Stewart takes bizarre Kansas win
Tony Stewart literally coasted to victory as he took a bizarre win in the Banquet 400 at Kansas Speedway
Exiting turn two on the final lap, Stewart's economy run to the finish came up short, his car out of fuel. He coasted towards the chequered flag, hoping no-one would catch him. And no-one did, crossing the line to take victory, the engine not running.
Even more remarkable was that his closest challenger on that final lap also coasted across the line, Casey Mears making it a one-two result for cars short of fuel.
Championship contender Mark Martin finished third, ahead of Dale Jarrett and Jeff Burton, who extended his points lead in the Chase to a relatively comfortable 69 points.
While the closing laps were good news for drivers such as Stewart and Mears, for three of the Chase contenders, they were a disaster. A fuel system problem ended Jeff Gordon's day 30 laps short while running inside the top ten, finishing 39th.
With five laps remaining, Kasey Kahne spun into the grass as he entered pit lane, out of fuel, eventually restarting to finish three laps down in 33rd.
But this wasn't just bad news for Kahne. Jimmie Johnson, leading by ten seconds, was about to pit and had begun to slow down when he saw the spun Kahne.
Thinking a caution could be thrown, Johnson dived back onto the track, losing precious seconds as he got back up to speed. But there was no caution, and so Johnson pitted the following lap.
Johnson's woes didn't end there, as any hope of a top five finish went completely out the window as he received a penalty for speeding in the pits, ending the race in fourteenth, last car on the lead lap, having led the most laps of any driver in the race.
Other Chasers didn't have great days either. Kyle Busch had a pit penalty early on but recovered to finish seventh, Denny Hamlin spun and finished eighteenth while Matt Kenseth struggled with handling problems most of the day, including a spin, to finish 23rd.
Kahne's late race drama and Burton finishing ahead of Kyle Busch has all but eliminated their hopes of winning the title this year, Burton leading Hamlin by 69 points with Martin one point further back. Hamlin through to Dale Earnhardt Jr in seventh is covered by less than 60 points.
With the lottery that is next weekend's race at Talladega, anyone could be right back in the hunt - or out of contention for the year.
Pos Driver Make Laps 1. Tony Stewart Chevrolet 267 2. Casey Mears Dodge 267 3. Mark Martin Ford 267 Chase 4. Dale Jarrett Ford 267 5. Jeff Burton Chevrolet 267 Chase 6. Carl Edwards Ford 267 7. Kyle Busch Chevrolet 267 Chase 8. Brian Vickers Chevrolet 267 9. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 267 10. Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet 267 Chase 11. Martin Truex Jr Chevrolet 267 12. Greg Biffle Ford 267 13. Ken Schrader Ford 267 14. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 267 Chase 15. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 266 Chase 16. Bill Elliott Dodge 266 17. Bobby Labonte Dodge 266 18. Denny Hamlin Chevrolet 266 Chase 19. Travis Kvapil Chevrolet 266 20. Sterling Marlin Chevrolet 266 21. Dave Blaney Dodge 266 22. David Gilliland Ford 266 23. Matt Kenseth Ford 266 Chase 24. Ryan Newman Dodge 266 25. Kurt Busch Dodge 265 26. David Stremme Dodge 265 27. Joe Nemechek Chevrolet 265 28. Tony Raines Chevrolet 265 29. Kyle Petty Dodge 265 30. Jeff Green Chevrolet 264 31. Kenny Wallace Chevrolet 264 32. Todd Kluever Ford 264 33. Kasey Kahne Dodge 264 Chase 34. Scott Riggs Dodge 263 35. Robby Gordon Chevrolet 263 36. Michael Waltrip Dodge 263 37. Chad Chaffin Dodge 261 38. Terry Labonte Chevrolet 253 39. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 238 Chase 40. Elliott Sadler Dodge 228 41. J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 194 42. Jamie McMurray Ford 128 43. Reed Sorenson Dodge 18 CHASE FOR THE CUP - POINTS STANDING: Pos Driver Change Points 1. Jeff Burton 5511 2. Denny Hamlin + 2 5442 - 69 3. Mark Martin + 3 5441 - 70 4. Matt Kenseth - 1 5427 - 84 5. Kevin Harvick 5415 - 96 6. Jeff Gordon - 4 5391 - 120 7. Dale Earnhardt Jr 5388 - 123 8. Jimmie Johnson 5346 - 165 9. Kyle Busch + 1 5278 - 233 10. Kasey Kahne - 1 5238 - 273
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