There’s nothing quite like a Saturday night shootout at the race track. It’s a common theme among many local race tracks across the nation. However, this weekend it was NASCAR’s turn to have their own Saturday night race. They decided to bring the boys out to play as the Sprint Cup Series returned home to the Lowe’s Motor Speedway for the NASCAR Banking 500.
Points leader Jimmie Johnson won the pole for the race and brought the field to the green flag. However, outside pole-sitter Mark Martin got a better jump and grabbed the lead on the first lap. The field was slowed two laps later as Sam Hornish spun his car out in turn 2.
Martin led the field to the restart on lap 6, but Johnson made the move a lap later for the lead. Almost a case of deja vu as Hornish again spun his car out two laps later, this time in the fourth turn.
No cars came to pit road and it was Johnson leading the field to green on lap 13. The field now got the opportunity to get some laps on their tires as they would run for 31 laps uninterrupted. That is until Mother Nature decided to show her hand and put a little rain in the forecast for the night. Lap 34 would be the race’s third caution as slight rain was spotted on the race track.
Pit stops were the name of the game as the entire field came down for service. Some decided to try some strategy early and change just two tires while others went with new tires on all corners. The strategy worked for Matt Kenseth who took the lead with his two tires. Johnson would come out second as he changed four tires, but had the best pit stall on pit road at the very end, giving him a quick exit.
The field would restart on lap 42, and this would be the first long green-flag run of the night. Right away Kenseth and Johnson would swap the lead for a couple laps as the two ran side-by-side. Finally Johnson got the lead on lap 52 and began to open up his lead. But, behind him the car making a big move was Denny Hamlin as he passed Kenseth four laps later for second and began running down Johnson for the top spot.
Johnson’s lead would begin decreasing bit by bit, and on lap 71 it was erased as Hamlin passed the No. 48 for his first lead of the race.
Green-flag pit stops soon were in order as Kenseth would be the first of the lead cars deciding to come to pit road. Hamlin would not make his stop until lap 94 as the other leaders joined him on pit road. The field would cycle through it’s stops and it was Kenseth getting the lead back on lap 95. But, because of the difference in tire wear, his lead was quickly erased as Hamlin drove around him on lap 99.
The race’s fourth caution flag would not come out until lap 119. This time it was Kyle Busch spinning out in the fourth turn as his car just broke loose. Pit stops again were in order, and much like the caution prior, some teams decided to try some strategy early and go with two tires.
Jeff Gordon, Greg Biffle and Ryan Newman elected to use this strategy as it put them 1-2-3 on the field.
It would be lap 125 when the green flag would come back out. This restart would become interesting as behind the front row, Juan Pablo Montoya had some contact with Martin, yielding heavy right-side damage. Meanwhile, Dale Earnhardt Jr. slowed shortly after the restart, complaining of transmission trouble. What the crew found was that the car would not remain in high gear, and the No. 88 car was pushed behind the wall.
Out front, Gordon would hold his lead until the caution came out on lap 163 as Montoya finally spun out because of the damage to his car. Pit stops again would be the name of the game, this time with Hamlin getting the lead on the exit.
Hamlin would hold his lead on the restart, on lap 168, but Gordon showed a lot of power and speed in his DuPont/Transformers 3 Chevrolet as he retook the lead three laps later.
The field again would see the yellow flag on lap 188 for debris. This debris was obvious as the repaired area on Montoya’s car came loose and fell just below the race track entering turn three. This run of pit stops would be mostly for two tires as it was Kenseth getting the lead exiting pit road. However, the big story would be Hamlin as he would make a second trip to pit road, believing to have engine woes. Those woes would become reality as it appeared that he dropped a valve. Hamlin would go to the garage, finishing 42nd.
Kenseth would bring the field to the lap 194 restart, and quickly got ahead of the leaders. However, as the fuel began to burn off and the tires heated up, Kasey Kahne showed that he can still run well at this track. Kahne ran down Kenseth and took the lead on lap 223.
Another round of green-flag pit stops would soon be in order as this time it was Kyle Busch hitting pit road first on lap 243, starting the cycle. Johnson would come in two laps later followed by Gordon. Kahne would pit on lap 247 out of the lead, but would get it back one lap later as Kurt Busch came in for his service.
Kahne would the get the opportunity to stretch out his lead, expanding it to nearly seven seconds with just one pit stop remaining to make it to the end. While teams were strategizing to see when they would come in, they had to scratch their ideas as a caution on lap 290 changed the game. The engine in Max Papis’ car let go and the track crew had to clear the area of any fluids.
The last round of pit stops would be critical as all teams went with new tires and enough fuel to run the remaining distance. Johnson just by a couple inches beat Kahne off pit road, putting him back out front.
The field would restart on lap 295, but four laps later the yellow flag came back out as David Gilliland got loose and hit hard into the wall. Following the cleanup, the field went back to green on lap 303, but again got slowed as Carl Edwards had his engine go up in smoke shortly after the green flag came out.
Following yet another clean up of engine oil, the field went back under green on lap 307. Unfortunately, once again the field did not get the chance to spread out and see what each had to offer as on lap 312, the caution came out again for what would be the final time as David Stremme hit the outside wall, followed by Biffle spinning through the infield after contact with Newman.
Lap 317 would be the final time the field would see the green flag as Johnson and Gordon would lead the field to the line. The two would battle for a couple laps with Gordon getting the advantage on lap 319. Johnson then battled back for the top spot and got it on lap 321.
That would turn out to be the last time the lead would change hands. After winning five races at this track between 2003 and 2005, but going winless since then, Johnson put the Lowe’s Chevrolet back in victory lane at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway, winning the NASCAR Banking 500.
With his third win in the Chase in the first five races, Johnson now holds a 90-point advantage over Martin, who finished 17th. The Chase to the Championship is now half over, and the familiar face of the standings is on top. Now, the series makes its only short-track stop in the final ten races as it will be the track known as the “Paper Clip” in Martinsville, Virginia, hosting the next race.
If any car leaves this track without damage on the car, it will be a miracle. The bumping and banging of the Tums Fast Relief 500 from the Martinsville Speedway kicks off at 1 p.m. on ABC next Sunday.
RESULTS: 1-Johnson 2-Kenseth 3-Kahne 4-Gordon 5-Logano (R) 6-Bowyer 7-Mears 8-Kyle Busch 9-Truex 10-Kurt Busch
NOTABLE FINISHES: 11-Newman 13-Stewart 16-Biffle 17-Martin 18-Harvick 34-Vickers 35-Montoya 38-Earnhardt Jr. 39-Edwards 42-Hamlin
CAUTIONS: Ten for 49 laps. Lap 3-5 (Hornish spin-T2), 9-12 (Hornish spin-T4), 34-41 (rain), 119-124 (Kyle Busch spin-T4), 163-167 (Montoya spin-T4), 188-193 (debris-T3), 290-294 (Papis engine failure), 299-302 (Gilliland wreck-T2), 304-306 (Edwards engine failure), 312-316 (Stremme wreck-T4 and Biffle spin-FS)
LEADERS: 22 lead changes among ten drivers. Johnson-pole, Martin 1-6, Johnson 7-34, Waltrip 35-39, T. Labonte 40, Kenseth 41-42, Johnson 43-44, Kenseth 45-51, Johnson 52-70, Hamlin 71-93, Elliott 94, Kenseth 95-98, Hamlin 99-120, Gordon 121-165, Hamlin 166-170, Gordon 171-189, Kenseth 190-222, Kahne 223-246, Kurt Busch 247, Kahne 248-291, Johnson 292-318, Gordon 319-320, Johnson 321-334
CHASE STANDINGS: 1-Johnson, 5923 points 2-Martin, -90 3-Gordon, -135 4-Stewart, -155 5-Kurt Busch, -177 6-Montoya, -195 7-Biffle, -268 8-Newman, -288 9-Kahne, -331 10-Edwards, -341 11-Hamlin, -372 12-Vickers, -485