2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500

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2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500
Race details[1][2]
Race 33 of 36 in the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series
2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 program cover
2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 program cover
Date October 29, 2006 (2006-10-29)
Location Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton, Georgia
Course Permanent racing facility
1.54 mi (2.48 km)
Distance 325 laps, 500.5 mi (805.4 km)
Average speed 143.421 mph (230.814 km/h)
Attendance 115,000
Pole position
Driver
Roush Racing
Time Owner Points
Most laps led
Driver Tony Stewart Joe Gibbs Racing
Laps 146
Winner
No. 20 Tony Stewart Joe Gibbs Racing
Television in the United States
Network
NBC
Announcers
Nielsen Ratings
  • 4.8/10 (Final)
  • 4.2/8 (Overnight)[3]
Radio in the United States
Radio Performance Racing Network
Booth Announcers Mark Garrow, Doug Rice
Turn Announcers Chuck Carland, Rob Albright

The 2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 was the thirty-third stock car race of the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, and the seventh in the 10-round season-ending Chase for the Nextel Cup. It was held on October 29, 2006 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia before a crowd of 115,000 people. The 325-lap race was won by Joe Gibbs Racing driver Tony Stewart after starting from the eleventh position. Jimmie Johnson finished second and Dale Earnhardt Jr. came in third.

Although Matt Kenseth was awarded the pole position after qualifying was rained out and the starting order was determined by owners' points, he was immediately passed by Kevin Harvick at the start of the race. Earnhardt became the leader on lap ten, and held it for the next 14 laps when Stewart passed him on lap 24. Earnhardt, Johnson, and Stewart assumed the lead through the various pit stop cycles and cautions waved for incidents over the course of the race. At the race's final restart on lap 315, Earnhardt led the field back up to speed, and remained the leader until Stewart moved past him on the run to turn four on the lap. Stewart maintained the first position for the last ten laps to win the event. There were nine cautions and 24 lead changes by seven drivers.

Stewart's victory was his fourth of the season, and the 28th of his career. After the race,

Manufacturers' Championship with 257 points, 72 ahead of Ford and 80 in front of Dodge
with three races left in the season.

Background

Atlanta Motor Speedway, the race track where the race was held.

The Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 was the thirty-third of thirty-six scheduled

Chase for the Nextel Cup.[1] It was held on October 29, 2006 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia,[2] an intermediate track that holds NASCAR-sanctioned races.[4] The standard track at Atlanta Motor Speedway is a 1.54 mi (2.48 km) four-turn quad-oval.[5] The track's turns are banked at twenty-four degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, and the back stretch are banked at five.[5]

Going into the race,

Drivers' Championship with 5,848 points; his nearest rival Kevin Harvick thirty-six points behind in second, and Jimmie Johnson was a further five points adrift in third. Denny Hamlin and Jeff Burton were separated by one point in fourth and fifth, and Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mark Martin, Kasey Kahne, Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch rounded out the top ten drivers competing for the 2006 Chase for the Nextel Cup.[6] In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet (with 246 points) were confirmed as champions six races prior to the Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500. Dodge was second with 185 points, and Ford were eight points behind in the battle for the position.[7] Carl Edwards was the race's defending champion.[8]

One driver made his debut appearance in the Nextel Cup Series at the race.

Roush Racing withdrew his entry.[11]

Practice and qualifying

Matt Kenseth (pictured in 2009) was awarded the Pole position on Owners' Points after qualifying was cancelled due to heavy rain.

Three practice sessions were scheduled before the Sunday race: one on Friday and two on Saturday. The first session lasted 90 minutes, the second 60 minutes and the third 45 minutes.[1] Constant heavy rain forced NASCAR officials to cancel all of Friday's scheduled activity, including that afternoon's qualifying session. Thus, the starting order for the race was determined by where the drivers were placed in the Owners Championship. This gave Kenseth the pole position. He was joined on the front row of the grid by his nearest rival Harvick.[12] Johnson, Hamlin, Burton, Earnhardt, Martin, Kahne, Gordon and Kyle Busch completed the top ten starters.[13] The four drivers who failed to qualify were Derrike Cope, Kirk Shelmerdine, Mike Skinner and Allmendinger due to them being outside the top 35 positions in the Owners' Championship.[12] Kevin Lepage withdrew from the race prior to qualifying for undisclosed reasons but was later restored to the entry list.[1] Afterward, Kenseth spoke of his happiness over being awarded the pole position, "That means I start up front, and I probably wouldn’t have been starting up there without the rain."[14]

The first practice session was rescheduled by NASCAR to Saturday morning, and would run for an hour, while the final practice session of 45 minutes would take place as scheduled.

Sam's Town 250 Busch Series race at Memphis Motorsports Park, had the No. 78 car's right-side window detach.[1] Kahne was fastest in the final practice session with a time of 29.512 seconds; Casey Mears was second, and Earnhardt placed third. Fourth position was taken by Nemechek, Kurt Busch was fifth-quickest, and David Gilliland sixth. Biffle was seventh-fastest, Johnson eighth, Burton ninth, and David Stremme tenth.[16]

Race

Live television coverage of the race on

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (pictured in 2015) led a total of 95 laps for a third-place finish

The race began at 3:08 p.m. Harvick got a better start as he accelerated faster than Kenseth off the line, and got past him around the outside to lead the field on the first lap.[17] Earnhardt moved from sixth to third by the lap three.[18] The first caution was displayed a lap later when the eighth-placed Kyle Busch lost control of his car in the outside of the track at turn three and spun. He slid down the track, and glanced Brian Vickers' car with the front of his vehicle. None of the leading drivers made pit stops. Harvick led the back up to speed at the lap-eight restart, with Kenseth second, and Earnhardt third.[17][18] Earnhardt caught Harvick, and made the pass on the outside of the track to gain the lead on the tenth lap.[17] On lap 15, Kenseth was on the outside of the track with Jeff Gordon on the inside lane. Kenseth overtook Gordon for second on the lap. Tony Stewart overtook Harvick, Kenseth, and Gordon over the next three laps to move into second place.[18] On the 24th lap, Stewart went past Earnhardt for first place. Earnhardt fell to fourth as Gordon and Harvick passed him on laps 25 and 30. He made an unscheduled pit stop on the 31st lap to correct a vibration that put him a lap behind the leader in 41st.[17][18]

Hamlin was passed by Truex for fourth on lap 46.[18] Three laps later, the first round of green flag pit stops began when Kahne drove to pit road earlier than scheduled to remove a coil spring from the right-rear corner of his car, and correct a vibration that was caused by a heavily worn tire. Stewart made his stop for an air pressure adjustment on lap 55, handing the lead to Gordon. His teammate Johnson led for one lap before his pit stop on the 57th lap. After the pit stops, Earnhardt gained the lead since he was on a different strategy than other drivers around him.[17] Earnhardt led Gordon by 7.871 seconds, but this was reduced to 2.605 seconds by the time of the second caution's deployment for debris in turn two on lap 82. During the caution, all of the leaders made pit stops. At the lap-85 restart, Earnhardt held the lead with Hendrick Motorsport's Johnson and Gordon second and third. Three laps later, Johnson lost second place to Gordon. Stewart steered onto the outside of the track on the backstretch to pass Truex for fourth .[18] Gordon caught and overtook Earnhardt for the lead on lap 109. Earnhardt retook the lead from Gordon on the same lap.[17] Continuous side-by-side racing enabled Gordon to claim the lead from Earnhardt on the outside five laps later.[17][18]

Stewart moved past Earnhardt to take over second as Burton passed Johnson to move into fourth on the 125th and 126th laps respectively. Green flag pit stops were made from laps 133 and 150, with Gordon retaking the lead, and Stewart moving into second. Stewart gained on Gordon to lower the deficit to half a second, and was close enough to affect an overtake on lap 157. Gordon attempted to lap Nemechek, but the latter had an understeer that put Gordon into a wall, pushing his right-front fender in slightly. Stewart used the incident to pass Gordon for the lead and pull away from him.[17][18] On lap 170, the third caution was necessitated when Gordon had his right-rear tire go flat in turn two, and the rear of his car was rammed by Jamie McMurray, who was blinded by sunlight glare in his eyes.[1][17] Gordon spun and made two pit stops to repair car damage. All drivers chose to make pit stops under caution.[17] Stewart maintained the lead at the lap-178 but he lost it to Earnhardt on the following lap.[18] Stewart attempted to retake the first position by drawing alongside Earnhardt on lap 187 but was unsuccessful.[17] On lap 194, Burton was passed by Kahne for fifth.[18] A fourth caution was given on the 197th lap when race officials located debris in turn one.[1]

Most drivers again took the opportunity to make pit stops for fuel and tyres during the caution.[17] Racing resumed on the 202nd lap with Stewart leading Earnhardt and Kenseth. Earnhardt had a loose car, and Johnson passed him for second six laps later. He lost a further place to Kurt Busch on lap 209.[17][18] By lap 212, Gordon had moved into the top ten and got past Burton for ninth four laps later.[18] Johnson moved in front of Kenseth to get into second on lap 218,[17] and Kahne got ahead of Earnhardt to take over fourth on the 219th lap.[18] Johnson closed up to Stewart over the intervening laps, and overtook him for the lead in traffic on lap 238. As Johnson increased his advantage over Stewart to a half a second.[17][18] the fifth caution was waved on lap 243 when Newman crashed into a wall on the backstretch, and scattered debris on the track.[1] Johnson maintained the lead through another pit stop cycle, and held it at the lap-248 restart.[18] On the next lap, Kahne steered right to go up the track on the run to the first turn, and went into the path of Stremme, causing the sixth caution. Both went into the wall heavily.[1][18] Johnson again led at the restart on the 255th lap. He held it for the next five laps until Stewart passed him to reclaim the position.[18]

Tony Stewart (pictured in 2007) led a race-high 146 laps to clinch his fourth victory of the season.

On lap 281, Burton made a pit stop to replace a cut right-hand side tire after glancing the wall 16 laps earlier. Harvick made his own stop for tires seven laps later.

multi-car accident in turn two..Wallace drove onto the turn one apron, and made contact with Jeff Green. This caused Sterling Marlin to brake heavily; he was hit on the outside by Martin, who in turn, got rammed by Dale Jarrett. Mears and Clint Bowyer were also caught up in the accident.[1][18]

Earnhardt led at the lap-315 restart, but lost the lead to Stewart heading into the fourth turn.[17][18] Johnson moved into second place with overtakes on Edwards and Earnhardt over the following two laps. Kenseth lost fourth place to Edwards on the 318th lap. Bowyer drifted into a wall six laps later but no caution was given.[17] Stewart held the lead for the remainder of the race to clinch his fourth victory of the season,[20] and the twenty-eighth of his career.[21] Johnson finished second, and Earnhardt repelled an late challenge by Kenseth to claim third by a margin of 0.007 seconds. Biffle took fifth, Jeff Gordon sixth, Edwards seventh, Hamlin eighth, Nemechek ninth and Robby Gordon tenth.[18] The race had a total of nine cautions and 24 lead changes by seven drivers. Stewart led seven times for a total of 146 laps, more than any other competitor.[2]

Post-race

"It's not as tough of a Chase. He's one of the best in the sport. I can say tonight chasing him around, I had so much fun chasing him, learning from him."

Jimmie Johnson, speaking about Tony Stewart after the race.[21]

Stewart appeared in victory lane in front of the crowd of 170,000 to celebrate his fourth win of the season, which earned him $373,286.[2] Stewart was happy with the victory, saying not being in the chase helped ease the pressure placed upon him, and spoke of his feeling that he could not attained his recent successes had he been contenting for the championship, "Sometimes it gets you off your game a little bit. Sometimes it makes you be a little bit conservative. Sometimes, because of the pressure, you make mistakes. Those guys are in a totally different situation than we are. So it's easier for us to go out and just try to win races."[22] Johnson said of his second-place finish, "We got off to a rough start, but we had the speed in the car and now we're getting the results. 'It was a fun race. You really had to challenge yourself and scare yourself on every lap. We're on a great roll right now.''[23] Third-placed Earnhardt stated that he was not prepared to make a pit stop during the eighth caution, "They were doing everything, swapping, and juking, and carrying on, I just kind of got left out there.''[23]

Robby Gordon (pictured in 2007) was fined and penalised points in the Owners' and Drivers' Championship for missing a roll bar in his car

Kahne had been favored to win due to his recent record of winning races at one-and-a half mile tracks, but admitted being at fault for causing the crash with Stremme, "I just drove into him. Had he kept going, it was just a matter of time until we were going to be leading. ... But, driver error. I screwed up."[22] Hamlin, who finished eighth, had a poor-handling car that put him one lap down before regaining it with 75 laps remaining, and spoke of his fortune over avoiding the multi-car accident on lap 310, "We sucked real bad. I don't know, I can't get a grip on this race track. I haven't had and I don't know if I will in the foreseeable future. I've got to work on it."[21] Kenseth revised his chances of winning the Drivers' Championship by half. Although he had more optimism, Kenseth said he would have felt more comfortable if his lead was larger, "At least we came close to running with them today. That feels good because other people’s troubles have kind of put us in the points lead. We had a 44th-place car on Saturday and finished fourth today, so the crew did a great job. This is how we need to run to have a shot at it."[24]

After cutting his right-front tire on lap 268, Burton spoke of his anger with the roll bar padding that caused a caution 24 laps later. He called for NASCAR to stop all cars on pit road and penalize those lacking a roll bar, "It is starting to happen just too often and NASCAR gets on everybody when it happens. Well, they should find out who did it and penalize them.''[21] Television footage broadcast after the race appear to show Robby Gordon throwing a roll bar out of his car. He protested his innocence, and NASCAR did not initially penalize him as they deemed the footage "inconclusive".[21] Nextel Cup Series Director John Darby stated that inspectors would search all cars as they were transported into their haulers to see whether any lacked a roll bar.[19] Later, series officials investigated Robby Gordon after an initial search discovered nothing, and gathered all information regarding the incident to come up with a conclusion.[25] Three days after the race, it was announced that after reviewing new television footage, and re-inspecting Robby Gordon's car,[26] the driver was fined $15,000, and penalized 50 points in the Owners and Drivers' Championship. Both Gordon and his crew chief Greg Erwin were put on probation until December 31, 2006, and Erwin received a $10,000 fine.[27]

The result kept Kenseth in the lead of the Drivers' Championship with 6,008 points. Johnson's second-place finish advanced him to second with 5,982 points. Hamlin moved to third, while Earnhardt progressed from sixth to fourth, but was tied with fifth-placed Burton on points (5,924). Harvick's poor finish dropped him to sixth.[28] He, Gordon, Martin, Kahne and Kyle Busch were mathematically ruled out of contention for the Drivers' Championship.[24] In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet led with 255 points. Ford moved three points closer to Dodge in the battle for second position with three races left in the season.[7] The race took three hours, 29 minutes and 23 seconds to complete, and the margin of victory was 1.195 seconds.[2]

Race results

Race results
Pos. Grid No. Driver Team Manufacturer Laps Points
1 11 20 Tony Stewart Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet 325 1902
2 3 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 325 1751
3 6 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Chevrolet 325 1701
4 1 17 Matt Kenseth
Roush Racing
Ford 325 160
5 13 16 Greg Biffle Roush Racing Ford 325 155
6 9 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 325 155
7 12 99 Carl Edwards Roush Racing Ford 325 1511
8 4 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet 325 142
9 31 01 Joe Nemechek
Ginn Racing
Chevrolet 325 1431
10 29 7 Robby Gordon Robby Gordon Motorsports Chevrolet 325 843
11 23 88 Dale Jarrett Robert Yates Racing Ford 325 130
12 20 43 Bobby Labonte Petty Enterprises Dodge 324 127
13 5 31 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing Cbevrolet 323 124
14 16 2 Kurt Busch Penske Racing South Dodge 323 121
15 25 38 David Gilliland Robert Yates Racing Ford 323 118
16 30 18 J. J. Yeley Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet 323 115
17 37 45 Kyle Petty Petty Enterprises Dodge 323 112
18 26 22 Dave Blaney Bill Davis Racing Dodge 323 109
19 15 25 Brian Vickers Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 323 106
20 35 14 Sterling Marlin Ginn Racing Chevrolet 322 103
21 34 19 Elliott Sadler Evernham Motorsports Dodge 322 100
22 19 10 Scott Riggs Evernham Motorsports Dodge 322 97
23 28 66 Jeff Green
Haas CNC Racing
Chevrolet 322 94
24 32 21 Ken Schrader Wood Brothers Racing Ford 322 91
25 18 07 Clint Bowyer Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 322 88
26 41 49 Mike Bliss BAM Racing Dodge 321 85
27 10 5 Kyle Busch Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 321 82
28 14 42 Casey Mears Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge 321 79
29 24 41 Reed Sorenson Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge 321 76
30 17 12 Ryan Newman Penske Racing South Dodge 321 73
31 2 29 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 321 751
32 38 32 Travis Kvapil PPI Motorsports Chevrolet 320 67
33 39 55 Michael Waltrip Waltrip-Jasper Racing Dodge 319 64
34 27 96 Tony Raines Hall of Fame Racing Chevrolet 319 61
35 43 78 Kenny Wallace Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 319 58
36 7 6 Mark Martin Roush Racing Ford 309 55
37 21 1 Martin Truex Jr. Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolet 305 52
38 8 9 Kasey Kahne Evernham Motorsports Dodge 255 49
39 33 40 David Stremme Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge 246 46
40 22 26 Jamie McMurray Roush Racing Ford 244 43
41 36 37 Bill Elliott R&J Racing Dodge 146 40
42 40 4 Todd Bodine Morgan-McClure Motorsports Chevrolet 144 37
43 42 61 Kevin Lepage Front Row Motorsports Chevrolet 29 34
Source:[2]
1 Includes five bonus points for leading a lap
2 Includes ten bonus points for leading the most laps
3 Includes a 50-point post-race penalty

Standings after the race

Notes and references

Notes

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "The Race: The Bass Pro Shops 500 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway". Jayski's Silly Season Site. ESPN Internet Ventures. Archived from the original on November 29, 2006. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "2006 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  3. ^ "2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup TV Ratings". Jayski's Silly Season Site. ESPN Internet Archives. Archived from the original on November 30, 2006. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
  4. ^ "NASCAR Race Tracks". NASCAR. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on 2010-08-15. Retrieved August 26, 2010.
  5. ^ a b "NASCAR Tracks—The Atlanta Motor Speedway". Atlanta Motor Speedway. Archived from the original on September 3, 2010. Retrieved August 26, 2010.
  6. ^ "2006 Official Driver Standings: Subway 500". NASCAR. Turner Sports Interactive. Archived from the original on 2009-03-10. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  7. ^ a b c "Manufacturers' Championship Classification". Jayski's Silly Season Site. ESPN Internet Ventures. Archived from the original on February 12, 2007. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
  8. ^ "In the groove". The Dallas Morning News. October 27, 2006. p. 12C. Archived from the original on August 7, 2018. Retrieved August 7, 2018 – via PressReader.
  9. ^ a b Chambers, Mike (October 24, 2006). "Allmendinger switches circuits". The Denver Post. Archived from the original on August 7, 2018. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  10. ^ Fryer, Jenna (October 24, 2006). "Allmendinger Leaves Champ Car for NASCAR". The Washington Post. Associated Press. Archived from the original on August 7, 2018. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  11. ^ Ashenfalter, Mark (October 25, 2006). "Ragan not approved for Atlanta Cup race". NASCAR Scene. Street & Smith Sports Group. Archived from the original on 2006-11-08. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  12. ^
    Speed. Archived from the original
    on 2006-11-08. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  13. ^ "Atlanta qualifying rained out". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. October 28, 2006. Archived from the original on August 7, 2018. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  14. Orange County Register. October 28, 2006. Archived
    from the original on August 7, 2018. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  15. ^ "NASCAR Nextel Cup Series: Bass Pro Shops 500: Practice #1". Fox Sports. October 28, 2006. Archived from the original on 2006-11-09. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  16. ^ "Practice Three Speeds". NASCAR. Turner Sports Interactive. Archived from the original on 2006-11-30. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t "Lap-by-Lap: Atlanta". NASCAR. Turner Sports Interactive. Archived from the original on 2006-11-06. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Jensen, Tom (October 30, 2006). "Instant Analysis: Atlanta". Fox Sports. Archived from the original on 2007-01-08. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  19. ^ a b Mulhern, Mike (October 31, 2006). "Nextel Cup Contenders Seeing Red After Yellow; Drivers Suspect Trickery After Late Caution Flag Due to Debris on Track". Winston-Salem Journal. p. C1. Retrieved August 8, 2018 – via Gale Power Search.
  20. ^ Harris, Mike (October 28, 2006). "Stewart wins in Atlanta". The Pantagraph. Associated Press. Archived from the original on August 8, 2018. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
  21. ^ a b c d e Long, Dustin (October 30, 2006). "Stewart winning without worries". The Roanoke Times. Archived from the original on May 16, 2008. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
  22. ^ a b Hinton, Ed (October 30, 2006). "Red-hot Stewart wins in Atlanta". The Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on August 8, 2018. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  23. ^ a b Glier, Ray (October 30, 2006). "Without Pressure of the Chase, Stewart Doesn't Look Back". The New York Times. p. D8. Retrieved August 8, 2018 – via Biography in Context.
  24. ^ a b Pearce, Al (October 29, 2006). "Down to It: With three races to go, five drivers have a legitimate chance to win the NASCAR title". Autoweek. Crain Communications. Archived from the original on August 8, 2018. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
  25. ^ "NASCAR investigating Robby Gordon". China Daily. Associated Press. October 31, 2006. Archived from the original on August 8, 2018. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
  26. ^ "Robby Gordon fined, penalized". Superior Telegram. November 2, 2006. Archived from the original on August 8, 2018. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
  27. ^ "R. Gordon plans to appeal NASCAR penalty for intentionally causing caution". NASCAR Scene. Street & Smith's Sports. November 2, 2006. Archived from the original on 2006-11-25. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
  28. ^ a b "Stewart takes Atlanta win". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. October 30, 2006. Archived from the original on August 8, 2018. Retrieved August 8, 2018.


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2006 Subway 500
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