- 2006 Golden Corral 500
The 2006 Golden Corral 500 was the fourth race in the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup season which took place on
March 20 ,2006 atAtlanta Motor Speedway . Rain showers forced the green flag to be moved back to the Monday. Television coverage moved to cable'sFX channel for the race (with some exceptions).Race recap
Kasey Kahne sat on the pole with a speed of 192.553 mph, edgingRyan Newman by .002 seconds.Bill Lester qualified 19th in the #23 Waste Management Dodge Charger, becoming the firstAfrican-American to start a NASCAR Nextel Cup race since 1986. He finished 38th, six laps down.For the first time during the season there were no extra laps at the end of the race. Last year's Atlanta winner,
Carl Edwards eliminated himself from contention early. He damaged the front end of the 99 car after hittingDave Blaney on pit road on lap 45 during a caution to address the stopped car ofKyle Busch .Bobby Labonte ran in the top 10 for the first 50 laps before his engine failed on lap 55. Another scary incident took place on pit road during the sixth caution of the day (laps 189-197), whenReed Sorenson hit John Slusher,catch can man forRobby Gordon 's crew, as he pulled out of his pit stall. Slusher was attached to abackboard but treated at the infield care center.Several rookies had good days at Atlanta.
Paul Menard andReed Sorenson finished in the top ten, andDenny Hamlin led 16 laps. He was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop because of a loose condition, and finished 31st.On the track, the 9 car was near the front all day. Kahne took the lead from
Greg Biffle with 79 laps to go. Despite a challenge from Mark Martin, Kahne was not seriously challenged down the stretch and visited victory lane for the second time in his career. Kahne was the first driver to win from the pole sinceMatt Kenseth in the2005 Sharpie 500 .Race results
Failed to qualify:
Mike Garvey (#51),Stanton Barrett (#95),Chad Chaffin (#34),Derrike Cope (#74),Kenny Wallace (#78),Travis Kvapil (#32), Mike Skinner (#37),Greg Sacks (#13),Chad Blount (#92)References
* [http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2006/4/data/results_official.html Official results]
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