The race for the Chase for the Sprint Cup took an interesting turn on the first restart of Sunday’s AdvoCare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway when Jeff Gordon was slow taking off on the outside lane and stacked up the field.
The domino effect was particularly hard on Kasey Kahne as he rammed into the No. 48 Chevrolet of his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson, damaging his oil cooler and radiator.
While Kahne’s crew elected to take his No. 5 Chevrolet to the garage for repairs which took 31 laps, Johnson’s crew patched up his car on pit road, as did the crews of Jeff Burton and Mark Martin, whose No. 14 Chevrolet is in the running for a wild-card berth in the car owner’s Chase.
Kahne’s poor finish likely won’t keep him out of the Chase, as his two regular-season wins likely will be good enough to secure at least a wild-card berth. But it will be a setback for other wild-card candidates with just one win, as he’ll likely drop out of the top 10 with just one more race, on Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway, before the field is set for the 10-race, championship-deciding Chase.
Kahne entered the AdvoCare 500 eighth in the standings, but just 20 points ahead of 10th place.
Johnson, who finished 40th and 36th in the two races leading up to the AdvoCare 500, made seven pit stops in the first 77 laps so his crew could make repairs to his car.
Earlier during the caution period prior to the fateful Lap 31 restart, another Chase hopeful, Ryan Newman, sustained damage to his No. 39 Chevrolet in a incident on pit road, which was particularly busy as there were so many cars on the lead lap and therefore on pit road at the same time. But Newman bounced back and was running in the top 10 by midrace.
Bowyer's team tries experimental engine: With his spot in the Chase secure, Clint Bowyer's No. 15 team opted to try an experimental Toyota engine at AMS, in hopes that the entire Toyota camp could have more horsepower in the upcoming Chase races. Bowyer was putting the extra power to work and was leading the race before the engine worries from earlier in the season returned. Bowyer's engine blew while he was leading the race at Lap 192.
“It was our race to lose,” he said.
Stewart to meet media: Tony Stewart is set to make his first appearance since breaking his leg in a sprint car race at Southern Iowa Speedway on Aug. 5. The three-time Cup champion and co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing plans to meet with the media at his race shop on Tuesday afternoon.
Stewart is out for the season, and Mark Martin is scheduled to drive his No. 14 Chevrolet in the remaining Sprint Cup races other than at Talladega Superspeedway on Oct. 20, when Austin Dillon will take the wheel.
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