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  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Bristol Irwin Tools Night Race

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Bristol Irwin Tools Night Race

    With lots of discussion and questions about restarts in the drivers’ meeting prior to the race, here is what was surprising and not surprising after the checkered flag flew on the 55Th Annual Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

    Surprising:  Joey Logano took a page from ‘Through the Looking Glass’ as he battled against Kevin Harvick and the rest of the field to take the checkered flag at Bristol Motor Speedway. This was the third win of the season for the driver of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford for Team Penske.

    “It was kind of interesting to watch it in the mirror,” Logano said. “I was watching him (Harvick) drive in and I was like, ‘He’s going to get me eventually,’ so I just wanted to make sure I stayed at least three or four car lengths up on him so he didn’t get to me.

    “There’s not much time to look in the rearview mirror, but I realized how different his line was than mine.  He’d drive in so hard and almost get to my back bumper and then I’d drive off really good.  It’s kind of interesting to watch a race like that when two cars are a similar speed but in two complete different ways.  That’s what’s so fun about Bristol is you can drive the car about five or six different ways and make it fast, so it’s fun to race here.

    “That’s what we did and that’s what we do every week.  We just try to keep our heads calm and cool and just run our race.

    “I feel like we’re right where we need to be, just like we were last year at this point.  I can’t wait for the Chase to start.”

    Not Surprising:  It was a twofer for the No. 4 car, who turned two pit road penalties into another second place finish.

    “Yeah, we had an interesting night,” Kevin Harvick said after finishing second for the 10th time this season. “We went to the back twice and passed a bunch of cars.

    “I think, all in all, it’s just a huge credit to the team. They just keep bringing fast cars to the race track and we’re able to overcome a lot of things.

    “So, it’s just great to be a part of a team like this and just really excited to be able to run like this at Bristol.”

    Surprising:  It was a blowout of the unwanted kind for Kyle Larson, who had such high hopes coming into the Bristol night race. The driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet had a tire blow out when he stayed out after taking just two tires, finishing 41st.

    “The first time we blew our left front we stayed out on two tires and we had a lot of laps on our lefts,” Larson said. “And we blew that one out. Later on we had a lot of damage and got really tight and blew the right front.

    “I guess on our left front the side wall got cut out. I don’t know if that was a wear issue or not. Then we got into the wall and we were pretty tight after that with lots of damage on the right side. So, probably just used up our right front tire because I couldn’t turn. I just hate it we hit the wall with a blown right front and ended our night.”

    Not Surprising:  By no means out but……could best describe Paul Menard, who finished 24th at Bristol and is hanging on to 12th in the point standings and 14th in the Chase grid at present.

    “This was not the finish we wanted when the weekend started at Bristol,” the driver of the No. 27 Knauf/Menards Chevrolet said. “We got behind early in the race and then were never able to make the improvements work to our advantage during the night. Then we ended up getting some damage there near the end and that didn’t help us any.

    “But, the good news is we fought through all that and finished the race. We are by no means out of the Chase for the Championship and look forward to being there after Richmond.”

    Surprising:  Ryan Newman apparently was doing his best imitation of David Copperfield, working some magic on his. No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet.

    “We took a 20th place car from Friday and turned it into a top 10 on Saturday,” Newman said. “Not the end result that we wanted, but a good points day for us. That is part of what we are racing for right now.”

    This was Newman’s second straight top-10 finish at Bristol and his 10th place finish advance him up to the 11th place in the championship point standings and 13th in the Chase Grid.

    Not Surprising:  After the devastating news of the demise of Michael Waltrip Racing for the 2016 season, Clint Bowyer fought the hard fight for his team, finishing fifth in his No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota.

    “MWR (Michael Waltrip Racing) really needed that run,” Bowyer said. “With that being said we desperately needed a solid run right there. I mean obviously you’re hungry for a win with this organization given everything it had and I drove my ass off, we just come up short.

    “I’m really proud of all of these guys on the 5-hour ENERGY Toyota. They’re digging man. It’s fun to be a part of this. It’s fun to be a part of a group that can answer the call when you gotta dig down and reach down a little bit more to get in that Chase and be a part of that elite group.

    “These guys are up for the challenge.”

    Surprising:  One young driver surprisingly logged an incredible number of laps at Bristol Motor Speedway, in fact, one thousand to be exact.

    “I could do it again,” Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 21 SKF Ford in the Cup race and driver in the Truck and Xfinity races as well. “It’s just nice to get all those laps under your belt and know the race track, what it does and learn for next time.”

    In the Cup race and after completing his one thousand Thunder Valley laps, Blaney finished 22nd.

    “It’s not the night we wanted, but we gained some good experience and hopefully we come back better.”

    Not Surprising:  As they have done for much of the season, Hendrick Motorsports shop mates Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. fared fairly well at Bristol where shop mates Jeff Gordon and Kasey Kahne continued to struggle.

    Johnson finished best in fourth in his No. 48 Lowe’s Pro Services Chevrolet, and Earnhardt Jr. popped off another top-10 finish in his No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet.  Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon, however, finished 16th and 20th respectively.

    Jeff Gordon, in his final year of Cup competition, currently sits 15th in the Chase grid after the Bristol race.

    Surprising:  Martin Truex Jr., who has been so consistently running for much of the season to date, took the biggest tumble in the point standings, falling two spots to the sixth spot. Truex had to go to a backup car, then had a lug nut issues, which put him back in the field, and finally was collected in an accident.

    “I felt we had a top-three car tonight, but the loose wheel really hurt our chances,” Cole Pearn, crew chief, said after the race.

    Not Surprising: As usual, given his dry wit, Matt Kenseth had the quote of the race after finishing 42nd due to engine failure, wishing for at least a text before going up in smoke.

    “It broke in the middle of the straightaway – it had that hop and that noise that it makes when you know you dropped a valve,” the driver of the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry said. “Something in the valve train, we dropped a valve or something it felt like and sounded like. Things like that happen.

    “They never warn you, it would be cool if they would send you a text or something. Just the middle of the straightaway it made that pop where you knew that was it.”

    As the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series prepares to head into the Chase, the racers get a needed weekend off next weekend.  On Sunday, September 6, racing will resume at historic Darlington Raceway.

     

  • Logano Holds Off Harvick to Defend Bristol Night Race Title

    Logano Holds Off Harvick to Defend Bristol Night Race Title

    By Reid Spencer
    NASCAR Wire Service

    BRISTOL, Tenn. – With Kevin Harvick hounding him mercilessly for 63 laps, Joey Logano kept his No. 22 Team Penske Ford out front after taking the lead on a Lap 438 restart and held on to win Saturday’s Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.Successfully defending last year’s victory at Thunder Valley, Logano won his third race of the season, his second at the .533-mile short track and the 11th of his career.Harvick recovered from two pit road speeding penalties to finish second, a mere .220 seconds behind Logano. Polesitter Denny Hamlin ran third, and Clint Bowyer got a much-needed fourth place result in his No. 15 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota.

    It was a fascinating Chase over the final 63 laps, as Harvick would bury his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet into the corner at the top of the track, catch Logano in the turns and watch as Logano dived to the bottom on corner exit and pull away.

    “There’s not much time to look in the rearview mirror, but I realized how different his line was than mine,” Logano said. “He’d drive in so hard and almost get to my back bumper, and then I’d drive off really good.

    “It’s kind of interesting to watch a race like that when two cars are a similar speed, but in two completely different ways. That’s what’s so fun about Bristol is you can drive the car about five or six different ways and make it fast, so it’s fun to race here.”

    Harvick said Logano’s ability to diamond the corner gave the Ford an advantage when it came to working traffic.

    “He was just one step ahead of me in traffic,” Harvick said. “I couldn’t get my car to rotate across the center like I needed it to, and every time I tried to force it, it would snap the back out. He was able to go in really high and before the center of the corner drive down the corner and I was just having to wait just a split second to be able to put the throttle back down, and I couldn’t do that, that huge diamond all the way to the bottom like he could, and that was really beneficial for him through traffic…

    “He was able to get those huge runs up off the exit of the corner and just stayed one step ahead of me through traffic, I felt like, and in clean air we probably were a little faster, but it didn’t really matter. I had to be in front of him to show that.”

    Brad Keselowski came home fifth, followed by Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch, who led a race-high 192 laps but was hit with a pit road speeding penalty on his last stop under yellow on Lap 432.

    Logano took over from there and racked up 176 laps out front in a race that saw 14 lead changes among five drivers. The runner-up finish was Harvick’s 10th of the season.

    Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished ninth, followed by Ryan Newman and Jamie McMurray, who solidified their positions in the fight for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup berths on points. McMurray and Newman are 10th and 11th in the standings, respectively, the highest-scored drivers without a victory this season.

    Given that there have been only 11 different winners in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series this year, at least three drivers are certain to qualify for the Chase on points.

    Kyle Busch, a four-time winner, and 29th in the standings, also moved closer to locking up a Chase berth, padding his advantage to 46 points over 31st-place Cole Whitt. Busch, who missed the first 11 events of the season because of injury, must remain in the top 30 for the next two races to qualify for the Chase.

    Busch wasn’t pleased when NASCAR flagged him for the speeding penalty, but he made a masterful drive from the rear of the field to eighth place.

    “I was proud of Kyle, keeping his cool and getting back up, because I think that gave us some more points, some more cushion there,” team owner Joe Gibbs said. “I think he’s doing a really good job of focusing and not losing his poise.”

    NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race – IRWIN Tools Night Race
    Bristol Motor Speedway
    Bristol, Tennessee
    Saturday, August 22, 2015

    1. (5) Joey Logano, Ford, 500, $365198.
    2. (7) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 500, $262605.
    3. (1) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 500, $195330.
    4. (10) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 500, $190166.
    5. (9) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 500, $166213.
    6. (6) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 500, $167786.
    7. (3) Carl Edwards, Toyota, 500, $121995.
    8. (2) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 500, $175286.
    9. (20) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 500, $135970.
    10. (18) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 500, $145670.
    11. (21) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 500, $142826.
    12. (14) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 500, $138468.
    13. (16) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 500, $147896.
    14. (11) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 499, $124060.
    15. (22) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 498, $150985.
    16. (19) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 498, $122685.
    17. (31) Aric Almirola, Ford, 497, $150171.
    18. (26) Sam Hornish Jr., Ford, 497, $133905.
    19. (40) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 497, $134049.
    20. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 496, $151521.
    21. (8) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 496, $113535.
    22. (15) Ryan Blaney(i), Ford, 496, $101285.
    23. (28) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 496, $128468.
    24. (29) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 496, $111635.
    25. (17) Greg Biffle, Ford, 496, $134018.
    26. (25) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 495, $130818.
    27. (32) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 495, $109440.
    28. (23) Martin Truex Jr, Chevrolet, 495, $127175.
    29. (33) Cole Whitt, Ford, 495, $112278.
    30. (27) Brett Moffitt #, Ford, 495, $103385.
    31. (30) Michael McDowell, Ford, 495, $97275.
    32. (36) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 494, $109712.
    33. (42) Matt DiBenedetto #, Toyota, 493, $99555.
    34. (38) JJ Yeley(i), Toyota, 492, $96895.
    35. (34) Josh Wise, Ford, 491, $96760.
    36. (37) David Gilliland, Ford, 488, $104675.
    37. (43) Mike Bliss(i), Chevrolet, 486, $96505.
    38. (39) Landon Cassill(i), Chevrolet, 480, $91228.
    39. (41) Timmy Hill(i), Ford, 476, $87165.
    40. (4) David Ragan, Toyota, Accident, 443, $110479.
    41. (12) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, Accident, 356, $107073.
    42. (13) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, Engine, 110, $112101.
    43. (35) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, Engine, 0, $71665.

    Average Speed of Race Winner: 96.89 mph.
    Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 45 Mins, 02 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.220 Seconds.
    Caution Flags: 8 for 52 laps.
    Lead Changes: 14 among 5 drivers.


    Lap Leaders: D. Hamlin 1-26; Kyle Busch 27-52; D. Hamlin 53; Kyle Busch 54-127; D. Hamlin 128-154; Kyle Busch 155-224; J. Logano 225-252; C. Edwards 253-280; Kyle Busch 281-302; C. Edwards 303-345; J. Logano 346-350; C. Edwards 351-353; J. Logano 354-432; B. Keselowski 433-436; J. Logano 437-500.

    Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Kyle Busch 4 times for 192 laps; J. Logano 4 times for 176 laps; C. Edwards 3 times for 74 laps; D. Hamlin 3 times for 54 laps; B. Keselowski 1 time for 4 laps.

    Top 16 in Points: K. Harvick – 908; J. Logano – 865; D. Earnhardt Jr. – 819; B. Keselowski – 793; J. Johnson – 792; M. Truex Jr – 771; M. Kenseth – 753; Kurt Busch – 713; D. Hamlin – 712; J. McMurray – 696; R. Newman – 683; P. Menard – 674; J. Gordon – 672; C. Edwards – 666; C. Bowyer – 655; A. Almirola – 620.

     

  • Hamlin Wins Coors Light Pole at Bristol

    Hamlin Wins Coors Light Pole at Bristol

    By Reid Spencer|NASCAR Wire Service

    BRISTOL, Tenn. – If it’s pole day in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Joe Gibbs Racing must be celebrating.

    Denny Hamlin powered his No. 11 Toyota around .533-mile Bristol Motor Speedway in 14.602 seconds (131.407 mph) on Friday to win the pole for Saturday’s Irwin Tools Night Race (on NBCSN at 7:30 p.m. ET).

    In breaking Kevin Harvick’s August 2014 track qualifying record by .005 seconds, Hamlin won his second Coors Light Pole Award of the season, his third at Bristol and the 22nd of his career.

    JGR swept the top three spots in qualifying for the second straight week, having accomplished the feat last Saturday on the two-mile track at Michigan International Speedway. The pole was JGR’s fifth straight on an oval track (AJ Allmendinger, in a JTG Daugherty Chevrolet, claimed the top starting spot for the Aug. 9 race on the road course at Watkins Glen).

    Hamlin edged teammate Kyle Busch (131.263 mph) by .016 seconds. Carl Edwards (130.655 mph) took the third starting spot, followed by David Ragan in a Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota (130.460 mph) and Joey Logano in a Team Penske Ford (130.344 mph).

    Hamlin also won the pole for Friday night’s NASCAR XFINITY Series race.

    “To have that two nights in a row here is hopefully going to pay dividends,” Hamlin said. “We’re excited. Bristol’s been a great track for me in the past, and we’ve got nothing to lose this weekend, just gearing up for the Chase, so I think our FedEx team’s ready.”

    Hamlin has a victory at Bristol in addition to his two poles, and with a Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup position guaranteed by virtue of his victory at Martinsville in April, he can go all-out for a win on Saturday night without fear of consequences.

    Busch fought handling issues in the final two rounds of knockout qualifying and went for broke on his final attempt in the last round.

    “We were just a little too free there the second segment and the first run of the third segment,” Busch said. “It’s a little edgy up there, so you try not to push too hard, but still make a good lap and come back safely.

    “Then there at the end we tried a ‘Hail Mary’ and it worked. It picked us up speed, but it didn’t pick us up that spot.”

    Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Clint Bowyer andJimmie Johnson grabbed the sixth through 10th spots on the grid, respectively. The qualifying effort was Stenhouse’s best of the year.

    Jeff Gordon will start 24th in his last race at Bristol as a full-time Sprint Cup driver.

    Travis Kvapil, Jeb Burton and Reed Sorenson failed to make the 43-car field.

    Irwin Tools Night Race Starting Lineup:

     

    bristolstartinglineup

  • Earnhardt has Short Night at Bristol

    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
    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 39th position.

  • Kevin Harvick Wins Sprint Cup Coors Light Pole Award at Bristol

    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
  • CHEVY NSCS AT BRISTOL TWO: AJ Allmendinger Press Conf. Transcript

    CHEVY NSCS AT BRISTOL TWO: AJ Allmendinger Press Conf. Transcript

    NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
    IRWIN TOOLS NIGHT RACE
    BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
    TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
    AUGUST 22, 2014

    AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 BUSH’S BEANS CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media and discussed his thoughts on being locked into this season’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, what the win at Watkins Glen has meant to him and many other topics.  Full Transcript:

    WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS COMING INTO THIS RACE THIS WEEKEND AND GETTING READY FOR RICHMOND:

    “I think it’s a matter of each week for us just trying to get better.  Last week I thought was actually almost as satisfying as winning at Watkins Glen just the mere fact that the first race in Michigan we struggled so bad and to go out there, we ran top 10 all day.  Finished 13th, but thought we were a lot better than that all day.  It’s just kind of the same idea of going out there, trying to get better each week whether it’s here at Bristol or next week at a 1.5-mile which is important in the Chase.  Just as a team right now each week trying to step up our game so when we get to Chicago we feel like we are at least competitive and have a shot to go into the Chase and make some noise.  That is just our focus.  We don’t really change anything different each week now.  It’s the same plan nothing has changed since Watkins Glen.  I think it’s been pretty cool because with the win and the added little bit of money we can go out there and possibly test, add a couple of resources that we need to get better in the Chase.  Things like that are really good, but just come here and try to enjoy it, but stay on the plan and keep working to get better.”

    IS THERE A CERTAIN POSITION IN THE STANDINGS OR RESULTS OR PACE THAT YOU NEED TO SEE OUT OF YOUR TEAM BY THE TIME YOU GET FINISHED WITH RICHMOND FOR YOU TO FEEL LIKE YOU ARE READY FOR THE CHASE?

    “I don’t like putting a certain result because the way these races play out you can’t always judge by that.  Last week like I said we finished 13th, but we ran no worse than ninth or 10th all day, just had a bad restart at the end.  I think it’s just going out there at each race track and just being competitive, being in the mix.  Michigan we were inside the top-15, top-10 every practice session.  I felt like our speed was good.  So it’s really just the same thing.  You want to get the best finish possible if there is an opportunity to win you are going to try to win it.  But in general just feeling like when we leave the race track at the end of the weekend saying you know what we were competitive and we learned some stuff. That to me is what is important going into the Chase.  We know when it comes Chase time when you put the championship contenders and label each team we are probably at the bottom of the list, but I feel like if we do the right things, as I said, we are going to have a few more resources than we have had the last couple of months.  We might be able to use our last test at a 1.5-mile race track, so things like that are all positive.  Just going out there and feeling like each weekend we are getting better and getting closer to the front of the grid.”

    COULD YOU TALK ABOUT IF THERE WERE TIMES THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS WHEN YOU EVEN THOUGHT YOU WOULD BE BACK IN SPRINT CUP AND TALK ABOUT YOUR ROAD BACK TO WHERE YOU ARE NOW:

    “I’ve documented it a lot.  There were times I didn’t know what was going to happen.  I’ve learned in life really you just take every day as it comes.  I’ve always been a guy that has tried to plan ahead and look forward, what is happening next instead of what is in the moment.  To me that is what it’s about just enjoying the ride now and having fun.  I love this race team.  Tad and Jodi (Geschickter) they have made me feel so much like family, like one of their own.  Brad Daugherty to have him on my side to where he is a former athlete so the times of questioning whether it’s my ability or just the things that go around just having a constant passion when it comes to racing.  The same with him for basketball and for racing the things that I can talk to him about have really helped me out.

    “I just really enjoy the team and enjoy the surroundings that I have right now.  That was stuff in the past that I probably struggled with a lot.  Now just looking forward and enjoying the moment.  I’ve tried to enjoy the whole process of how we got here.  As I said a million times I’m way better for it over the last couple of years.  Just now looking towards the future and knowing that this race team it’s my race team.  I feel like I’m one of the leaders of the team and I can walk in the shop.  We have the winning banner and it makes me feel special that we did that together.  A lot of the guys in the shop it was either their first Sprint Cup win or they have had wins in the past and they said that this one meant the most to them because of how hard we have all worked as a group and as a family.  That to me is what I enjoy the most.  Just trying to constantly get better every day and figure out what I need to do outside and inside the car whether it’s just life or it’s racing to keep getting better.”

    HOW GLAD ARE YOU THAT YOU DON’T HAVE TO HIT A HAIL MARY PASS WITH THREE RACES TO GO?  HOW HAPPY ARE YOU THAT YOU DON’T HAVE TO TRY TO HIT ONE HERE AT BRISTOL?

    “It’s funny because each weekend I never really thought about oh this is a Hail Mary we have to win.  I started this year, and it’s the same thing I’m saying now really about going into the Chase.  It was just about trying to get better.  Now Watkins Glen a place like Sonoma and Watkins Glen just with my background we knew those were going to be probably better chances to win a race than say maybe going to Michigan and winning a race to make the Chase.  But I never looked at we HAVE to win to make the Chase.  I just wanted to keep getting better.  Wherever that put us at the end of the year then that is what I wanted.  I guess I never really put that pressure to say ‘oh we have to win to make the Chase’.  I knew at Watkins Glen waking up Sunday morning if we do the right things we are going to have a shot at winning this race.  But for me it was never about making the Chase.

    “I just wanted to achieve my dream, what I have worked hard for the last seven or eight years and win a Sprint Cup race.  For Tad and Jodi (Geschickter) especially for what they started in a barn 20 years ago, to get to this point now and have them as Sprint Cup team owner winners that is what is most satisfying for me.  The Chase is a bonus really.  As we say now at this race team that we don’t want to just be in the Chase to be excited about it.  We want to go in there and make some noise.  That is what we are working hard the next few weeks to just try to get better.”

    WITH ALL THE GUYS WHO HAVEN’T QUALIFIED YET COULD THIS RACE BE AN OLD BRISTOL GET ROUGH AS PEOPLE TRY TO MAKE THE CHASE?

    “I believe so, but it works both ways. The guys that are working hard knowing that they have to win a race to get in and then there is – as we saw Kurt (Busch) last weekend going for the win.  In our position to a certain degree we don’t care.  For me I think it’s still about trying to get better each weekend and having a good result helps us as a race team.  For everybody really if you have a chance to win you are going to take it.  To me I think it’s going to be a fun Saturday night and there is going to be a lot of excitement.  There is going to be some desperation.  To me that is what makes racing the most fun.”

    WHAT DO YOU THINK GUYS JUST IN GENERAL ONCE THEY GET IN THE CHASE HOW ARE PEOPLE GOING TO APPROACH IT?

    “I think you, especially the first two races, if there is an opportunity to win and automatically get in that is what you are going to do just because.  It’s real easy to go to the first three races and you blow up one of the races and all of a sudden now you are in a hole trying to make it out.  I think if there is an opportunity to go win and automatically qualify for the next round you are going to do everything you can.  That is what makes that rule so cool is that you could easily go to points racing back to those three races just to try to get to Homestead, but with a win and automatically in you could be the guy that thinks you are sitting good for a couple of races then you have a guy that is maybe 15th or 16th going into that last race win and knock you out.  If there is an opportunity to win I think guys are still going to try to take it.  They are not going to have a second thought about it.”

    SPECIFICALLY WHAT AREAS DO YOU THINK YOU NEED TO TRIM UP IF YOU WANT TO MAKE SOME NOISE IN THE CHASE WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON?

    “With the schedule 1.5-miles are critical.  I think they are five out of 10 races that is where we have struggled, just the bigger race tracks in general.  To me those are the race tracks those resources are going to help when it comes to aerodynamics and downforce and things like that. Just the little things you do to your race car that make such a big difference around those places.  That to me is where our struggles have been.  The short tracks we have been pretty good at.  The superspeedway racing that is kind of luck of the draw, but I feel like with the ECR horsepower we have been fast at those places.

    “We finished fifth and had a shot to win at Talladega.  So it’s really just been the 1.5-miles and the 2.0-mile race tracks.  That is why last weekend was so satisfying I felt like because we had been so bad the first race there.  Our guys back at the shop just kind of tuning on the bodies just the little things to try to make the car better.  We showed up to Michigan the first lap on the race track was a huge difference.  If we are able to go test whether it is Chicago or Charlotte just to get some laps, work on some things. Qualifying right now it kind of where we struggle we can have good speed in the first group, but we can’t back it up the second group to make it into the final qualifying session.  Starting grid no matter what race you are at is critical.  Just little things like that to keep getting better.

    “As I said resources we can take a few things like with our RCR alliance that they have done to get better that maybe we are a little bit behind on.  Not because they haven’t allowed us to have it we are just, when it comes to cost and resources we can’t get it.  So, little things that we might be able to get now for our Chicago car or Loudon car that we hadn’t been able to get before so just little things like that; it’s still going to be a lot of work and I don’t expect with the added resources that we have all of a sudden we are going to go okay now we are a race winning car right away.  It’s stuff that is definitely going to help us learn and to go to Chicago hopefully and just say alright instead of where we have been running kind of 18th – 25th if we can show up and go okay we are a 8th – 16th place car we have improved a lot and we can race from there.”

    SO WHAT DO YOU TAKE AWAY FROM THIS WEEKEND?

    “A place like this it’s a lot of fun and obviously you can’t take something away from here and go okay at Chicago it’s going to help us.  It’s just about getting better.  Every weekend is about getting better.  As I said yeah you want to have a good result, but I just want to leave the weekend and say you know what we had a competitive car, we were in the mix and we left here feeling good about what we did all weekend. That is what I take away every weekend.  Especially at a place like this that doesn’t carry over to many race tracks. That is what it’s all about just trying to get better, me inside the car, our feedback, everything in general just being more competitive.”

    WHAT DO YOU SEE IN THE TEAM MEMBERS NOW THAT PRIOR TO WATKINS GLEN YOU DIDN’T SEE?

    “I think for all of us really it’s a little bit more being relaxed, a lot more confidence.  Everybody, for me leading it as well, we put our heart and soul into it.  You see it in Tad and Jodi’s face and Brad’s face everybody puts so much effort into it because we have to.  We are a small race team so we have to put that extra effort in.  Those guys have to work that extra hour or two each day to make sure that our stuff is ready to go.  I think it’s that being satisfied feeling some sort of accomplishment.  For me that is a special feeling now to walk in those doors and feel like I truly brought something to this team.

    “I feel the same emotion from everybody else. There are a lot of guys that showed up to this team this year that were new that took a chance on our race team that had been on the big teams.  They said you know what no we want to come here and you talk to every one of them and ask them about Tad and Jodi and Brad and what kind of team owners they are.  Every one of them say something like oh they come up and ask me how my newborn is or they come up and ask me how my mom is doing, something like that.  It’s just that family atmosphere.  Together it’s just feeling like we accomplished something big because we did.  Such a small team to go win a race and the way we won it to be that competitive and have a shot to win all day and come through.  We know we still have a lot of work ahead.  We don’t want to just sit back and say oh we won a race now our team is complete and it doesn’t matter what happens. We want to keep growing together, but it’s definitely a good atmosphere when we walk into that shop together and when we come to the race track together and just how we act together.  It’s a big family and everybody is thrilled to be in the Chase, but now that we are in the Chase we won’t to make some noise.”

    WHAT ARE THE SPECIAL MOMENTS THAT STAND OUT FROM YOUR WIN:

    “I think the first thing is watching the highlights of ESPN of Brad trying to do his job, but jumping up and down and basically trying to break Rusty (Wallace) back by jumping on him.  That was pretty funny to see.  I think that the Victory Lane celebration was cool.  It was fun to share that with everybody, but more than anything stepping away from it and just being in the bus lot after everything had died down and just taking a moment to say what happened here?  What just happened?  Did this really just happen?

    “And seeing really Tad and Jodi’s face, just knowing from what I’ve learned from them already just a little bit.  Everything that they’ve gone through and the struggles they have had to see just kind of their body language and on their face what it meant to them.  That to me was the most satisfying thing because when they signed me here and they gave me an opportunity and took a chance on me to a certain degree.  Just to be able to repay them back like that and just see what it meant to them just in their language.  It was almost surreal it was happiness but it was kind of like taken back because they didn’t really believe that it had happened and Brad TP’d my bus which I felt was kind of wrong.  I walked up and my bus had toilet paper all over the top of it, Scott Toilet Paper by the way. So just things like that just the joy of what it truly meant to get our first altogether.  I think that was the most satisfying thing to me was just to see that emotion on their face and their body language and their true outright joy and happiness was something I will always remember.”

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  • Surprising and Not Surprising: IRWIN Tools Bristol Night Race

    Surprising and Not Surprising: IRWIN Tools Bristol Night Race

    From NASCAR children National Anthem singing to cars colliding and tempers flaring, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 53rd annual IRWIN Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

    Surprising:  Disappointment surprisingly abounded atop the Chase leaderboard, with both point’s leader Jimmie Johnson finishing worse than 36th for the second week in a row and second place Chaser Clint Bowyer being spun out while in the lead, finishing 14th.

    “This racing stuff happens,” Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Dover White Chevrolet said after finishing 36th. “Luckily, we had a big point’s lead that we can kind of deal with right now.”

    “We’ve locked into the Chase and certainly want to clean things up,” Johnson continued. “We’ll keep after it and be back again next week.”

    Having once had been in the lead by over 70 plus points, Johnson is now just 18 points ahead of the second place driver Clint Bowyer.

    “I felt like we had a shot at winning and then I got spun out by a lapper, of all things,” Bowyer said after the race. “It hit that left-front tire, and the car never turned the center (of the corners) as good the rest of the night.”

    “I’m really just disappointed … because we had a really good car,” Bowyer continued. “Absolutely nothing went our way all night.”

    Not Surprising:  Although he has been a bit quiet over the last month or two, the resurgence of Matt Kenseth at Joe Gibbs Racing continued, with the driver of the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota rolling right into Bristol’s Victory Lane for the fifth time this season.

    This was Kenseth’s 29th win in 496 Cup Series races and his third victory in 28 races at Bristol Motor Speedway.

    “The last month and a half, two months has been a little bit more of a, I hate to say reality check,” Kenseth said. “We’ve struggled just a little bit more, haven’t quite had the speed so it was really, really encouraging this weekend to get to the track and be really fast.”

    “It’s a huge win for us,” Kenseth continued. “The Bristol night race is one of the biggest races of the year.”

    “I’m glad we were able to pull it off.”

    Surprising:  The driver of the No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet seemed surprisingly befuddled at the end of the race in spite of finishing runner up under the Bristol lights.

    “I didn’t get it done,” Kasey Kahne said dejectedly. “We ended up second and it was a good point’s day but I didn’t figure out how to win the race.”

    “I don’t know, I just don’t know,” Kahne continued. “I think at the end of the day I just don’t wreck people.”

    This was Kahne’s ninth top-10 finish in 20 races at Bristol and his 11th top-10 finish of the season. He also moved up three positions in the Chase standings to the eighth spot.

    Not Surprising:  Joey Logano, riding the wave of momentum from last week’s race win at Michigan, not surprisingly proved, at least in his own mind, that he has the mettle to make it into the Chase.

    The driver of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford finished fifth and moved up three spots in the points to the tenth position.

    “We came from the back three times to get a top-five finish,” Logano said. “They can’t put us down and can’t keep us down.”

    “We deserve to make this Chase and if we keep doing this on days that they’re trying to put us down, we deserve it.”

    Surprising:  Although admittedly hoping that the leaders would wreck each other so he could score the win, Juan Pablo Montoya surprisingly credited his third place finish to, of all things, a speeding penalty.

    “I got caught speeding there with like 170 to go or something and that kind of hurt us,” the driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet said. “But I’ll tell you the truth, I think it helped us because if it would have played right, we probably would have run out of gas.”

    “It made it more interesting,” Montoya continued. “I really cooked the front tires there at the end but it was fun.”

    This was JPM’s fourth top-10 finish in 14 races at the Bristol Motor Speedway.

    Not Surprising:   Well, it was Bristol after all so, to no one’s surprise, there were a few tempers flaring, especially after a late race wreck took out many of the best cars, including some Chase contenders.

    Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick, who do have a history with one another, had a rather vigorous discussion on pit road after the wreck when Harvick pulled into Hamlin’s pit stall and Hamlin gave him a shove out of the box.

    As a result, Harvick jumped out of his car and beat a path to the door of Hamlin’s car to have a few words about the incident.

    “I just saw the No. 11 shoot across the track,” Harvick said. “He said the No. 56 got into him and so I just wanted to know what happened.”

    “He just told me his version of it,” the driver of the No. 29 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet said. “It’s all good.”

    “It’s Bristol racing.”

    Harvick finish 34th but maintained his fourth spot in the point’s standings while Hamlin finish 28th, well out of Chase contention in 25th in the point’s standings.

    Surprising:  In spite of some greetings from Smoke’s recovery bed, the Stewart-Haas Racing team had a surprisingly tough day. Mark Martin, subbing for the ailing Stewart, finished 20th with Ryan Newman right behind him in 21st and Danica Patrick in 26th.

    “We had some tough luck and a few things that we could’ve done better, but we were pretty fast at the end,” Martin said. “That’s why I go home feeling good about it because we were able to improve the car and get it competitive.”

    “This one is behind us and hopefully we’ll move ahead from here.”

    “I really don’t know what happened there,” Newman, behind the wheel of the No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet, said. “A couple of guys around us made contact and that triggered a big mess.”

    “Our Quicken Loans Chevrolet was damaged pretty significantly; it was a handful to drive those last 50 laps with,” Newman continued. “I basically tried to just stay out of everyone’s way and bring the car to the finish.”

    “There is nothing you can do about getting into the wall and having damage,” Patrick said. “We came back as best as we could and made the car as good as it was at the end.”

    “We will take it and move on.”

    Not Surprising:  In spite of finishing top-10, Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Axalta Coating Systems Chevrolet, could only talk about opportunities lost at Bristol, especially after gaining just one position in the standings to the 13th spot.

    “I think we were better than that,” Gordon said of his seventh place finish. “I don’t know if we had enough for Matt but we fought hard and gave it our best effort.”

    “Gained points on 10th but not as much as we could have,” Gordon continued. “But we gained something.”

    Surprising: While the Truex brothers were excited to be racing against one another yet again, both Ryan Truex, making his Cup debut, and Martin Truex, Jr. had surprisingly difficult days.

    Young Ryan Truex spun and hit the wall, retiring his No. 51 Seawatch Chevrolet after 39 laps to finish 42nd in his first ever Cup effort.

    Brother Martin had a very hard crash late in the race, causing him to finish 35th in his No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota. Although maintaining his wild card status thanks to his win, Truex Jr. also suffered in the point standings, losing two positions to 14th.

    “We ran up towards the front all night,” Truex Jr. said. “Just disappointed.”

    “They start wrecking and you’re an innocent victim,” Truex Jr. continued. “We didn’t deserve that tonight.”

    Not Surprising:  Another brother duo, this one with the surname Busch, had eventful days at Bristol as well, with Kyle Busch having to start from the rear of the field to finish 11th and Kurt Busch suffering wheel hub issues resulting in a 31st place run.

    “Yeah, I guess we had a right-rear hub fail where the studs pulled through or they weren’t tightened,” the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing/Sealy Chevrolet said. “We just rode around.”

    Kurt Busch lost three positions in the point’s standings, falling to the 12th spot. Kyle Busch remains in the fifth spot in the standings, 82 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson.

    Surprising: There was a surprising first-of-the season engine failure at Roush Fenway Racing and it happened to none other than the race lap leader Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford.

    “I didn’t have any warning,” Edwards said. “The car was almost perfect and the engine ran awesome until it broke.”

    “The engine ran great until it blew up, so if we run like that the rest of the year, it’s going to be awesome.”

    Not Surprising:  Marcos Ambrose finished top-10 for two weeks in a row and he said that the devil made him do it.

    “That’s two top-10s in two weeks and we’ve got to take that,” the driver of No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion said. “Yeah, I guess a little bit of the Tasmanian Devil comes out in me at this track.”

    “This is a really aggressive track and you’ve got to be aggressive all night,” Ambrose continued. “You’ve got to gnaw on that steering wheel and I just like getting up on the wheel like that.”

    “These are good nights to test your mettle and see what kind of man or lady you are out there and get after it.”

    The Cup Series will head next to Atlanta for the next to the last race before the Chase begins.

     

  • Kenseth takes win as Bristol wreaks havoc on Chase picture

    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 36th after being involved in a crash and spending time behind the wall for repairs.

    Keselowski finished 30th 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 13th, every team is worried – not just mine.”

    Martin Truex Jr. came into tonight in 12th place in the standings. Truex finished 35th causing him to drop to 14th, 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 14th.  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 39th. 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 43rd , 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 13th, the Chase is nowhere near being settled.

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

     

  • Best run of season for Labonte comes up short at Bristol

    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 19th, a 22nd, 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 23rd for the Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol, which was close to his best starting position of the season, 20th 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.

  • Could Kurt prevent Kyle from sweeping Bristol?

    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 43rd. No one has ever won at Bristol starting from the 43rd 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.