NASCAR - Coca Cola 600 *spoiler*
Posted by NeilPearson
Taken from Nascar.com
CONCORD, N.C. -- Jimmie Johnson's reign ended in frantic -- but fruitless -- pursuit of Kasey Kahne.
There's finally a new Coca-Cola 600 winner, and somebody other than Johnson celebrated in Victory Lane at Lowe's Motor Speedway for the first time in six races.
Kahne stopped Johnson's streak of total dominance by taking the lead with 29 laps to go, then pulling out to such a huge lead that Johnson never had a chance to catch him.
Johnson, the winner of the past three Coca-Cola 600s and seven of the last 10 races at Lowe's, finished second. He was well over 2 seconds behind Kahne, who stopped his car at the finish line to grab the checkered flag and celebrate with his team.
"It's a weird race, a long race, and I'm very proud of the stats that I've had -- and slightly disappointed that it's come to an end,'' Johnson said.
It was Kahne's third victory of the season, and the first win for a Dodge at this track since Richard Petty in 1977.
Carl Edwards, Mark Martin and Matt Kenseth finished third through fifth for Roush Racing, followed by Jeff Burton, then Greg Biffle and Jamie McMurray in the other two Roush Fords. Denny Hamlin and Reed Sorenson rounded out the top 10, while Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 11th.
Defending series champion Tony Stewart wrecked early in the race and was taken to the hospital for evaluation. He was seen and released, with a minimally displaced fracture at the tip of his right shoulder blade.
Stewart also was taken to the hospital with a bruised shoulder following a wreck Saturday night in the Busch Series race.
It looked as if polesitter Scott Riggs was going to make a run at his first career victory until a series of mistakes during his pit stop with 40 laps to go took him out of contention.
Riggs was the leader when he pitted, but didn't come to a clean stop, stalled his Dodge when he tried to pull away, and as his crew pushed him out the jack and fuel can left his assigned area -- drawing a stop-and-go penalty that took him out of contention. He ended up 13th, after leading eight times for 90 laps.
Riggs was 17th on the restart, with Edwards, Johnson and Kahne leading the field with 33 laps to go.
Kahne grabbed the lead moments later, his seventh time out front in NASCAR's longest race of the season. He led a race-high 158 of the 400 laps in a race that begins in the day, ends in the night and leaves most drivers mentally and physically exhausted.
"Kasey's car was pretty awesome,'' Edwards said. "I couldn't keep up with him when he went by us, so I'm pretty happy with third place.''
Tempers flared late in the race when Casey Mears lost control of his Dodge, bounced off the wall and into Kyle Busch while the two were running second and fourth. Mears suffered slight damage, but Busch's night was ruined.
As NASCAR officials tried to coax Busch back toward the garage, he angrily tried to break free so he could get at Mears as he passed by. He only managed a feeble, left-handed toss of a safety device that failed to hit Mears.
"Just a very frustrating moment for me,'' Busch said. "I had a really great race car that I thought could have won the race.''
Drivers had to contend with a slick new track surface, a very hard tire that made it difficult from them to get good grip, and NASCAR-mandated small fuel cells that forced them to stop for gas more times than usual.
Martin used the pre-race driver's meeting to implore the competitors to use patience on the track surface, which had a $3 million repaving job over the winter. The new surface was fast -- and slippery to drivers on cold tires -- and Goodyear tried to counter it with one of the hardest tire compounds it could create.
But just to be on the safe side, NASCAR ordered the use of a 14-gallon fuel tank to ensure drivers could not put together long runs that would cause extensive wear on the tires.
Despite all the precautions, the race was still plagued with plenty of spins and an occasional tire problem.
Stewart had his accident 32 laps into the race when he lost air in his right front tire, sending his Chevrolet hard into the wall. He was already nursing the sore shoulder from the hard hit Saturday night, and Stewart was in clear discomfort when he was helped out of his car.
There were 15 cautions -- down from a record 22 a year ago -- and drivers had mixed opinions on the surface and the tire.
"I can't believe this is the kind of tire we have to race on,'' Jeff Gordon grumbled after wrecking out to finish 36th. "Goodyear could do better than this, and we could put on a better race than this.'
unnoffical race results
[www.nascar.com]
Driver Championship Standings
[www.nascar.com]
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/2006 12:10PM by NeilPearson.
CONCORD, N.C. -- Jimmie Johnson's reign ended in frantic -- but fruitless -- pursuit of Kasey Kahne.
There's finally a new Coca-Cola 600 winner, and somebody other than Johnson celebrated in Victory Lane at Lowe's Motor Speedway for the first time in six races.
Kahne stopped Johnson's streak of total dominance by taking the lead with 29 laps to go, then pulling out to such a huge lead that Johnson never had a chance to catch him.
Johnson, the winner of the past three Coca-Cola 600s and seven of the last 10 races at Lowe's, finished second. He was well over 2 seconds behind Kahne, who stopped his car at the finish line to grab the checkered flag and celebrate with his team.
"It's a weird race, a long race, and I'm very proud of the stats that I've had -- and slightly disappointed that it's come to an end,'' Johnson said.
It was Kahne's third victory of the season, and the first win for a Dodge at this track since Richard Petty in 1977.
Carl Edwards, Mark Martin and Matt Kenseth finished third through fifth for Roush Racing, followed by Jeff Burton, then Greg Biffle and Jamie McMurray in the other two Roush Fords. Denny Hamlin and Reed Sorenson rounded out the top 10, while Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 11th.
Defending series champion Tony Stewart wrecked early in the race and was taken to the hospital for evaluation. He was seen and released, with a minimally displaced fracture at the tip of his right shoulder blade.
Stewart also was taken to the hospital with a bruised shoulder following a wreck Saturday night in the Busch Series race.
It looked as if polesitter Scott Riggs was going to make a run at his first career victory until a series of mistakes during his pit stop with 40 laps to go took him out of contention.
Riggs was the leader when he pitted, but didn't come to a clean stop, stalled his Dodge when he tried to pull away, and as his crew pushed him out the jack and fuel can left his assigned area -- drawing a stop-and-go penalty that took him out of contention. He ended up 13th, after leading eight times for 90 laps.
Riggs was 17th on the restart, with Edwards, Johnson and Kahne leading the field with 33 laps to go.
Kahne grabbed the lead moments later, his seventh time out front in NASCAR's longest race of the season. He led a race-high 158 of the 400 laps in a race that begins in the day, ends in the night and leaves most drivers mentally and physically exhausted.
"Kasey's car was pretty awesome,'' Edwards said. "I couldn't keep up with him when he went by us, so I'm pretty happy with third place.''
Tempers flared late in the race when Casey Mears lost control of his Dodge, bounced off the wall and into Kyle Busch while the two were running second and fourth. Mears suffered slight damage, but Busch's night was ruined.
As NASCAR officials tried to coax Busch back toward the garage, he angrily tried to break free so he could get at Mears as he passed by. He only managed a feeble, left-handed toss of a safety device that failed to hit Mears.
"Just a very frustrating moment for me,'' Busch said. "I had a really great race car that I thought could have won the race.''
Drivers had to contend with a slick new track surface, a very hard tire that made it difficult from them to get good grip, and NASCAR-mandated small fuel cells that forced them to stop for gas more times than usual.
Martin used the pre-race driver's meeting to implore the competitors to use patience on the track surface, which had a $3 million repaving job over the winter. The new surface was fast -- and slippery to drivers on cold tires -- and Goodyear tried to counter it with one of the hardest tire compounds it could create.
But just to be on the safe side, NASCAR ordered the use of a 14-gallon fuel tank to ensure drivers could not put together long runs that would cause extensive wear on the tires.
Despite all the precautions, the race was still plagued with plenty of spins and an occasional tire problem.
Stewart had his accident 32 laps into the race when he lost air in his right front tire, sending his Chevrolet hard into the wall. He was already nursing the sore shoulder from the hard hit Saturday night, and Stewart was in clear discomfort when he was helped out of his car.
There were 15 cautions -- down from a record 22 a year ago -- and drivers had mixed opinions on the surface and the tire.
"I can't believe this is the kind of tire we have to race on,'' Jeff Gordon grumbled after wrecking out to finish 36th. "Goodyear could do better than this, and we could put on a better race than this.'
unnoffical race results
[www.nascar.com]
Driver Championship Standings
[www.nascar.com]
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/2006 12:10PM by NeilPearson.
35 laps for a fuel run! what do you expect 
35 laps a stint ! Man they must be using uber soft rubber 
i do believe i said FUEL run!
the tires were actually harder than the last races at lowes
the tires were actually harder than the last races at lowes
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