Nemechek Sweeps Kansas
Written by John Davison · October 10, 2004
Joe Nemechek held off a last two laps challenge from Ricky Rudd to sweep both races at Kansas Speedway this weekend. Nemechek won Saturday’s Busch Series race by about a half car length and then won Sunday’s NEXTEL Cup race by a length over Rudd.
Lap 153 saw Kurt Busch lose the handle on his car coming off Turn Two, spinning across the track in front of half the field on a restart. Jimmie Johnson got tapped in the rear bumper, spinning him down to the apron but no real damage resulted. A handful of cars got back on the lead lap, among them Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin. Just about ten laps earlier, Martin had dropped a lap down when he ran over a brake pad from Kyle Busch’s car after the rookie hit the wall to bring out the third caution which ended just before this incident.
Rookie Casey Mears had a blown right-front tire, sending him careering into the wall and bringing out the fifth caution as the race approached the 200-lap mark. “We just stayed out a lap too long I guess,” was Mears’ description of why the tire went down.
When the pit stop flurry ended, Greg Biffle held the lead with 65 laps left, then Jeremy Mayfield, Dale Jarrett, Kasey Kahne and Ryan Newman in the top five. Biffle’s car started the run too loose for his liking, allowing Jarrett to close. Ryan Newman hit the wall and spun down the front straight to bring out another caution on lap 209 while Ken Schrader suffered with a flat left-front tire. Newman admitted that the problem was his fault. Replays showed the car getting slightly loose before Newman “chased” the car up the banking and into the wall.
Newman’s driveshaft failed as he tried to accelerate out of his pit stall and the car lurched then stalled.
On the restart, Jimmie Johnson spun coming off Turn Two, starting another caution period on lap 215. The restart came with 50 laps to run and Jamie McMurray leading Ricky Rudd across the line. Elliott Sadler, Joe Nemechek, Saturday’s Busch Series race winner, and Terry Labonte filled out the top five on the green flag.
Kasey Kahne brought out the eighth caution when he spun on lap 241. Robby Gordon brought out yet another caution with 17 laps left when he spun on the tri-oval grass, wiping out Joe Nemechek’s two-second lead with the yellow flag. Mark Martin dodged another crash, avoiding what must have been his fourth spinning car today.
After a short caution, the green came back out with Nemechek still on the point, ahead of Elliott Sadler, Ricky Rudd, Greg Biffle and Kurt Busch. Nemechek pulled out ahead of the pack but Ricky Rudd swept around Sadler and set chase for the lead, catching up to Nemechek and challenging for the win. Nemechek held off Rudd’s challenge by a scant car length at the checker to sweep the weekend at Kansas Speedway. This was Ryan Pemberton’s first win as a crew chief, Nemechek’s first win in 54 races and the first-ever win for car No. 01. “This is for all the troops,” said Pemberton after the race.
Biffle held on for third, followed by Sadler, Mayfield, Kurt Busch, McMurray, Jarrett, Earnhardt and Gaughan in the top ten.
Ryan Newman, Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon all took major hits in their hunt for the championship with poor finishing positions.
Unofficial finish, Banquet 400 Presented by ConAgra:
Fin, St, Driver, Car, Pts/Bonus, Laps, Status
1) 1, Joe Nemechek, No. 01 U.S. Army Chevrolet, 185/5, 267, Running
2) 12, Ricky Rudd, No. 21 Motorcraft/U.S. Air Force Ford, 175/5, 267, Running
3) 6, Greg Biffle, No. 16 National Guard/Subway Ford, 170/5, 267, Running
4) 11, Elliott Sadler, No. 38 Wizard of Oz/Pedigree Ford, 165/5, 267, Running
5) 3, Jeremy Mayfield, No. 19 Dodge Dealers HEMI/UAW Dodge, 165/10, 267, Running
6) 22, Kurt Busch, No. 97 Sharpie/IRWIN Industrial Tools Ford, 155/5, 267, Running
7) 10, Jamie McMurray, No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge, 151/5, 267, Running
8) 9, Dale Jarrett, No. 88 UPS Ford, 147/5, 267, Running
9) 8, Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet, 138/0, 267, Running
10) 13, Brendan Gaughan*, No. 77 Wizard of Oz/Kodak/Jasper Dodge, 134/0, 267, Running
11) 26, Michael Waltrip, No. 15 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 130/0, 267, Running
12) 2, Kasey Kahne*, No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge, 132/5, 267, Running
13) 30, Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Wizard of Oz/DuPont Chevrolet, 124/0, 267, Running
14) 24, Tony Stewart, No. 20 The Home Depot Chevrolet, 121/0, 267, Running
15) 17, Jeff Burton, No. 30 America Online Chevrolet, 118/0, 267, Running
16) 5, Bobby Labonte, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet, 115/0, 267, Running
17) 15, Matt Kenseth, No. 17 DeWalt Power Tools Ford, 112/0, 267, Running
18) 36, Rusty Wallace, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, 109/0, 267, Running
19) 25, Brian Vickers*, No. 25 GMAC Financial Services Chevrolet, 106/0, 267, Running
20) 18, Mark Martin, No. 6 Viagra Ford, 103/0, 267, Running
21) 19, Terry Labonte, No. 5 Kellogg’s Chevrolet, 105/5, 267, Running
22) 16, Carl Edwards, No. 99 Roush Racing Ford, 97/0, 267, Running
23) 31, Bobby Hamilton Jr., No. 32 Tide Chevrolet, 94/0, 267, Running
24) 38, Shane Hmiel, No. 23 Bill Davis Racing Dodge, 91/0, 265, Running
25) 33, Jimmy Spencer, No. 4 Lucas Oil Products Chevrolet, 88/0, 265, Running
26) 14, Scott Riggs*, No. 10 Wizard of Oz/Valvoline Chevrolet, 85/0, 265, Running
27) 32, Ken Schrader, No. 49 Schwan’s Home Service Dodge, 82/0, 265, Running
28) 23, Robby Gordon, No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet, 79/0, 265, Running
29) 27, Jeff Green, No. 43 Cheerios Spoonfuls of Stories Dodge, 76/0, 262, Running
30) 35, Ward Burton, No. 0 NetZero HiSpeed Chevrolet, 73/0, 255, Running
31) 21, Casey Mears, No. 41 Target/Breast Cancer Awareness Dodge, 75/5, 243, Running
32) 4, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, 67/0, 239, Out
33) 7, Ryan Newman, No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge, 69/5, 223, Out
34) 28, Sterling Marlin, No. 40 Coors Light Dodge, 61/0, 216, Out
35) 29, Kevin Harvick, No. 29 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet, 58/0, 160, Out
36) 37, Scott Wimmer*, No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge, 55/0, 146, Out
37) 34, Kyle Busch, No. 84 CARQUEST Chevrolet, 52/0, 136, Out
38) 39, Kyle Petty, No. 45 Georgia-Pacific/Brawny Dodge, 49/0, 88, Out
39) 20, Todd Bodine, No. 50 Arnold Development Companies Dodge, 46/0, 66, Out
40) 41, Hermie Sadler, No. 02 SCORE Motorsports Ford, 43/0, 38, Out
41) 43, Stanton Barrett, No. 94 AmericInn/Racer’s Edge Ford, 40/0, 30, Out
42) 40, Larry Gunselman, No. 98 Mach One Inc. Ford, 37/0, 26, Out
43) 42, Kirk Shelmerdine, No. 72 Vote for Bush Ford, 34/0, 3, Out
*=Rookie
Unofficial point standings:
Pos +/-, Driver, Points, Bhd, Sts, Pls, Wins, Top 5, Top 10 1, –, Kurt Busch, 5685, Ldr, 30, 0, 3, 7, 16 2, –, Dale Earnhardt Jr., 5656, -29, 30, 0, 5, 14, 19 3, –, Jeff Gordon, 5606, -79, 30, 6, 5, 12, 20 4, +4, Elliott Sadler, 5542, -143, 30, 0, 2, 8, 13 5, -1, Mark Martin, 5535, -150, 30, 0, 1, 8, 13 6, –, Tony Stewart, 5512, -173, 30, 0, 2, 9, 15 7, -2, Matt Kenseth, 5505, -180, 30, 0, 2, 8, 16 8, -1, Ryan Newman, 5453, -232, 30, 5, 2, 9, 12 9, –, Jimmie Johnson, 5438, -247, 30, 1, 4, 15, 17 10, –, Jeremy Mayfield, 5428, -257, 30, 2, 1, 5, 12 11, –, Jamie McMurray, 3736, -1949, 30, 0, 0, 7, 18 12, +1, Dale Jarrett, 3654, -2031, 30, 0, 0, 6, 13 13, -1, Kevin Harvick, 3607, -2078, 30, 0, 0, 4, 11 14, +1, Kasey Kahne*, 3549, -2136, 30, 4, 0, 10, 11 15, -1, Bobby Labonte, 3540, -2145, 30, 1, 0, 5, 9 16, –, Michael Waltrip, 3279, -2406, 30, 0, 0, 2, 9 17, –, Rusty Wallace, 3219, -2466, 30, 0, 1, 3, 8 18, +3, Greg Biffle, 3182, -2503, 30, 1, 1, 3, 6 19, +1, Jeff Burton, 3175, -2510, 30, 0, 0, 2, 4 20, -2, Casey Mears, 3156, -2529, 30, 2, 0, 1, 9 21, +3, Joe Nemechek, 3124, -2561, 30, 2, 1, 1, 6 22, -3, Sterling Marlin, 3119, -2566, 30, 0, 0, 2, 6 23, -1, Robby Gordon, 3071, -2614, 30, 0, 0, 2, 6 24, -1, Terry Labonte, 3052, -2633, 30, 0, 0, 0, 6 25, –, Brian Vickers*, 2932, -2753, 30, 2, 0, 0, 3
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Looks likethe “Chase” is down to four contenders. With Martin sitting at minus 150 and the others further back, it would take an extreme turn of bad luck not to have one the the top four win the cup.