Jr. tangled exiting turn 4, and Casey Mears got minor damage as well. J.J. Yeley also got substantial damage and will drop out of the race with the points leader Vickers.
Lap 69-Gree flag. Martin Truex Jr. is the latest surprise name at the front, using pit strategy to get in front of Stewart, Edwards, and the Busch brothers.
Lap 80-Could it be? A long green flag run is starting to develop. Kurt Busch, meanwhile, has taken the lead away from Truex.
Lap 90-Move Tony Stewart to the top spot. He is having a solid run along with teammate Labonte today, which is crucial because the Gibbs cars have not run all that well on the intermediates this season.
Lap 115-Casey Mears blows an engine and watches his top 10 run go to waste.
Lap 126-Green flag pit stops begin! Who would have imagined that after the horrible stretch of wrecking we endured earlier? Not me. Wood, Labonte, and Johnson lead the first charge.
Lap 127-Edwards makes a stop.
Lap 129-Kurt Busch takes over the lead as Stewart pits for 4 tires and fuel.
Lap 130-Kyle Busch, Mayfield, and Truex Jr. make stops.
Lap 131-Bliss, Menard, and Newman hit pit road.
Lap 132-Kurt Busch pits along with Sauter, Hamlin, and Earnhardt Jr., as Bowyer retakes the lead.
Lap 133-Sorenson pits.
Lap 134-Ragan and Harvick pit.
Lap 135-Bowyer and McMurray hit pit road.
Lap 139-Kvapil was the only driver out on track that hadn't pitted, and he finally gets a clear path to get onto pit road. His worn tires made him so much slower than the drivers on new tires that he got passed so quickly on both sides that he couldn't possibly make it down pit road.
Lap 168-100 laps to go as this green flag run continues. Here's a full-field rundown:
Lead lap: 20, 33, 5, 07, 15, 99, 18, 12, 78, 41
-1 lap: 29, 8, 42, 48, 0
-2 laps: 21, 1, 88
-6 laps: 77
-7 laps: 06
-8 laps: 09
OUT: 2, 25, 11, 24, 31, 22, 19, 16, 38, 66, 9, 45, 17, 50, 43, 55, 91, 6, 34, 40, 01
Lap 169-CAUTION FLAG #9-As soon as I mention how long the green flag run has been going, we have another spin. David Ragan has looped it around on the backstretch, but avoided any damage.
Lap 174-Green flag with Stewart leading Kurt, Kyle, Bowyer, and Labonte. Great run for the Gibbs boys today.
Lap 177-GREAT RACING! 5 cars under a blanket as Kurt Busch and Bowyer take Stewart 3-wide for the lead! Kurt Busch leads the lap at the stripe as the tension builds.
Lap 178-This time it's Bowyer in first place across the start finish line. RCR teammates Bowyer and Busch occupy the low line as Gibbs teammates Stewart and Labonte battle for the lead up top.
Lap 218-50 laps to go, Stewart had dropped back from Bowyer but has made a charge in the last few laps and now sits just 0.3 seconds behind the leader.
Lap 226-Green flag stops start again. These will be the last ones of the day. It's Edwards, Wood, and Johnson leading the charge.
Lap 228-Mayfield stops.
Lap 229-Newman hits pit road.
Lap 230-Labonte gives up a top 5 spot to get 4 fresh Goodyears.
Lap 231-Big group pitting this time by: Kurt Busch, Harvick, Truex Jr., Sorenson, Sauter, Bliss, and McMurray.
Lap 232-Bowyer, Stewart, Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch, Menard, and Kvapil pit.
Lap 234-Hamlin makes his final stops of the day.
Lap 235-Ragan completes the cycle of stops.
Lap 238-With pitting likely finished for the day, Bowyer leads Stewart and Busch but the top 3 are bumper to bumper with 30 to go. Looks like the 20 and 33 teams made some really good adjustments on that final stop.
Lap 239-CAUTION FLAG #10-As the leaders caught Denny Hamlin, Bowyer and Stewart got by him on the frontstretch, but Busch got loose in turn 1 and got stuck behind the 09. Frustrated with his mistake and at the prospect of losing touch with the top 2, he just blatantly spun out the 09 on the backstretch.
Lap 244-Green flag. Here's the top 10 drivers on the lead lap: Bowyer, Stewart, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Edwards, Labonte, Truex Jr., Sorenson in a great run for the 41 team, Sauter, and Newman.
Lap 244-CAUTION FLAG #11-Here we go again. Lapped drivers Johnson and Earnhardt Jr. tangle along with Kyle Busch, and Sorenson piles in with nowhere to go. That fantastic top 10 day for the Georgian is all for naught. Kvapil also gets minor damage in the wreck, as the only driver involved that isn't eliminated from the race.
Lap 249-19 to go on the restart. Bowyer, Stewart, Busch, Edwards, and Labonte the top 5.
Lap 253-15 to go now, less than 1 second separates the top 5. Labonte and Truex have moved past Edwards, who is struggling with some of the lapped cars.
Lap 258-10 to go, Bowyer increases his lead over Smoke to about 3 tenths of a second.
Lap 263-5 to go at the stripe...and CONTACT AT THE FRONT OF THE FIELD! Bowyer rapidly caught Kvapil's damaged machine and tried to go to the 77's inside on the frontstretch right as Kvapil attempted to go low to get out of his way. Miraculously, he saves it as the top 4 get jumbled up. Labonte gets past Busch for second, but Bowyer manages to increase his lead as Stewart, in a much more precarious points position, backed off to avoid the possible crash.
Lap 265-3 to go now. Bowyer is in the clear with a 0.75 second lead.
Lap 266-2 to go. Busch has gotten back around Labonte and Stewart is closing it back down. It's back to 3 tenths now.
Lap 267-White flag. Stewart is close but not close enough yet. 2 tenths separate Bowyer's 2nd win of the season from Stewart's 5th win.
Checkered flag-Bowyer holds them off! He gets his 2nd win of the season as Stewart falls short, but the driver of the 20 has nothing to be ashamed of. His strong runner-up finish catapults him from 14th to 11th in points, as Nemechek's last place finish sinks him from 10th to 14th. Meanwhile, Bowyer, Johnson, Mears, Harvick, Burton, and Edwards all clinch Chase spots. We'll head to Dover next week with 3 spots up for grab 8 drivers in contention for those spots.
Results:
