Tag: Bristol

Preview and Predictions: Food City 500

After we nearly saw Dale Earnhardt Jr. clinch his first multi-win season since 2004, the series heads over to the first short track race of the season at Bristol Motor Speedway. With zero top-fives in the last 10 races there, Dale Jr. will have his work cut out for him if he wants to maintain his streak of top-two finishes. However, his rival Brad Keselowski could very easily maintain his streak of top-five finishes.

Bristol Motor Speedway is a tough half-mile race track, with racing there being equated to flying jet fighters in a gymnasium. With the current surface, we’ve seen a lack of bump-and-runs that made Bristol so exciting. But with this new points system that puts a large incentive on winning, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a driver put the bumper to another guy in order to win. Almost every driver will tell you they wouldn’t wreck a guy to win a race, but they may consider “rattling their cage.” In any case, here’s a couple drivers to keep an eye on, and one of them might end up in victory lane.

Kyle Busch

In recent memory, when you think of Bristol, you think of Kyle Busch. He’s scored a whopping 160 more points than any other driver in the last 10 races there, and he’s found victory lane in four of those races, the latest being the spring race of 2011. Add that to his impressive average finish of 7.8 over the last 10 starts at Bristol and it becomes easy to see why Rowdy Busch is always the man to beat at Bristol.

Brad Keselowski

I’m not entirely sure what Team Penske has done to their race cars, but they have been extremely fast all year long. Joey Logano sits fourth in points with two top-fives in three races, but his teammate Brad Keselowski is even better. Keselowski is just one point behind points leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. and has three top-fives in three races. In very recent memory, Brad K. has made Bristol Motor Speedway one of his best tracks, winning two of the last five. His average finish of 13th may not sound so great, but with the success and speed Team Penske have had this year, it would be a surprise to not see the White Deuce run up front.

Jimmie Johnson

When you think of Jimmie Johnson’s best tracks, Bristol usually doesn’t spring into mind, but after some research, I was surprised by how consistent Johnson has been at the half-mile race track. His five top-fives and seven top-10 finishes in the past 10 races there are equal to Kyle Busch, and he won a Bristol race in 2010. Also keep in mind that Johnson will be driving Chassis 728 this weekend. This chassis completely dominated at Pocono last year, won at Indy in 2012, and finished second at Indy last year. The success of Chassis 728 will continue on Sunday and Johnson will come home solidly inside the top-10.

Even though six-time has shown great consistency at Bristol over the past few years, I still believe the race will be between Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch, and I actually will give the edge to Mr. Keselowski. With the speed Team Penske has had in 2014, it’s evident that he looks a little better than his Joe Gibbs Racing rival Kyle Busch. As a diehard race fan, I can’t wait to see who conquers Thunder Valley.

All statistics retrieved from Racing-Reference.info.

March 14, 2014

Hot 20 – Earnhardt and Keselowski near perfect heading to Bristol

When you can tout an average finish of 1.67, as in the case of Dale Earnhardt Jr, or Brad Keselowski’s 2.33 you know you are doing something right. Each has a win, with Junior having a pair of runner up finishes compared to the two third place runs put in by the 2012 champion. While Kevin Harvick won at Phoenix, his 41^st place result at Las Vegas drops him in our search for the most noteworthy driver of the year.

Bristol is a place Earnhardt has won only once in 28 starts, and that was back in 2004. While he has recorded a top ten only half the time there, his average finish of 11.5 is second best amongst active drivers, only behind the 9.9 of five time winner Kyle Busch. While the chances are you will not see him crossing the line first on Sunday, odds are he will not be far behind. In his last ten starts there, Junior has come home between six and 16^th. Maybe still on top come next week, but so much for a near perfect pace.

Keselowski, on the other hand, once won a pair back-to-back at Bristol and was third in the spring race last season. However, he has also finished 30^th two of his last five, so it is anybody’s guess if he will experience feast or famine. As for Kyle Busch, he won half of the ten raced at Bristol between 2007 and 2011 and while he has had the odd off day, his last three show results of sixth, second, and 11^th.

Kurt Busch has not added to his five wins there since 2006, but maybe this is where he can get back on track this season. Jeff Gordon also has won five Bristol events, though none since 2002. Matt Kenseth can be hot and cold in the bowl as well, but he could up his tally to four Bristol wins by matching his result from last fall. Unless the doctor calls and he winds up heading back to North Carolina before race time to welcome the arrival of the latest addition to his family.

As we hunt down our season’s top driver, we give 22 additional points to the winner of each race and punt the Chase. I would expect either Kyle or Matt to move up into third place after this weekend, with both our leaders still atop the ladder when the smoke clears Sunday at Bristol.

Fin	Driver	Points	Wins
1	Dale Earnhardt, Jr.	155	1
2	Brad Keselowski	154	1
3	Jimmie Johnson	117	0
4	Joey Logano	116	0
5	Jeff Gordon	115	0
6	Carl Edwards	105	0
7	Kevin Harvick	105	1
8	Kyle Busch	105	0
9	Matt Kenseth	105	0
10	Denny Hamlin	101	0
11	Ryan Newman	97	0
12	Jamie McMurray	93	0
13	Greg Biffle	86	0
14	Austin Dillon	84	0
15	Kasey Kahne	83	0
16	Casey Mears	80	0
17	Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.	80	0
18	Paul Menard	76	0
19	Marcos Ambrose	69	0
20	Brian Vickers	64	0

March 13, 2014

Kenseth takes win as Bristol wreaks havoc on Chase picture

Bristol Motor Speedway lived up to its reputation in the Irwin Tools Night Race on Saturday. When the dust settled and the smoke cleared, the series points standings had been shaken up and drivers who maybe thought they were in a safe position found themselves on the outside looking in. Other drivers now feeling safer after great runs.

Kenseth fought off a hard charging Kasey Kahne in the closing in a fantastic battle reminiscent of the Bristol of the past. Kahne pushed hard and took a couple shots, but refused to wreck Kenseth to get the win. After the race, Kahne talked about the battle, “I just couldn’t clear him, there was a couple shots I took, and I had to have been close because I could feel him on the right side of my car, I just didn’t clear, couldn’t figure out how to get by him. It’s disappointing not to win here.”

The night turned bad for defending champion Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, and Martin Truex Jr. All three were involved in a late race crash when Brian Vickers and Denny Hamlin got together collecting the trio.

Thanks to the fact that the top four drivers in the standings had trouble, Harvick maintained his points position in fourth, currently 61 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson who also had trouble tonight finishing 36^th after being involved in a crash and spending time behind the wall for repairs.

Keselowski finished 30^th tonight and fell out of the top ten. His teammate Joey Logano, coming off a victory last week at Michigan had another solid effort finishing fifth. Logano is now tenth, just four points ahead of Keselowski. Keselowski commented about the chase, “If you’re not in right now, I don’t care if you’re running eighth or you’re running 13^th, every team is worried – not just mine.”

Martin Truex Jr. came into tonight in 12^th place in the standings. Truex finished 35^th causing him to drop to 14^th, but with Logano moving inside the top ten, Truex currently has the first wildcard spot four points ahead of Ryan Newman.

Second place, Clint Bowyer, was made contact with Travis Kvapil while leading and ended up 14^th. Bowyer now sits 18 points behind Johnson.

Third place, Carl Edwards, also had bad luck tonight after having one of the best performances of the season. Edwards led 119 laps, but broke a valve spring on a restart that eventually led to engine failure. It was the first DNF for a Roush-Fenway Racing car all season. Edwards finished 39^th. Edwards maintains third in the standings, 53 points out of the lead. “We had a great car, probably the best car we’ve had in a long time.” “The engine ran great until it blew up, so if we run like that the rest of the year, it’s gonna be awesome.” Carl said after falling out of the race.

Winner Matt Kenseth, with his win tonight clinched a guaranteed spot the Chase. Kenseth sits sixth in the standings 85 points out of the lead.

Kahne’s second place finish allowed him to pick up three spots in the standings and moved inside the top ten. Kahne is now eighth in the standings, however, he is only 20 points ahead of eleventh place Brad Keselowski.

Kurt Busch’s streak of three top ten finishes came to an end. Busch started second and led 54 laps, but a loose wheel led to wheel stud damage and sent Busch behind the wall for repairs. The Furniture Row Racing Team also had a loose wheel problem at Bristol in the spring. Mistakes have cost the team several chances at good finishes and possible wins throughout the season.

Busch has been offered a contract extension with the team for next season, but he is also in talks with Stewart-Hass Racing to drive a fourth car next year. A move to SHR could give him the consistency he needs to find his way to victory lane.

Kyle Busch came up short in his bid to sweep the weekend. Kyle started 43^rd , and fought his way close to the front. Busch finished eleventh and maintains fifth in the standings 82 out of the lead.

Just two races to go before the Chase starts, the mile and a half in Atlanta and another short track at Richmond. With the competition we have seen this season and the tight points battle between eighth and 13^th, the Chase is nowhere near being settled.

The series now visits Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday night, Sept 1^st at 7:30pm for the Advocare 500.

August 25, 2013
Best run of season for Labonte comes up short at Bristol

Bobby Labonte and the JTG/Daugherty team have been in the news a little more than usual lately. The team owners came under fire from fans in June when they sat former series champion, Labonte out of the car for the race at Michigan in favor of journeyman driver, AJ Allmendinger.

The reason the team cited for the change was their lack of performance and the need to get another perspective from a driver that has proven himself to be fast in several different cars. Though the team stressed the fact that Labonte was their driver and that he was not being permanently replaced, the fans still felt Labonte had been done a dis-service.

Labonte started the Michigan race driving the No. 51 for Phoenix Racing. He crashed out on lap one, however, when he collided with Jeff Gordon. To make matters worse, in the eyes of the fans, two weeks later the team put Allmendinger back in the car again at Kentucky. This time Labonte did not enter the event, thus ending the second longest start streak in NASCAR’s top series.

The team’s decision, though not a popular with fans, seems to have paid off. Allmendinger performed well in the car, scoring a 19^th, a 22^nd, and managed a top-10 at Watkins Glen, a feat the team had not achieved in some time.

The team put the information gathered from the experiment with Allmendinger to work. Labonte has ran better than his average in several races. Labonte qualified 23^rd for the Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol, which was close to his best starting position of the season, 20^th at Sonoma.

Labonte worked his way toward the front and with the help of some pit strategy, made it to the top-5 and stayed there for over 80 laps. Bad luck strikes the No. 47 on lap 176, however, when leader Clint Bowyer got together with Travis Kvapil and spun on the frontstretch. Labonte had nowhere to go and slid into the side of the No. 15. After spending 53 laps behind the wall, Labonte made it back out to earn valuable series points. Labonte finished 38th.

One thing was evident, however, the team has heart and is still putting forth an effort to improve and do as well as possible in a tough sport. They could have easily given up, packed up and beat the traffic out of Bristol, Tennessee, but they chose not to do that. I believe the top-20 finishes that team owner Brad Daugherty indicated they were looking for are just around the corner.

August 24, 2013
Could Kurt prevent Kyle from sweeping Bristol?

The Busch brothers have both been very successful at Bristol Motor Speedway. Kurt was always a threat during the early 2000’s. In recent years, Kyle has taken the reigns and been very dominate. In fact, with his dominating win Friday night in the Food City 250, Kyle became the winningest driver at Bristol in the three national series combined.

During a six race stretch from 2002-2004, Kurt piled up four wins, and sixth place and an eighth place. Kurt has a career total of 25 starts, five wins, seven top-5’s, and 14 top-10’s.

In similar fashion, during a six race stretch for Kyle, from 2009-2011, he also scored four wins, a second and a ninth. Kyle has a career total of 17 starts, five wins, eight top-5’s, and 12 top-10’s.

The one advantage Kyle has over his brother is Camping World Truck and Nationwide Series experience. Kyle has scored four wins in Camping World Trucks and six wins in Nationwide. Many of these wins coming in dominating fashion.

In 2010, Kyle completed the weekend sweep at Bristol winning all three races. This weekend he has the opportunity to do so again. Kyle came from being almost a lap down on Wednesday night to win the UNOH 200. He then proceeded to take the entire field to school on Friday on the Food City 250 leading 228 of 250 laps.

Kyle has two hurdles to overcome – first, he tagged the wall in qualifying and will start 43^rd. No one has ever won at Bristol starting from the 43^rd spot. Second, his brother Kurt. Kurt has been on a roll of late. Kurt’s Furniture Row Racing Team has been making strides in becoming faster and more consistent each week.

The team’s alliance with Richard Childress Racing gave them access to the information and technology they needed to become a front runner. Then you add in Kurt, who fell from grace a few years ago, and has been on a mission to prove himself worthy of a top notch ride in NASCAR’s premier series.

Personality issues were Kurt’s downfall. A confrontation with respected ESPN reporter, Jerry Punch, was the final straw. Kurt found himself looking for a job. He landed with Phoenix Racing, a team that was extremely underfunded compared to the mega teams Kurt had been used to driving for.

After a period of time with that team, he found himself at Furniture Row Racing. FRR is a self-sponsored, independent team based in Denver, Colorado. Kurt brought experience, talent, and determination to the organization. It is a recipe that has worked well, and now they have results to show for it.

The brothers are now in a position to go head to head with their Bristol experience. Kurt will be starting second on Saturday night, and will be attempting to prevent Kyle from sweeping the weekend. Kurt has been on the verge of winning his first race since 2011.

At one time, there seemed to be a family feud between the two. Once in 2007 during an All-Star race at Charlotte they got together and took each other out. In recent years, however, they seem to be getting along very well. Kurt even drove for his brother in a few Nationwide races last season.

With the feud over, Kurt and Kyle both seemingly more mature with an eye on the bog picture, it would make for a fantastic show, if it were to come down to Kurt and Kyle battling each other for the win in the Irwin Tools Night Race. The green flag falls at 7:44pm local time.

August 24, 2013
Kyle Busch makes it 2 for 2 at Bristol winning the Food City 250

Kyle Busch is one step closer to sweeping the weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway. After having to come from behind and almost a lap down on Wednesday night in the Camping World Truck Series race, Busch dominated the Food City 250 on Friday night leading 228 lap of the 250 lap race. In victory lane, sounding confident Kyle said, “You gotta win two to win three.” Tonight’s win also gave Kyle the most national series wins at Bristol with a total of fifteen.

Busch jumped out front at the drop of the green and didn’t look back. In the early stages of the race, began lapping cars quickly. A yellow flew on lap 65, Busch stayed out and did not pit. It did not seem to make much difference, Busch still had the dominant car.

Pit strategy put Kyle Larson in the lead at lap 109, but it did not take long for Busch to find his way back to the front. Larson led 22 laps before relinquishing the top spot back to Busch.

Drew Herring hits the wall hard in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing entry after contact with Mike Bliss. Herring stays on track and gestures to Bliss during caution laps. Later in the garage, Herring said, “I don’t know what the 19 was thinking. He wrecked us for no reason.”

Just a few short laps later, a major crash with huge points implications. Regan Smith, who came into the race tied for third in the standings with Austin Dillon, gets into the wall. Smith would end up four laps off the pace, finishing 21^st. He is now 24 points behind the leader, after leading by 58 points just a few weeks ago.

Brian Vickers and Parker Kligerman suffered a similar fate just a few laps later, with both drivers crashing hard on the front stretch. Vickers and Kligerman ended up 34^th and 35^th respectively.

Behind the domination of Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski comes home second. Austin Dillon had a solid points night finishing third and moves into second spot in the series standings just six points behind the leader Sam Hornish who finished 12^th after suffering a broken spark plug wire.

Justin Allgaier finishes fourth in the Brandt Chevrolet, with rookie Kyle Larson taking fifth in his No. 32 Cottonelle Chevrolet.

Other notables: championship contender, Elliott Sadler had a solid night finishing tenth. Travis Pastrana with a good effort in 13^th. Jeff Green, subbing for Eric McClure, had an impressive run finishing 16^th.

We will now see if Kyle Busch can pull off a second weekend sweep at The Last Great Colosseum, Bristol Motor Speedway tomorrow night in the Irwin Tools Night Race.

August 23, 2013
Denny Hamlin grabs the pole for the Irwin Tools Night Race

Denny Hamlin, who has had a very troublesome season, finally had something to smile about. On Friday, he drove his No. 11 Fed-Ex Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to the top spot in qualifying for the Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Hamlin turned a lap of 128.969 mph to secure the top spot. The pole was Hamlin’s fourth of the season, and 16^th of his career.

Hamlin who sat out four races earlier this season after receiving a back injury in the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, has had very little success since his return. He did score poles at Charlotte and Dover, race results, however, have not been very good.

Hamlin talked about the lap after qualifying saying, “We felt like we had a pretty good handle on our car during practice and for whatever reason when that small rain storm came, it obviously changed the race track a bunch –washed out a little bit of what cushion we had on the top line away and you saw a lot of guys slipping over that edge during qualifying.”

Kurt Busch continued his streak of solid runs with a second place starting spot. Busch who scraped the wall on one of his qualifying laps turned a lap of 128.770 mph, just shy of Hamlin’s pole speed. Busch was in the news again this week has Stewart-Hass Racing has confirmed they have made him an offer to driver for them next year. He

Roush-Fenway Racing driver, Carl Edwards, took the third spot in his No. 99 Fastenal Ford, with a lap of 128.692 mph. Edwards commented, “We’re qualifying ok, we just need to be a little bit faster, I believe. This is a fun racetrack and I am hoping tomorrow night that the top slows down a little bit and you can have some good two or three wide racing here tomorrow.”

Starting fourth will be Brian Vickers who announced early this week that he will be the full time drive for the No. 55 Aaron’s Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing. It was then announced later in the week that he would finish the season in the seat, with the exception of Talladega, when Mark Martin was granted his release to drive the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet for the injured Tony Stewart. Vickers turned in a lap of 128.684 mph.

Joe Gibb Racing driver, Matt Kenseth, rounded out the top five in his Dollar General Toyota. Kenseth who is tied with series points leader Jimmie Johnson with four wins on the season, turned in a lap of 128.692 mph.

Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch were among several driver who had issues who had handling issues in qualifying. After slipping on lap one, Busch turned around, drove backwards around the track and restarted in an attempt to get a good second lap. He then, however, tagged the wall coming out of turn two and will start 43^rd on Saturday.

Other notables: Last week’s winner, Joey Logano, will start sixth, Mark Martin rolls off eleventh in his debut in the No. 14 car. Points leader Jimmie Johnson starts 13^th, Dale Earnhardt Jr will take the green in 19^th.

The Irwin Tools Night race will start at 7:30 pm local time on Saturday night.

August 23, 2013
David Ragan paces first practice

David Ragan, the surprise winner earlier this season at Talladega, was fastest in first practice on Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway driving the No. 34 Peanut Patch Boiled Peanuts Ford. His lap of 125.322 mph edged out series points leader Jimmie Johnson. Who turned a lap of 125.134 mph in his Lowe’s Chevrolet.

Ragan commented after the session, “You know, Bristol is a track we feel like we can come to as a team and not have to worry about your aero platform and how your valance and sideskirts are sealed off to the racetrack. It’s a lot more mechanical grip and driving the racecar. The racecar seems to have some speed we made some good changes, it was a good qualifying lap we up toward the end of that practice, so we still got some more work to do in race trim in second practice, then we’ll probably try to make another qualifying run. Qualifying is important here, track position means a lot, so you know, I think our Peanut Patch Ford is good, but we certainly have some room for improvement and uh hopefully we can do that in second practice.”

Ragan drives for Front Row Motorsports, a smaller team that is trying to make gains and take that next step to becoming more competitive week in and week out. The win at Talladega and strong performances like this are just what the team needs to attract the attention of a major sponsor that will give them the funding they need to get their cars closer to the front and more consistent.

Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, winner of Wednesday night’s Camping World Truck Series race and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top 5 in the first session.

Final practice and qualifying will take place Friday afternoon, with the Irwin Tools Night Race starting at 7:30 Saturday night.

August 23, 2013
McClure still on the sidelines at Bristol

Eric McClure, driver of the No.14 Hefty Toyota for Tri-Star Motorsports who missed the race last week at Mid-Ohio, will also be sitting out the Food City 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway. McClure was hospitalized on August 12 and diagnosed with acute renal failure.

The Bristol event is somewhat of a hometrack race for McClure, who hails from just up the road in Chilhowie, Va. His family owned and operated Morgan-McClure Racing for many years in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The Southwest Virginia based team started 702 races and accumulated 14 wins with a variety of drivers including Sterling Marlin, Ernie Irvan and Bobby Hamliton.

McClure was hospitalized on August 12 and diagnosed with acute renal failure. Fellow Tri-Star Motorsports driver and former series champion, Jeff Green, who filled the seat at Mid-Ohio has been tabbed to drive the car again this weekend. Green won the series championship in 2000 driving the No. 10 Nesquick Ford. Green scored six wins and a very impressive 27 top-10’s in 32 races in his championship season.

Green, also has a good deal of experience at the World’s Fastest Half-Mile, with one win in 28 starts. In recent years, Green has been a start and park driver for the team. He has many years of experience and should be a good substitute for the team.

Green was 23^rd fastest in final practice on Friday with a lap of 15.912 seconds and a speed of 120.588 mph.

As of Friday at Bristol, crew chief Todd Myers said there is still no confirmed date for the return of McClure.

August 23, 2013
Exciting season continues in the Nationwide Series

Just a few weeks ago it seemed as if JR Motorsports driver, Regan Smith, had a stranglehold on the championship points standings in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. After a string of 11 top-10 finishes which included two wins, Smith had a very impressive 58 point lead.

Smith took big hit in the standings at the road course event at Road America where he finished 32^nd. The struggles continued the following week at Kentucky finishing 30^th. After just two bad weeks, Smith’s lead and dropped from 58 points to a mere eight points over Sam Hornish Jr.

Smith bounced back at Daytona and Loudon, where he finished eighth in both events and managed to hold on to the points lead. Hornish was once again impressive at Chicago finishing second to Smith’s 13^th, and took over the points lead which he had held during the first seven races of the season.

Along with Smith and Hornish, two more drivers are in the tick of the battle for the championship. Elliott Sadler and Austin Dillon are second and fourth respectively in the standings with Sadler only 13 points back from the leader Hornish, Dillon tied with Smith at only 15 points back.

Smith’s stats for the season include two wins, five top-5’s and 14 top-10’s. Hornish has an equally impressive record, and may be showing a little more consistency with one win, ten top-5’s, and 17 top-10’s.

Sadler has had somewhat of an up and down season in the Joe Gibbs Racing No.11 One Main Financial Toyota. In recent weeks, however, he has had some better luck and solid performances with the exception of a run in with Smith at New Hampshire Motor Speedway where Smith got into the back of Sadler late in the race on the final restart. Sadler was running third at the time but fell to 18^th after the incident.

The two exchanged words after the event with Sadler telling Smith, “You will not win this championship, mark my word.” Last week at Mid-Ohio, it appeared Sadler got revenge on Smith when he turned Smith around in the second half of the race. Sadler did not say of the contact was intentional but Smith commented, “I am going to presume that we’re on an even slate for the rest of the year, though.”

Sadler currently has eight top-5’s and 14 top-10’s on the season, with no wins, however.

Richard Childress Racing driver, Austin Dillon, who is widely expected to move up to the Sprint Cup Series next season, had some struggles last week at Mid-Ohio finishing 21^st. Some criticized the decision for Dillon to attempt double duty filling in for Tony Stewart at Michigan while in the midst of a championship run. With the two races being at separate venues and weekend schedules overlapping, Dillon elected not to qualify his No. 3 Advocare Chevy and had to start at the rear of the field at a road course where track position is key.

Supporters pointed out that Dillon’s long term goals is to compete in the Cup series and the experience in a top quality car was worth the sacrifices. Dillon has no wins this season, with seven top-5’s and 13 top-10’s.

The Food City 250 this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway will provide an excellent arena for the series top drivers to battle. Given the volatile nature of racing at Bristol, and the tight points battle, this weekend’s event could lead to a major shake-up in the standings.

Among the leaders, Elliott Sadler has the best record in the Nationwide Series at Bristol with 13 starts, two wins, five top-5’s, and six top-10’s in 13 starts. During final practice Sadler was struggling with handling saying he could not get aggressive with the car on the team radio. Sadler commented further when asked about it saying, “If you’re not aggressive at Bristol, you don’t have a chance to win.” At the time Sadler was 22^nd fastest in practice.

We are in the middle of one of the best, most competitive Nationwide Series seasons in recent memory. The talent level in this series is extraordinary. The decision for many of the top teams to enter one driver running the full schedule, the level of excitement has risen drastically.

The green flag will fall on the Food City 250, Friday Aug 23^rd at 7:30pm.

August 23, 2013