Beautiful, clear blue sky day in Bristol this morning. I’m curious about the temperatures. It’s rather chilly here in the Atlanta metro area and quite breezy. Spring weather isn’t racing weather for me so far this season overall. They’re saying its going to be 70 degrees when racing starts. They only have a 5 mph wind. So it sounds like the weather in Bristol is nicer than here. How much longer do we have to endure Michael Waltrip? Here’s to hoping his contract won’t be renewed – his or Larry Mc’s. I know, I know, wishful thinking. Jeff Gordon is doing okay, though he has his babble-thons at times and can be more than a little argumentative – but I believe he has the ability to improve and become a really professional broadcaster.
I wish we could actually just see the driver intros for Bristol – actually for all tracks. Bristol actually makes a show of it, but it seems a nice way to get into the swing of things in general.
Byrnesy we miss you. It’s been a little less than a year since we lost Steve Byrnes. Last year’s Bristol race was his last and was named after him. I’m glad he got to see that before he died. His wife Karen and son Bryson are at this race. Matt Kenseth had a replica made of the trophy he won last year and presented it to Bryson. Nice going Kenseth.
Carl Edwards leads them to the green. Dale Jr.’s car didn’t get going on the start and went into the pits as soon as he got to a pit road opening. He lost two laps as he came out of the pits.
Dale Jr cycled through the ECU as he came into the pits, he did and the car fired up.
I am seeing a lot of empty seats as they show the grandstands. They were talking about the premiere of Collosus – a giant television screen in the middle of the track. I find it extremely amusing that they’ve decided the way to get people to buy race tickets instead of watching tv in the comfort of their own homes is to add a tv to the track. So, I should pay a lot of money to go sit in less-than-comfortable seating, with less-than-comfortable/clean restrooms, with overpriced snacks at the track after sitting in crazy traffic to get there. Somehow that doesn’t seem like a great deal to me. I enjoy going to the track. It’s fun being outside and listening to the engines roar. I enjoyed a vacation that included watching three days of practice and qualifying and racing. I miss that experience. It no longer exists for Atlanta. The Truck Series race was dropped. The schedule was reworked and cuts were made that took away the three-day experience. I’m looking for a new three day experience to use for vacation. Weather and quality of racing matter. Race quality wasn’t as important with the Atlanta race because of the location, but if I’m going to be making a trip to a race, race quality comes into play. I miss the live racing experience, so I hope to figure out where to get my race fix soon.
KyBu his the wall on lap 52 of 500. He was running third when he hit. He lost the right front tire.
Peyton Manning is in the booth with Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip, and Jeff Gordon.
Lap 70 of 500 Ricky Stinkhouse goes around. Stenhouse seems to have been doing better lately. Bunny has been having issues with his haircuts. He’s had a couple of different hairstyles and she’s found him disturbingly attractive. It’s highly amusing.
KyBu brings out the caution on lap 116 of 500. Chris Buescher in the 34 ran into the back of KyBu when Kyle checked up.
Caution is out as Kutey Kyle Larson’s car goes up in smoke around lap 150 of 500. Rear end issue.
Jeff needs to learn to stop repeating what the person before him said. He has a tendency to repeat what was just said. Sometimes he adds more, sometimes he just sounds like a myna bird. He’s getting comfortable in the position, but I don’t want him to fall into the traps frequently displayed by the other talking heads – one of which is repeating what was said immediately before you opened your mouth. That should be at the top of the list of no-nos. Another is the mistaken notion that every moment of airtime must be filled by talking. The engines make a lovely sound. It would be nice to watch the race and hear the cars more often than inane babbling. If something needs to be said, say it, once, otherwise, let the words and pictures tell the story – it is television, not radio.
Caution on lap 187 of 500 for Matt Kenseth in the wall.
Caution on lap 218 of 500 for David Ragan blowing up.
Caution on lap 260 of 500 as KyBu revisits the wall. Looks like another right front tire down. Looks like he’s out of the race for the day.
Landon Cassill stays out on the pit stops and leads a few laps on the restart. Congrats to Landon and Front Row Motorsports.
Jimmie is in the pits on lap 301 of 500 to replace tires. Chad Knaus told him on the last pit stop that they might have missed a lug. He comes into the pits third and leaves in 31st, two laps down.
On lap 323 of 500 Matt Kenseth hits the wall and heads into the pits, but doesn’t bring out the caution. His car goes behind the wall.
Caution is out on lap 331 of 500 for Josh Wise in the 30 with a lot of damage on the left rear. He went into the wall, then the 46 got into his left rear.
Kurt Busch has some smoke coming out
Lap 339 of 500 Casey Mears goes around and brings out the caution.
NASCAR is reminding Carl Edwards that he has to retain speed when coming to the start box. The previous restart was under review, then NASCAR passed along that ‘reminder’, not a warning, yet.
Another penalty for Jimmie Johnson and the 48, too many men over the wall.
Caution out on lap 350 of 500 for Brian Scott going around.
‘It’ comes in on lap 389 of 500 for a flat tire. He seems to be trying to bring out the caution, but doesn’t succeed. Turns out it was an outer broken valve stem.
Caution is out on lap 410 of 500 for Denny Hamlin into the wall.
Kurt Busch is smoking and sparking on the restart – low tire pressures.
The 78, Martin Truex Jr says he thinks he has a loose wheel with 75 to go. He goes into the pits to get that handled.
With 64 to go – Aric Almirola into the wall hard bringing out the caution. Truex drifted up the track and got into his left rear sending him around.
Aric Almirola didn’t get out of the car. He wanted a push back because he didn’t have reverse. They eventually made him get out of the car. He and his crew chief have been invited to the NASCAR hauler after the race.
Restarting with 52 to go. Carl leads them to the green flag.
The 14 has a tire rub with 45 to go. Dale Jr spent quite a bit of time using 8 tires instead of 4 with the 14 of Ty Dillon.
Caution is out with 41 to go as Landon Cassill gets into Ty Dillon and Ty goes around, and into the wall.
Martin Truex Jr gets the free pass and gets back on the lead lap.
Logano didn’t get started on the restart clogging up traffic behind him. Logano said he lost all power. Tod Gordon told him to switch to battery two and he finally got going.
Truex kissed the wall with 21 to go – we remain green.
With 16 to go Michael Annett goes around. KHarv ricocheted off the wall and hit Annett sending him around. Happy said it suddenly got loose.
With 9 to go caution is out as Regan Smith in the 7 slams into the wall. Danica Patrick in the 10 clipped Regan Smith’s tail end and sent him around.
Restarting with 5 to go. Carl leads them to the green.
Carl wins
Dale Earnhardt Jr, Kurt ‘KuBu’ Busch, Chase Elliott, Trevor Bayne and Matt DiBenedetto round out the top 6. Congrats to Matti D on a career high finish! Congrats to Dale Jr on coming back from a power issue at the start of the race. Congrats to rookie Chase Elliott on a career high finish.
Congrats to Ryan Blaney on an 11th place finish.
Dale Jr said the car was about a 10th or 15th place car and they got lucky on the restart and restarted in the right lane allowing him to get some positions on the restart.
This was Trevor’s first top five since winning the Daytona 500.
You can hear the emotion in Matti D’s voice as he’s doing a post-race interview. He apologized for being so emotional. He said the sixth place finish is like a win for them. His brother is there from the military. He came out with a long beard and hat to a ZZ Tops song playing guitar.
In NASCAR news this week:
- Edwards Scores Second Straight Pole.
- sweetFrog to Sponsor Ragan .
- Dale Jr. Unveils Darlington ‘Gray Ghost’ Car.
- Keselowski, Bayne to Lose Practice Time.
- Elliott Races to First Top Five.
- Jones Dashes to Bristol Win.
- New Format, New Energy in ‘Dash 4 Cash’.
- Kennedy and Red Horse Part Ways.