The main issue at Sunday's Coca Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte in the NASCAR Nextel Cup was pit strategy. This was because NASCAR mandated smaller 13 gallon fuel tanks at Charlotte meaning more pit stops. This was done because of tire problems at Charlotte last year and they wanted that minimized by shorter runs. But with the track repaved and Goodyear providing a more durable tire, it wasn't necessary and will likely be changed for the fall race. So there were a lot of leaders during the race mostly due to varying pit strategies. The Ray Evernham Dodges looked strong with Scott Riggs & Jeremy Mayfield in the front row.
For the second night in a row, a tire problem forced Tony Stewart-#20 Home Depot Chevy into the wall hard on lap 34. And for the second night in a row, Tony was taken to the hospital. He was diagnosed with a broken right scapula and it is not known if he will race next week at Dover. I'll bet that he does. The other major incident was at lap 314 when Casey Mears-#42 Texaco Havoline Dodge lost control and bumped Kyle Busch-#5 Kellogg's/Disney Pixar Cars Chevy into the wall and out of the race. Busch proceeded to throw part of his HANS device at Mears. There will be some discipline for this. Like his brother, Kyle needs to control his temper better.
The pattern for the race was whoever was leading would pull away until the next pit stop. The lead would change depending on how many tires you took or if you took tires at all. The guys are mostly pitting for fuel. Scott Riggs-#10 Valvoline Dodge & Kasey Kahne-#9 UAW Dodge Dealers Dodge seemed to emerge as the strongest cars. But a pit mistake at the wrong time killed Riggs. On a green flag pit stop on lap 362, Riggs stalled his car and then his pit crew took equipment out of the pit while trying to push him. Jeff Gordon-#24 Dupont Chevy hit the wall to bring out a caution on lap 363 so the penalty to Riggs wasn't as bad. He was sent to the back of the longest line on the restart. But it cost him a possible win and he finished 13th.
Carl Edwards-#99 Office Depot Ford led on the restart followed by Kasey Kahne & Jimmie Johnson-#48 Lowe's Chevy. Kahne took the lead on lap 371 followed by Johnson. Johnson closed the gap but Kahne held on for the win.
Congratulations to Kasey Kahne, crew chief Kenny Francis and car owner Ray Evernham for the victory. Big top ten finishes for Jamie McMurray who has had a tough year as well as rookies Denny Hamlin & Reed Sorenson. Jimmie Johnson still leads the points. Next week the Nextel Cup boys are in Dover, DE. Here's the top ten of the race.
#/Driver/Sponsor/Make/Owner
1.9/Kasey Kahne/UAW Dodge Dealers/Dodge/Ray Evernham
2.48/Jimmie Johnson/Lowe's/Chevy/Rick Hendrick
3.99/Carl Edwards/Office Depot/Ford/Jack Roush
4.6/Mark Martin/AAA/Ford/Jack Roush
5.17/Matt Kenseth/R & L Carriers/Ford/Jack Roush
6.31/Jeff Burton/Cingular/Chevy/Richard Childress
7.16/Greg Biffle/National Guard/Ford/Jack Roush
8.26/Jamie McMurray/Smirnoff Ice/Ford/Jack Roush
9.11/Denny Hamlin/FedEx/Chevy/Joe Gibbs
10.41/Reed Sorenson/Target/Dodge/Chip Ganassi
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