Bright blue skies and not a hint of rain greeted fans and drivers alike at Kansas for the Price Chopper 400. The ceremonies done, Hendrick Motorsports in the top three starting spots led them to the green flag.  It didn't take long for Dale Jr to get past Mark Martin, and it also didn't take long for the first two caution flags to fly, before 10 laps were even completed.  The first involved Joey Logano but he was able to get underway again, and stay competitive.  The second multi-car wreck involved Paul Menard, Bobby Labonte and others.

Dale Jr led the field to the first green flag pit stops, and although he got in and out quickly, the crew got jittery and sent him back out on the track minus a lug nut.  Jr was pi$$ed, and justifiably so, as it resulted in him going a lap down.  Carl Edwards was penalized as well, for speeding on pit road, and he, too, went a lap down.

Greg Biffle took over the lead after a pit stop for only two tires, and the race settled in to the mid race juggling,  Dale Jr and Carl continued to battle, both wanting to be the first car one lap down, in order to be in position to score the free pass, should a caution come out.  Jimmie Johnson did catch Biffle, but catching and passing, especially at Kansas, are two different things.  Greg used up every bit of the track and stayed out front. 

Just before halfway, Johnson got by Greg Biffle to once again lead a race, and the top five drivers, except for Brad Keselowski were Chasers.  NASCAR asked Brad to ease up a little and not race the Chasers quite so agressively, and to be mindful of them, at least until later in the race. 

Brian Vickers went around brought out another caution, allowing teams to make much needed pit stops.  Kevin Harvick got the free pass and was back on the lead lap, along with 23 others.  On the restart, Johnson jumped out to the lead again, but Greg Biffle almost took him out, by rubbing across his rear bumper. 

Matt Kenseth was the next victim, when he lost a cylinder in the DeWalt Ford and headed to the garage.  Not long after that, the caution flew for the 5th time when Elliott Sadler went around, much the same Joey Logano had done early in the race.  Carl Edwards got the free pass, and got back on the lead lap.

With just over 100 laps to go, Tony Stewart and Greg Biffle were fighting for the lead, while Mark Martin and Juan Pablo Montoya were fighting for 5th.  Although Rusty Wallace had predicted Dale Jr would be able to get his lap back and again contend for the lead, that hadn't happened and he was mired back in 30th.

Ryan Newman was also a lap down, unable to get himself into position for the free pass, but wasn't the furthest back of all the Chasers.  That position belonged to Brian Vickers who had had a spin and was struggling with a sour engine.   Greg Biffle continued to lead, hoping to gain some points on the leaders and move up from the 9th place position.

With 60 odd laps to go, green flag pit stops got underway again, this time with no obvious problems.   As the closing laps wound down, drivers were pushing their cars, and four wide racing became the norm, rather than the rarity.  It looked like the race might become a fuel mileage race with just over 30 laps to go.  Dale Jr came down pit road and the hood went up on the car.  The crew advised that the belt had come off the oil pump, not an unheard circumstance, but not common either.  They soon announced they were done, and only a lap later, the caution came out because of the oil the 88 had put down.  All the frontrunners pitted, taking fuel mileage bout of the equation.  The 16 of Biffle took four tires, as did Hamlin, but Stewart, Kahne amd Johnson each took 2 tires only, and Stewart came out first with Kahne alongside.

Stewart shot out of the cannon on the restart, and Greg Biffle quickly got around the cars in front of him to take over second.  Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne and Juan Pablo Montoya rounded out the top five, but the race was on and Denny Hamlin rocketed into the top five, passing deep inside.  JPM got by him and Kahne, so move into 4th, while the top three spread out. 

Into the final ten laps, Jeff Gordon got by Greg Biffle and set his sights on Tony Stewart, and was closing by a tenth of a second per lap.  With 5 laps to go, he was 5/10 of a second behind Tony.  Meanwhile, Mark Martin and Jimmie Johnson were still in the top ten, but not any kind of a challenge for a win.

Mark managed to move up to challenge for the 6th spot, but by the white flag lap, Tony and Jeff were running virtually identical laps, with Jeff 5/10 of a second behind. 

Smoke took the checkered flag, then did something we don't see so often any more.  He turned around and ran a Polish Victory Lap.  The announcers didn't get the meaning behind it, or if they did they were silent, but any of us long time fans saw it for what it was, a tribute to Alan Kulwicki, the last owner/driver to win a Championship, back in 1992.   Tony aspires to do exactly what Alan did, and he wants to do it this year, so this was a very fitting tribute.

Class act, Smoke.