NASCAR Results from Kansas

2007 Kansas - Race 3 of the Chase
Matt Kenseth's #17 DeWalt Ford led most of the first 46 laps until the Miller Lite blue deuce of Kurt Busch passed him for the lead. By lap 60, Busch had a 2-second lead over Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle and Denny Hamlin. Pole-winner Jimmie Johnson was up to sixth despite starting from 43rd place after switching to his backup car.

On lap 70 Chase contender Jeff Burton lost fuel pressure to his car and stalled on the track to bring out the caution. Stewart and Busch passed Kenseth on the restart, then Busch passed Stewart three laps later. By the next caution on lap 86 four of the best cars were out front with Busch leading Kenseth, Stewart and Johnson. Fifth thru tenth place featured most of the days best drivers; Gordon, Truex Jr, Hamlin, Bowyer, Dave Blaney and Biffle.

The race went green from lap 104-145 and by lap 120 Stewart was within .2 seconds of Busch and Johnson was 2.7 seconds back in third. Kenseth was fourth followed by Hamlin, Harvick, Blaney, Gordon and Biffle.

Cautions dulled the outcome of the race for the second weekend in a row. Heavy rain brought out the red flag on lap 148, but prior to that Busch looked like one of the cars to beat. On lap 133, he held a one-second lead over Tony Stewart and was four-seconds ahead of third-place Jimmie Johnson. Shortly afterward the lead drivers pitted, but Stewart's team decided to stay out knowing that rain was looming. They were right and it looked Stewart was going to walk away with the win if he didn't run out of fuel before the cars went down pit road.

The weather cleared up and NASCAR decided to shorten the race to 225 of 267 laps. Stewart pitted when the red-flag was lifted, but some drivers in the back of the field stayed out leaving the leaders behind them for the restart on lap 154. One lap later Kenny Schrader spun by himself starting a melee that caused damage to three Chase contenders; Stewart, Truex Jr and Kenseth who all ran in the top ten.

Kenseth finished the race four laps down in 35th place. Truex Jr finished 35 laps down in 38th place. He had a flat tire on lap 33 while running 3rd, and fell back to 21st, but was back in 5th by lap 88. Stewart's #20 Home Depot team made a huge mistake by not pitting to fix their damaged front fender.

The race restarted on lap 166 and his fender was throwing off a lot of "smoke". By lap 172 he was back in 17th place, while Kevin Harvick was leading the race over a closing Biffle and third-place Bowyer. Biffle passed Harvick on lap 175, then a lap later Stewart's tire went down and Kurt Busch wasn't able to avoid running into him. Stewart crashed and wound up the day in 39th place, while Carl Edwards also ran into the wreck, ending his day in 37th place. Two more Chase contenders down, but Busch is still on the lead lap in 20th place.

The race has now been shortened to 210 laps and it restarts on lap 183, but one lap later Jamie McMurray got loose and Hamlin's #11 FedEx car suffered some damage. Hamlin ran in the top 10 all of the race before the red flag on lap 148, but he finished one lap down in 29th. Six Chasers down.

The race restarted with 24 laps to go, and Biffle built his lead to 1.3 seconds over Bowyer and 3.1 over third-place Johnson with 13 to go. Biffle still led Bowyer by over a second with 5 laps to go when Juan Montoya hit the wall bringing out the last caution. NASCAR decided not to run a green-white checkered finish, so all Biffle had to do was make it to the checkers on lap 210. He did, but controversy broke out when he started to slow about 200 yards from the line and the top three drivers were able to pass him under caution speed.

Most drivers agreed that the #07 Jack Daniels Chevrolet of Clint Bowyer should have been given the victory, but NASCAR thought that Biffle's speed was reasonable and that drivers are not allowed to pass under caution. I clearly agree that Bowyer should be awarded the victory. Hendrick drivers Johnson, Gordon and Mears finished 3rd, 4th and 5th. Chase drivers Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch finished 6th and 11th.

Busch led a race-high 77 laps, Biffle 36, Harvick 17 and Stewart 13. Kasey Kahne finished 9th and Dale Earnhardt Jr 10th.

Junior accidentally bumped Chase contender Kyle Busch early in the race causing him to crash. He came back on the track later and picked up two spots to 41st.

Johnson now is the Chase leader by 6 points over Gordon and 9 points over Bowyer. Stewart is 117 points behind in fourth, while Hamlin is in 11th, 219 points back and Kenseth is 12th, 248 points back.

Best 4 cars : Busch, Stewart, Johnson, Kenseth
Rest : Gordon, Hamlin, Biffle, Bowyer, Truex Jr, Blaney