Johnson enjoys the second win of the Chase for 2008 to retain the Chase lead now by 10 points after coming into the race tied for the lead with Carl Edwards.  

Johnson started on the pole today after Juan Pablo Montoya loosing it after a rules violation sent the driver to the back of the field to start his day today. Johnson led the most laps of the event on the multi groove race track, which gave the drivers opportunity to work with their cars to run the way they wanted to. 

Johnson did not loose sight of the top ten for the entire race. Johnson enjoyed the first pit stall which allowed him to come out in front of the field several times to retain the first position. 

Many times during the race, Johnson battled with Edwards, with Edwards taking the lead from Johnson three or four times. Edwards was able to reel in Johnson with ease and pull away at times. 

Edwards was not able to keep the momentum up at times as he was involved in two pit road contact issues, causing minor damage to Edwards’ front end of the car. Late in the race, Edwards team was able to put the car back together to provide him with a late run push for the lead. 

With 3 to go Edwards started to catch back up to Johnson. On the last lap, Edwards came up with momentum on the back stretch to sling shot past Johnson with his “Bonsai” move as they headed into turn three.  

Edwards shot past Johnson, but the speed carried the car too much, causing the driver to hit the outside turn three wall, scraping along it to save the car coming out of turn four to hold onto second place. The move allowed Johnson to keep 1^st place.

The hard charger award would go to Edwards as he started 34^th to take second place. 

Kyle Busch would have yet another weekend blow up in his face after the car suffered mechanical issues for the second week in a row to end up a lap down in 28th. 

Greg Biffle started 18^th to take 3^rd place on the last lap by beating out Jeff Gordon by a car length. Biffle and Gordon would have fair runs, struggling in the middle of the race to come back after the last round of pit stops to jump back into the top 5 and battle with each other for 3^rd place. 

Matt Kenseth started his day 3^rd to come home 5^th. His day would have some great hands moves as one time he would be spun sideways out of turn two to save the car, not receiving any damage to his car. 

Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton would start back in 36^th and 37^th to finish their days 6^th and 7^th. 

PRE RACE NOTES 

Biffle looks to continue his surge of momentum this weekend at Kansas Speedway, a track where he drove to Victory Lane in 2007. 

“We’ve worked extremely hard to get our cars and our team where they need to be,” said Biffle. “I guess if you want to use the term ‘peak at the right time,’ you could. I feel we have worked hard all season and now our hard work is starting to show up. I feel a lot better about this championship run than I did in 2005.” 

In 2005, Biffle won a series-high six races and finished second in the Chase, 35 points behind Tony Stewart (No. 20 Home Depot Toyota). The Vancouver, Wash. native is the only driver to win both the NASCAR Nationwide Series (2002) and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (2000) championships and looks to add a championship in the sport’s elite series to his resume. 

Biffle is also a superb example of NASCAR’s developmental system. In addition to the two series titles mentioned above, he was the 2001 NASCAR Nationwide Series Raybestos Rookie of the Year and the 1998 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Raybestos Rookie of the Year. He cut his teeth in NASCAR racing by competing in the Raybestos Brakes Northwest Series – a NASCAR Touring Division in 1997 – and the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series from 1994-97. 

The remaining schedule in the Chase sets up pretty favorably for Biffle. In addition to his 2007 victory at Kansas, he has a series-best Driver Rating of 118.5 at the 1.5-mile oval and has posted three top-five finishes there. He’s also won at Texas (2004) and is a three-time winner at Homestead-Miami (2004, ‘05, ‘06). More importantly, the relationship between Biffle and his crew chief, Greg Erwin, appears to be jelling at the right time. 

“When I came on board about 15 months ago, there was a lot of work to be done,” said Erwin, who joined Biffle’s No. 16 team in May, 2007. “Obviously, at the beginning I really didn’t have any kind of a relationship with Greg. So learning about him as a driver, we had some personnel issues and some pit crew issues. But, towards the end of last season, we made some really strong improvements that we were able to carry over into this season.” 

Clint Bowyer (No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet) is a product of Emporia, Kan., and is currently sixth in points. Bowyer gained three spots in the points standings following his eighth-place finish last week at Dover. Bowyer leads the NASCAR Nationwide Series by 186 points over Edwards, the series’ 2007 champion. Those two will battle for home track pride this weekend at Kansas, beginning with the NASCAR Nationwide Series event on Saturday and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on Sunday.  

“It’s always fun to go back to Kansas,” said Bowyer. “It’s an important race track for me. You always want to go back and run well in front of the hometown crowd. Knowing that we’ve run well there in the past gives us a lot of confidence going into this weekend.”  

TO WIN – ITS BEST TO QUALIFY – WELL, AT LEAST FOR SOME 

With the time of Juan Pablo Montoya being disallowed following post-qualifying inspection for too much gas in the gas shocks, Montoya will be going from the provisional pole to the back of the field. 

This means that Jimmie Johnson is the winner of the Coors Light Pole Award for the Camping World RV 400 presented by Coleman with a lap of 31.394 seconds, 172.007 mph. 

This is his 18th pole in 248 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races. This is his fifth pole and 22nd top-10 start in 2008. This is his third pole in seven races at Kansas Speedway. 

Mark Martin (second) posted his 11th top-10 start of 2008 and his second in eight races at Kansas Speedway. 

Matt Kenseth (third) posted his fourth top-10 start at Kansas Speedway.  It is his 10th in 29 races this season. 

Patrick Carpentier (20th) was the fastest qualifying rookie. 

NOW ONTO THE RACE!! 

Johnson and Martin lead the field out of turn 4 to the… 

GREEN FLAG as they race into the first two turns. A big blow for Clint Bowyer as NASCAR busts him for passing before the start finish line. He will have to go down pit road for a drive through. This will put him a lap down to make a long day for him. 

As Bowyer comes back out on the track the field is close to overtaking him. 

Lap 4 Dale Earnhardt Jr. and A.J. Allmendinger almost have an accident after Earnhardt broke loose for a minute and A.J. just about tags him on the left rear. This will drop Jr. back to 16^th from his 11^th place start. 

Lap 10 the field is scattered across the track, after many years where it was only a one groove track is now produced a multi groove track. Martin has dropped back to 4^th. Matt Kenseth is 2^nd, Truex Jr. is 3^rd. 

Lap 13 Johnson runs a few car lengths in front of Kenseth. Both drivers in turn run 2.5 seconds in front of the field. The separation already has grown from Johnson leading back to 10^th place David Ragan 9 seconds back. 

Lap 16 Kenseth takes over as the leader. Lap 18 Bowyer continues to hang on to the lead lap, about a half turn in front of the leaders. Lap 19 Martin is slipping back to 6^th after Brian Vickers and Elliott Sadler pass him. Lap 20 Allmendinger runs in front of Paul Menard and Bill Elliott in 10^th as they battle for 11^th, wanting to take Allmendinger’s spot. 

Lap 21 Casey Mears takes over 6^th from Martin. Lap 23 Earnhardt takes over 15^th from Kasey Kahne. Lap 24 Michael Waltrip and Kevin Harvick battle for 22^nd. Lap 25 you top ten drivers are – Kenseth, Johnson, Truex Jr., Vickers, Sadler, Mears, Jeff Gordon, Martin, Ragan and Allmendinger. 

Lap 27 we hear that Kyle Busch may be continuing with his mechanical issues with his car. The fuel in the cars can last the drivers about 50 to 55 laps. We are about 20 to 25 laps away from green flag pit stops. Lap 29 Earnhardt is up to 14^th. Lap 30 Carl Edwards closes in on Kahne and takes over 16^th place from his start of 34^th. 

Lap 31 Waltrip has passed Harvick for 21^st as they both pass Scott Riggs to place him back to 23^rd. Lap 33 Joe Nemechek is the first driver to go a lap down. Kenseth closes in on Bowyer. 

Lap 34 Kyle Busch has fallen back in the field to 33^rd and more as other drivers pass him with ease. This is the 3^rd in a row for Busch as the team prepares for his arrival to the garage in the near future. Lap 37 Bowyer has passed a few slower drivers of Robby Gordon, who falls to a lap down and Kurt Busch is down a lap too.

Lap 39 Joey Logano is a lap down. The next drivers to look to go a lap down would be Bowyer, Regan Smith, Travis Kvapil, Kyle Busch and Marcos Ambrose. Lap 41 Bowyer passes Smith. 

Lap 42 Truex Jr. takes the lead. Bowyer has passed Kvapil and Bush. We are about 10 to go until most of the pit stops. Lap 43 David Reutimann, Sam Hornish Jr., Kyle Petty and Patrick Carpentier are the next drivers on the list to go a lap down. Lap 44 Kyle Busch has fallen back to 38^th. 

Truex Jr. runs about a second in front of Kenseth and Vickers. Lap 46 Jeff Gordon, who has been very ill this weekend closes in on Sadler to take over 6^th on lap 47. Gordon looks for 5^th from Mears. Earnhardt has moved up to 13^th. 

Lap 49 pit stops are underway as Kenseth, Johnson with a big part of the field head into pit road. Trouble on pit road as Edwards gets into the back Vickers. Stewart is stuck behind the mess to loose valuable time. Lap 52 Kyle Busch picks up 5 points for leading a lap. 

Almost all the pit stops are complete. Kenseth is the leader once again. Elliott and Hornish are given speeding tickets on pit road. We see a replay that Edwards was many stalls away from his pit after he left. Edwards was on the inside of Vickers as he cut left to get to pit stall, causing Edwards to get into the back of Vickers in Vickers’ pit box. Edwards has minor damage to the left front of his car. 

Lap 60 your top 20 drivers are – Kenseth, Truex Jr., Johnson, Mears, Jeff Gordon, Allmendinger, Vickers, Greg Biffle, Sadler, Martin, David Ragan, Earnhardt Jr., Kahne, Harvick, Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman, Scott Riggs, Menard, Montoya and Waltrip. 

Lap 62 Bowyer is now a lap down along with Carpentier, Reutimann and the others we mentioned earlier. Lap 64 Biffle closes in on Vickers for 7^th place. Lap 66 Earnhardt closes in on Martin for 10^th. Lap 67 battle for 18^th as Riggs challenges Montoya for the position. Waltrip closes in on Riggs. Waltrip takes 19^th from Riggs and closes in on Montoya himself. 

Lap 69 Denny Hamlin closes in on David Gilliland for 26^th.Lap 70 Raines has fallen a lap down with Reed Sorenson, Hamlin, Gilliland, Tony Stewart on the list next. Lap 72 Kenseth leads by 2.9 seconds over Johnson. 

YELLOW FLAG lap 74 as Newman skids along the turns one and two wall. Bowyer is the lucky dog and relived. The leaders head to pit road. The race out of pit road is Kenseth, Mears, Truex Jr., Jeff Gordon and Biffle. Allmendinger’s team looses a tire, which rolls across pit road into the grass. He will go to the back of the pack for that. 

Sorenson picks up a speeding ticket. He will go to the back as well. Dave Blaney on his way out of his pit stall hits Jeff Burton and Edwards, who gets more damage. Kenseth’s team misses a lug nut on the tire and will have to come back to take care of that. Edwards is back in to get the damage fixed. 

GREEN FLAG lap 78 as Mears leads the field into turn one. It looks like LA traffic coming out of turn four with four wide in the middle of the pack between Stewart, Menard, Hamlin and Riggs as they battle for 18^th through 21^st. 

Lap 84 Edwards, Allmendinger, Bowyer and Kenseth try to make the moves to get back up front in the field. Lap 85 Jeff Gordon passes Johnson for 4^th place. The next lap Johnson takes 3^rd place back from Gordon. 

Lap 86 in turn three Johnson takes over 2^nd from Truex Jr., Gordon takes over 3^rd from him as well. Earnhardt has moved up to 6^th. Lap 88 where are the chase drivers in the points (In current race running order)? Johnson leads the chase with 5555 running 2^nd, Biffle 5535 in 5^th, Edwards 5490 in 21^st, Jeff Gordon 5437 in 3^rd, Harvick 5435 in 7^th, Burton 5429 in 14^th, Earnhardt Jr. 5411 in 6^th, Stewart 5395 in 15^th, Bowyer 5390 in 18^th, Kenseth 5348 in 16^th, Hamlin 5296 in 23^rd and Kyle Busch 5261 in 29^th. 

YELLOW FLAG lap 93 as Kyle Petty solo spins in turn two after an apron hook. Kyle Busch is the lucky dog. Mears will lead the drivers into pit road. Mears stays out while the majority of the field heads into pit road. Riggs took his car to the garage as his drive shaft broke. 

The race back to the track is Martin, Burton, Sadler, Johnson and Biffle. 

GREEN FLAG lap 98 as Mears and Martin lead the field back up to speed. Martin does not look good off the start as Mears pulls away. Mears has to contend with Reutimann, who is doing his best to get on the lead lap. 

Lap 100 your top twenty drivers are – Mears, Martin, Burton, Sadler, Johnson, Biffle, Jeff Gordon, Truex Jr., Earnhardt Jr., Kahne, McMurray, Kenseth, Bowyer, Stewart, Vickers, Waltrip, Edwards, Montoya and Ragan. So far we have seen 7 lead changes among 7 leaders and 2 cautions for 8 laps. 29 drivers remain on the lead lap. 

Lap 106 Johnson closes in on Mears to take the lead on the back stretch. Lap 108 Martin starts to slide backwards again to 7^th. Lap 109 Sadler has been looking good today as he currently runs 5^th. Lap 110 Johnson leads Mears by 1.7 seconds and continues to pull away. 

Lap 111 Burton closes in on Mears for 2^nd place. Lap 114 Burton takes the position with Biffle in tow to take over 3^rd place.  

YELLOW FLAG lap 116 as Logano smacks the wall in turn 4. Carpentier is the lucky dog. Mears will have a big save with this as the leaders head to pit road led in by Johnson. The race back to the track is Truex Jr. with a two tire stop then Johnson, Biffle, Burton and Jeff Gordon. Kyle Busch with further issues with speeding on pit road. He will go to the back of the pack. 

GREEN FLAG lap 121. 

YELLOW FLAG lap 122 as Kenseth spins out on the exit of turn two after making contact with Mears who was in a battle with two other drivers of Sadler and Logano. Mears was just on the left inside corner where Kenseth just tags the right front of his car. Kenseth does not hit anyone or anything so he dodges a Bullitt. Elliott is the lucky dog. 

Lap 125 the top ten drivers are Truex Jr., Johnson, Bowyer, Biffle, Jeff Gordon, Burton, Earnhardt Jr., Harvick, Sadler and Mears. 

GREEN FLAG lap 126 as Truex Jr. and Johnson get the drivers racing into turns one and two. Restarts are the busiest of the race as the leaders try to pass the lap down drivers on the outside and inside lines where ever they can. Lap 129 Johnson looking outside of Truex Jr. 

YELLOW FLAG lap 129 as Stewart slams into Vickers car out of turn 4. Stewart was loose, came up into Vickers, shoots to the infield sideways skidding across the grass. Stewart saves the car and comes out on pit road back to the track. Kurt Busch is the lucky dog. 

GREEN FLAG lap 133 as we try the start again. Lap 134 (halfway) Bowyer slips up a bit, which allows Jeff Gordon to take 4^th place from him. Lap 136 Johnson takes over as the leader. Lap 137 who have been the movers since the start of the race? Biffle from 18^th to 3^rd, Edwards from 34^th up to 5^th, Bowyer from 24^th to 6^th, Burton from 37^th to 8^th, Harvick 36^th to 9^th, Gilliland 32^nd to 14^th, Hamlin 30^th to 15^th and Montoya last to 23^rd. 

Drivers off pace since the start of the race are Kenseth from 3^rd to 17^th, Kahne 8^th to 18^th, Vickers 9^th to 19^th, Martin 2^nd to 23^rd, Menard 6^th to 27^th, Elliott 7^th to 29^th and Petty 22^nd to 42^nd. 

Lap 146 Johnson leads Truex Jr. by 2.6 seconds, 3^rd place Biffle by 3.6 seconds back to 11.5 seconds to 10^th place Ragan. Lap 150 your top 20 drivers are – Johnson, Truex Jr., Biffle, Edwards, Jeff Gordon, Earnhardt Jr., Burton, Harvick, Bowyer, Ragan, Mears, McMurray, Sadler, Hamlin, Kenseth, Gilliland, Allmendinger, Vickers, Kahne and Newman. 

Lap 155 Johnson’s lead over Truex Jr. has grown to 4.2 seconds. Edwards takes over 3^rd from Biffle. The difference from Johnson to 10^th place Ragan is now 17.2 seconds. Lap 160 Edwards has moved into 2^nd place and closes in on Johnson to 3.7 seconds. 

Lap 162 the top 10 positions have 8 chase drivers in them. Lap 164 Stewart has fallen a lap down from the front end damage from the spin in the grass.  

Lap 167 (100 laps to go) Edwards has closed into 2 seconds behind Johnson. We will start seeing pit stops soon. Lap 169 Riggs is on pit road. Lap 170 Earnhardt battles with Burton who took 6^th from him. Lap 171 Harvick takes 7^th from him as Earnhardt is way loose. 

Lap 175 your top 10 drivers are – Johnson, Edwards, Truex Jr., Biffle, Jeff Gordon, Earnhardt Jr., Harvick, Sadler and Ragan. Bowyer is on pit road along with Mears, Robby Gordon and several others. Lap 176 Edwards leads as we see about 10 drivers head to pit road. 

Lap 178 most of the pit stops are complete. Lap 182 as the pit stops have cycled around Johnson is back in front of Edwards by 2 seconds. Edwards gets to redo this again.  

Lap 185 Edwards has closed the gap to 1 second. Johnson leads 3^rd place Truex Jr. by 5 seconds and 4^th place Menard by 5.7 seconds. 80 to go Edwards is just about on Johnson for the lead. Lap 189 Edwards drops to the inside of Johnson heading into turn three. Lap 190 Johnson pushes Edwards from behind on the back stretch. 

Lap 192 (75 to go) Stewart brings his damaged car to pit road to get the front splitter fixed. He will loose several laps to get this issue fixed. Lap 194 22 drivers remain on the lead lap. Montoya, Elliott, Waltrip, Bobby Labonte were added to the list. Lap 196 add Gilliland and Newman to the list. Reutimann, Martin and Kahne are next on the list. 

Lap 200 (67 to go) your top 20 drivers are – Edwards, Johnson, Biffle, Jeff Gordon, Burton, Truex Jr., Bowyer, Harvick, Kenseth, Ragan, Earnhardt Jr., Mears, McMurray, Hamlin, Sadler, Allmendinger, Vickers, Kahne and Martin on the lead lap with Reutimann one lap down. So far there have been 15 lead changes among 10 leaders and 5 cautions for 18 laps. 19 drivers remain on the lead lap. 

60 to go Harvick challenges Truex Jr. for 7^th place. Lap 208 Harvick takes the position. Lap 210 Edwards leads Johnson by 3.6 seconds. Lap 213 Edwards leads by 4.5 seconds over Johnson and 10.6 seconds over 3^rd place Biffle. 

Lap 215 Hamlin works on McMurray for 14^th. We have 16 drivers on the lead lap with Allmendinger, Hamlin, McMurray and Sadler on the hit list. 

YELLOW FLAG with 49 to go as Kvapil skates along the turn one and two outside wall. Vickers is the lucky dog. This could be the last pit stop of the day. The race out of pit road is Johnson, Edwards, Jeff Gordon, Burton and Bowyer. Bowyer is busted for speeding. He will go to the back. 

GREEN FLAG with 45 to go as Johnson and Edwards try it again. Edwards pushes Johnson to get by Kahne and Newman who are on the inside line a lap down. Truex Jr. misses a gear on the restart.  

YELLOW FLAG with 43 to go as Waltrip spins out coming out turn four on the inside of Sam Hornish Jr. Waltrip was just tapped on the inside left rear corner by Ragan. Waltrip’s spin also caught a piece of Elliott’s car. Newman is the lucky dog. 

GREEN FLAG with 38 to go as Johnson and Edwards bring the field up to speed. Truex Jr. is way off pace as he falls to the back and into pit road. 47 to go Ambrose is off pace as well as Petty. We see that Truex Jr. has a broken shifter. Truex will drop a few laps down. 

Lap 234 (33 to go) it’s a Johnson and Edwards battle for the lead. Burton and Kenseth battle for 5^th with Harvick waiting in the wings to follow the driver who takes the position. 

30 to go Johnson leads Edwards by over a half second. We see Mears, Vickers and Bowyer battling for 13^th through 15^th. Lap 240 Truex Jr. has to take the car to the garage. 

25 to go as the top ten are spread out a bit. 23 to go Johnson leads Edwards by 7/10^th’s of a second. Jeff Gordon is behind by 5 seconds, 4^th place Biffle is 5.7, 5^th place Kenseth is 7.7 seconds behind, 6^th place Burton 8 seconds, 7^th place Harvick 8.6, 8^th place Ragan 9.6, 9^th place Allmendinger 10 seconds and 10^th place Hamlin is 14 seconds. 

20 to go Johnson has increased the lead to 1 second. 16 to go we hear that Biffle is just hanging on for 4^th place.  

15 to go Johnson by 1 second. Biffle takes a peek under Jeff Gordon for 3^rd. 13 to go Biffle works on Gordon for 3^rd place. 13 to go Edwards is 1 second behind. 12 to go Waltrip blows a left front tire coming out of turn two. Waltrip pulls the car to the apron and the race stays green. 

10 to go Johnson leads by less than a second. 3^rd place Gordon is 6.1 seconds behind, 4^th place Biffle is 6.8 seconds and 5^th place Kenseth is 8.2 seconds behind. 

8 to go Edwards trying any line he can get to catch Johnson. Edwards closed the gap by two car lengths. 

7 to go Edwards has gained one more car length on Johnson. 

6 to go both drivers were even on the lap. 

5 to go as Edwards closes another car length. 

4 to go as both drivers contend with three lapped drivers.

3 to go Johnson has gained a car length back. Biffle continues to battle Jeff Gordon. 

2 to go Johnson still powers in front. Edwards has a big run out of turn 2. By turn 3 he was on the bumper. 

WHITE FLAG Edwards tries the outside, Johnson stays in front. On the back stretch, Edwards pulls a move out of nowhere to pass Johnson on the inside heading into turn three. Edwards has too much momentum and hits the outside turn three wall. 

Johnson is back in front out of turn four. Edwards continues along the wall and holds onto second to keep going. Out of turn four… 

CHECKERED FLAG for Johnson. Edwards takes second. The rest of your top ten drivers are Biffle who inches by Jeff Gordon, Kenseth, Harvick, Burton, Ragan, Allmendinger and Sadler. 

The race lasted for 3 hours. We saw 16 lead changes among 10 leaders along with 7 cautions for 25 laps. 42 drivers lasted for the race and 17 finished on the lead lap.