Jimmie Johnson started on the pole. It was his third first place starting spot of the year and he had won the previous two races when starting on point. The race went green and the drivers did not complete a turn before the first caution came out. Juan Pablo Montoya got loose coming into turn 1 and slid up into Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Stenhouse went for a spin and slammed the wall as Montoya ran into his door. Matt Kenseth received some damage as Montoya and Stenhouse drifted up towards the wall. Joe Nemechek also received some damage. No drivers received the lucky dog. Jimmie Johnson was able to lead the first lap under caution. The race went back green and it was a short time before a possible race contender would have trouble. Jamie McMurray had to make an unscheduled pit stop on lap 12. A piece of tape, possibly from Montoya's beaten up racecar, ended up on his grille and caused his car to overheat. His team removed the piece of tape, but McMurray would lose a lot of time from this. This led to the second caution of the race on lap 15. Denny Hamlin got loose in turn 3 and slammed the outside wall. He went for a spin after hitting the wall and had a fair amount of damage. Juan Pablo Montoya received the lucky dog. This substituted for the competition caution scheduled for lap 20 and strategy started to affect the race.
Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Paul Menard, Casey Mears, and Mark Martin decided to say on the race track. Most of the drivers who decided to come down pit road took only two tires and some fuel. It would be interesting to see which strategy would come out on top. The race went back green and it was a short time before the drivers who did not pit started to come down on lap 33. By lap 36, all six had made it to pit road and Kurt Busch cycled to the lead with Kasey Kahne second. Nine laps after them, the first round of green flag pit stops of the race began on lap 43. The stops went fairly smooth with Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth receiving pass through penalties for speeding on pit road. These stops led to the third caution of the race on lap 53. This was also where tire problems began to become an issue in the race. David Gilliland slammed the wall in turn 2 due to a blown tire. His car had a fire underneath, but he got out okay. His car was not as his day was finished. Dave Blaney received the lucky dog. Even more strategy was used during this caution. Brad Keselowski, Kasey Kahne, Jeff Gordon, Joey Logano, Ryan Newman, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Paul Menard, Aric Almirola, Casey Mears, Greg Biffle, and Jeff Burton decided to stay on track. Kurt Busch and others took two tires while Jimmie Johnson and others took four tires. Tony Stewart was also caught speeding on pit road and he had to serve a pass through penalty. It would be interesting to see which strategy led to a victory.
The race went back green and it was a short time until the drivers who did not pit under the previous caution began to stop on lap 69. All of these drivers finished pitting on lap 73 to cycle Jimmie Johnson back to the lead, but his day was about to get ugly. Kyle Busch also used some strategy at this time. His team decided to short pit and get two tires to prepare for the end of the race. At the same time, the championship leader and race dominator, had major trouble. Jimmie Johnson lost a tire exiting turn 2 and slammed the wall which left debris on the track. This led to the fourth caution of the race on lap 76. Johnson reported to pit road and his team went to work on the damage. They did a pretty good job and kept him on the lead lap, but he was mired deep in the field. Matt Kenseth received the lucky dog. Drivers like Tony Stewart, Danica Patrick, Kevin Harvick, and Mark Martin decided to pit since they had not yet pitted under green. The race went back green and continued on until the fifth caution on lap 95. David Stremme blew a tire entering turn 1 and rode the wall to prevent further damage. He received a good amount of damage anyway and would fall a good many laps down. David Ragan received the lucky dog. Even more strategy was used during this caution. Martin Truex Jr. decided to stay out while Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Greg Biffle, Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards, Mark Martin, and Clint Bowyer took only two tires. Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano resorted to taking four tires and became mired deep in the field. It would be a questionable call, but one that could work.
The race went back green and it was an extremely short time before the sixth caution of the race on lap 103. Aric Almirola lost a tire in turn 3 and went for a spin. He backed into the outside wall and received some damage. Timmy Hill also received some damage slowing up. J.J. Yeley received the lucky dog. Martin Truex Jr. was the only frontrunner to pit which handed the lead to Kasey Kahne. The race went green once again and it was a short time before the seventh caution on lap 110. Danica Patrick got loose underneath Travis Kvapil in turn 2 and made contact with him. Both drivers spun which caused Jeff Burton and Paul Menard to slam into Patrick. Burton and Patrick would hit Kvapil a final time. Patrick, Menard, and Kvapil drove away with heavy damage while Burton could not get back going. Aric Almirola received the lucky dog. No amount of strategy was used and the race went back green. The race continued on until the second and final round of green flag pit stops began on lap 128. Kasey Kahne held onto the lead after the stops cycled around with Dale Earnhardt Jr. running second. Kahne immediately began to stretch his lead and finally made it to about seven seconds, but his inevitable win would soon disappear with the eighth caution of the race on lap 149. Debris was spotted on the track in turn 2. Now, Kahne would have to endure a restart with his teammate, Jeff Gordon, next to him.
The drivers lined up for the restart and the race went green with seven laps to go. Jeff Gordon was able to make it past Kahne for the lead and make a little gap between them. It looked like Kahne was falling back, but he made it close as the thing Gordon didn't want to see happened. The ninth and final caution of the race waved on lap 156. Matt Kenseth got loose coming out of turn 2 and went for a spin. He made slight contact with the wall and made his day worse. Now, Gordon would have to outlast one final restart to take the win. The drivers lined up with Jeff Gordon on the bottom of the front row and Kahne to his outside. The field took the green flag and Gordon immediately jumped out to the lead at the end of the frontstretch. It looked like Kahne and everybody else had lost their chance, but their was one final opportunity for the win. Kahne dove down into turn 1 and went door to door with Gordon. By the time they exited turn 2, Kahne had the lead and was able to cruise to the victory. It was definitely nice for Kahne as he is on the chase bubble, but Gordon needed the win for his chase hopes.
Kasey Kahne has been one of the hot drivers in the past few weeks. Kahne has finished in the top 11 in five of the last six races. Plus, he has been up front in most of the races. He could be looking at getting three wins to help bolster his championship hopes. Jeff Gordon had another tough race after possibly being in contention for the win. He is still looking for a win and he is right on the edge of making the chase. If he doesn't get a win before the chase, he might not make it. Once again, Jimmie Johnson seems like he can't do anything wrong. He made contact with the wall early in the race and looked like he would have a bad finish, but Johnson made it all the way back up to thirteenth. He now holds an astounding seventy seven point lead over Clint Bowyer and the rest of the field. If another driver wants to win the championship, they need to start winning and fast. The series continues to the always action packed Watkins Glen road course. Will Marcos Ambrose and Brad Keselowski have another crazy battle, will another road course ringer take the win, or will a championship contender climb up the rankings? We will have to wait until next week to find out.
(More Stats Down Below!)
Cautions:
1st Caution: Lap 1- Juan Pablo Montoya and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. made contact with the wall after Stenhouse got loose underneath Montoya. Matt Kenseth and Joe Nemechek also received damage trying to avoid.
2nd Caution: Lap 15- Denny Hamlin got loose in turn 3 and slammed the outside wall.
3rd Caution: Lap 53- David Gilliland slammed the outside wall after he blew a tire in turn 2.
4th Caution: Lap 76- Jimmie Johnson lost a tire in turn 2 and slammed the outside wall.
5th Caution: Lap 95- David Stremme blew a tire entering turn 1 and rode the wall to avoid further damage.
6th Caution: Lap 103- Aric Almirola blew a tire in turn 3 and went for a spin. Timmy Hill received damage trying to avoid.
7th Caution: Lap 110- Danica Patrick got loose underneath Travis Kvapil in turn causing both drivers to go for a spin and get Jeff Burton and Paul Menard involved.
8th Caution: Lap 149- Debris was spotted on the track in turn 2.
9th Caution: Lap 150- Matt Kenseth got loose in turn 2 and went for a spin.
Lucky Dogs:
1st Caution: None
2nd Caution: Juan Pablo Montoya
3rd Caution: Dave Blaney
4th Caution: Matt Kenseth
5th Caution: David Ragan
6th Caution: J.J. Yeley
7th Caution: Aric Almirola
8th Caution: David Ragan
9th Caution: Travis Kvapil
Top 5 Finishers:
1st: Kasey Kahne
2nd: Jeff Gordon
3rd: Kurt Busch
4th: Ryan Newman
5th: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Notables Not in Top 5:
6th: Brad Keselowski
8th: Kyle Busch
9th: Tony Stewart
13th: Jimmie Johnson
17th: Kevin Harvick
22nd: Matt Kenseth
35th: Danica Patrick
Credits:
-My Own Notes
-Statistics:
http://www.nascar.com/en_us/sprint-cup-series/leaderboard/leaderboard-live.html
http://racing-reference.info/race/2013_GoBowling.com_400/W
-Image:
http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/ac1394dbdcca6a36cbf486633b129cd813095ac3/r=x404&c=534x401/local/-/media/USATODAY/test/2013/08/04/1375652227000-8-4-kasey-kahne2-1308041738_4_3.jpg
No comments:
Post a Comment