Race 33 - Dickies 400 - CHASE RACE #7

Bobby Ricky looks at...the Dickies 400

Four races to go, and we're back in the Lone Star state, where an out-of-the-blue plot twist led Jeff Gordon to victory last time we were here. What should we expect this time around?

Obviously, Gordon's gonna be going for the Texas sweep, but all eyes will most likely be on the other Jeff, as in Burton. The Mayor returns to the track that he swept both races at last season. That 31 team has been pretty competitive here at Texas since Jeff Burton took the driver's seat in 2005, and even though Burton didn't win here in the spring, that shouldn't stop him from keeping up the competitiveness here on Sunday...and maybe getting that first win of the season that he's been missing out on all year!

Of course, we can't forget the competition. Ryan Newman enters this race 48 points back from Burton. A good run by the 12 plus a bad run by the 31 will most likely equal Newman moving into position number 1 in points. Newman's also been pretty good at this track as of recent, and with Casey Mears and Travis Kvapil both likely to be out of title contention by the end of this race, you know Newman's gonna go all out to catch Burton and move Roger Penske closer to a second title to go alongside Rusty Wallace's championship in 2005. And after his win at Martinsville last week, you can bet that Kyle Busch will be looking to make up ground as well! He's 67 points out of the lead, but four races is enough time to make something happen!

Race 33 - Dickies 400
Everything's bigger in Texas....except for the race distance. For the first time in the history of the fall race at Texas, we'll only be racing 400 miles today. That means that the race will start and end in daylight, contrary to prior years, when the race continued on past sunset. Drivers are prepared with multiple pieces of tapes on the visors of their helmets, as the glare near the end of the race could be exceedingly strong. In terms of the Chase, meanwhile, all 12 drivers are still mathematically in it. Jeff Burton swept Texas in 2006, and will be looking to extend his points lead with his first victory of the season. But plenty of other drivers think they can win it, and will be racing as hard as ever with the Championship still up for grabs. Only 400 miles will be run today, so drivers won't have as much time to make their moves. What will the points look like after today? Let's find out right now here on NASCAR on ESPN.

Green flag: Casey Mears leads the 42-car field to the green flag. Points leader Jeff Burton starts from 5th.

Lap 2: Mears did not going very well, and Bobby Labonte surges from 3rd to 1st and leads the first lap of the race.

Lap 3: Burton flying already, as he moves past Labonte and takes the lead. 5th to 1st in the first two laps. Can you tell he's hungry?

Lap 6: Wow. Mears is just having a horrible day already. After starting on the pole and losing the lead before getting to turn 1, he's dropped all the way to 18th after just 5 laps.

Lap 30: Jeff Gordon gets past Burton for the race lead.

Lap 42: Jamie McMurray is slow on track with some kind of electrical malfunction, and will take it to pit road. It looks like he'll lose several laps as his crew tries to diagnose the issue.

Lap 51: Here's the first Chase update with 50 caution-free laps in the books:
Jeff Gordon-1st
Jeff Burton-2nd
Kyle Busch-3rd
Brian Vickers-4th
Kevin Harvick-5th
Jimmie Johnson-6th
Travis Kvapil-7th
Ryan Newman-9th
Tony Stewart-12th
Clint Bowyer-14th
Casey Mears-18th
Carl Edwards-22nd

Lap 62: Burton takes back the lead as Gordon begins the first round of green flag pit stops. Following the leader are Johnson, Labonte, Edwards, Dave Blaney, Elliott Sadler, and Aric Almirola.

Lap 63: Harvick takes the lead as Burton pits with Vickers, Kyle Busch, Paul Menard, Kvapil, Newman, Ward Burton, Jon Wood, Mike Bliss, Johnny Sauter, Kyle Petty, Joe Nemechek, Robby Gordon, and Reed Sorenson.

Lap 64: Pitting this time by are Michael Waltrip, Matt Kenseth, Stewart, Bowyer, J.J. Yeley, Greg Biffle, Todd Kluever, Steven Wallace, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jason Leffler, Kasey Kahne, Kenny Wallace, Scott Riggs, and David Stremme.

Lap 65: Harvick finally pits along with teammate Kurt Busch, Mears, Jeremy Mayfield, Martin Truex Jr., and Bobby Hamilton Jr.

Lap 66: Gordon has moved back in front after the full cycle of stops.

Lap 101: Wow. The 12 Chase drivers have brought their "A" game today. All 12 are inside the top 15, with 9 of the top 10 spots going to Chasers. Here's a look at where they run:
Jeff Gordon-1st
Jeff Burton-2nd
Kevin Harvick-3rd
Kyle Busch-4th
Jimmie Johnson-5th
Brian Vickers-6th
Ryan Newman-8th
Tony Stewart-9th
Travis Kvapil-10th
Clint Bowyer-12th
Casey Mears-13th
Carl Edwards-15th

Lap 113: Jamie McMurray makes his off-sequence, but scheduled pit stop.

Lap 122: Two cars in the wall in turn 3. Looks like J.J. Yeley and Greg Biffle hooked fenders entering the corner. Both are heavily damaged on the right side and will head straight to the garage, but strangely enough, no caution flag flies for the incident.

Lap 124: 2nd round of green flag stops beginning with Sadler, Newman, Johnson, Kvapil, Labonte, Edwards, and Petty.

Lap 125: Burton takes the lead as Gordon pits with Almirola, Harvick, Kyle Busch, Bowyer, and Sauter.

Lap 126: This lap sees Blaney, Steven Wallace, Kenseth, Robby Gordon, Ward Burton, and Bliss on pit road.

Lap 126: CAUTION FLAG #1-Big crash in turn 3! Kvapil hits HARD! And now there's a car on top of Burton! The points leader is in it! Ryan Newman spun Paul Menard, who was trying to get to pit road, and Menard slid up into the wall, and then down the banking, where Kvapil clobbered him and sent him airborne. Menard bounced back off the track and then landed on the passenger side of the roof on Burton. There's right side damage on the 31, and it looks like his chances of extending his points lead today are completely gone.

Lap 131: Green flag back out just shy of halfway. Here's a full-field rundown that will tie up who lost a lap and who didn't from the caution during pit stops:
Lead lap: 20, 33, 21, 88, 25, 2
Tail end: 15, 24, 29, 5, 17, 12, 07, 02, 0, 6, 9, 18, 34, 99, 01, 19, 8
-1 lap: 91, 41, 31, 48, 43, 45, 38, 22, 00, 40, 7, 66, 55, 78
-9 laps: 42
OUT: 77, 1, 11, 16

Lap 132: Earnhardt Jr. loses a lap.

Lap 133: Kurt Busch moves past Smoke into the lead and puts Labonte and Edwards a lap down.

Lap 134: Bowyer, Ward Burton, and Kluever all lose a lap.

Lap 135: Leaders are wasting no time in eliminating possible contenders by putting them down a lap. This time by, it's the dominant car from the first half of the race, Jeff Gordon, losing a lap along with Leffler.

Lap 136: Hamilton Jr. goes down a lap.

Lap 137: Kahne gets lapped.

Lap 138: Nemechek is now one lap off the pace.

Lap 140: Newman, in a position to take the points lead thanks to Burton's misfortunes, loses a lap.

Lap 143: Stewart gets back around the elder Busch brother for the lead.

Lap 145: Truex Jr. loses a lap.

Lap 148: Bliss loses a lap.

Lap 157: Kurt Busch back to the lead.

Lap 164: Stewart has gotten back around the 2004 Champion.

Lap 187: Next round of green flag stops begins with Kyle Busch, Labonte, Newman, Harvick, and Kenseth.

Lap 188: Petty, Sadler, Jeff Gordon, and Steven Wallace pit.

Lap 189: Sauter, Bowyer, Bliss, Johnson, Kenny Wallace, Riggs, and McMurray make stops.

Lap 190: Largest group yet pits: 33, 15, 99, 02, 22, 7, 01, 9, 40, and 55.

Lap 191: Stewart gives up the lead to Vickers as he pits along with Blaney, Mears, Mayfield, and Sorenson.

Lap 191: Trouble in 3! Vickers and Riggs have tangled similarly to how Yeley and Biffle did earlier. The only difference is that Vickers will continue on with right-side damage while Riggs's day is done.

Lap 192: Vickers gives up the lead to fix the fender damage, and is followed to pit road by Hamilton Jr., Wood, Kluever, Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Burton, and Leffler.

Lap 193: Stewart is back in the lead now that the cycle of stops is complete.

Lap 201: Chase Update #3:
Tony Stewart-1st
Casey Mears-3rd
Brian Vickers-6th
Kevin Harvick-7th
Kyle Busch-9th
Clint Bowyer-11th, -1 lap
Jimmie Johnson-14th, -1 lap
Carl Edwards-15th, -1 lap
Ryan Newman-16th, -1 lap
Jeff Gordon-17th, -1 lap
Jeff Burton-36th, -4 laps
Travis Kvapil-39th, OUT

Lap 219: Kyle Busch loses a lap to Stewart. Just 8 cars remain on the lead lap.

Lap 237: And make that 7! Kevin Harvick's dismal Chase continues as his engine goes up in smoke with just 31 laps to go. While he still won't be mathematically eliminated, his Chase is basically over due to how many drivers remain between him and Newman.

Lap 246: CAUTION FLAG #2-Debris in turn 2 has us under just our 2nd yellow flag of the afternoon. This race is flying by.

Lap 251: Green flag with 17 to go. The lead lap cars are Stewart, Kurt Busch, Mears, Kenseth, Wood, Mayfield, and Vickers.

Lap 252: Matt Kenseth cannot catch a break. His sorely-needed top 5 run will go for naught as he pits with a heavy vibration. He'll lose a lap and finish mid-pack after almost having a trouble-free race.

Lap 258: 10 to go, Stewart up by just 0.2 seconds on Mears.

Lap 263: 5 to go, Stewart has opened it up to just over half a second.

Lap 266: 2 laps to go, and Steven Wallace is in the way for Stewart. Mears has brought it back to just 0.2 seconds.

Lap 267: White flag for Stewart, as Mears narrows the margin by another half a tenth.

Checkered flag: Stewart gets the win! He pulls away from Mears on the final lap to earn his series-leading 6th win of the year. The middle of his season was very inconsistent, but in the first 7 races of the Chase, Stewart's performance on the 1.5 mile tracks has improved greatly. He'll head to Atlanta just 17 points behind Newman, as the standings shuffle once again. If there was just 1 race left, 9 of the 12 Chasers would still be mathematically in contention. That's how tight this battle is.

Screenshots:

Casey Mears leads the field to the green flag.


J.J. Yeley and Greg Biffle tangle in turn 3.


Paul Menard, Jeff Burton, and Travis Kvapil crash hard in turn 3.


Brian Vickers and Scott Riggs get together in turn 3.


Kevin Harvick blows an engine.


Tony Stewart wins his 6th race of the year.

Hamlin declined comment after another DNQ.