Kenseth Slays the Monster at Dover
Written by John Davison · June 4, 2006
Matt Kenseth added the Dover Downs International Speedway’s Monster Mile to his list of trophies Sunday. Kenseth took the lead from fellow Roush Racing driver Jamie McMurray with only three laps left in the race after McMurray had led the most laps of any driver. Tony Stewart’s substitute driver Ricky Rudd wound up two laps down in 25th spot after Stewart got out during the first caution.
Tony Stewart dropped to the rear of the field after Ricky Rudd qualified his No. 20 Chevrolet in tenth spot. Stewart suffered a minor (only medically, it’s very painful!) fracture of his right shoulder blade in last week’s Charlotte races. Rudd will replace Stewart in the driver’s seat at the first caution in the race.
Greg Biffle and his crew elected to skip the “Happy Hour” final practice on Saturday, saying that their car was ready for the race.
Ryan Newman led the first laps from pole position as fellow front row starter Jeremy Mayfield chased Newman for the lead and grabbed it away from Rocket Ryan after twelve laps.
In the early running, Mark Martin was consistently quickest on the track, moving around Newman for second place on lap 22 and starting out on a chase of Mayfield. Jimmie Johnson, dominant recently at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and other mile and a half tracks, started 40th and stayed there.
After 26 laps, Martin took the lead from Mayfield and continued to motor away. Jeff Gordon held down fourth followed by Kurt Busch in fifth.
Lapping began after only 28 laps and the first caution flew on lap 36, just after Jimmie Johnson went a lap down, as Tony Raines spun in Turn Four. Raines’ spin happened without external assistance and allowed defending Cup champion Stewart to pit under yellow to put Rudd in the car for the remainder of the race. Jeff Gordon beat the field off pit road, followed by Newman and Martin, then Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick.
Exiting the pits, Jeremy Mayfield just touched Denny Hamlin’s car as Hamlin pulled out of his pit. No damage appeared on Mayfield’s car and if there is any on Hamlin’s it merely pulled the right front fender out, making the kind of adjustment a team might to decrease a push.
Stewart’s driver swap with Rudd took just under a minute, sending the No. 20 car back on the track still on the lead lap. With Rudd’s history at the “Monster Mile” of Dover, four wins, the team still stands a good chance of a top five or ten finish.
Green flew again to start lap 42, Newman and Martin chasing Gordon and Rudd already chasing down the rest of the field, moving up four spots from 38th to 34th in only a couple of laps.
Debris in the fourth turn on lap 115 caused the second yellow flag of the race. Mark Martin had been easing back from leader Gordon and Jeff Burton’s No. 31 had moved into second place. The yellow saved Michael Waltrip from going a lap down and allowed Travis Kvapil to use the “lucky dog” pass back onto the lead lap. Martin’s crew made significant chassis adjustments to try and correct a tight-handling car. Scott Wimmer, sharing a pit stall with Jimmie Johnson, waited for Johnson’s crew to service the No. 48 Chevy before pulling into the pits. Unfortunately, he ran out of fuel on the track under caution and had to be pushed in by a wrecker.
Lap 121 had the restart with Matt Kenseth immediately passing Gordon for the lead, followed by Jeff Burton. Newman waited just a couple of laps before moving into contention for third. Several ‘looks’ low failed to get the job done until lap 127. Elliott Sadler pitted with a low right front tire, going two full laps down to the field with a green flag pit stop. Greg Biffle moved around Gordon for fourth place, as Gordon reported that the car felt too tight. At the lap 132 mark, Ricky Rudd had moved to 22nd as Tony Stewart’s sub. Gordon and Biffle continued their battle, swapping the position lap after lap with Mark Martin watching just behind the pair.
Hermie Sadler pulled his No. 00 Chevy to the garage and withdrew from the race, allowing Scott Wimmer’s crew to set up their pit in the stall vacated by Sadler’s crew. This eliminated the pit sharing forced on Wimmer’s and Johnson’s crews by the short pit road at Dover.
Jeff Burton became the seventh leader of the race on lap 167, moving low around Kenseth as they approached Dale Jarrett’s No. 88 Ford. Kenseth moved back to the point nine laps later, with Mark Martin almost two seconds back of the lead duo. Kenseth and Burton swapped the lead several more times as Martin moved closer to the battling leaders.
Green flag pit stops began at the mid-point of the race, Scott Wimmer leading the pack down pit road, followed by Kasey Kahne as Jeff Burton passed Ricky Rudd to put Rudd a lap down in Stewart’s car. Burton pitted on lap 211, giving the lead to Kyle Busch who pitted almost immediately, joined by Ryan Newman out of second place. Carl Edwards led briefly during the pit stop cycle, with a very tight racecar.
After the stops cycled through, Burton led Martin with Kenseth third, Kyle Busch fourth and Jeff Gordon fifth. Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick and Casey Mears finished out the top ten after all runners had stopped for service.
Martin and Kenseth soon moved around Burton into the lead pair, then debris in the second turn brought out the third caution, easing the fears of Ryan Newman, among several teams about to go a lap down. The caution gave Carl Edwards the free pass, making 13 cars on the lead lap. The caution came out after 144 laps of green flag racing.
On his pit stop, Martin’s crew lost a lug nut off the left-front wheel, couldn’t replace it before he left, and the No. 6 Ford was forced to make an extra stop to have it replaced.
Almost immediately after the restart, point leader Jimmie Johnson got tapped by David Stremme’s car when the rookie got loose and chased the car up the banking. Johnson’s car didn’t hit the wall or any other cars and they both continued.
Matt Kenseth led Kyle Busch on the restart, with Jeff Burton, Greg Biffle and Jeff Gordon in the top five. Another rookie, J. J. Yeley, brought out the third caution in the last 18 laps when he spun and backed into the wall. Bobby Labonte gained a lap back thanks to the lucky dog pass.
Just a handful of laps passed before Yeley spun again, this time hitting the wall in a solo loop and letting Kyle Busch keep the lead from Kenseth. On the lap 296 restart, Busch, Kenseth, Burton, Biffle and Jeff Gordon held the top five slots with 16 cars on the lead lap.
With 300 laps down, Kevin Lepage spewed fluids on the track with Elliott Sadler spinning and hard into the wall in the third turn. Lepage’s car was dragging the radiator as he drove around to the garage area and Sadler’s crew looked at their smashed No. 38 Ford.
This caution and pit stops may make it possible to continue to the finish without more fuel, if more cautions don’t interrupt the running. Jeremy Mayfield stayed on the track, getting back on the lead lap to make 17 cars on the lead lap. During the last caution, Jamie McMurray got the free pass and by staying on the track in this one, became the 12th leader of the race.
At the green, on lap 313, McMurray led Harvick, followed by Martin, Kyle Busch, Newman, Jeff Burton, Kenseth, Jeff Gordon, Greg Biffle and Kasey Kahne to the flag. Seven more cars held lead lap positions, as Reed Sorenson jumped out in front of McMurray to get on the lead lap.
McMurray’s car appeared loose after the restart, moving up the track and allowing Harvick to close and challenge for the lead. Lap 320 had yet another caution fly when Kevin Lepage’s car trailed a huge plume of smoke followed by flame as he spun down the back straight. Lepage parked on pit road and was immediately surrounded by track fire and rescue workers as he exited the car.
As the field approached the restart with 73 laps left, Ricky Rudd is two laps down, part of this due to a speeding penalty on pit road. McMurray led Harvick, then Kyle Busch, Mark Martin and Jeff Burton in the top five.
Robby Gordon’s solo spin off Turn Four made lap 346 start under yet another yellow. Every team vying for the win had what looked like a different pit strategy as some cars pitted, taking on fuel only, fuel and two tires or fuel and four tires. Others stayed on the track, gambling on track position.
McMurray led the restart at 50 laps to run, with Harvick, Busch, Burton and Kenseth in the top five. Team owner Rick Hendrick radioed Busch to stay patient approaching the end of the race. Burton took advantage of aerodynamics to loosen Busch and take third place, giving Richard Childress both the second and third place cars, chasing Jack Roush’s McMurray for the race lead.
Harvick and Burton gained slowly on McMurray’s Dodge, with Kenseth also closing, both on Burton and on McMurray, often having the quickest laps of the leaders and passing Burton with 27 laps left in the race. In only a few laps from the last restart, Harvick closed on McMurray and started challenging for the lead, but this allowed Kenseth to close even more quickly. Kenseth closed on Harvick and ran below him for several laps, dropping back and then moving high with 15 laps to run, the battle for second allowing McMurray to open a half second lead where once it had been less than a tenth of a second.
Approaching the final ten laps, McMurray’s challenge is going to be traffic, with lapped cars allowing Harvick and Kenseth to close again. Jimmie Johnson moved low around last weeks’ winner Kasey Kahne to take sixth place with ten laps to run. When McMurray runs the top line, he gains space on the second and third-place runners. With eight laps to run, the top three are almost running as a block, Kenseth moved low around Harvick with seven to run and set off in pursuit of McMurray. McMurray’s pass of Michael Waltrip cost him most of his lead over Kenseth, then Kenseth took advantage of a loose wiggle by McMurray to pass for the lead with three laps left. A pair of Roush cars, a pair of Childress cars and a pair of Hendrick cars swept under the white flag as Kenseth opened a three-quarter-second lead over McMurray at the checkered flag. Harvick and Burton followed the Roush cars home in third and fourth, with Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson sweeping fifth and sixth for Hendrick. Kasey Kahne came from last week’s win in the Coca Cola 600 to take seventh for Ray Evernham, followed by another pair of Jack Roush cars driven by Greg Biffle and Mark Martin. Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished in tenth place.
Unofficial Finish, Neighborhood Excellence 400
Fin, St, Driver, Car, Laps, Pts/Bonus, Status
1, 19, Matt Kenseth, No. 17 DEWALT Ford, 400, 185/5, Running
2, 9, Jamie McMurray, No. 26 IRWIN Industrial Tools Ford, 400, 180/10, Running
3, 5, Kevin Harvick, No. 29 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet, 400, 165/0, Running
4, 17, Jeff Burton, No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet, 400, 165/5, Running
5, 30, Kyle Busch, No. 5 Kellogg’s Chevrolet, 400, 160/5, Running
6, 42, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, 400, 150/0, Running
7, 26, Kasey Kahne, No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge, 400, 146/0, Running
8, 20, Greg Biffle, No. 16 National Guard Ford, 400, 147/5, Running
9, 6, Mark Martin, No. 6 AAA Insurance Ford, 400, 143/5, Running
10, 11, Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet, 400, 139/5, Running
11, 7, Denny Hamlin *, No. 11 FedEx Kinko’s Chevrolet, 400, 130/0, Running
12, 3, Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet, 400, 132/5, Running
13, 28, Bobby Labonte, No. 43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge, 400, 124/0, Running
14, 1, Ryan Newman, No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge, 400, 126/5, Running
15, 25, Carl Edwards, No. 99 Office Depot Ford, 400, 123/5, Running
16, 4, Kurt Busch, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, 400, 115/0, Running
17, 22, Clint Bowyer *, No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet, 400, 112/0, Running
18, 2, Jeremy Mayfield, No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge, 400, 114/5, Running
19, 39, Reed Sorenson *, No. 41 Target Dodge, 400, 106/0, Running
20, 15, Scott Riggs, No. 10 Valvoline/Stanley Tools Dodge, 400, 103/0, Running
21, 34, Casey Mears, No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge, 400, 100/0, Running
22, 21, Martin Truex Jr. *, No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Chevrolet, 399, 97/0, Running
23, 24, Brian Vickers, No. 25 GMAC Chevrolet, 399, 94/0, Running
24, 40, Dale Jarrett, No. 88 UPS Ford, 399, 91/0, Running
25, 10, Tony Stewart, No. 20 Home Depot/POWERade Chevrolet, 398, 88/0, Running
26, 32, Tony Raines, No. 96 DLP HDTV Chevrolet, 398, 85/0, Running
27, 35, Kyle Petty, No. 45 Wells Fargo Dodge, 398, 82/0, Running
28, 12, Jeff Green, No. 66 Windows Live OneCare Chevrolet, 398, 79/0, Running
29, 27, Travis Kvapil, No. 32 Tide-Downy Chevrolet, 398, 76/0, Running
30, 31, Dave Blaney, No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge, 398, 73/0, Running
31, 23, Sterling Marlin, No. 14 Waste Management Chevrolet, 398, 70/0, Running
32, 33, Michael Waltrip, No. 55 NAPA Auto Parts Dodge, 397, 67/0, Running
33, 38, Ken Schrader, No. 21 Little Debbie Ford, 397, 64/0, Running
34, 43, Scott Wimmer, No. 4 AERO Exhaust Chevrolet, 396, 61/0, Running
35, 13, Joe Nemechek, No. 01 U.S. Army Chevrolet, 396, 58/0, Running
36, 41, Robby Gordon, No. 7 Menards/MAPEI Chevrolet, 394, 55/0, Running
37, 36, Derrike Cope, No. 74 Sundance Vacations/Royal Admin. Svcs Dodge, 393, 52/0, Running
38, 37, Kenny Wallace, No. 178 Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet, 378, 49/0, Running
39, 18, Kevin Lepage, No. 49 State Water Heaters Dodge, 299, 46/0, Out of Race
40, 8, Elliott Sadler, No. 38 M&M’s Ford, 296, 43/0, Out of Race
41, 29, David Stremme *, No. 40 Lone Star Steakhouse/Saloon Dodge, 290, 45/5, Out of Race
42, 14, J.J. Yeley *, No. 18 Imitrex Chevrolet, 286, 37/0, Out of Race
43, 16, Hermie Sadler, No. 00 UWFUSA.com Chevrolet, 136, 34/0, Out of Race
*: Rookie
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