BRISTOL, Tenn. — The look of disappointment was on the face of Ryan Blaney, as he spoke to Vince Welch of FOX Sports about the wreck that collected him, as he was leading the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. It was even more apparent the frustration he was withholding because everything happened before he could see it.
“I didn’t see much, to be honest with you. By the time I could see anything they were already turned right and there was nowhere to go,” Blaney said. “Seeing the replay, I don’t know, people not cleared clearing themselves and then wrecking and take the leader out, so that’s unfortunate. Our car was pretty good today. We just kind of got held up there and we might not have been as strong at the end of that run, but I thought we could have at least held on for that stage and never got the chance. The positives you look at is that we had a good car and that’s something to hold your head high about.”
While he wasn’t the primary instigator or pinball of the six-car incident in Turn 3 on Lap 120, he was the biggest casualty of it, being both the leader and having led 100 laps.
It started when Chris Buescher got a run past Harrison Rhodes and attempted to pass Trevor Bayne for position.
“First off, our Bush’s Baked Beans Camaro was really good today. Unfortunately, we were in one of the accidents before that and got us back there where we really shouldn’t have been,” Buescher said. “We had three or four of us trying to stay on the lead lap and we were all being held up by the No. 6 (Trevor Bayne). I got a good run on the outside the slower cars and came off the corner and thought we were good, and it just swiped right up the front. By the time you lift, it’s a little too late. It’s really unfortunate. I love this place. It’s my favorite race track that we go to. We had good speed. We’ve just got to get back after it the next time we come here.”
Bayne, however, drifted up into his path and got loose, overcorrected, turned down and hooked Rhodes, sending him into the outside wall (and clipping Buescher and sending him spinning rear-end first into the outside wall) and into the path of Blaney.
“It’s obviously frustrating when lapped cars wreck and take the leader out,” Blaney added. “That’s unfortunate. They weren’t lap down cars yet, I guess, but I don’t know. I didn’t really see much. By the time I got away from the car right in front of me they were already turned right up the race track and I was already going to the top. I kind of saw them spinning low and I thought that top was gonna be OK and then they slid back up and got us. That stinks. I thought we had a good car and nothing to show for it.”
Because his incident occurred so early in the race, Blaney finished a measly 35th. But with the driver and behind in points having bad days, his points blow was mostly softened. He leaves Bristol sixth in points, 98 back of Kyle Busch.
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Photographers and race fans were all lining the catch fence as Kyle Busch did his celebratory burnout, grabbed the checkered flag and bowed to the fans that braced the cold and wintery mixture weather to watch the remainder of the postponed Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
“Well, it means a lot, you know, to come to Bristol, a place where everybody expects you to do so well, expects you to win, that we’re able to get one,” Busch said. “I wasn’t sure there late in the going with 50 to go with the vibrations and everything that I was feeling that I was going to be able to have a shot. I wasn’t sure if we were going to go green the rest of the way or what was going to happen.
“But fortunately for us, unfortunately for some others, that caution did come out and we were able to come down pit road and put four tires on that things. We restarted second on that inside lane, and I wanted to stay out of the spray to not get anything on my tires but ended up towards the exit I got down into some of those marbles, and then when Larson launched and took off, I was just spinning the tires. There was just nothing for me to go with.
“So I struggled really bad on the restart. I thought that’s where I lost it. Just put my head down and tried to get back going, just tried to chase those guys back down and do what I could to get there. Larson looked loose. It looked like he was kind of battling it there for a little bit. The 17 kind of got to him first, and then I got to the 17 and was able to get by him and then get back up and catch Larson again. He slipped up a few times and was able to give me that opportunity to get there, and we made the most of it.
“When it comes down to the end, it’s crunch time, you’ve got to go. I wasn’t sure if I made my move too soon. I thought so. But our car was fast enough that Larson never had a shot to get back to us to repay the favor.
“It was a pretty good race, I thought. It was pretty fun. The bottom, the top, all around, everywhere, so hopefully we can continue to develop a good tire here that we can not have those long‑run issues where we keep getting that bounce feel and even put on a better show.”
Busch put the chrome bumper to Kyle Larson twice to retake the lead with six laps to go to score his 45th career victory. It breaks a tie with Bill Elliott for 13th on NASCAR’s all-time wins list.
Larson brought his car home second, after leading a race high of 200 laps.
“I was just checked out there on that long run,” Larson said. “It was really, really good there, and was just hoping it would go green until the end and then we pitted, and I was actually fine with that, too, because I knew we’d leave as the leader and restart on the outside. I just didn’t expect to get that loose that run there. The 17 (Stenhouse) almost got by me, was able to hold him off. I thought the grip was getting better, which it did a little bit, but not nearly good enough.
“Not sure if the track changed a lot there or what, but I lost the balance on the car.”
Jimmie Johnson finished third, his first Top-five of the season and first since Dover last October.
“Yeah, definitely a strong race car,” Johnson said. “We’ve been talking about our cars performing better and driving better and creating speed the last three weeks or so, but to finally back it up with a solid finish is exactly what we needed. And to see my teammates with positive comments about their cars the last few weeks and some good results yielding from all of that, we definitely have it rolling in the right direction.
“And specifically on the 48, last weekend there was a lot of excitement with the speed in our car, but we just had some bad luck on track and on pit road and a variety of things that went on. And to really be so buttoned up on race calling, pit stops, what I did in the car, the whole thing, I really feel like we’re rolling in the right direction now.”
Stenhouse and Alex Bowman rounded out the Top-five.
“The guys brought me a great Sunny D Ford all weekend long,” Stenhouse said. “We were really, really strong and I felt confident coming into the race yesterday and today. We fought adversity. We lost track position multiple times and had to pass a lot of cars to get back to where we were. Brian made a great call coming down pit road and taking tires before that long green flag run that we had. We got into second and I was hoping it would just go green to the end, knowing that we had better tires than the 42, who was the class of the field all day. Then we restarted there at the end. Brian said he didn’t get to really check the stagger on these tires and maybe make an adjustment with it. We didn’t take fuel and that sometimes tightens you up a little bit, but, all in all, a great weekend for us. Hopefully, this will kind of get us going and kick start us into next week and the rest of the season.”
Aric Almirola, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano and Ryan Newman rounded out the Top-10.
RACE SUMMARY
BRISTOL, Tenn. – APRIL 15: Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 Mountain Dew Baja Blast Chevrolet, and Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #78 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota, are involved in an on-track incident during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 15, 2018 in Bristol, Tennessee. Photo: Sean Gardner/Getty Images
Kyle Busch led the field to the green flag at 1:34 p.m. It took only four laps for caution to fly when Michael McDowell got loose, made contact with Daniel Suarez and spun in Turn 4. He also collected Alex Bowman and William Byron, who couldn’t react in time to avoid him. Martin Truex Jr. slammed into the back of Bowman.
“Not much to say, just one of those weekends you want to forget about and turn your focus 100 percent on the next race,” Truex said after the race.
Back to green on Lap 10, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. bogged the inside lane down, allowing Ryan Blaney to move into second. From there, he passed under Busch going into Turn 1 on Lap 16 to take the lead. But with 10 laps to go to the competition caution on Lap 50, rain returned and blanketed the track. Caution flew five laps later. NASCAR brought the field down the backstretch four laps later and displayed the red flag. It was lifted after 25 minutes and 25 seconds.
The race went back to green on Lap 60, but caution flew again in Turn 3 when Erik Jones got loose, made contact with Stenhouse and spun him.
Restarting on Lap 67, the race settled into a long-run rhythm with Blaney working to navigate lap traffic one-by-one in classic Bristol fashion.
BRISTOL, Tenn. – APRIL 15: Ryan Blaney, driver of the #12 REV Ford, and Harrison Rhodes, driver of the #51 Industrial Construction Experts Inc. Chevrolet, are involved in an on-track incident during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 15, 2018 in Bristol, Tennessee. Photo: Ed Coombs/SpeedwayMedia.com
While Brad Keselowski caught him and battled him for the lead with six laps left in the first stage, however, Chris Buescher turned Trevor Bayne into the wall, who then bounced off and into Buescher, hooking him into the outside wall, triggering a five-car wreck on Lap 120 that took out race leader Blaney.
“I didn’t see much to be honest with you. By the time I could see anything they were already turned right and there was nowhere to go,” Blaney said. “Seeing the replay, I don’t know, people not cleared clearing themselves and then wrecking and take the leader out, so that’s unfortunate. Our car was pretty good today. We just kind of got held up there and we might not have been as strong at the end of that run, but I thought we could have at least held on for that stage and never got the chance. The positives you look at is that we had a good car and that’s something to hold your head high about.”
After a six-minute, 29-second red flag, NASCAR ended the first stage with a one-lap shootout, won by Brad Keselowski.
Kyle Larson exited pit road with the lead and led the field back to green on Lap 135. Chad Finchum spun out in Turn 4, but caution wasn’t thrown. When Trevor Bayne spun out and hit the wall in Turn 4, however, caution was thrown on Lap 155. Jones took over the race lead when he and the Top-six cars chose not to pit.
As the field circled around, waiting to restart, the rain slightly intensified to the point NASCAR brought the field back down pit road and red-flagged the race a third time.
Back to green on Lap 170, Larson pulled away from Denny Hamlin in second and started lapping everyone in his path. This continued until caution flew for the sixth time on Lap 200, once again for rain.
The weather this time was more severe and forced NASCAR to postpone the rest of the race to the following day.
After a slight delay close to the original 1:02 p.m. scheduled restart time, the field rolled off pit road shortly after 1:30. Everyone but Larson opted to pit.
The race restarted at 1:43 p.m. on Lap 217. For the final 33 laps of the second stage, Larson drove away as he did the day before. Keselowski kept chase with him, however, put the chrome bumper to Larson going into Turn 3, took the lead and won the stage.
Denny Hamlin exited pit road with the lead and led the field to green on Lap 263. Hamlin pitted from the lead two laps later with a loose wheel, handing it back to Keselowski.
BRISTOL, Tenn. – APRIL 16: Kyle Larson, driver of the #42 McDonald’s Chevrolet, and Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 Skittles Toyota, make contact during the rain delayed Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 16, 2018 in Bristol, Tennessee. Photo: Sean Gardner/Getty Images
He, Larson and Kyle Busch dueled for the lead from Laps 280 to 325, with Larson taking it from 292 to 325 and Busch onwards, after Larson got turned by Ryan Newman exiting Turn 4.
Reed Sorenson brought out the caution with 147 laps to go when he spun out and rear-ended the outside wall in Turn 3. With bad weather approaching and the race past the point of being an “official race,” Daniel Suarez opted to stay out and take the lead.
The gamble failed, and he lost the lead by the time he exited Turn 4 to Keselowski with 134 to go. Darrell Wallace Jr. took a stint out front, passing him going into Turn 1 to take it with 125 to go. Busch passed him in Turn 2 to retake the lead with 120 to go.
The battle came down to him and Larson with less than 80 to go. After close to 20 laps of pressure, Larson put the bumper to Busch going into Turn 1 to take the lead with 63 to go. After Larson cleared the lap traffic, he drove away to a half-straightaway lead over Busch. Keselowski slammed the wall in Turn 2 with 30 to go, bringing out the caution and forcing everyone onto pit road.
Larson exited ahead of Busch and led the field back to green with 22 to go. Busch didn’t get going on the bottom and Stenhouse usurped him for second. While Stenhouse got to Larson’s bumper once, he couldn’t make the pass and got passed by Busch with 15 to go. With six to go, Busch put the chrome bumper to Larson twice, made the pass for the lead going through Turn 3 and drove on to victory.
NUTS & BOLTS
The race lasted three hours, 26 minutes and 25 seconds, at an average speed of 77.465 mph. There were 18 lead changes among eight different drivers, and 13 cautions for 113 laps.
NASCAR and track officials have moved up the start time for Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway to 1 p.m. ET (FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) because of the threat of inclement weather.
The Food City 500 was originally set for a green flag at 2:13 p.m. ET. That start time — and all pre-race ceremonies — have been moved up to one hour earlier.
Officials reached that decision Saturday morning, faced with a 90 percent chance of precipitation in the race-day forecast at the half-mile Tennessee track, according to the National Weather Service.
Kyle Busch will start on the pole for the race while brother Kurt will start next to him on the front row.
BRISTOL, Tenn. — David Ragan topped the chart in final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Bristol Motor Speedway. The driver of the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford clocked in at a time of 15.051 and a speed of 127.487 mph.
He held the top spot for virtually the entire 50-minute session.
Occupying spots 2-5 were Chase Elliott, who timed in at 15.100 and 127.073 mph, Denny Hamlin, who timed in at 15.109 and 126.997 mph, Kurt Busch, who timed in at 15.164 and 126.537 mph and Michael McDowell, who timed in at 15.193 and 126.295 mph.
AJ Allmendinger, Kyle Busch, Daniel Suarez, Kasey Sahne and Jimmie Johnson rounded out the Top-10.
Kurt Busch comes to a stop on the apron, after his car hit the inside wall on the backstretch in final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Bristol Motor Speedway. Photo: Tucker White/SpeedwayMedia.com
In the closing minutes of the session, Kurt Busch broke loose exiting Turn 2, spun down the backstretch and hit the inside wall. His team rolled out the backup car, so he’ll start from the rear of the field tomorrow afternoon.
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Kyle Larson topped the chart in second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Bristol Motor Speedway. The driver of the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet clocked in at a time of 14.874 and a speed of 129.004 mph.
He was followed by Martin Truex Jr., who timed in at 14.880 and a speed of 128.952 mph, Aric Almirola at 14.881 and 128.943 mph, Kyle Busch at 14.882 and 128.934 mph and Kasey Kahne at 14.894 and 128.830 mph.
David Ragan, Joey Logano, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Chase Elliott rounded out the Top-10.
Erik Jones, who posted the 11th-fastest single lap, posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 127.292 mph.
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Kyle Busch knows there’s no better place to start at Bristol Motor Speedway than up front, and the smile on his face after winning the pole for the Food City 500 is all the evidence you need.
“Adam Steven and my guys, they do an awesome job, and the preparation and everything that we got going on right now has been really good for our Skittles Camry. Can’t say enough about JGR and TRD, Costa Mesa, all those guys with the motors and stuff too. It’s nice to come out here and grab a front row starting spot, but I got to be careful and mindful. I got to make sure that I have a good race car, because anytime I’ve ever started up front, I have not finished up front. And anytime I’ve ever started in the back, I’ve finished up front. We’re trying to change things here this time around this weekend. Thankfully, we’ve got a fast race car to do that with. We’ll just keep working at it, and find some more things tomorrow that’ll help us for Sunday.”
The driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota took pole position with a final round time of 14.895 and a speed of 128.822 mph.
Following him are brother Kurt, with a time of 14.897 and a speed of 128.804 mph, Brad Keselowski with a time of 14.960 and a speed of 128.262 mph, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. with a time of 14.961 and a speed of 128.253 mph and Ryan Blaney with a time of 14.969 128.185 mph.
Most of the cars didn’t hit the track in mass in the first round until the final four minutes and 20 seconds. Kyle Busch topped the chart with ease, followed by brother Kurt, Joey Logano, Paul Menard and Ryan Blaney.
It was the same in the second round, only most of the field waited even later in the round (less than two minutes remaining) before departing pit road. The Busch brothers swapped positions in the running order for the second round, with Blaney, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson rounding out the Top-five.
Kevin Harvick, who wrecked his primary car in the closing minutes practice earlier today, didn’t turn a lap in qualifying and will start last. Jimmie Johnson will join him in the back, after his team changed a cut left-front tire (you’re required to start on the tires on which you qualified).
Some bad luck/traffic in round 2 of qualifying has us starting 17th… and then the amazing news of a cut left front tire means we are now starting last. 🤬
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Ryan Blaney and Erik Jones topped the chart in first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Bristol Motor Speedway. Both drivers posted a time of 14.774 and a speed of 129.877 mph.
Blaney clocked in his fastest lap early on in the session, riding the VHT track bite along the bottom four feet of the racing groove, while Jones set it in the closing minutes. Although drivers tend to ride a tire-width above the bottom or with right side on the gray of the concrete.
Kurt Busch timed in at third, with a time of 14.799 and a speed of 129.657 mph. Kyle Busch timed in at fourth, with a time of 14.822 and a speed of 129.456 mph. Kyle Larson rounded out the Top-five, with a time of 14.840 and a speed of 129.299 mph.
Denny Hamlin, Alex Bowman, Brad Keselowski, David Ragan and Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the Top-10.
Jones posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average, at a speed of 124.148 mph.
Kevin Harvick gets directed to hop inside the awaiting ambulance to make the short trip to the infield care center, after his car slammed the outside wall in Turn 3 in the closing minutes of the first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice session at Bristol Motor Speedway. Photo: David Yeazell/SpeedwayMedia.com
Kevin Harvick suffered a left-front part failure going into Turn 3 and slammed the outside wall in the closing minutes of the session. His team rolled out the backup car and he’ll start from the tail-end of the field on Sunday.
