A handful of teams attempted to stretch their fuel mileage during the closing laps of the Sony HD 500 at California Speedway, but only a couple succeeded in the gamble. Dale Jarrett and the #88 UPS Racing Team was one such team, and as a result, scored their first top-10 finish since finishing ninth at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March.
The #88 UPS Team started the race in 36th position. The UPS Ford spent much of the event in a tight-handling situation and was a handful for Jarrett to manage during the first 100 laps. As the sun started to set over the speedway and night fell, the handling on the UPS Ford seemed to improve compared to others with which Jarrett was competing in the 20th to 26th positions. Jarrett climbed into the top 25 with 100 laps to go.
The seventh, and final, caution of the race waved on lap 190 while Jarrett was running in the 21st position. After making the initial pit stop for tires, adjustments and fuel, interim crew chief Butch Hylton had Jarrett drive the car onto pit road with one to go for the restart so the team could top the fuel off, planning to go to the end of the race.
Jarrett restarted 25th when green-flag racing resumed on lap 195. As the laps wound down to the end, many of the cars running ahead of the UPS Ford had to make stops for fuel. Jarrett climbed as high as sixth before settling for a 10th-place finish.
"We outran more (cars) than I thought," Jarrett said after the race. "I was afraid before the day started that we couldn't outrun anybody, but they made a lot of changes with the car and made it better. We just got to a point where we were going to finish 20th to 25th and were going to just go from there, but before we went back green on that last caution, I asked if we wanted to come and top it off, and they said that's what they were thinking. I had no idea we could make it from there, but when you get back there there's no sense, you're not going to pass all those cars at one time, so I thought I would save as much as I could and maybe that would help. As we got down, we thought we were pretty close, so with the way the season has been, why not try?"
The 10th-place finish makes back-to-back top-15 finishes for Jarrett after finishing 15th at Bristol last weekend. He said it definitely helps in the morale department for Team UPS.
"You've got to have some good luck and make some good luck occasionally to keep these guys going," Jarrett said. "They work their tails off, and when you don't get any results from anything you try, then that's pretty discouraging, but these guys keep battling, and they keep looking every way they possibly can to get UPS and Ford a good finish here, and we've manufactured a couple."
David Gilliland and the #38 M&M'S® Team struggled as the M&M'S Ford leaned toward the loose side from the time the green flag waved at the start of the race. On lap 172, Gilliland was hit from behind and sent spinning. Fortunately, he kept the M&M'S Ford off the wall and continued in the event to finish 32nd after starting 20th.
"We were just way too loose," Gilliland said. "We're still searching for that good baseline to build on. If anything tonight, we really tuned on this setup trying to make it work, and we haven't been able to make it work. If nothing else, we'll try something else next time. Todd's got a lot of ideas, and we'll get it."
Kasey Kahne scored win number five of the 2006 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Season. He closed the gap between himself and the 10th-place position in the point standings, which is where he'll need to be to qualify for the Chase for the Championship which will be determined next weekend. He is 30 points behind Jeff Burton who is in 10th and 32 points behind Mark Martin who is currently in ninth.
Matt Kenseth moved ahead of Jimmie Johnson by nine points in the point standings after his seventh-place finish in California.
Jarrett moved up two positions to 24th in the point standings, while the #38 M&M'S Team remains in 23rd in the owner point standings. Only two points separate the #38 M&M'S and #88 UPS teams in the owner point standings.
The field for the 2006 Chase for the Championship will be determined during next weekend's Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond International Raceway. The racing action begins at 7:40 p.m. EDT with TNT providing the live television broadcast beginning at 7 p.m. EDT.
