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Sadler was able to hold off the charge of rookie Kahne who
led 148 laps in Sundays race but didn't lead the one lap that counted the most.
The win is the 2nd in Sadlers career and the first for Robert Yates this season.
Kahnes 2nd place finish gives him his 4th top five finish.
Sadler averaged 138.845 mph in the race slowed by seven
caution periods that took 45 laps. Twelve drivers led the race, with Sadler
topping the field the final 27 laps.
Jeff Gordon who possibly had the car to beat, experienced
electrical problems , gave up the lead to Sadler on lap 308. Gordon switched
batteries and was able to get back up to speed, was the fastest car on the
track. He couldn't catch the leaders of Sadler and Kahne. Gordon did hold on to
the 3rd spot giving him his forth straight top 5 finish at T.M.S.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. who wasn't happy with the way his car was
running most of the race finished 4th giving him his fourth top 5 in seven
races.
“We made a lot of changes on the car today, but we never
could get it turn like it should have. The changes actually hurt us, which
didn’t seem to make a lot of sense as the day went on" Dale Jr. said.
Rusty Wallace moved up to 11th in the Nextel Cup points after
having another solid run. He finished 5th. Rusty has back to back top 5
finishes.
Casey Mears had another good run. He moves up 5 spots in the
points after finishing 7th.Hes now 18th in points.
Kurt Busch takes over the points lead from Matt Kenseth after
Sundays race. Kenseth grazed the wall after making two pits stops to adjust car
ended up going 2 laps down. Busch went onto finish in 6th giving hi a 19 point
lead over Kenseth.
Perhaps the biggest loser was Ryan Newman when he hit the
wall hard on lap 196. What was reported at first a tire went down later was
found out that the throttle stuck on his Alltel Dodge. Newman dropped 5 spots in
the points to 10th. He finished 39th.
"It sure would have been nice to hit a SAFER barrier,” Newman
said about the soft walls that have been installed at some NASCAR NEXTEL Cup
Series tracks.
“The car was really good on a long run. We struggled a little
bit in traffic, and we struggled on the last restart getting up to speed. Once
we got up to speed we were good. We were passing cars and making a race of it
coming back. We were bouncing off the wall, and the throttle stuck at about
5,000 rpms. That was it.”
Texas Motor Speedway wasn't good to the home town favorites
Labonte brothers. Terry Labonte’s homecoming was cut short for the two-time Cup
Series champion thanks to an engine malfunction (broken cam shaft) that ended
his streak of consecutive races without a DNF (did not finish) at 48, just eight
shy of Gordon’s all-time record.
Bobby Labonte was able to lead a lap after staying out on
green flag pits stops. He suffered alternator problems on lap 224.he went on to
finish 25th.
Full Results
By: Eddie
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