NASCAR Chase — Round 1 – Chevy, Top Dodge Finishes Sixth

The Chase for the Championship began today under gorgeous sunny New England skies. Unlike the last several races at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway this one would not end early due to rain. After 300 laps, it was Mark Martin and the #5 Kellogg’s Chevy edging out Denny Hamlin’s #11 FedEX Toyota, and the drifting #42 Target Chevy driven by Juan Montoya.

For most of the day it was Juan Montoya who had the superior car, especially on the short runs. He led most of the laps, driving hard at times as he laid it all out trying to close on his first win of the year. But the final battle in the closing laps with Mark Martin and Denny Hamlin left him scrapping for third place. He used his car up a bit moving up several positions in the final laps—and Mark had just enough car left to stay out front.

The Dodge Boys in general didn’t have a great outing. Kurt Busch was the exception as he had his #2 Miller Lite Dodge upfront in the hunt for the win all day. Kurt was either in first or in the top 5 most of race. His car was hooked up for long green runs. The blue deuce, Dodge was involved in one minor incident on lap 162. Upon exiting his pits, Kurt ran into David Ragan’s UPS Ford, the bump sent David spinning backwards into his pits. The incident incurred some minor cosmetic right front damage to the Miller Lite Dodge, but it didn’t harm the performance of the car overall. Kurt would continue challenging for the win. Unfortunately, pit strategy didn’t fall his way and although two cautions fell in the final 14 laps, Kurt found quickly his setup wasn’t strong enough to hold on second spot—he would finish in 6th place, but today’s finish moved him up to 5th place in Championship points.

Kasey Kahne’s day was just terrible! He blew the engine in his Budweiser Dodge only 66 laps into the race. Personally, I would to be the fly on the wall when the motor department tears that engine down. What broke? Why? Championships cannot be won by finishing in 38th place.

Today’s finished moved Kasey to last place (12th) in Chase Championship points. With the strong competition in this year’s Chase field, it will take a miracle for Kasey to win the crown this year. And so, the team that Ray Evernham (later partnering with George Gillett to form GEM, and as of last year Richard Petty to form RPM) built, the one team that Dodge invested with to provide the leadership to bring Dodge back to NASCAR finds itself with an insurmountable challenge to climb in the final 9 races. It’s sad to see this team’s relationship with Dodge ending. We can only hope the next 9 rounds will go better for Kasey.

Round 2 of the Chase Championship will be held at the Monster Mile in Dover next Sunday. Historically this is a strong track for Fords and Chevys. The last time a Dodge won a race here was in 2004 when Ryan “the Rocket” Newman was driving for Penske racing. Maybe, Kurt can resurrect some of Penske magic and find his way to victory lane. Stay tuned in to see what happens at this very tough racetrack.

Dodge Boys finishes from today’s running of the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway:

#2 (Miller Lite), Kurt Busch, 6th
#19 (Stanley Tools), Elliott Sadler, 8th
#44 (Berlin City Auto Group), A.J. Allmendinger, 25th
#12 (Penske Racing), David Stremme, 28th
#09 (Miccousukee Resort and Gaming), Aric Almirola, 29th
#43 (Reynolds Wrap), Reed Sorenson, 36th
#77 (Mobil 1), Sam Hornish, Jr., 37th
#9 (Budweiser), Kasey Kahne, 38th
#37 (Long John Silver’s), Tony Raines, 43rd

J.R.
20 Sep 2009