SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2005 www.wcfcourier.com NASCAR THE COURIER PAGE D15 NEXTEL CUP Banquet 400 Kansas City, Kan. Kansas Speedway 1.5-mile tri-oval 15 degrees banking in turns Distance: 400.5 miles, 267 laps Schedule: Saturday, qualifying (Speed Channel, 10:30 a.m.); Sunday, race (NBC, 12:30 p.m.) Kansas City Topeka KANSAS 2 TURNS Pit road FINISH GRANDSTANDS Next race: UAW-GM Quality 500, Oct. 15, Concord, N.C. SOURCE: NASCAR AP RACE WATCH Time: 12:30 p.m. TV: KWWL Track: Kansas Speedway Last race: Dale Jarrett used a three-wide pass to challenge Tony Stewart for the lead on the final lap of a three-lap overtime shootout, then passed Stewart on the backstretch in the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega for his first victory since 2003.
Last year: Pole-sitter Joe Nemechek completed the sweep at Kansas Speedway with his win in the Banquet 400. Fast facts: Stewart is thepoints leader after finishing second at Talladega, four points ahead of Ryan Newman and 76 in front of Rusty Wallace. Jimmie Johnson, who started the Talladega race as the points leader, was involved in two accidents and dropped to fourth in the standings 98 points back. Crew chief Todd Berrier was suspended until fined $10,000 and. placed on probation until Dec.
31 after NASCAR found several violations in the trunk of Kevin Harvick's car after he qualified at Talladega. Berrier sat out four races at the beginning of this season when he was caught rigging Harvick's fuel tank. Jeff Gordon has four wins at Kansas Speedway. CHASE'S REMAINING SCHEDULE Oct. 9 Banquet 400 Oct.
15 UAW-GM Quality 500 Oct. 23 Subway 500 Oct. 30 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 400 Nov. 6 Dickies 500 Nov. 13 Checker Auto Parts 500 Nov.
20 Ford 400 Retaliation, rules and wrecks define '05 Chase KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) The Chase for the Nextel Cup championship is different this year. Last year, in the inaugural run, the playoff atmosphere was intense. So far in 2005, the focus is more on retaliation, rules and wrecks than on winning a title. In the opener of the 10-race Chase, Robby Gordon and Kasey Kahne overshadowed the 10 championship contenders with outbursts.
They even tried to retaliate with their cars after being knocked into the wall by other drivers. A week later at Dover, contender Jimmie Johnson and teammate Kyle Busch finished 1-2. Several of their opponents charged that their Chevrolets were running with their rear ends too high off the ground, but. NASCAR gave the cars a few moments to settle in the postrace inspection and both passed. NASCAR said all the parts and pieces used in their rear shock absorbers met standards, but a notice was sent a week later saying those shocks would no longer be allowed.
Other teams were angry the Hendrick Motorsports duo was not penalized. Last Sunday at Talladega was the final race of the season where horsepower-sapping carburetor restrictor plates are used to slow the cars. Multicar crashes damaged the chances of five of the 10 Chase competitors, and Johnson acknowledged he ignited one of the big wrecks. The Banquet 400 at Kansas Greg Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth and Jeremy Mayfield all within 112 points of the leader. Mark Martin crashed early and finished 41st at Talladega.
He is ninth in the standings, 138 points behind, and followed by reigning champion Kurt Busch, who has struggled through the first three races of the Chase. A year ago, Johnson got off to a tough start in the Chase, falling far off the pace when he crashed at Talladega and Kansas. But that all turned around a week later at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C, where he won for the first of three straight visits to Victory Lane Speedway Sunday is the fourth of the final 10 races. Tony Stewart leads Ryan Newman by four points, with Rusty Wallace, Johnson, Biffle, "The same thing that got you in the Chase is the same thing that's going to win you the Chase. You've got to be consistent, and you've got to be up front each week." Tony Stewart and four of the final six.
Johnson has noticed a difference this year. "I see that the teams are a little more relaxed in the first few races," he said Friday before practice began on the Kansas track. "Last year, everybody felt that the champion was going to be the team that made it clean through the final 10. This year, I think the teams are a little bit smarter and everybody has realized that last year everybody had problems." "Now," he added, "as we get toward the halfway point, in the Chase, the intensity level is going to ramp up and catch up for everybody." Stewart has been the hottest driver in the Cup series since June. He has 14 top-10 finishes, including all five of his wins, in his last 15 races.
"The same thing that got you in the Chase is the same thing that's going to win you the Chase," he said. "You've got to be consistent and you've got to be up front each week. That's the same thing that got us 10 in the Chase in the first place." Truex takes Busch pole Martin Truex clinging to a rapidly shrinking lead in the Busch Series, set a qualifying record for the Kansas Speedway Friday with a lap of 178.938 mph in his Chevrolet. The pole is the second of the year for the defending series champion, who leads Clint Bowyer by 26 points going into today's United Way 300. Bowyer will start 10th.
"We tested here a week-and-a-half ago, and didn't really have such a good test," Truex said. "We kind of rode around for two days and didn't seem to learn much, or couldn't do much to change the way the car handled. But today was a good day." THE CHASE: DRIVER CAPSULES DRIVER: TONY STEWART I CHASE POINTS: First, 5,519. POSITION CHANGE: Plus 5 place finish at Talladega. He takes a four-point lead over Ryan Newman WHAT HAPPENED: Stewart Stewart regained the points lead with a second- 20 into Kansas, where never has finished lower than 14th.
SPEAKING: "At Kansas, we're back in control. There are still things out there that can screw up your day, but they're minimal when compared to what we dealt with at Talladega," Stewart said. DRIVER: RYAN NEWMAN I CHASE POINTS: Second, 5,515. POSITION CHANGE: Plus 1 ga and was briefly awarded the points lead until a scoring change WHAT HAPPENED: Newman finished a career-best fourth at Tallade- 12 bumped him into second behind Stewart. Now he heads to Kansas, where he has one victory and a pair of runner-up finishes.
I SPEAKING: "We're not feeling any pressure, and we're not putting any pressure on ourselves. We said in the beginning of the Chase, 'Let's have some fun," Newman said. DRIVER: RUSTY WALLACE CHASE POINTS: Third, 5,443. POSITION CHANGE: Minus 1 car was damaged in an accident that Newman started. He finished 25th WHAT HAPPENED: Wallace had a difficult race at Talladega after his 2 and will close his career without ever winning a restrictor-plate race.
SPEAKING: "We're in the Chase for the championship, and I'm just focused. I'm working hard to get myself content (so) after the last race at Homestead, I can walk away going 'I can feel DRIVER: JIMMIE JOHNSON CHASE POINTS: Fourth, 5,437. POSITION CHANGE: Minus 4 of causing the first big accident. After initially shirking responsibility for Talladega. He drew the ire of his fellow competitors, who accused him WHAT HAPPENED: Johnson lost the points lead by finishing 31st at 48 the accident, Johnson now takes responsibility for causing it.
SPEAKING: "I feel bad, I don't know what else I can say. I started a wreck and took out a lot of good cars. I'm taking the responsibility," Johnson said. DRIVER: GREG BIFFLE I CHASE POINTS: Fifth, 5,421. POSITION CHANGE: None I dent WHAT he accused HAPPENED: Ryan Biffle's Newman car of was causing.
damaged His at team Talladega made in enough an acci-. 16 repairs for him to return to the track, and he ended up finishing 27th. I SPEAKING: "I like racing at Kansas, it's a nice facility and the track suits my driving style. We had some rough luck at Talladega and Kansas could be the race that gets us back on track," Biffle said. DRIVER: CARL EDWARDS CHASE POINTS: Sixth, 5,419.
POSITION CHANGE: Plus 2 the many wrecks and popping up in the lead pack late in the race. He WHAT HAPPENED: Edwards had a quiet day-at Talladega, avoiding 99 finished fifth to gain two spots in the standings. SPEAKING: "It's my hometown track so it will be neat having so many. family and friends there. We made it through what I think have been three of our biggest hurdles in the Chase so far," Edwards said.
DRIVER: MATT KENSETH CHASE POINTS: Seventh, 5,408. POSITION CHANGE: Plus 2 before settling for third after losing the battle with Dale Jarrett and Tony Stewart on the final-laps. WHAT HAPPENED: Kenseth was in contention to win at Talladega 17 SPEAKING: "We are relieved to be finished with Talladega. It was disappointing, though, to lose the lead on the last lap and not end up in Victory Lane. Our momentum is good right now going into Kansas," Kenseth said.
DRIVER: JEREMY MAYFIELD CHASE POINTS: Eighth, 5,407. POSITION CHANGE: Minus 1 challenged and wound up an uneventful 14th. He dropped one place WHAT HAPPENED: Mayfield had a quiet day, never really 19, in the points. Mayfield has three top-10s in four starts at Kansas. "We feel our two bad days are over with a 16th at New Hampshire and a 14th at Talladega.
We got out of those with clean finishes so we need to move on. We just need to stay quiet and run our race," Mayfield, said. DRIVER: MARK MARTIN CHASE POINTS: Ninth, 5,381. POSITION CHANGE: Minus 5 the race when he was involved in the accident Johnson started. He has WHAT HAPPENED: Martin's day at Talladega ended just 20 laps into 6 finished in the top 10 just once in the track's 2001 debut.
SPEAKING: "We are looking forward to getting back out on the track and getting to race some. We didn't get a lot of laps last week at Talladega I'don't think I even broke a sweat," Martin said. DRIVER: KURT BUSCH I CHASE POINTS: Tenth, 5,339, POSITION CHANGE: None Talladega, Busch's recovered for an eighth- finish. WHAT HAPPENED: Despite being involved in a single-car crash at 97 I SPEAKING: "We worked a lot on our (car) setups during the test because we know this racetrack will get tight as the day goes on," said crew chief Jimmy Fennig..
