By Dick Mittman
allstate400atthebrickyard.com
Monday, October 11, 2004
Front Row Joe stole the show at Kansas Speedway.
But when it was all tallied up at the end of the Banquet 400 presented by ConAgra Foods on Oct. 10, Kurt Busch was the big winner of the week in the NASCAR Chase for the NEXTEL Cup.
Joe Nemechek, driving the U.S. Army Chevrolet, experienced the biggest weekend of his career by winning the race pole, beating Greg Biffle by a half-car length in Saturday's Busch Series race and then holding off Ricky Rudd by a car length in Sunday's NEXTEL Cup Series race. Still, he's buried in 21st place in the NEXTEL Cup standings and not a contender for the title in the season-ending 10-race shootout.
Busch, on the other hand, now holds a 29-point lead over Dale Earnhardt Jr. after finishing sixth at Kansas. He now has a win, two fifths and a sixth in the first four races. During the week, he picked up 25 points on Earnhardt after Earnhardt was penalized for cursing after the race Oct. 3 at Talladega and took over first place by 12 points. He then finished three positions in front of Earnhardt at Kansas to extend his lead by another 17 points.
Without Earnhardt's points deduction, Busch's lead would have been a mere four points.
Las Vegas native Busch had a lot of luck riding with him at Kansas. He spun in his Sharpie/IRWIN Industrial Tools Ford midway through the race yet avoided any contact and stayed with the leaders.
"We avoided a big pitfall today," he said.
Earnhardt, coming off his win at Talladega the previous week, stayed close but couldn't get around Jamie McMurray and Dale Jarrett to challenge Busch and finished ninth. Both he and Busch got five bonus points for leading a lap.
Four-time series champion Jeff Gordon is the only other contender among the top 10 in the shootout to remain within striking distance of the lead. But he struggled after qualifying only 30th and came home in 13th place. He lost 31 points to Busch's lead and now trails by 79 points heading to the halfway race in the Chase, the UAW-GM Quality 500 on Oct. 16 at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Oct. 16.
"I don't think we have really lived up to our full potential," Gordon said.
Elliott Sadler made the biggest jump of the week. He brought his Wizard of Oz/Pedigree Ford home fourth and leapfrogged from eighth to fourth in the top 10 standings. He gained 10 points on Busch but still is 143 points out of first.
The only other driver among the top 10 to gain points was Jeremy Mayfield, who also picked up 10 points with a fifth-place finish. But he still holds 10th place, 257 points behind Busch, and must make up an average of 43 points per race in the final six just to overtake Busch.
Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman were the big losers at Kansas. Both crashed and finished 32nd and 33rd, respectively. Newman now is 232 points behind in eighth, and Johnson trails by 247 in ninth. Johnson, Jeff Gordon's teammate, has gone backward in the 10-race chase with consecutive finishes of 37th and 32nd.
Johnson, driver of the Lowe's Chevrolet, finished second to Gordon in the 26-race qualifying for the Chase by just 54 points. He was 203 points out of first after the season's third race then took over first by seven points over Earnhardt at Michigan in the 15th and increased his lead to 232 by the second Pocono race on Aug. 1.
The next week, Johnson placed 36th in the Brickyard 400 and saw his lead sliced to 97. He lost the top spot to Gordon at the second Michigan race, reclaimed it by 50 in the penultimate race at California before yielding the No. 1 position to Gordon at Richmond with another 36th-place finish.
Johnson entered the Chase only five points out of first and has lost 242 more in just four races.
Tony Stewart won last year's fall race at Charlotte. He holds sixth in the standings, 173 out of first, 23 behind fifth place Mark Martin and seven in front of seventh place Matt Kenseth.
THE CHASE
1. Kurt Busch 5,685 (Chase finishes: 1-5-5-6)
2. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -29 (5,656; 3-9-1-9)
3. Jeff Gordon -79 (5,606; 7-3-19-13)
4. Elliott Sadler -143 (5,542; 8-20-22-4)
5. Mark Martin -150 (5,535; 13-2-15-20)
6. Tony Stewart -173 (5,512; 39-6-6-14)
7. Matt Kenseth -180 (5,505; 2-32-14-17)
8. Ryan Newman -232 (5,453; 33-1-16-33)
9. Jimmie Johnson -247 (5,438; 11-10-37-32)
10. Jeremy Mayfield -257 (5,428; 35-7-38-5) ***
2005 tickets: The 12th Brickyard 400 is scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 7, 2005. Customers who are upgrading or purchasing Brickyard 400 tickets for the first time should act quickly to increase their chances of obtaining their desired seats.
To purchase tickets, camping or parking, contact the IMS ticket office at (800) 822-INDY outside the Indianapolis area, (317) 492-6700 locally or log on to www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com.
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