A flat tyre that dropped Johnson to 39th, a comeback to the lead and a finish frozen by a late caution at Indianapolis.
Jimmie Johnson won the 2006 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard from fourth on the grid, after a flat tyre dropped him to 39th. A late caution froze the order and gave him his fourth win of the season and first at Indianapolis.
The 2006 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard was the 21st stock car race of the 2006 Nextel Cup season and the 13th running of the event. Jimmie Johnson of Hendrick Motorsports won the 160-lap race from fourth on the grid, ahead of Matt Kenseth and Kevin Harvick. The finish was decided under caution, which froze the order and meant no margin of victory was recorded. NBC began its live coverage at 1:30pm, and the race started shortly before 3pm.
Why was the 2006 race important?
The race was one of 36 scheduled Nextel Cup races that season, held on 6 August 2006 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in front of 280,000 spectators. The track is a 2.5-mile, four-turn rectangular oval whose turns are banked at nine degrees, while the front and back stretches are flat.
Johnson came in leading the standings on 2,939 points. Kenseth was next, with Burton close behind in third, and Busch and Harvick in fourth and fifth. Martin, Kahne, Hamlin, Gordon and Stewart filled the rest of the top ten. Six regular-season races remained before the Chase, which made each result important for the playoff picture.
A flat tyre that dropped him to 39th, a drive back through traffic and a win that a late caution made permanent.
How did the weekend's testing and practice go?
NASCAR had held its fifth of six test days for Nextel Cup entrants at Indianapolis from 10 to 12 July. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was quickest on the first day at 177.518 mph, and Reed Sorenson recorded the fastest speed of the final day at 181.892 mph. Several cars were damaged in collisions with the barriers during testing.
Four one-hour practice sessions preceded the race. Ken Schrader was fastest in the first at 49.911 seconds, and Kurt Busch was quickest in the second at 49.440 seconds. Sorenson spun into the SAFER barrier in the second session but was uninjured. In the third session Kahne paced the field at 51.161 seconds, but Kurt Busch's left-front tyre blew and he switched to a back-up car.
Jeff Burton set the fastest lap of final practice at 51.370 seconds, with Kenseth second and Carl Edwards third. Those times suggested the race would be close at the front, and Burton carried that form into qualifying.
Who won the pole and who failed to qualify?
On Saturday fifty cars tried to qualify, and 43 of them earned a place in the field. Burton clinched his third pole of the season, and the fifth of his career, with a lap of 49.240 seconds. Bowyer was second on the grid, Kurt Busch third, Kahne fourth and Johnson fifth.
Yeley, Biffle, Newman, Robby Gordon and Harvick finished out the top ten in qualifying. Seven drivers failed to qualify, including Paul Menard, Waltrip and Derrike Cope. Burton admitted he had been a little conservative and felt that a more confident driver could have gone faster.
| Grid | Driver | Lap |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jeff Burton | 49.240 seconds |
| 2 | Clint Bowyer | Second fastest |
| 3 | Kurt Busch | Third fastest |
| 4 | Kasey Kahne | Fourth fastest |
| 5 | Jimmie Johnson | Fifth fastest |
How did the race open?
Live television coverage began at 1:30pm on NBC. The temperature was 88 degrees Fahrenheit at the start, with the track at 135 degrees. Kelly Rowland of Destiny's Child sang the national anthem, and Mari Hulman George gave the order to start engines.
The green flag came at 2:54pm, and Burton kept the front position into the first turn. Elliott Sadler lost control of his car in turn one on lap three and hit the wall, causing the first caution. Burton led the restart on lap seven, but Kahne passed him on the inside of the backstraight, and Burton took the lead back at turn four on the next lap.
NASCAR had scheduled competition cautions on laps 15 and 40 so teams could check their tyres. Johnson had moved through the field early on, but his race was about to change.
What changed in the middle of the race?
Johnson's front-left tyre went flat on lap 39, and he dropped to 39th place. Johnson continued slowly until debris on the track forced the fourth caution. A fire then broke out at his pit stall when burning fuel spilled onto the concrete, although crews put it out quickly.
Johnson's recovery was the defining feature of the race. He worked his way through traffic and was back in the top three by the 150th lap. He passed Harvick for second on the 116th lap and took the lead from Kenseth on the backstretch on lap 117.
Harvick and Burton had swapped the lead on laps 70 and 73 before Harvick pulled clear. Kenseth then passed Harvick for the lead on lap 110, and Burton slipped back to seventh by lap 115 after slowing in the middle of the race.
The front of the field changed often. There were 18 lead changes among nine drivers, and Burton, who led six times, spent 86 laps in front. Brian Vickers chose only two new tyres at his stop and took the lead on lap 61, before Burton regained it the next lap. Johnson led three times for 33 laps, but his lead was the one that counted.
Why did the final caution decide the race?
On the final lap Johnson was 2.13 seconds clear of Kenseth when the last caution came out for two separate crashes. Riggs ran into the rear of Robby Gordon's car, which slid into Biffle's car, and Kahne oversteered into the turn three wall after a tap from Edwards.
Officials froze the field, and the finishing order was set by the positions the drivers held when the caution appeared. The result was his 22nd career victory, his fourth of 2006 and his first at Indianapolis.
| Finish | Driver |
|---|---|
| 1 | Jimmie Johnson |
| 2 | Matt Kenseth |
| 3 | Kevin Harvick |
| 4 | Clint Bowyer |
| 5 | Mark Martin |
| 6 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
| 7 | Kyle Busch |
| 8 | Tony Stewart |
| 9 | Carl Edwards |
| 10 | Denny Hamlin |
What did the win mean for the championship?
Johnson became only the second driver after Bobby Jarrett to win both the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 in the same year. It also extended his points lead to 107 over Kenseth in the Drivers' Championship, with Burton third.
In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet kept its lead with 159 points. Dodge remained second with 121 and Ford was two points further back. The race took 2 hours, 54 minutes and 57 seconds, and it ended under caution, so the margin of victory was not recorded.
How did the drivers react?
Johnson celebrated in victory lane after his victory lap, earning $452,861 for the win. He admitted he had doubted he could win at Indianapolis, having watched races there as a boy and hoped to come to the track in an Indy car. He said the car had been fast and that getting through traffic had been the key challenge.
Kenseth praised his crew chief, Robbie Reiser, but was disappointed at second place. He said Johnson had come from nowhere to pass them all, getting through traffic better than the rest. Harvick said Johnson had the field covered, and he admitted his last pit stop had cost time when the crew fitted four tyres without enough time left.
Kahne was the most affected by his crash, which cost him ground in the provisional Chase standings. Stewart finished eighth after an air gun problem at a pit stop, and Earnhardt said he had taken a chance by staying out and simply got lucky.
What was the atmosphere on race day?
The pre-race programme began with an invocation from Howard Brammer, reverend of Traders Point Christian Church in downtown Indianapolis. Destiny's Child singer Kelly Rowland performed the national anthem, and the chairwoman of the speedway, Mari Hulman George, gave the command for the drivers to start their engines.
Weather was sunny and hot. The air was 88 degrees Fahrenheit at the start, while the track surface reached 135 degrees, and both made tyre life a central concern for the teams. Chaffin and Dale Jarrett went to the back of the grid during the pace laps after changing their engines, and Kurt Busch did the same when he moved into his back-up car.
How did the tyre concerns shape the early laps?
Drivers had raised doubts about how long their tyres would last, so NASCAR scheduled competition cautions on laps 15 and 40. Teams were able to check their tyres under those yellows, and the early running reflected the caution in the way cars were managed.
The early pit window was a useful indicator of the race's rhythm. Every driver, Burton included, chose to stop for fuel during the 40th-lap caution, which took the field into the second half of the race in a bunched formation.
Who moved through the field early on?
Bowyer lost third to Johnson on the second lap, and Kahne and Biffle moved past Johnson to claim the second and third spots after the lap-20 restart. Stewart climbed from 32nd to 15th by lap 15, a sign that the race would reward patience and clean air.
Gordon's day was hampered by a broken bolt on his left-front sway bar, which sent him to pit road on lap nine. He was not lapped until three laps later, which kept him in the fight for a while longer.
How did the race affect the Chase picture?
The provisional Chase standings shifted after the final crashes. Kahne was the driver most affected, because his crash removed him from a battle with Stewart and the others for the sixth, seventh and eighth places. Stewart's eighth-place finish was earned after he had dropped positions because of a pit crew mistake. Stewart later said he had passed a great many cars during the afternoon.
For Earnhardt, the race was a missed opportunity. He said he would have liked a better car than the one that forced him to stay out, and that the decision to take a chance had worked out only by luck.