2006 Golden Corral 500

2006 Golden Corral 500

Race details
Race 4 of 36 in the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season
2006 Golden Corral 500 program cover
Date	March 20, 2006 (2006-March-20)
Official name	Golden Corral 500
Location	Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton, Georgia
Course	Permanent racing facility 1.54 mi (2.48 km)
Distance	325 laps, 500.5 mi (805.476 km)
Weather	Cold with temperatures approaching 59 °F (15 °C); wind speeds up to 8.9 miles per hour (14.3 km/h)
Average speed	144.098 miles per hour (231.903 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Kasey Kahne	Evernham Motorsports
Most laps led
Driver	Greg Biffle	Roush Racing
Laps	128
Winner
No. 9	Kasey Kahne	Evernham Motorsports
Television in the United States
Network	Fox Broadcasting Company
Announcers	Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds

The 2006 Golden Corral 500 was the fourth race in the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup season which took place on March 20, 2006, at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Rain showers forced the green flag to be moved back to Monday. Television coverage moved to cable's FX channel for the race (with some exceptions).

Race recap

Kasey Kahne sat on the pole with a speed of 192.553 mph, edging Ryan Newman by .002 seconds. Bill Lester qualified 19th in the #23 Dodge Charger, becoming the first African-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 hitting Dave Blaney on pit road on lap 45 during a caution to address the stopped car of Kyle 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), when Reed Sorenson hit John Slusher, catch can man for Robby Gordon's crew, as he pulled out of his pit stall. Slusher was attached to a backboard but treated at the infield care center.

Several rookies had good days at Atlanta. Paul Menard and Reed Sorenson finished in the top ten, and Denny 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 since Matt Kenseth in the 2005 Sharpie 500.

Qualifying

Pos	Car #	Driver	Make	Primary Sponsor	Speed	Time	Behind
1	9	Kasey Kahne	Dodge	Dodge Dealers / UAW	192.553	28.792	0.000
2	12	Ryan Newman	Dodge	Alltel	192.540	28.794	-0.002
3	31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	Cingular Wireless	191.973	28.879	-0.087
4	43	Bobby Labonte	Dodge	Cheerios / Betty Crocker	191.914	28.888	-0.096
5	18	J. J. Yeley	Chevrolet	Husqvarna	191.854	28.897	-0.105
6	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	GM Goodwrench	191.794	28.906	-0.114
7	11	Denny Hamlin	Chevrolet	FedEx Ground	191.695	28.921	-0.129
8	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	Subway / National Guard	191.496	28.951	-0.159
9	2	Kurt Busch	Dodge	Miller Lite	191.357	28.972	-0.180
10	42	Casey Mears	Dodge	Texaco / Havoline	191.245	28.989	-0.197
11	6	Mark Martin	Ford	AAA	190.968	29.031	-0.239
12	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	DuPont	190.962	29.032	-0.240
13	1	Joe Nemechek	Chevrolet	U.S. Army	190.922	29.038	-0.246
14	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	Lowe's	190.817	29.054	-0.262
15	41	Reed Sorenson	Dodge	Fujifilm	190.804	29.056	-0.264
16	07	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet	Jack Daniel's	190.765	29.062	-0.270
17	5	Kyle Busch	Chevrolet	Kellogg's	190.633	29.082	-0.290
18	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	Office Depot	190.568	29.092	-0.300
19	23	Bill Lester	Dodge	Waste Management	190.502	29.102	-0.310
20	19	Jeremy Mayfield	Dodge	Dodge Dealers / UAW	189.928	29.190	-0.398
21	20	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	The Home Depot	189.895	29.195	-0.403
22	15	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	Menards / Pittsburgh Paints	189.785	29.212	-0.420
23	61	Kevin Lepage	Ford	Amp Energy Drink	189.720	29.222	-0.430
24	55	Michael Waltrip	Dodge	NAPA Auto Parts	189.649	29.233	-0.441
25	21	Ken Schrader	Ford	Little Debbie	189.441	29.265	-0.473
26	8	Dale Earnhardt Jr	Chevrolet	Budweiser	189.396	29.272	-0.480
27	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	DEWALT Power Tools	189.357	29.278	-0.486
28	38	Elliott Sadler	Ford	Combos	189.286	29.289	-0.497
29	10	Scott Riggs	Dodge	Valvoline / Stanley Tools	189.131	29.313	-0.521
30	22	Dave Blaney	Dodge	Caterpillar	189.092	29.319	-0.527
31	88	Dale Jarrett	Ford	UPS	188.552	29.403	-0.611
32	45	Kyle Petty	Dodge	National Tire & Battery	188.398	29.427	-0.635
33	14	Sterling Marlin	Chevrolet	Waste Management	188.398	29.427	-0.635
34	26	Jamie McMurray	Ford	IRWIN Industrial Tools	188.341	29.436	-0.644
35	1	Martin Truex Jr	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops / Tracker	188.264	29.448	-0.656
36	7	Robby Gordon	Chevrolet	Harrah's	188.162	29.464	-0.672
37	25	Brian Vickers	Chevrolet	GMAC	188.041	29.483	-0.691
38	40	David Stremme	Dodge	Coors Light	187.970	29.494	-0.702
39	66	Jeff Green	Chevrolet	Best Buy	187.843	29.514	-0.722
40	49	Brent Sherman	Dodge	Serta	187.614	29.550	-0.758
41	00	Hermie Sadler	Ford	Aaron's	187.304	29.599	-0.807
42	4	Scott Wimmer	Chevrolet	AERO Exhaust	187.139	29.625	-0.833
43	96	Terry Labonte	Chevrolet			29.902
Failed to qualify
44	51	Mike Garvey	Chevrolet	Marathon Oil		29.651
45	95	Stanton Barrett	Chevrolet	hairofdog.com		29.862
46	34	Chad Chaffin	Chevrolet	Oak Glove Co.		29.895
47	74	Derrick Cope	Dodge	MyGuardian911		29.898
48	78	Kenny Wallace	Chevrolet	Furniture Row		29.899
49	32	Travis Kvapil	Chevrolet	Tide		29.980
50	37	Mike Skinner	Dodge	R&J Racing		30.039
51	13	Greg Sacks	Ford	Who's Your Daddy		30.110
52	92	Chad Blount	Chevrolet	Front Row Motorsports		30.919

Race results

Fin	St	Driver	Car #	Make	Points	Bonus	Laps	Winnings
1	1	Kasey Kahne	9	Dodge	185	5	325	$197,664
2	11	Mark Martin	6	Ford	170		325	$127,800
3	26	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	8	Chevrolet	165		325	$138,841
4	12	Jeff Gordon	24	Chevrolet	165	5	325	$137,236
5	21	Tony Stewart	20	Chevrolet	160	5	325	$154,961
6	14	Jimmie Johnson	48	Chevrolet	150		325	$121,761
7	22	Paul Menard	15	Chevrolet	146		325	$78,625
8	32	Kyle Petty	45	Dodge	142		325	$108,133
9	31	Dale Jarrett	88	Ford	138		325	$109,850
10	15	Reed Sorenson *	41	Dodge	134		325	$89,225
11	29	Scott Riggs	10	Dodge	130		325	$74,650
12	17	Kyle Busch	5	Chevrolet	127		325	$88,025
13	27	Matt Kenseth	17	Ford	124		325	$118,616
14	34	Jamie McMurray	26	Ford	121		325	$108,350
15	5	J. J. Yeley *	18	Chevrolet	118		325	$109,050
16	8	Greg Biffle	16	Ford	125	10	325	$104,175
17	13	Joe Nemechek	1	Chevrolet	112		325	$99,020
18	2	Ryan Newman	12	Dodge	114	5	325	$115,033
19	35	Martin Truex Jr. *	1	Chevrolet	106		324	$92,608
20	24	Michael Waltrip	55	Dodge	108	5	324	$85,158
21	10	Casey Mears	42	Dodge	100		324	$105,908
22	43	Terry Labonte	96	Chevrolet	102	5	324	$67,850
23	37	Brian Vickers	25	Chevrolet	94		324	$80,200
24	25	Ken Schrader	21	Ford	91		324	$98,164
25	3	Jeff Burton	31	Chevrolet	93	5	324	$97,870
26	39	Jeff Green	66	Chevrolet	85		324	$90,033
27	16	Clint Bowyer *	07	Chevrolet	82		324	$78,060
28	36	Robby Gordon	7	Chevrolet	79		324	$69,810
29	28	Elliott Sadler	38	Ford	76		324	$97,433
30	42	Scott Wimmer	4	Chevrolet	73		323	$69,900
31	7	Denny Hamlin *	11	Chevrolet	75	5	323	$70,125
32	30	Dave Blaney	22	Dodge	67		323	$75,797
33	38	David Stremme *	40	Dodge	64		322	$75,125
34	33	Sterling Marlin	14	Chevrolet	61		322	$66,130
35	23	Kevin Lepage	61	Ford	63	5	322	$66,190
36	40	Brent Sherman *	49	Dodge	55		322	$66,055
37	9	Kurt Busch	2	Dodge	57	5	321	$99,153
38	19	Bill Lester	23	Dodge	PE		319	$65,985
39	6	Kevin Harvick	29	Chevrolet	46		313	$102,876
40	18	Carl Edwards	99	Ford	43		313	$85,700
41	20	Jeremy Mayfield	19	Dodge	40		235	$95,846
42	41	Hermie Sadler	0	Ford	37		166	$65,815
43	4	Bobby Labonte	43	Dodge	39	5	56	$103,725

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)