STP 400 at Kansas Speedway

It was another exciting race to add to the history books of NASCAR racing and for the second race in a row there was a tremendous amount of strategy used. The victories, the points, and the success are so crucial at this point in the season in order for race teams to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship.

With 67 laps to go green flag pit stops began. Juan Montoya, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman, Jamie McMurray, and Brad Keselowski attempted to stretch their fuel some extra laps. Eventually these drivers made their pit stops when they felt they could make it to the end of the event without making another pit stop. While these competitors were on the track waiting to pit they were losing time to the rest of the competition who were already making good use of those fresh Goodyear tires. If the race stayed under green flag conditions these drivers would earn a fantastic finish, but if a caution came out these drivers would be immediately passed on the restart.

I agree with Darrell Waltrip when he says "I like to see drivers gamble, it's exciting for us, the fans and it shows just bad these drivers want to win".

The leaders list with 44 laps to go:

(* indicates drivers who aimed to make it to the end)

1. Kurt Busch

2. Jeff Gordon

3. Carl Edwards

4. Jimmie Johnson

5. Tony Stewart*

6. Matt Kenseth

7. Kevin Harvick

8. Brad Keselowski*

9. Kyle Busch

10. Greg Biffle

16. Denny Hamlin*

22. Dale Earnhardt Jr*

In the end it would be Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr and Tony Stewart that would make it the distance to earn top 10 finishes. Jeff Gordon was the highest finishing driver that elected to not attempt a gamble for the victory. Penske Racing gets it's first victory since Kurt Busch won the Coca Cola 600 race at Charlotte Motor Speedway last season in that #2 car. This year there is a new driver in the legendary "blue deuce", the 2010 Nationwide Series Champion Brad Keselowski. Brad might be struggling in the standings, but I guarantee he is happy to have won his second career Cup series win at Kansas Speedway. Kurt Busch led a total of 152 laps as he was strong all race long. It's good to see how much Kurt has matured, a few years ago if he had the dominant car all race and he finished in 9th place... he would have thrown his helmet after the event.

Official Results:

1. Brad Keselowski*

2. Dale Earnhardt Jr*

3. Denny Hamlin*

4. Jeff Gordon

5. Carl Edwards

6. Matt Kenseth

7. Jimmie Johnson

8. Tony Stewart

9. Kurt Busch

10. Greg Biffle

11. Kevin Harvick

12. Kyle Busch

13. David Ragan

14. Kasey Kahne

15. Ryan Newman*

18. Clint Bowyer

24. Regan Smith

25. Jeff Burton

Images from: http://galleries.nascar.com/gallery/2011_STP_400

Written by: Tyler McMurter