This week the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads west to Sin City where we take a look back at the 2006 UAW DaimlerChrysler 400 which produced one of the closest finishes at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Jimmie Johnson has become a staple up front since he got his first Las Vegas win in 2005 and has gone on to rack up an impressive streak of victories. Johnson scored three in a row from 2005-2007 with his second consecutive victory coming on March 12, 2006.

Roush driver Greg Biffle earned the pole for the 2006 UAW DaimlerChrysler 400 with a qualifying lap at 172.403 mph. Tony Stewart started on the outside of the front row with Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch making up row two.

Matt Kenseth had a strong Roush Ford and dominated the race, leading 146 laps of the race that went three laps into overtime. Johnson for the most part was never seen up front and didn’t seem to be a contender for the win until the end of the day. Though we have learned over the past five years to never count out the 48, Kenseth seemed destined for Victory Lane. 

An incident involving Denny Hamlin and Kenny Wallace brought out the caution with three laps of the originally scheduled 267 remaining. The leaders came in for service with Kenseth leaving pit road ahead of Johnson. The field was set for a green-white-checkered finish with Kenseth out front on the restart.

Kenseth had the lead when the white flag came out and seemed to be on his way to another victory but Johnson had other plans as he took the high side going into turn four and edged out Kenseth at the finish line by 0.115 seconds for the win.

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