Tag: Bristol Motor Speedway

Matt Kenseth Wins Coors Light Pole at Bristol

April 17, 2015, Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service

BRISTOL, Tenn.—If history repeats itself on Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway, Matt Kenseth won’t have a problem with it.

The last time Kenseth won a pole at the high-banked .533-mile short track—back in 2005—he followed with a victory in the race.

In Friday’s time trials at Thunder Valley, with a lap at 128.632 mph (14.917 seconds) Kenseth earned the 14th Coors Light Pole Award of his career, his second at Bristol and his first of the season.

And that’s a good omen for a driver who hasn’t won a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race since his seven-victory debut season with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2013.

Kenseth edged two-time Bristol winner Brad Keselowski (128.442 mph) for the top starting spot by .022 seconds. Carl Edwards (128.322 mph) qualified third, his best effort of the season so far, and reigning series champion Kevin Harvick (128.211 mph) will start fourth in Sunday’s Food City 500to Support Steve Byrnes (1 p.m. on FOX).

Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano (who was fastest in each of the first two rounds of knockout qualifying), Kurt Busch and Kasey Kahne earned the fifth through eighth spots on the grid, as all of the top eight qualifiers are former Bristol winners.

“We need to be able to go out and win races,” Kenseth said. “Last year and so far this year haven’t been particularly great for JGR. I think we’ve had two wins that weren’t plate races in the last year and a half as a company.

“So, obviously, as a company, we’ve got to get running better. … We’ve just got to keep working on it, and I’ve certainly got to be better. I need to do a better job, and I know that. I work at getting better every week, and I have, I think, since the first day I came into this sport.”

If Kenseth is to capitalize on his pole position, his team will have to improve the handling of the No. 20 Toyota in race trim.

“You have to be able to stay on your tires for a long time,” the 2003 series champion said. “You have to have good balance at the end of the run. You have to be pretty fast at the beginning of the run so you don’t give up spots on restarts—it is hard to pass later the run.

“I wasn’t really thrilled with the way my car drove in race trim (in practice) today, but in qualifying trim it would run a fast lap. So I certainly think we’ve got some work to do (in Saturday’s practice).”

So does Jimmie Johnson. Last week’s Texas winner didn’t survive the first elimination in qualifying and will start 28th in Sunday’s race. In fact, Kahne was the only Hendrick Motorsports driver to advance to the final round in Friday’s time trials.

David Ragan continued his solid effort in relief of injured Kyle Busch, qualifying 11th in the No. 18 JGR Camry.

Note: Brendan Gaughan and Ron Hornaday Jr. failed to make the 43-car field.

Complete Starting Lineup:

POS.	CAR #	DRIVER	SPONSOR	BEST SPEED	BEST TIME	BEHIND
1	20	Matt Kenseth	Dollar General	128.63	14.917	Leader
2	2	Brad Keselowski	Miller Lite	128.44	14.939	0.022
3	19	Carl Edwards	COMCAST BUSINESS	128.32	14.953	0.036
4	4	Kevin Harvick	Jimmy John’s/ Budweiser	128.21	14.966	0.049
5	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Freight	127.42	15.059	0.142
6	22	Joey Logano	AutoTrader	127.32	15.071	0.154
7	41	Kurt Busch	Haas Automation	126.87	15.124	0.207
8	5	Kasey Kahne	Great Clips	126.83	15.129	0.212
9	27	Paul Menard	Sylvania / Menards	126.83	15.129	0.212
10	1	Jamie McMurray	McDonald’s	126.61	15.155	0.238
11	18	David Ragan	Snickers Extreme	126.44	15.176	0.259
12	3	Austin Dillon	Dow	126.26	15.197	0.28
13	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr	MOUNTAIN DEW DEWSHINE	127.08	15.099	0.182
14	42	Kyle Larson	Target	127.07	15.1	0.183
15	51	Justin Allgaier	Auto Owners Insurance	126.56	15.161	0.244
16	78	Martin Truex Jr	Furniture Row/Visser Precision	126.5	15.168	0.251
17	40	Landon Cassill	TBA	126.43	15.177	0.26
18	31	Ryan Newman	WIX	126.09	15.218	0.301
19	95	Michael McDowell	Thrivent Financial	125.95	15.235	0.318
20	47	AJ Allmendinger	Bush’s Beans	125.94	15.236	0.319
21	14	Tony Stewart	Bass Pro Shops / Mobil 1	125.83	15.249	0.332
22	83	Matt DiBenedetto	Dustless Blasting	125.8	15.253	0.336
23	24	Jeff Gordon	3M	125.61	15.276	0.359
24	55	Brett Moffitt	Aaron’s Dream Machine	125.2	15.326	0.409
25	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Zest Ford Fusion	126.38	15.183	0.266
26	10	Danica Patrick	GoDaddy	126.33	15.189	0.272
27	13	Casey Mears	No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet SS	126.3	15.192	0.275
28	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe’s	126.15	15.211	0.294
29	23	J.J. Yeley	Dr. Pepper “I’m a Pepper”	126.05	15.223	0.306
30	43	Aric Almirola	Smithfield	125.82	15.25	0.333
31	6	Trevor Bayne	Advocare Ford Fusion	125.8	15.253	0.336
32	38	David Gilliland	MDS Transport	125.63	15.274	0.357
33	16	Greg Biffle	Ortho Ford Fusion	125.55	15.283	0.366
34	26	Jeb Burton	MaximFantasySports.com	125.51	15.288	0.371
35	98	Josh Wise	Phil Parsons Racing	125.45	15.295	0.378
36	46	Michael Annett	Pilot Flying J	125.16	15.331	0.414
37	15	Clint Bowyer	5-Hour Energy	125.02	15.348	0.431
38	34	Chris Buescher	CSX / Play It Safe	125.02	15.348	0.431
39	9	Sam Hornish Jr	Nature Blast	124.94	15.358	0.441
40	7	Alex Bowman	TBA	124.56	15.405	0.488
41	32	Mike Bliss	KEEN PARTS/VISONE RV	124.13	15.458	0.541
42	35	Cole Whitt	Tweaker Energy Shots	124.05	15.468	0.551
43	33	Alex Kennedy	Media Cast	123.61	15.523	0.606

April 17, 2015

NASCAR Racing Schedule for Bristol Motor Speedway

The racing action continues this weekend as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and XFINITY Series head to Bristol Motor Speedway. The Camping World Truck Series is off but will return May 8 at Kansas.

All times Eastern.

Friday, April 17:

On Track:

Noon-1:25 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series practice – FOX Sports 1
1:30 -2:25 p.m.: XFINITY Series practice – FOX Sports 1
3-4:25 p.m.: XFINITY Series final practice – FOX Sports 1
4:45 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying – FOX Sports 1

Press Conferences (Watch live at NASCAR.com)

10:30 a.m. Darrell Wallace Jr.
10:45 a.m: Darrell Waltrip
11:15 a.m.: Matt Kenseth
4 p.m.: Jimmie Johnson
5:45 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Post Qualifying Press Conference – Time Approximate

Saturday, April 18:

On Track:

8:30-9:25 a.m.: Sprint Cup Series practice – FOX Sports 1
9:45 a.m.: XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying – FOX Sports 1
11:30 a.m.-12:25 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series final practice – FOX Sports 1
1:30 p.m.: XFINITY Series Drive to Stop Diabetes 300 – FOX Sports 1 (300 laps, 159.9 miles) (Scheduled Green Flag: 1:46 p.m. – Time Approximate)

Press Conferences (Watch live at NASCAR.com)

12:45 p.m.: Kyle Larson and Rico Abreu
3:15 p.m.: XFINITY Series Post Race Press Conference – Time Approximate

Sunday, April 19:

On Track:

1 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Food City 500 in Support of Steve Byrnes and Stand Up to Cancer – FOX (500 laps, 266.5 miles) (Scheduled Green Flag: 1:13 p.m. – Time Approximate)

Press Conferences (Watch live at NASCAR.com)

9:45 a.m.: Brad Keselowski
4 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Post Race Press Conference – Time Approximate

April 17, 2015

NASCAR BTS: Petty Motorsports Spring Cleaning Project

With this weekend’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway, the daffodils are blooming and Richard Petty Motorsports has begun their spring cleaning project.

This week’s edition of NASCAR Behind the Scenes focuses on Petty’s newest sponsor, a cleaning product company called Nature Blast, which will be a primary sponsor on Sam Hornish’s No. 9 Petty Ford this weekend.

Nature Blast is a unique company started by two young women who wanted to develop cleaning products that were not only eco-friendly and non-toxic, but that worked well and smelled good too.

“Crystal (Brewster, co-owner) and I have been very interested in these environmentally friendly cleaning products,” Daniela Perkins, Owner, Nature Blast, said. “We had worked together in a cleaning company that produced harsh chemicals. It’s very important to us to keep in mind the environment, children, and family.”

“I have a little bit of a chemical background. Chemistry has always interested me so I’ve learned the different types of formulas. I knew what was safe and what wasn’t. One day I picked up a bottle and saw what was in it. And I didn’t like it. So, I just decided to do research and find products that were safe for the environment, kids, and families.”

“Because of my father’s cleaning business, that was where the idea stemmed from. It was doing research as to what was out there. I wasn’t mixing chemicals or making explosives in the garage but I was familiar with compounds that would work.”

“We worked with different chemists to produce the products. I obviously needed a little bit of help and wanted to make sure that it all worked properly. So, we got a few people to join our team and had families to test the products.”

“What is great about the product too is that it smells wonderful. So, you’re not smelling an ordinary cleaning product and you know what you’re using is safe.”

Since both of the founders of Nature Blast were NASCAR fans, they were thrilled to begin a relationship with Richard Petty that started at the Daytona 500 and has now grown into a primary sponsorship opportunity at Bristol.

“To be a part of the Daytona 500 with Richard Petty Motorsports made us realize what their organization can do to help ours,” Crystal Brewster of Nature Blast sad. “The possibilities that RPM and NASCAR can offer us can’t be found anywhere else. We’re proud to have Sam and the No. 9 team represent Nature Blast in Bristol and can’t wait for NASCAR fans all over to learn about our environmentally friendly cleaning products.”

“We wanted to get into NASCAR because it’s a wonderful platform,” Perkins added. “The fans are absolutely amazing. And bottom line, it is a non-traditional route to advertise our products.”

“We all are fans of NASCAR and especially Richard Petty. He’s the King so who wouldn’t want to work with the King? We got in touch with him and he has definitely helped us out. He is such a wonderful person to work with.”

“We have also gone to the Daytona 500 race and there was a lot of networking that we did there. Richard Petty helped us with a lot of the business to business relationships as well. We’ve all worked very closely as far as that goes.”

The Nature Blast team and founders are also excited to work not only with the King, but also with driver Sam Hornish, Jr.

“Sam is the driver and he definitely likes the product. He really has been interested in endorsing us,” Perkins said. “We’re having Sam Hornish Jr. signing our products as well. All of our products are at Walmart and SHOP.COM.”

“It’s definitely taken a lot of work but I’ve never thought that for someone like me under the age of 30 that we could create a product that would be in such big retail stores. But I think the whole product line, Richard Petty, Sam Hornish and the whole team has been a part of this and are awesome.”

Driver Sam Hornish is also excited to be part of the Nature Blast team. In fact, he has been in stores signing autographs and sharing the product in preparation for his Bristol run with the sponsor on the car.

“For parents, like my wife and me, Nature Blast offers great cleaning products which are safe for our children to be around,” Hornish said. “That’s important and I trust them. I’m looking forward to having them at the track in Bristol, and hopefully we can celebrate a good finish when it’s all said and done.”

So, what will Perkins feel like when the car bearing her new company’s name and logo circles the Coliseum on Sunday?

“If I could start jumping up and down right now in excitement, I would do that,” Perkins said. “I’m thrilled.”

“Our team at Nature Blast has put in so much effort day in and day out and on the weekends. It is hard work but we’re all really excited. We’re pumped and ready to be there.”

“We are fans of the sport and we love NASCAR. Nature Blast will be wrapped around the whole car and it’s amazing to be a part of something that is so amazing and such a huge part of America.”

For more information about Nature Blast, visit their website www.natureblast.com or follow them from the track on Twitter @NatureBlast.

April 17, 2015

Surprising and Not Surprising: IRWIN Tools Night Race

The Coliseum…..Thunder Valley…..and “The World’s Fastest Half Mile”…..here is what was surprising and not surprising from Bristol Motor Speedway in the IRWIN Tools Night Race.

Surprising: Although Team Penske scored a one, two finish, race winner Joey Logano and race runner up Brad Keselowski both admitted that was one of the toughest, most physically demanding races of the season to date.

“It definitely was a very, very tough race,” the driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford for Team Penske said. “I feel like it’s the most physically demanding racetrack, just the baddest, mamma jamma racetrack ever built, not only for the driver but for the race car. You’re just always on the gas or the brake or in the turn. There’s always something going on, and as a driver you don’t get a break inside the race car, either.”

“It was a hard night,” the driver of the No. 2 Wurth Team Penske Ford said. “I’ll tell you, first off, this place, the race pace is really brutal and aggressive. With the cars having all the extra downforce this year and tires improving and some of the new rules, compounded by grinding the track and the track’s high lane having a lot of speed, I swear, this is the most grueling race of the year.”

“It feels good just to complete it and be able to kind of look myself in the eye and know I gave it all I had,” Keselowski continued. “It just wasn’t enough, but I didn’t fall out of the seat, so I’m damned near as proud of not falling out of the seat as anything else.”

Not Surprising: Coach Gibbs has no doubt already sent out for the infamous milk and cookies for his driver of the No. 18 Doublemint Toyota and his crew chief Dave Rogers. The two exchanged some pretty heated words after Busch sped on pit road, got back in traffic and was collected in a wreck for a 36^th place finish.

“That’s just pro sports,” Coach Gibbs said. “Every now and then you get frustrated.”

“I think the night was totally frustrating,” Gibbs continued. “(Kyle) had a great car and it was a series of circumstances. Something like that happens in pro sports you can get frustrated.”

Surprising: While Kyle Busch vacated his race car without speaking to the media, his teammate Denny Hamlin could not stop talking about what happened between himself and Kevin Harvick, resulting in his 40th place finish in the Bristol night race. In fact, he even added some physicality to his words, tossing his HANS device at Harvick’s car under the caution laps.

“I’m just frustrated because we had a good run going,” Hamlin opined. “I thought for sure after the first couple runs that we were going to win the race.”

“It just didn’t work out,” the driver of the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota said. “Mistakes happen in racing. Obviously, I believe that Kevin (Harvick) made a mistake tonight and that’s just part of it. I was just on the short end of the stick.”

Not Surprising: Matt Kenseth, although winless, continued his consistent streak of good finishes, scoring the third position in his No. 20 Dollar General Toyota. Kenseth was also the highest finishing Toyota driver and, in fact, was the only Toyota to finish in the top-15.

“I feel like we’re getting better,” Kenseth said. “We just didn’t quite have it today and we still got a decent finish out of it, but we just didn’t quite have the speed we’ve had the last few races here.”

“We’ll keep working on it.”

Surprising: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. had a surprisingly good finish, taking the checkered flag in the sixth spot. In fact, Stenhouse Jr. led the Roush Fenway Racing trio in the finishing order, with both of his teammates finishing behind him, in seventh and tenth respectively for Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle.

“We didn’t start off very good but Mike (Kelley, crew chief) made a lot of changes,” Stenhouse said. “Our pit crew did an awesome job on pit road and gave me some fast pit stops, and Mike made a good call to take the wave around to get back on the lead lap and then the caution came out quick and we were able to make our car a little bit better.”

“We’ve got a lot of work to do, but definitely really pleased with how we finished with how the car drove, so we’ll get it better and we’ll keep working on it,” Stenhouse Jr. continued. “That felt really good to pass some cars. It was a great night.”

Not Surprising: After leading 148 laps out of the 500 lap race, it would be natural to feel a bit befuddled after finishing eighth instead of ending up in Victory Lane.

“I don’t know what happened,” Jamie McMurray, behind the wheel of the No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet said. “Our car got really tight with about 100 laps to go.”

“We freed it up on the last pit stop and it didn’t really help,” McMurray continued. “But I’m really proud of everybody on our McDonald’s Chevrolet. McDonald’s has been in this sport for so long and they’ve only won a few races and I really thought tonight was going to be our night to put them back in Victory Lane.”

Surprising: Jimmie Johnson, six-time champ, and Kyle Larson, Rookie of the Year contender, may be at different places in their careers, however they had one thing in common at Bristol. They both had to overcome adversity, from Johnson’s two speeding penalties to Larson’s wreck in qualifying, to finish fourth and twelfth respectively.

Johnson was the highest finisher for Hendrick Motorsports and Larson was again the highest finishing rookie of the race.

“Top fives are good. We are happy about that,” the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet said. “We had some issues on pit road and got nailed for speeding twice which was totally on us. Just mistakes made there that kind of hurt us a little bit, but we still got a third top five, finished fourth.”

“I made our team have to work really hard with wrecking in qualifying,” the driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet said. “Just a long race I felt like I worked hard the whole time. That is the hardest I’ve ever raced. Especially having to do it for 500 laps.”

“That was pretty wild,” Larson continued. “I guess I’m happy with a 12th. That is probably about as good as we were. I had a few run in’s today, but still to come away with a 12th is pretty good.”

Not Surprising: Paul Menard quietly continued his string of good finishes, this time taking the checkered flag in ninth.

“We had a really good car,” the driver of the No. 27 Serta/Menards Chevrolet said. “We had two runs where we just got off. We took right sides and it didn’t work out very well. Then we did a chassis adjustment and put four tires. We feel backwards and got a lap down. We were able to put four tires on and pass some guys for the lucky dog.”

“We got that and we could race again.”

Surprising: Aric Almirola was the biggest loser of the evening, wrecking hard to finish 41^st and dropping three spots in the point standings to 24^th.

“I’m OK, just disappointed,” the driver of the No. 43 STP Ford Fusion said. “What an amazing race car these guys brought me – two of them – and to go out like that is certainly disappointing, but that’s racing at Bristol – you get caught up in other peoples’ wrecks.”

Not Surprising: AJ Allmendinger continues to ride the momentum wave after his win at Watkins Glen, finishing top-15 at a track where he admittedly has struggled.

“It’s a really good night because I’m not really good here,” the driver of the No. 47 Busch’s Beans Chevrolet said. “At times we had a top-10 car and even at the end there when the car was terrible.”

“We were inside the top-15 with decent speeds and that’s what I wanted to at least do here,” Allmendinger continued. “Times we were eighth, ninth, 10th like last week.”

“So, I think we are making progress. I’m just happy to get out of here and be able to run 500 laps. I think the team was a little bit better than me today. All in all, it’s the kind of momentum we need for going into Chicago.”

August 25, 2014
Earnhardt has Short Night at Bristol

It has been a fantastic season for Dale Earnhardt Jr., arguably one of his best in many years. Saturday night, the Irwin Tools Night Race, however, left a little to be desired.

On lap 162, Earnhardt was caught up in someone else’s wreck. Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin made contact sending Hamlin, who was leading, spinning into the retaining wall collecting Earnhardt during the melee.

The No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports crew made repairs, which included replacing the door foam. Earnhardt was able to make a few additional laps, but the team made the decision to park the car on lap 176.

The Steve Letarte led crew used the incident to be prepared for the Chase in case the same type of repair was needed. The main concern was finding a way to quickly replace the door foam. Letarte told his crew to “take a mental image” of the repair in case the situation occurs again.

Earnhardt came into this weekend’s race sitting second in the points standings, only three points behind leader, Jeff Gordon.

Photo Credit: Mike Holtsclaw/Speedway Media

Earnhardt was asked what happened to cause the accident, and replied, “I couldn’t see what happened to Denny (Hamlin), but he got turned around or something and was coming up the track. There was a lot of smoke so I couldn’t really judge the speed of his car to know whether I needed to be going up there and go around him on the top. I had to make that choice. I just went ahead and went to the top and ended up getting into him. It wasn’t too hard of a hit just did a lot of damage and tore the lower (control arm) off the left-front. We are going to have our hands full when we get it back out there. We are going to try to fix it, but I don’t know. Obviously we are many laps down. We will see if we can run a decent speed.”

Earnhardt would end the night in 39^th position.

August 23, 2014

Kevin Harvick Wins Sprint Cup Coors Light Pole Award at Bristol

Kevin Harvick captured his fifth pole of the season at Bristol Motor Speedway with a record speed of 131.362 mph, setting a new track record. It is his 11th career pole in the series.

“My guys have done a great job bringing fast cars every week,” he said. “I knew we had a good car in practice and were able to get it pretty good in race trim.” He summed it up saying, “Any time you can beat the 24 (Jeff Gordon) right now, things are going okay.”

Jeff Gordon was quickest in the first round and was looking for a third straight pole but he was unable to carry the top speed over to the final round and will begin on the outside pole in the IRWIN Tools Night Race.

“I was really, really happy with the balance and how the car was getting through the corners,” Gordon explained. “I thought we did it, I really did. I thought we had enough. That was a good lap so it just tells you how good of a lap Kevin had.”

Carl Edwards duplicated his run in the first round and will start in third place for the Saturday night race. Edwards won the Food City 500 this past spring at Bristol. Kyle Busch will start beside Edwards in the fourth position. Busch has five previous wins at the track, along with Gordon and his brother, Kurt. Joey Logano qualified fifth followed by Jimmie Johnson, who has one win at Bristol, in sixth place.

Qualifying was intense as drivers tried to beat the rain which was threatening to interfere with qualifying. Kyle Larson, Aric Almirola, Casey Mears and Cole Whitt fell victim to the high speeds and made contact with the wall during qualifying. Larson was fastest in the first practice but did not advance to the final round of qualifying and will have to begin from 40th place.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. who was fastest in the final practice missed a little over half of the first round because his car was still in inspection when qualifying began. He did not make the cut-off for the final round and will start from the 21st position.

Drivers who did not make it to the final round include notables Dale Earnhardt Jr. who will start 20th, Matt Kenseth (16), Clint Bowyer (14) and Denny Hamlin (13).

Tune in to the Irwin Tools Night Race Saturday evening on ABC with television coverage beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Lineup for the IRWIN Tools Night Race
Position	Car No.	Driver
1	4	Kevin Harvick
2	24	Jeff Gordon
3	99	Carl Edwards
4	18	Kyle Busch
5	22	Joey Logano
6	48	Jimmie Johnson
7	41	Kurt Busch
8	16	Greg Biffle
9	2	Brad Keselowski
10	9	Marcos Ambrose
11	31	Ryan Newman
12	5	Kasey Kahne
13	11	Denny Hamlin
14	15	Clint Bowyer
15	55	Brian Vickers
16	20	Matt Kenseth
17	27	Paul Menard
18	1	Jamie McMurray
19	51	Justin Allgaier
20	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.
21	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
22	47	AJ Allmendinger
23	78	Martin Truex Jr.
24	10	Danica Patrick
25	14	Jeff Burton
26	3	Austin Dillon
27	23	Alex Bowman
28	95	Michael McDowell
29	34	David Ragan
30	98	Josh Wise
31	66	Brett Moffitt
32	38	David Gilliland
33	83	Ryan Truex
34	26	Cole Whitt
35	37	Dave Blaney
36	36	Reed Sorenson
37	32	J.J. Yeley
38	7	Michael Annett
39	40	Landon Cassill
40	42	Kyle Larson
41	33	David Stremme
42	43	Aric Almirola
43	13	Casey Mears

August 22, 2014

Kyle Busch Dominates Qualifying for Food City 300

When any NASCAR series travels to Bristol Motor Speedway, everyone automatically says Kyle Busch is the guy to beat. He once again lived up to that hype on Friday afternoon in qualifying for the Food City 300.

Busch turned in a lap of 125.142 mph to score his fifth pole of the season and his fourth career pole at Bristol Motor Speedway. It is also his 41st career Nationwide Series pole.

Busch will be driving the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.The No. 54 is currently second in owner’s points, 21 points behind the No. 22 Penske Racing Ford, driven this week by Ryan Blaney, who qualified second. Blaney posted a lap of 124.339 mph edging out Kyle Larson, who qualified third.

With Busch, Blaney and Larson locking down the top three spots, it is a recipe for excitement. Blaney will be pushing hard to hold or extend the owner’s points lead over the No. 54 of Busch. Larson and Busch have a fantastic history at Bristol as they were involved in one of the most exciting finishes in Nationwide Series history.

All three drivers perform well at the World’s Fastest Half-Mile nestled in the hills of northeast Tennessee. Busch has won the last three races here, Larson has three starts and three top-five finishes, and Blaney has two starts with two top-10s.

Points leader, Chase Elliott, will take the green in fourth in his NAPA Chevrolet. Elliott Sadler rounds out the top five in the No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota.

Milka Duno will have to wait to make her NASCAR debut. Duno ran 48 laps in the first round of qualifying, but only managed a lap of 116.566 mph, almost two mph slower than the 40^th place qualifier.

Other notables: Ty Dillon 7th, Regan Smith 8th , Kevin Harvick 13^th, Chris Buescher 23^rd

The green falls on the Food City 300 at 7:30 pm local time.

August 22, 2014
NNS Notebook – Food City 300
The NASCAR Nationwide Series travels to the World’s Fastest Half-Mile this week for the 23^rd race of the 33 race season. Bristol Motor Speedway has long been considered a “wildcard” race on the schedule. Wildcard … because anything can happen here.

This year at Bristol we have the Food City 300. No, that’s not a typo, 50 extra laps have been added to the race (just like in the spring race) this year to give drivers a few more laps to battle and, of course, to give fans a few more laps of excitement. Just imagine what could happen with an additional 50 laps!

JR Motorsports sits atop the points standings with two drivers, Chase Elliott and Regan Smith. Currently, Elliott leads Smith by 10 points. It is then an additional 16 points back to Elliott Sadler in third.

Given how fast Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson were in practice, we may very well see another Kyle vs. Kyle show. Busch competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series on Wednesday night. Busch ran strong leading 81 laps, but cut down a tire late in the race and finished 24th.

It’s also great to see another female racer working her way up the ranks in NASCAR. The fact that she is from Venezuela, is an additional bonus. NASCAR is becoming more and more diverse every day.

Ryan Blaney is behind the wheel of the No. 22 Penske Racing Ford this week. The No. 22 is leading the owner’s standings with a 21 point lead over the No. 54 fielded by Joe Gibbs Racing. This battle will definitely be one to watch on Friday night. With Kyle Busch piloting the No. 54, Blaney will have a tough job stretching that points lead.

Here are your quick notes for the event:
- Chase Elliott has just one start at Bristol. He started 15th and finished ninth.
- Regan Smith has nine starts at Bristol with two top-10’s and zero laps led.
- Kyle Busch has won the last three races at Bristol
- Kyle Larson finished second to Busch in the last race.
- Larson was fastest in final practice. . . Busch was second fastest.
- Larson has three starts at Bristol and has scored three top five’s
- 45 cars are attempting to make the field this week. 40 will start.
- Milka Duno is attempting to make her first start in NNS. She was 36th fastest in final practice.
- Duno, the forty-two year old from Venezuela, has 47 ARCA starts, as well as 43 starts in the Verizon Indycar Series and 44 starts in the Grand-Am Series.
- Ryan Blaney is driving the No. 22 for Penske Racing this week. Blaney was fourth fastest in practice.
- Chris Buescher, the most recent winner in the series, was 28th fastest in practice.
- Phil Parsons won the first NNS race at Bristol in 1982.
- This week’s race will be the 65th NNS race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
- The green flag drops on the Food City 300 at 7:30pm local time on Friday night.
August 22, 2014
Tommy Barrett Jr. Finds Victory Lane In Bush’s Best Beans 150

Nineteen-year-old Tommy Barrett Jr. had a fantastic final restart with just four laps to go and drove away from Bobby Santos and Justin Bonsignore to score his first win in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour in the No. 22 Canto Paving/Ferguson Waterworks Chevrolet.

In his tenth career start, the Massachusetts native worked his way around Santos and led the final 12 laps en route to victory. Santos seemed to be well on his way to victory and easily drove away from Barrett on an earlier restart, but in the post-race interview, Santos said his car became tight and he could not hold off the hard charging Barrett.

Bonsignore, last week’s winner at Thompson, started from the pole position and ran strong all night, but ended the night in sixth in his No. 51 in his chem3.com Chevrolet.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series star, Ryan Newman, who has competed in several modified events over the last several years, worked his way up from the 11th place starting spot to finish fifth. Newman, however, never seemed to be a threat to win.

Wednesday night’s race was also the sixth time that the North and South divisions of the Whelen Modified Tour competed in a combination race. JR Bertuccio was crowned the winner of the Southern Tour with his 13th place overall finish. He will, however, be credited for a win in his division.

The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour now travels to Riverhead Raceway for the Riverhead 200 on September 13.

August 20, 2014
Kyle Busch Wins Pole for UNOH 200

Kyle Busch continues to dominate the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series by scoring the pole for Wednesday night’s UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Wednesday’s pole was his fourth pole win of the season in only seven attempts. It’s an impressive record by any standard.

Busch has a total of 40 wins, 76 top fives, and 96 top tens in just 121 starts in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Busch posted a lap of 124.662 mph in his Dollar General Toyota Tundra to edge out series rookie, Cole Custer. The sixteen year old Custer, making just his fifth start in the Camping World Truck Series, qualified second with a lap 124.484 mph.

Ron Hornaday Jr., Brad Keselowski, and rookie Gray Gaulding round out the top five.

Other notables: Last week’s winner and series points leader, Johnny Sauter, will start seventh. Busch’s teammate, Darrell Wallace Jr. will start eighth. Matt Crafton will take the green in 11th. Timothy Peters starts 20th.

The green flag will fall on the UNOH 200 at 8:30 pm local time on Wednesday night.

August 20, 2014