Kansas 400 Race Review

Kansas Speedway -- 09/28/08

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Tuesday Sep 30 2008 10:33pm

Here's everything you need to know about Sunday's Sprint Cup Race in Kansas: The top 3 drivers in the Chase standings entering Kansas were Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson and Greg Biffle. The top 3 drivers in Chase standings after Kansas were Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle. The top 3 finishers at Kansas were Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle.

Well, perhaps there are a few other things you might want to know, but I find that outcome pretty remarkable in and of itself.

Ten of the top 13 finishers were Chasers - the exceptions being David Ragan, 8th, AJ Allmendinger, 9th, and Elliott Sadler, 10th.

Kyle Busch finished 28th with mechanical problems, and Tony Stewart, who started 41st, finished 40th after his splitter was damaged during a trip through the infield grass.

Jimmie Johnson, the race winner, did have the dominant car, starting on the pole and leading the most laps - 124 of 267. Matt Kenseth led 49 laps and finished 5th, while Edwards led 31 and Casey Mears, 29. Martin Truex Jr., who looked strong in the early going and led 27 laps, finished in last place with a broken transmission.

Although there was not a huge shakeup in the points, a few important things did occur:

Johnson and Edwards swapped spots, with Johnson now on top and Edwards down by 10 points. Biffle in 3rd is 30 points out.

Jeff Gordon moved up two spots to 6th. His 4th-place finish was his best thus far in the Chase and Gordon impressed fans with his determination to fight through illness all weekend.

Gordon is the last of the Chase drivers still within a one-race points deficit behind 1st. The six are Johnson, Edwards, Biffle, Burton, Harvick and Gordon.

All the drivers from 7th through 12th are now more than one race out of 1st in terms of points. They are Clint Bowyer, 7th, Dale Earnhardt Jr., 8th, Matt Kenseth, 9th, Denny Hamlin, 10th, Tony Stewart, 11th, and Kyle Busch, 12th.

Stewart took the biggest hit in the points, falling four spots to 11th. The three Joe Gibbs Racing teammates - Hamlin, Stewart and Busch - now occupy the bottom three spots in the Chase standings.

The most exciting moment of the Kansas race was Carl Edwards' wild attempts to pass Jimmie Johnson on the last lap, employing a technique he said had worked well for him in video games. It didn't work quite as well in real life, but Edwards held on to a 2nd-place finish despite his attempt to ricochet off the wall.

This week the series heads to Talladega for some restrictor plate action.
This race is typically described as the "wild card" of the Chase because of things often happen on plate tracks that are beyond a drivers' control.

Last year, 8 of 12 positions in the Chase points standings were shuffled at Talladega.