UAW-GM Quality 500 - Lowe's Motor Speedway

Johnson Wins Fourth in a Row at Lowe's
Everybody sing along… All around the Lowe’s Speedway the track blistered tires, nobody thought it was fun at all, ‘Pop goes the tires.’ And everyone thought that Talladega was going to be a wild card in the Chase. Although blown tires made the race on Saturday night more like playing Russian roulette, Jimmie Johnson was able to fight through his many adversities to win the UAW-GM Quality 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, scoring his 18th NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory in his 142nd career start. The victory for the Lowe's sponsored driver was the fourth consecutive win at the Lowe’s sponsored track, the last driver to win four straight at a track was when Dale Earnhardt Jr. won four in a row at Talladega. This is Johnson’s fifth career win and eighth top-10 in nine races at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. The race was very similar to the Busch Series event on Friday night as tires popped throughout the field, no matter the position, as blown tires took out several leaders, including points leader Tony Stewart, to set an event record with 15 cautions for the fall event at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. The drivers were easing their cars around the track at about 80-90%, scared to push them wide open, afraid of what the consequences might be. At about midway through the race, NASCAR issued a mandate on tire pressures, threatening to take away points if disobeyed. Most drivers had a blistered tire at some point in the race, the ones that survived until the end were just lucky that those tires did not blow. Johnson, who started 41st after an engine change during the second practice session, had tire problems himself, an alternator failure, electrical problems, and the crew had to switch batteries during the race, but he overcame it all to prove that LMS is still ‘his house.’ Johnson outran Kurt Busch by 0.309 seconds in a green-white-checkered finish to capture his fourth victory of the 2005 season. His last victory came at Dover on September 20th, three races ago, giving him two wins in the Chase. Johnson has scored 19 top-10 finishes in 31 races in 2005 and moved into a tie with Geoffrey Bodine, Neil Bonnett, and Harry Gant for 34th on NASCAR’s all-time win list. Elliott Sadler led the most laps in the event, leading eight times for 112 laps, while Johnson led two times for 13 laps including the final 12. Johnson scored the 13th victory for car owner Rick Hendrick at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, the most of any owner. This was Hendrick’s 138th victory as a car owner and eighth in 31 races this season (Johnson - four, Jeff Gordon - three and Kyle Busch - one). With the win, Johnson climbed from third to second in the point standings, now tied with Tony Stewart, each with 5,777 points. Stewart gets the first-place position because of his five victories as opposed to Johnson with four. Kurt Busch finished in the runner-up position, posting his best finish in the Chase thus far, while teammate Greg Biffle came home in third. Joe Nemechek finished in fourth place followed by fifth-place Mark Martin, who gave Roush Racing three positions in the top-five. The 17 leaders in the UAW-GM Quality 500 tied the record for the most leaders in the fall race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway set in October 1987.

UAW-GM Quality 500 Notes

· Race Results · Ford Post-Race Quotes · Chevrolet Post-Race Quotes · Dodge Post-Race Quotes · Rookie Post-Race Quotes · Point Standings · Owner Point Standings · Old Style Point Standings · Final Practice · Practice 3 · Chevrolet Friday Quotes · Ford Friday Quotes · Dodge Friday Quotes · Starting Lineup · Qualifying Results · Ford Qualifying Quotes · Dodge Qualifying Quotes · Chevrolet Qualifying Quotes · Rookie Qualifying Quotes · Practice 2 · Chevrolet Practice Quotes · Practice 1 · Qualifying Order · Ford Thursday Quotes · Chevrolet Thursday Quotes · Dodge Thursday Quotes · Entry List · Weekend Schedule · Race Notes · Raybestos Rookie Notes · David Stremme Notes · Boris Said Notes

· Tony Stewart Notes · Ryan Newman Notes · Greg Biffle Notes · Rusty Wallace Notes · Jimmie Johnson Notes · Carl Edwards Notes · Mark Martin Notes · Matt Kenseth Notes · Jeremy Mayfield Notes · Kurt Busch Notes · Kevin Harvick Notes · Jamie McMurray Notes · Jeff Gordon Notes · Joe Nemechek Notes · Brian Vickers Notes · Dale Jarrett Notes · Dale Earnhardt Jr. Notes · Kyle Busch Notes · Kasey Kahne Notes · Jeff Burton Notes · Ricky Rudd Notes · Casey Mears Notes · Bobby Labonte Notes · Sterling Marlin Notes · Jeff Green Notes · Mike Bliss Notes · Kyle Petty Notes · Ken Schrader Notes · Dave Blaney Notes · Scott Wimmer Notes · Bobby Hamilton Jr. Notes · Robby Gordon Notes

Sadler Wins Pole Position at Lowe's Motor Speedway
Elliott Sadler must like the levigated surface at the track located just outside of Charlotte, NC. Sadler won the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series pole position for the UAW-GM Quality 500, at Lowe’s Motor Speedway on Thursday evening, setting a new track record in the process. Sadler lapped LMS in 27.948 seconds, at an average speed of 193.216 mph, breaking Ryan Newman’s track-qualifying record of 27.981 seconds, at an average speed of 192.988 mph, set May 26, 2005. This is Sadler’s sixth career Bud Pole in 244 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series races. Sadler is making a name for himself as the new qualifying ace, this is his second pole position in the last three races and his third consecutive start of second or better. This is also Sadler’s fourth Bud Pole and 17th top-10 start in 2005 and trails only the Rocketman Ryan Newman in Bud Pole Awards, with six, this season. This is Sadler’s first pole and eighth top-10 start in 15 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series races at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, including each of the past six races. Sadler gives Ford their eighth pole of the season – including the past three races, while Chevrolet has 12 and Dodge has nine. Ryan Newman posted the second-quickest qualifying lap of 27.961 seconds, at an average speed of 193.126 mph – and will join Sadler on the front row on Saturday evening. Newman also broke his old track qualifying record and has never started worse than fourth in 10 races at Lowe’s. This is his series-leading 25th top-10 start this season and his 11th on the front row. The Lowe’s car of Jimmie Johnson qualified third and has posted seven top-10 starts in nine races at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, but an engine change in the second practice will send Johnson to the back of the field for the start of the race. Chase leader Tony Stewart will start fourth as he has 10 top-10 starts in his 14 races at Charlotte. Bobby Labonte had a nice qualifying effort and will roll off from the fifth position. He has 13 top-10 starts in 26 races at Charlotte, including three Bud Poles, but this is just his second in the past eight races here. Lowe’s Motor Speedway remains the sixth-quickest track with regards to qualifying records. This is the fastest Bud Pole since Ryan Newman qualified at 194.232 mph at Michigan in June and the third fastest of the season behind Michigan and Texas (Newman – 194.690 mph). The NASCAR NEXTEL Cup race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway has been won 13 times each from the pole and the second starting position. Third has produced 12 winners, fourth seven and fifth eight for a total of 57 percent of the victories races from the top-five starting positions (53 of 93). Jimmie Johnson won the 2003 Coca-Cola 600 from the 37th starting position, the furthest back a race winner has started at Charlotte.