Birthday Boy Kahne Celebrates at Texas
Written by John Davison · April 9, 2006
Celebrating his 26th birthday a day early, Kasey Kahne continued the streak of no repeat winners at Texas Motor Speedway, for his second win of the 2006 season and his second from pole for the year. He also became the first driver in the track’s history to win from a front row starting position. Matt Kenseth finished second, holding off Tony Stewart, who finished third. Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick finished the top five.
Mark Martin led the first lap of the Samsung/Radio Shack 500, taking the point just feet from the timing line from pole winner Kasey Kahne. Martin led the first 11 laps before fellow Roush Ford driver Greg Biffle took the lead and held it for 45 laps until his pit stop. When the green flag stops cycled through, Biffle once again led over Kahne.
The first caution of the race flew on lap 65 for a small piece of debris in Turn Two which then got hit and moved to the back straight. Biffle pitted , joined by Mark Martin, ceding the race lead to Kahne, J. J. Yeley, Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards and Martin Truex Jr in the top five.
The restart began lap 69 with J. J. Yeley edging ahead of Kahne for the lead, then Hamlin followed his teammate around Kahne’s Dodge for second. Kahne got a great drive off the fourth turn to pass Yeley for the lead again. During all this drama for the lead, Tony Stewart, who started in 40th, has moved into fourth place.
Greg Biffle, once appearing dominant in the race, brought out the second caution of the race with a crash on the 83rd lap, after it appeared that Kurt Busch hit Biffle on the back straight, as Biffle moved high exiting the second turn. Biffle hit the SAFER barrier so hard that track repair crews had to weld damaged areas as the race was halted under a brief red flag.
Kasey Kahne led the restart but Denny Hamlin waited only two laps before passing for the lead, taking fellow Joe Gibbs Racing driver Tony Stewart with him. In only one more lap, Stewart moved around Hamlin for the lead, completing his charge up from a dismal 36th starting position and giving the reigning champion a lead lap in every race so far in 2006.
After a black flag pit stop to pull a fender off a tire, Kurt Busch continues to have undefined car problems and pulls the car behind pit road. Just a few laps more and green flag pit stops begin, only a tire rolls across pit road and onto the front straight grass, bringing out another caution.
Denny Hamlin led on and off pit road, while both Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman had to come back in the pits to have dangling pieces of skirting removed.
J. J. Yeley crashed in the fourth turn on lap 190 to bring out the fifth caution of the race. On the restart, Denny Hamlin took the No. 11 Chevy to the lead over Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards in Roush Fords.
On lap 202, caution number six flew for Ryan Newman’s hard crash in Turn Two. Newman drove the car straight to the garage area after the crash, where he laid blame for his spin on Sterling Marlin. Approaching pit road under the caution, Denny Hamlin dodged as if to enter the pits but then swerved back onto the track. He led Kenseth and Edwards under the green, followed by Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart, with Stewart gaining a position on the restart. Kenseth passed Hamlin as Kenseth was preoccupied with a lapped car, allowing Carl Edwards around into the lead, tailed by Hamlin, Stewart and Kenseth.
Jeff Gordon avoided another caution when he suffered a cut left rear tire, losing a pair of laps but keeping the car under control and getting into the pits.
Kyle Petty’s blown engine totally obscured the track with smoke, bringing out another caution and allowing Kasey Kahne and Denny Hamlin to gain a couple of positions each, moving into the first two spots in the race.
Kahne led the pack to the green flag restart, with Jeff Gordon struggling to get one of his laps back, then Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart escaped the incident when Carl Edwards got loose outside of Gordon, spun, tapped Gordon then bounced off the outside wall and hard into the inside wall, missing Stewart by only a couple of inches before slamming into the inside wall to create the eighth caution of the race.
Kahne, Hamlin, Stewart, Kenseth and Truex led the pack to the green flag restart. Stewart got around Hamlin and chased down Kahne to take the lead on the second green flag lap. Stewart held off Kahne until 25 laps from the finish, when Kahne got around and back to the lead. Kahne opened the gap by about 0.4 second a lap, while Scott Riggs ran third.
Robby Gordon’s luck continues to be bad, as he pitted just before another debris caution flew on lap 314. Kahne beat Stewart off pit road, with Matt Kenseth next. Reed Sorenson stopped short in his pit box, slowing his stop, then he sped leaving pit road, earning a penalty that dropped him to the end of the longest line. Robby Gordon separated Kahne from challenger Stewart but then Matt Kenseth passed Gordon with 11 laps left in the race while Kahne pulled out to a three second lead over Kenseth, then continued to open up the gap by about two-tenths of a second per lap in clean air.
As Kasey Kahne took the checkered flag, Clint Bowyer crashed, fighting a loose race car.
Unofficial Finish, Samsung/Radio Shack 500:
Fin, St, Driver, Car, Laps, Pts/Bonus, Notes
1, 1, Kasey Kahne, No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge, 334, 185/5, Running
2, 6, Matt Kenseth, No. 17 Carhartt Ford, 334, 175/5, Running
3, 40, Tony Stewart, No. 20 The Home Depot Chevrolet, 334, 175/10, Running
4, 8, Denny Hamlin *, No. 11 FedEx Express Chevrolet, 334, 165/5, Running
5, 24, Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Reese’s Caramel Cup Chevrolet, 334, 160/5, Running
6, 21, Jeff Burton, No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet, 334, 150/0, Running
7, 22, Scott Riggs, No. 10 Stanley Tools/Valvoline Dodge, 334, 146/0, Running
8, 9, Martin Truex Jr. *, No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Chevrolet, 334, 147/5, Running
9, 3, Mark Martin, No. 6 AAA Ford, 334, 143/5, Running
10, 10, Bobby Labonte, No. 43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge, 334, 134/0, Running
11, 16, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, 334, 130/0, Running
12, 15, Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet, 334, 127/0, Running
13, 13, Reed Sorenson *, No. 41 Target Dodge, 334, 124/0, Running
14, 20, Casey Mears, No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge, 334, 121/0, Running
15, 26, Kyle Busch, No. 5 Kellogg’s/Delphi Chevrolet, 334, 118/0, Running
16, 32, Ken Schrader, No. 21 Motorcraft Genuine Parts Ford, 334, 115/0, Running
17, 27, Dale Jarrett, No. 88 UPS Ford, 334, 112/0, Running
18, 4, Jeff Green, No. 66 SanDisk/Best Buy Chevrolet, 334, 114/5, Running
19, 12, Clint Bowyer *, No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Texas Pride Chevrolet, 333, 106/0, Running
20, 29, Robby Gordon, No. 7 Jim Beam Black Chevrolet, 333, 103/0, Running
21, 28, David Stremme *, No. 40 Coors Light Dodge, 333, 100/0, Running
22, 11, Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet, 332, 97/0, Running
23, 17, Joe Nemechek, No. 01 U.S. Army Chevrolet, 332, 94/0, Running
24, 36, Tony Raines, No. 96 DLP HDTV Chevrolet, 332, 91/0, Running
25, 30, Terry Labonte, No. 44 Kellogg’s Chevrolet, 332, 88/0, Running
26, 42, Michael Waltrip, No. 55 NAPA Auto Parts Dodge, 331, 85/0, Running
27, 39, Travis Kvapil, No. 32 Tide-Downy Chevrolet, 331, 82/0, Running
28, 43, Scott Wimmer, No. 4 AERO Exhaust Chevrolet, 330, 79/0, Running
29, 31, Dave Blaney, No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge, 329, 76/0, Running
30, 18, Sterling Marlin, No. 14 CENTRIX Auto Finance Chevrolet, 328, 73/0, Running
31, 34, Jeremy Mayfield, No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge, 328, 70/0, Running
32, 35, Kevin Lepage, No. 61 RoadLoans.com Ford, 327, 67/0, Running
33, 25, Elliott Sadler, No. 38 M&M’s Ford, 286, 69/5, Out
34, 7, Kurt Busch, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, 285, 61/0, Running
35, 2, J.J. Yeley *, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet, 269, 63/5, Running
36, 37, Carl Edwards, No. 99 Office Depot Ford, 256, 60/5, Out
37, 41, Jamie McMurray, No. 26 Crown Royal Ford, 254, 52/0, Running
38, 23, Mike Garvey, No. 151 Marathon American Spirit Motor Oil Chevrolet, 251, 49/0, Out
39, 19, Kyle Petty, No. 45 Schwan’s Home Service Dodge, 248, 46/0, Out
40, 14, Ryan Newman, No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge, 200, 43/0, Out
41, 38, Derrike Cope, No. 74 myguardian911.com Dodge, 169, 40/0, Out
42, 5, Greg Biffle, No. 16 Subway/National Guard Ford, 81, 42/5, Out
43, 33, Brian Vickers, No. 25 GMAC Chevrolet, 24, 34/0, Out
*: Rookie
Unofficial Point Standings:
Rank +/- Driver Points Behind Starts Poles Wins Top 5 Top 10
1 – Jimmie Johnson 1063 Leader 7 1 2 4 5
2 +1 Matt Kenseth 1048 -15 7 0 1 4 4
3 +1 Kasey Kahne 1017 -46 7 2 2 4 5
4 -2 Mark Martin 1017 -46 7 0 0 1 5
5 +3 Tony Stewart 966 -97 7 0 1 4 4
6 – Dale Earnhardt Jr. 951 -112 7 0 0 2 3
7 -2 Kyle Busch 950 -113 7 0 0 2 4
8 -1 Jeff Gordon 911 -152 7 0 0 3 3
9 +3 Kevin Harvick 859 -204 7 0 0 2 3
10 – Casey Mears 845 -218 7 0 0 1 3
11 – Dale Jarrett 828 -235 7 0 0 0 2
12 -3 Elliott Sadler 804 -259 7 0 0 1 2
13 +3 Clint Bowyer* 750 -313 7 0 0 0 1
14 +9 Denny Hamlin* 747 -316 7 0 0 1 2
15 +5 Martin Truex Jr.* 744 -319 7 0 0 0 1
16 +5 Jeff Burton 741 -322 7 1 0 1 3
17 -3 Kurt Busch 722 -341 7 1 1 1 1
18 -5 Ryan Newman 711 -352 7 0 0 1 2
19 +5 Reed Sorenson* 701 -362 7 0 0 0 1
20 -5 Brian Vickers 684 -379 7 0 0 0 2
21 -4 Jamie McMurray 675 -388 7 0 0 0 2
22 -3 Carl Edwards 662 -401 7 0 0 2 2
23 -5 Greg Biffle 657 -406 7 1 0 0 2
24 -2 J.J. Yeley* 652 -411 7 0 0 0 1
25 – Joe Nemechek 649 -414 7 0 0 0 0
26 +2 Jeff Green 642 -421 7 0 0 0 0
27 – Robby Gordon 637 -426 7 0 0 0 0
28 +2 Scott Riggs 635 -428 6 0 0 0 2
29 +6 Bobby Labonte 601 -462 7 0 0 1 2
30 +1 Ken Schrader 597 -466 7 0 0 0 1
31 -2 Dave Blaney 589 -474 7 0 0 0 0
32 -6 Kyle Petty 585 -478 7 0 0 0 1
33 +1 Michael Waltrip 558 -505 7 0 0 0 0
34 -2 Sterling Marlin 555 -508 7 0 0 0 0
35 -2 Jeremy Mayfield 550 -513 7 0 0 0 0
36 – Terry Labonte 516 -547 6 0 0 0 0
37 – David Stremme* 475 -588 7 0 0 0 0
38 – Scott Wimmer 450 -613 6 0 0 0 0
39 – Kevin Lepage 408 -655 6 0 0 0 0
40 +1 Travis Kvapil 319 -744 5 0 0 0 0
41 -1 Brent Sherman* 305 -758 5 0 0 0 0
42 +5 Tony Raines 191 -872 2 0 0 0 0
43 -1 Paul Menard 146 -917 1 0 0 0 1
44 -1 Stanton Barrett 135 -928 3 0 0 0 0
45 -1 Hermie Sadler 114 -949 3 0 0 0 0
46 -1 Bill Elliott 111 -952 1 0 0 0 0
47 -1 Kirk Shelmerdine 103 -960 1 0 0 0 0
48 +2 Mike Garvey 98 -965 3 0 0 0 0
49 -1 Chad Chaffin 92 -971 2 0 0 0 0
50 -1 Mike Wallace 91 -972 1 0 0 0 0
51 – Kenny Wallace 40 -1023 2 0 0 0 0
52 – Derrike Cope 40 -1023 1 0 0 0 0
53 -1 Chad Blount 37 -1026 1 0 0 0 0
54 -1 Bill Lester 0 -1063 1 0 0 0 0
*: Rookie
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