Subway 500

[BengalszoneBilly]

Time to visit ye' ol' short track in this Chase.

I'm going with:

Chevy: Jeff Gordon

Dodge: Rusty Wallace

Ford: Kurt Busch

Okay Josh...go ahead and pick the winner now.

[Kirkendall]

Okay Josh...go ahead and pick the winner now. 

I do believe I'm four out of five -- stupid Joe Nemechek.

Chevy: Jeff Gordon -- won the last three poles, and two of the past three races ran at the track.

Dodge: Ryan Newman -- If he runs near the top, he could have Rusty -- typically a good Martinsville finisher (5 wins) -- then Rusty will move over for his Newman.

Ford: Kurt Busch -- perhaps the best short track driver today, at least it's arguable.

[kevnz]

Ah, home. Damn I wish I was there for this one. I am looking forward to watching the whole race as it's a long weekend here and I've already warned my wife. The new paving job will be interesting to see. but it'll be the usual suspects Busch, Gordon or Wallace, and my dark horse pick, Ricky Rudd.

[Kirkendall]

Good job Kev, Ricky Rudd had the best first practice times -- of course it means nothing.

1 #21 Ricky Rudd Ford Motorcraft/U.S. Air Force 96.293 19.665 Leader

2 #12 Ryan Newman Dodge ALLTEL 96.259 19.672 -0.007

3 #8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet Budweiser 96.010 19.723 -0.058

4 #10 Scott Riggs* Chevrolet Valvoline 95.995 19.726 -0.061

5 #20 Tony Stewart Chevrolet The Home Depot 95.922 19.741 -0.076

6 #01 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet U.S. Army 95.903 19.745 -0.080

7 #17 Matt Kenseth Ford DeWalt Power Tools 95.801 19.766 -0.101

8 #2 Rusty Wallace Dodge Miller Lite 95.728 19.781 -0.116

9 #19 Jeremy Mayfield Dodge Dodge Dealers/UAW 95.714 19.784 -0.119

10 #97 Kurt Busch Ford IRWIN Industrial Tools/Sharpie 95.704 19.786 -0.121

11 #42 Jamie McMurray Dodge Texaco/Havoline 95.540 19.820 -0.155

12 #18 Bobby Labonte Chevrolet Interstate Batteries 95.521 19.824 -0.159

13 #06 Travis Kvapil Dodge Mobil 1/Jasper Engines 95.448 19.839 -0.174

14 #43 Jeff Green Dodge Cheerios/Betty Crocker 95.434 19.842 -0.177

15 #6 Mark Martin Ford Viagra 95.410 19.847 -0.182

16 #99 Carl Edwards Ford Roush Racing 95.343 19.861 -0.196

17 #24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont 95.290 19.872 -0.207

18 #45 Kyle Petty Dodge Georgia-Pacific/Brawny 95.261 19.878 -0.213

19 #48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe's 95.223 19.886 -0.221

20 #0 Ward Burton Chevrolet NetZero 95.199 19.891 -0.226

21 #16 Greg Biffle Ford National Guard/Subway 95.170 19.897 -0.232

22 #40 Sterling Marlin Dodge Coors Light 95.151 19.901 -0.236

23 #30 Jeff Burton Chevrolet America Online 95.146 19.902 -0.237

24 #29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet GM Goodwrench 95.132 19.905 -0.240

25 #22 Scott Wimmer* Dodge Caterpillar 95.122 19.907 -0.242

26 #38 Elliott Sadler Ford M&M's 94.998 19.933 -0.268

27 #77 Brendan Gaughan* Dodge Kodak/Jasper Engines 94.974 19.938 -0.273

28 #41 Casey Mears Dodge Target/Breast Cancer Rsrch Fndation 94.970 19.939 -0.274

29 #49 Ken Schrader Dodge Schwan's Home Service 94.846 19.965 -0.300

30 #15 Michael Waltrip Chevrolet NAPA Auto Parts 94.827 19.969 -0.304

31 #5 Terry Labonte Chevrolet Kellogg's 94.789 19.977 -0.312

32 #32 Bobby Hamilton Jr. Chevrolet Tide 94.406 20.058 -0.393

33 #31 Robby Gordon Chevrolet Cingular Wireless 94.340 20.072 -0.407

34 #9 Kasey Kahne* Dodge Dodge Dealers/UAW 94.298 20.081 -0.416

35 #4 Jimmy Spencer Chevrolet Lucas Oil Products 94.275 20.086 -0.421

36 #88 Dale Jarrett Ford UPS 94.218 20.098 -0.433

37 #02 Hermie Sadler Chevrolet SCORE Motorsports 94.013 20.142 -0.477

38 #25 Brian Vickers* Chevrolet GMAC Financial Services 93.994 20.146 -0.481

39 #159 Klaus Graf Dodge BAM Racing 93.710 20.207 -0.542

40 #198 Chad Chaffin Ford Mach One Inc. 93.534 20.245 -0.580

41 #50 Todd Bodine Dodge Arnold Development Companies 92.633 20.442 -0.777

42 #113 Greg Sacks Dodge ARC Dehooker/Vita Coco 92.538 20.463 -0.798

43 #275 Mike Garvey Dodge Jani-King 92.371 20.500 -0.835

44 #89 Morgan Shepherd Dodge Racing With Jesus/Red Line Oil 92.267 20.523 -0.858

45 #146 Carl Long Dodge RacingMetal.com 91.218 20.759 -1.094

46 #194 Brad Teague Ford W.W. Motorsports 90.842 20.845 -1.180

47 #280 Mario Gosselin Ford Hover Motorsports 90.387 20.950 -1.285

48 #137 Kevin Lepage Dodge Carter's Royal Dispos-all 90.116 21.013 -1.348

49 #200 Ryan McGlynn Chevrolet Buyer's Choice Auto Warranties 89.685 21.114 -1.449

50 #172 Kirk Shelmerdine Ford Vote for Bush 86.683 21.845 -2.180

[Kirkendall]

Since no one picked Johnson, or Mac-mury (second place car), looks like I got the winner again amongst us there.

What a wild final few laps with Rusty and Newman. Not sure what Rusty was trying to do going on the outside during the last restart; that second groove just didn't work today.

JR had his worst day during the chase and now is among the drivers in the chase that's used their "mulligan" so far.

With Busch winning the most laps led award and finishing a strong 5th, I don't think anyone can challenge him unless he uses his mulligan but it looks like he's driving -- smartly so -- on the conservative side.

They definitely should put more banking on the outside and up grove. Makes for better racin'.

[BengalszoneBilly]

What a wild final few laps with Rusty and Newman. Not sure what Rusty was trying to do going on the outside during the last restart;

Did you see Rusty and Ryan ramming into each other on the alleged "cool down" lap!?! And these guys are teammates!! I have NEVER seen anything like that between cars on the same team!

On a somber note, did you hear about the crash of the Hendricks team plane just before the start of the race? No details yet, but I think there was 7 people aboard the Beechcraft Kingair twin turbo prop. My condolences to the families and the team.

[Kirkendall]

What a wild final few laps with Rusty and Newman.  Not sure what Rusty was trying to do going on the outside during the last restart;

Did you see Rusty and Ryan ramming into each other on the alleged "cool down" lap!?! And these guys are teammates!! I have NEVER seen anything like that between cars on the same team!

On a somber note, did you hear about the crash of the Hendricks team plane just before the start of the race? No details yet, but I think there was 7 people aboard the Beechcraft Kingair twin turbo prop. My condolences to the families and the team.

I saw that. Was it a family plane or workers? Either way, the Hendrick family has had a rough year.

I think with Rusty and Ryan, you had one guy that just wanted to win, and another guy trying to get as many points he can get for the chase. A conflict of interests.

I guess Ryan assumed Rusty would move over..