Bristol Baby - Let's Rock It Up!
Storylines and drivers to watch at Bristol
By Greg EngleCup Scene Daily
-Only seven of the 90 NASCAR Nextel Cup races at Bristol have been won from a starting position of 15th or worse. All seven of those wins have occurred since 1990. The last driver to win a race at Bristol from outside the top 15 was Dale Earnhardt Jr. who won from the 30th-place starting position in the 2004 Sharpie 500.
-Points leader, Jimmie Johnson finished 36th at Bristol last August, his worst Bristol finish and only DNF here.
-A Ford has won four of the last six races at Bristol; a Chevrolet won the other two. A Dodge has not won at Bristol since Richard Petty won the 1975 Volunteer 500.
-Weather could once again play a role like it did last weekend at Atlanta.
The forecast looks wretched, with temperatures not expected to go above 50 degrees. In fact, Sunday's high is expected to be 43. Snow could even fall before the weekend is out.
Rain is in the forecast for Friday and Saturday. Remember, last year's Busch Series race was postponed due to rain. Even if the Nextel Cup race gets in Sunday, the weather could have some serious impact on the traction of the race track, how cars and motors perform and whether setups will have to be radically altered.
Here are a few of the drivers to watch this weekend.
Jeff Gordon finished in fourth at Atlanta last Monday to record his second consecutive top-five finish. He ran fifth at the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 on March 12 and is quietly making his presence known. He’s climbed from 25th to sixth in the point standings since Daytona and is currently sixth in the standings with 539 points.
Gordon has enjoyed success at this track, capturing five checkered flags and four poles while recording 10 top-five finishes and 16 top-10s, in fact he won this race three consecutive years from 1996-1998. Gordon also leads all active drivers with 2,385 laps led in 26 races at Bristol
Although he ran 15th in this race last season Gordon returned and scored a strong sixth-place finish at this track at the Sharpie 500 on August 27.
Gordon has a 4.7 average starting position and has started from inside the top 10 23 times at Bristol. "Starting up front here is definitely an advantage," Gordon said.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. is riding into Bristol with high hopes after a third place finish at Atlanta helped him to recover from a 27th place finish at Vegas. Atlanta was his first top-five finish of the season and vaulted him from 11th to seventh in the standings with 534 points. He finished 11th at the Auto Club 500 at California Speedway and ran eighth at the Daytona 500.
In 12 races at Bristol, Earnhardt has one victory (August 2004) and six top-10 finishes the longest current streak among active drivers.
“The thing about Bristol is you can be really good but still caught up in a wreck,” Dale Jr. said. “That’s probably the main concern. Even if you’re the leader, it’s hard to miss wrecks sometimes because of all the lapped traffic. That’s just Bristol.”
Looking at his overall stats from the season so far, with four races completed this season; Earnhardt's average finish is 12.25. Only once (2004) has he gotten off to a better start. Matt Kenseth finished 13th at Atlanta and slipped to third in the standings; he currently has 612 points, 78 behind Johnson. Kenseth scored a disappointing second-place finish at Las Vegas after he led for 146 laps and had the dominant car throughout the race before losing to Johnson in the last lap.
The highlight of his season so far came when he captured the checkered flag at the Auto Club 500 at California Speedway on February 26. Prior to that, Kenseth battled back to a 15th-place finish at Daytona after being involved in a major controversy with Stewart. He is second in Miles Led running out front for 369 miles.
Kenseth finished seventh in the standings last year and recorded 12 top-five finishes last season, including six over the final 10 races.
The 2003 Cup champion has competed in 12 races at Bristol, scoring one victory (last August) and seven top-10 finishes — all in the last eight races there. He finished 16th last season in this race - his only finish outside of the top 10 in his last eight races here
Kenseth, who will make his 225th NASCAR Nextel Cup start Sunday, says Bristol "is a fun place to run if you can get your car to handle good."
Kurt Busch has struggled so far in this his first season with Penske Racing South. The 2004 Nextel champion has finished outside of the top 15 in each of his first four races. Monday was no different as he ran 37th at Atlanta, completing 321-of-325 laps.
But Busch and his car may make for a winning combination this weekend. Busch has dominated at this track, winning four times and registering seven top-10 finishes in 10 career races, in fact he won this race three consecutive years from 2002-2004.
The No. 2 Dodge, when driven by the now-retired Rusty Wallace won seven Cup races at Bristol, Wallace overall won a total of nine races.
"I'm just excited to have the chance to drive this car at Bristol," Busch said on this week's NASCAR teleconference. "I know how many times I've tried to hold it off because it was just going that much faster than mine.”
Even though NASCAR's new rules prohibit advance testing at many tracks, including Bristol, Busch has driven the No. 2 on a short track --- USA International Speedway in Lakeland, Fla. He's confident he'll hit Bristol with a fast chassis setup, especially since Wallace apparently passed along a few of his old tricks.
"Rusty is definitely very keen on what shocks you need to run at Bristol, the different adjustments," Busch said. "I'm going to use that knowledge as well as what I've had there in the past. Hopefully, we can definitely put together a good run to gain some points back."
Busch could certainly use the points. After his two 16th-place finishes and a 38th and a 37th in the first four races this season, he's 27th in the standings.
Clint Bowyer finished 27th at Atlanta on Monday and fell to 10th place in the Nextel Cup standings with 471 points. The rookie driver finished 15th at Las Vegas on March 12 and leads the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings with 43 points.
Bowyer made a strong statement with a sixth-place finish in the Daytona 500, his second career race on the Nextel circuit. That made his just the eighth driver in NASCAR history to secure a top-10 finish in the Daytona 500 in his rookie campaign.
Bowyer will compete in his first Cup race at Bristol in just his sixth career start although he finished fourth at this track last season in the Busch Series Food City 250. He’ll race the same car that Dave Blaney drove to a 30th-place finish last August at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Mark Martin has shown consistency so far this season having placed in the top 12 in each of the first four races this season. He was runner-up to Kasey Kahne at Atlanta Monday. He ran sixth at Las Vegas to follow a ninth-place finish at the Auto Club 500.
Martin is currently fourth in the standings with 600 points and is heading to a track he has excelled at. Martin has won here twice and registered 15 top-five finishes and 20 top-10s, the most among active drivers. He also won four consecutive poles at Bristol in 1995-96.
He finished 31st in this race one year ago and 16th last August.
"Bristol can be crazy, “Martin said. “I've always said it is like flying a jet fighter around the inside of a basketball arena, and try that with 42 other jets doing it at the same time. It can get really intense and it takes a great deal of patience by everyone.
You just have to hope that you run well and that you can stay out of all the trouble, which isn't always easy to do. Over the years Bristol has been the source of some real highs and lows for me.
I've had some of the most memorable races I can remember there and some pretty tough times there as well. We've had a lot of trouble staying out of the wrecks lately there. In fact our luck has been so bad there as of late that we are definitely due and hopefully we'll see that there this weekend."
Crew chief Pat Tryson scored his first career Cup win at Bristol in 2001. His pit strategy was vital in the victory by the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford, with Elliott Sadler at the wheel.
"Bristol has been a pretty tough place for us the last few years, “Tryson said. “We've had some good runs, but some really bad luck and we've seemed to get caught up in a lot of wrecks. We know that Mark can get the job done and I think that we'll have a good car, so if we can just stay out of all the wrecks and keep our nose clean then I think that we should be able to get a good finish and maybe even be there at the end again."
Kevin Harvick finished 39th at Atlanta after an ill handling car ruined his day. But Harvick looks to get back on track this weekend as he heads here as the defending champ on the race. He won here last year to score his first win since 2003, overcoming a stack of obstacles.
Last year, Harvick was without his crew chief Todd Berrier who was sitting at home for rules violations. The team also had to change the power steering pump after finding a puddle of leaking power steering fluid hours before the start of the race. Harvick had to start from the rear of the 43-car field after the No. 29 team made the unapproved repairs
Harvick has the best average finish, 11.4, of any active NASCAR Nextel Cup Series driver with at least eight starts at Bristol. Greg Biffle is the only active driver with a better average finishing position than Harvick at 10.6, but Biffle only has six starts. In 10 starts, Harvick has compiled a record of one win, five top-five finishes, seven top-10 finishes, and one DNF. Harvick also has four Busch Series wins at the track (2000, '01, '03, and '05).
"The competition at the Cup level, especially at a track like Bristol is pretty tough," said Harvick. "The Cup race is twice as long, which at Bristol means twice as many chances for something to happen. We had come so close to winning in the past, but just didn't have the extra little bit to do it. Last year's win was great for this GM Goodwrench team. We overcame so much."
Harvick has completed 4845 of 5000 laps (96.9%) in 10 starts at Bristol, of those 4845 laps complete, he has led 341 of them.
"Bristol is special to me because it brings back a lot of memories. I grew up on a half-mile, high-banked racetrack in Bakersfield. I know Bristol is a lot more banked, but it's kind of the same mindset for me driving around the racetrack. It's short-track beating and banging, a lot of fun and what I really like to do. I seem to have a lot of success every time I go there, so I'm always looking forward to going back."
Kasey Kahne Won the Golden Corral 500 to move into second place in the standings, 50 points behind Johnson. He finished fourth in two consecutive races after placing 11th at Daytona.
Kahne was the Rookie of the Year in 2004, but struggled to just five top-five finishes in 2005. He ran 14th in this race last season and has struggled at this track, placing outside of the top 15 in his other three races here. He has scored top-15 finishes in the first four races in 2006 though, joining Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Mark Martin in that category
Look for Kahne to run strong here this weekend though, remember his first ever win cam at another short track, Richmond.
Kahne's win at Atlanta was the eighth Cup win for Evernham Motorsports. The organization has won at least one race each year since its inception in 2001: "We're pleased with the start this year, but we know how fast things can turn around," he said.
Others:
Jimmie Johnson will run his first race with crew chief Chad Knaus, who was reinstated Wednesday after serving a four-week suspension; The current points leader finished sixth in this race last season and has registered two career top-five finishes at this track.
Tony Stewart finished third in this race last season; his fourth career top-five finish at this track. He’s also won here in 2001 at the Sharpie 500.
Dale Jarrett has competed in 39 races at Bristol, posting one victory (August 1997) and 19 top-10 finishes. He finished fifth in this race one year ago.
Jeff Burton finished second last August here. That gives him two top-five finishes in the last three races at Bristol.
Elliott Sadler scored the first win of his Cup career at Bristol in 2001. He won the pole for the Food City 500 a year ago and finished second in the race.
Martin Truex Jr., another Cup rookie, won his first NASCAR Busch Series race at Bristol in 2004. "It was special in many ways," Truex said.
Ryan Newman has three top-10 finishes in eight starts at Bristol, including a second in August 2004.
Greg Engle, the Editor of the Cup Scene Daily is seeking employment within the motorsports journalism industry. If you are interested, please contact him at:greg@cupscene.com
By Greg EngleCup Scene Daily
-Only seven of the 90 NASCAR Nextel Cup races at Bristol have been won from a starting position of 15th or worse. All seven of those wins have occurred since 1990. The last driver to win a race at Bristol from outside the top 15 was Dale Earnhardt Jr. who won from the 30th-place starting position in the 2004 Sharpie 500.
-Points leader, Jimmie Johnson finished 36th at Bristol last August, his worst Bristol finish and only DNF here.
-A Ford has won four of the last six races at Bristol; a Chevrolet won the other two. A Dodge has not won at Bristol since Richard Petty won the 1975 Volunteer 500.
-Weather could once again play a role like it did last weekend at Atlanta.
The forecast looks wretched, with temperatures not expected to go above 50 degrees. In fact, Sunday's high is expected to be 43. Snow could even fall before the weekend is out.
Rain is in the forecast for Friday and Saturday. Remember, last year's Busch Series race was postponed due to rain. Even if the Nextel Cup race gets in Sunday, the weather could have some serious impact on the traction of the race track, how cars and motors perform and whether setups will have to be radically altered.
Here are a few of the drivers to watch this weekend.
Jeff Gordon finished in fourth at Atlanta last Monday to record his second consecutive top-five finish. He ran fifth at the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 on March 12 and is quietly making his presence known. He’s climbed from 25th to sixth in the point standings since Daytona and is currently sixth in the standings with 539 points.
Gordon has enjoyed success at this track, capturing five checkered flags and four poles while recording 10 top-five finishes and 16 top-10s, in fact he won this race three consecutive years from 1996-1998. Gordon also leads all active drivers with 2,385 laps led in 26 races at Bristol
Although he ran 15th in this race last season Gordon returned and scored a strong sixth-place finish at this track at the Sharpie 500 on August 27.
Gordon has a 4.7 average starting position and has started from inside the top 10 23 times at Bristol. "Starting up front here is definitely an advantage," Gordon said.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. is riding into Bristol with high hopes after a third place finish at Atlanta helped him to recover from a 27th place finish at Vegas. Atlanta was his first top-five finish of the season and vaulted him from 11th to seventh in the standings with 534 points. He finished 11th at the Auto Club 500 at California Speedway and ran eighth at the Daytona 500.
In 12 races at Bristol, Earnhardt has one victory (August 2004) and six top-10 finishes the longest current streak among active drivers.
“The thing about Bristol is you can be really good but still caught up in a wreck,” Dale Jr. said. “That’s probably the main concern. Even if you’re the leader, it’s hard to miss wrecks sometimes because of all the lapped traffic. That’s just Bristol.”
Looking at his overall stats from the season so far, with four races completed this season; Earnhardt's average finish is 12.25. Only once (2004) has he gotten off to a better start. Matt Kenseth finished 13th at Atlanta and slipped to third in the standings; he currently has 612 points, 78 behind Johnson. Kenseth scored a disappointing second-place finish at Las Vegas after he led for 146 laps and had the dominant car throughout the race before losing to Johnson in the last lap.
The highlight of his season so far came when he captured the checkered flag at the Auto Club 500 at California Speedway on February 26. Prior to that, Kenseth battled back to a 15th-place finish at Daytona after being involved in a major controversy with Stewart. He is second in Miles Led running out front for 369 miles.
Kenseth finished seventh in the standings last year and recorded 12 top-five finishes last season, including six over the final 10 races.
The 2003 Cup champion has competed in 12 races at Bristol, scoring one victory (last August) and seven top-10 finishes — all in the last eight races there. He finished 16th last season in this race - his only finish outside of the top 10 in his last eight races here
Kenseth, who will make his 225th NASCAR Nextel Cup start Sunday, says Bristol "is a fun place to run if you can get your car to handle good."
Kurt Busch has struggled so far in this his first season with Penske Racing South. The 2004 Nextel champion has finished outside of the top 15 in each of his first four races. Monday was no different as he ran 37th at Atlanta, completing 321-of-325 laps.
But Busch and his car may make for a winning combination this weekend. Busch has dominated at this track, winning four times and registering seven top-10 finishes in 10 career races, in fact he won this race three consecutive years from 2002-2004.
The No. 2 Dodge, when driven by the now-retired Rusty Wallace won seven Cup races at Bristol, Wallace overall won a total of nine races.
"I'm just excited to have the chance to drive this car at Bristol," Busch said on this week's NASCAR teleconference. "I know how many times I've tried to hold it off because it was just going that much faster than mine.”
Even though NASCAR's new rules prohibit advance testing at many tracks, including Bristol, Busch has driven the No. 2 on a short track --- USA International Speedway in Lakeland, Fla. He's confident he'll hit Bristol with a fast chassis setup, especially since Wallace apparently passed along a few of his old tricks.
"Rusty is definitely very keen on what shocks you need to run at Bristol, the different adjustments," Busch said. "I'm going to use that knowledge as well as what I've had there in the past. Hopefully, we can definitely put together a good run to gain some points back."
Busch could certainly use the points. After his two 16th-place finishes and a 38th and a 37th in the first four races this season, he's 27th in the standings.
Clint Bowyer finished 27th at Atlanta on Monday and fell to 10th place in the Nextel Cup standings with 471 points. The rookie driver finished 15th at Las Vegas on March 12 and leads the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings with 43 points.
Bowyer made a strong statement with a sixth-place finish in the Daytona 500, his second career race on the Nextel circuit. That made his just the eighth driver in NASCAR history to secure a top-10 finish in the Daytona 500 in his rookie campaign.
Bowyer will compete in his first Cup race at Bristol in just his sixth career start although he finished fourth at this track last season in the Busch Series Food City 250. He’ll race the same car that Dave Blaney drove to a 30th-place finish last August at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Mark Martin has shown consistency so far this season having placed in the top 12 in each of the first four races this season. He was runner-up to Kasey Kahne at Atlanta Monday. He ran sixth at Las Vegas to follow a ninth-place finish at the Auto Club 500.
Martin is currently fourth in the standings with 600 points and is heading to a track he has excelled at. Martin has won here twice and registered 15 top-five finishes and 20 top-10s, the most among active drivers. He also won four consecutive poles at Bristol in 1995-96.
He finished 31st in this race one year ago and 16th last August.
"Bristol can be crazy, “Martin said. “I've always said it is like flying a jet fighter around the inside of a basketball arena, and try that with 42 other jets doing it at the same time. It can get really intense and it takes a great deal of patience by everyone.
You just have to hope that you run well and that you can stay out of all the trouble, which isn't always easy to do. Over the years Bristol has been the source of some real highs and lows for me.
I've had some of the most memorable races I can remember there and some pretty tough times there as well. We've had a lot of trouble staying out of the wrecks lately there. In fact our luck has been so bad there as of late that we are definitely due and hopefully we'll see that there this weekend."
Crew chief Pat Tryson scored his first career Cup win at Bristol in 2001. His pit strategy was vital in the victory by the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford, with Elliott Sadler at the wheel.
"Bristol has been a pretty tough place for us the last few years, “Tryson said. “We've had some good runs, but some really bad luck and we've seemed to get caught up in a lot of wrecks. We know that Mark can get the job done and I think that we'll have a good car, so if we can just stay out of all the wrecks and keep our nose clean then I think that we should be able to get a good finish and maybe even be there at the end again."
Kevin Harvick finished 39th at Atlanta after an ill handling car ruined his day. But Harvick looks to get back on track this weekend as he heads here as the defending champ on the race. He won here last year to score his first win since 2003, overcoming a stack of obstacles.
Last year, Harvick was without his crew chief Todd Berrier who was sitting at home for rules violations. The team also had to change the power steering pump after finding a puddle of leaking power steering fluid hours before the start of the race. Harvick had to start from the rear of the 43-car field after the No. 29 team made the unapproved repairs
Harvick has the best average finish, 11.4, of any active NASCAR Nextel Cup Series driver with at least eight starts at Bristol. Greg Biffle is the only active driver with a better average finishing position than Harvick at 10.6, but Biffle only has six starts. In 10 starts, Harvick has compiled a record of one win, five top-five finishes, seven top-10 finishes, and one DNF. Harvick also has four Busch Series wins at the track (2000, '01, '03, and '05).
"The competition at the Cup level, especially at a track like Bristol is pretty tough," said Harvick. "The Cup race is twice as long, which at Bristol means twice as many chances for something to happen. We had come so close to winning in the past, but just didn't have the extra little bit to do it. Last year's win was great for this GM Goodwrench team. We overcame so much."
Harvick has completed 4845 of 5000 laps (96.9%) in 10 starts at Bristol, of those 4845 laps complete, he has led 341 of them.
"Bristol is special to me because it brings back a lot of memories. I grew up on a half-mile, high-banked racetrack in Bakersfield. I know Bristol is a lot more banked, but it's kind of the same mindset for me driving around the racetrack. It's short-track beating and banging, a lot of fun and what I really like to do. I seem to have a lot of success every time I go there, so I'm always looking forward to going back."
Kasey Kahne Won the Golden Corral 500 to move into second place in the standings, 50 points behind Johnson. He finished fourth in two consecutive races after placing 11th at Daytona.
Kahne was the Rookie of the Year in 2004, but struggled to just five top-five finishes in 2005. He ran 14th in this race last season and has struggled at this track, placing outside of the top 15 in his other three races here. He has scored top-15 finishes in the first four races in 2006 though, joining Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Mark Martin in that category
Look for Kahne to run strong here this weekend though, remember his first ever win cam at another short track, Richmond.
Kahne's win at Atlanta was the eighth Cup win for Evernham Motorsports. The organization has won at least one race each year since its inception in 2001: "We're pleased with the start this year, but we know how fast things can turn around," he said.
Others:
Jimmie Johnson will run his first race with crew chief Chad Knaus, who was reinstated Wednesday after serving a four-week suspension; The current points leader finished sixth in this race last season and has registered two career top-five finishes at this track.
Tony Stewart finished third in this race last season; his fourth career top-five finish at this track. He’s also won here in 2001 at the Sharpie 500.
Dale Jarrett has competed in 39 races at Bristol, posting one victory (August 1997) and 19 top-10 finishes. He finished fifth in this race one year ago.
Jeff Burton finished second last August here. That gives him two top-five finishes in the last three races at Bristol.
Elliott Sadler scored the first win of his Cup career at Bristol in 2001. He won the pole for the Food City 500 a year ago and finished second in the race.
Martin Truex Jr., another Cup rookie, won his first NASCAR Busch Series race at Bristol in 2004. "It was special in many ways," Truex said.
Ryan Newman has three top-10 finishes in eight starts at Bristol, including a second in August 2004.
Greg Engle, the Editor of the Cup Scene Daily is seeking employment within the motorsports journalism industry. If you are interested, please contact him at:greg@cupscene.com
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