Race No. 29 at Kansas Speedway this week marks the third of the 10 races in the Chase for Cup Championship. Jeff Burton is the new points leader after getting his first win since Phoenix in 2001. This is the first time that Burton has led in points since May of 1999. Last week’s Dover win was also the third straight race that team owner Richard Childress has won.
It’s amusing that just as Childress has put this team back into place that allegations came swirling through the Charlotte garages. A former employee of Richard Childress Racing said that Childress cheated the NASCAR inspections with some creative ways in getting more air and fuel through the carburetor during restrictor plate races. We have been raising speculation for years with all the Chevy teams dominating plate races, but this is the first time that we have actually had any proof, or at least had someone spill the beans for whatever motivation he has.
While Jeff Burton basks in the glow of being number one, he’d better not let the foot off the gas anytime soon because the car six points behind him in the review mirror is four time Cup Champion Jeff Gordon. What gets worse for Burton’s fate is that Gordon has Kansas Speedway’s best record with 2 wins and an average finish of 6th in all 5 races held there.
Gordon has climbed from ninth to second in the point standings in the last two races. His second place points position is his highest in 2006 and the highest since he ranked 2nd after Darlington in May 2005. If he shaves the 6 points from Burton this week it will be the first time since last years Daytona 500 that Gordon has been in the lead.
Gordon comes in looking great this week too. He is the only driver to finish in the Top 5 in both races of the Chase thus far. It’s oddly strange, but only four drivers in the chase have finished in the top 10 of both races. Gordon, Burton, Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin have each done it. To not see the names of Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick with that group is strange who have had great consistent runs all season illustrates how the Chase pressure may affect some.
Hamlin has been awesome! Rookie? Not anymore. No rookie drives like him. He has posted 15 top 10 finishes this season and ranks fourth in the points. He is second in points earned over the past 10 races earning 1,482 points – just three less than Harvick over that span.
Mark Martin won this race last year and comes into this week with a couple of dubious streaks. He has been running at the finish in the last 35 races, since Kansas one year ago, the longest current streak. Currently in 6th place, he is the only driver among the top 10 yet to score a victory in 2006. While winning this race last season, Martin set track records for laps led and average speed.
The driver we’ll look to this week is Jimmie Johnson. We think he’s far enough out of it in points now that he can relax, stay out of harms way, and drive fast. The banking and configuration of the Kansas track is very similar to the old Las Vegas track where Johnson snuck up on Matt Kenseth for the win.
I believe we’ll see Kyle Busch running well again along Gordon and we also should have a Kasey Kahne sighting in the top 5. If it does finish that way, we would have the exact same top 5 finishers that we had in the Vegas race.
Roush once the elite of the Cookie Cutters, but these 5 drivers have done it all season long. That is why Chevy has won 17 races this season and has seven drivers racing for the Championship while Ford struggles with only five wins on the year. Last season at this juncture Ford had 11 wins. For whatever it’s worth, Chevy clinched the Manufacturers Championship two last week at New Hampshire. It is the 4th year in a row the boys in bow-ties have won the award.
Top 5 Finish Prediction:
1) #48 Jimmie Johnson (8/1)
2) #24 Jeff Gordon (9/1)
3) #17 Matt Kenseth (7/1)
4) #5 Kyle Busch (12/1)
5) #9 Kasey Kahne (10/1)
Kansas Speedway Track Data:
Race No.: 29 of 36 (10-1-06) Track Size: 1.5 Miles
Event: Banquet 400 Number of Laps: 267
Location: Kansas City, Kan. Length of Event: 400.5 Miles
Length of Front Stretch: 2,685 Feet Length of Back Stretch: 2,207 Feet
Banking in Corners: 15 degrees Banking on Back stretch: 5 degrees
Banking on tri-Oval: 10.4 degrees
Qualifying Data:
Last year’s event pole winner: Matt Kenseth 180.856 mph 10-8-05 29.858 seconds
Last year’s event winner: Mark Martin 137.774 mph 10-9-05 2 hr, 54 min, 25 sec
Track qualifying record: Matt Kenseth 180.856 mph 10-8-05 29.858 seconds
Track race record: Mark Martin 137.774 mph 10-9-05 2 hr, 54 min, 25 sec
Historical Data:
Previous winners:
Jeff Gordon (2) Ryan Newman (1) Joe Nemechek (1) Mark Martin (1)
Races won from the pole: 1 of 5 events (20%)
Races won from the top 10: 3 of 5 events (60%)
Races won from outside the top 10: 2 of 5 events (40%)
