Race Day dawns cloudy and mild. Nationwide Race yesterday with a kinda ugly wreck and Harvick taking a cheap shot at Joey Logano ended with Dewy Alligator (Justin Allgaier) winning his first Nationwide race.
DW says Joey has to “man up”. He’s gotta show he’s ot gonna let people push him around like they have been. Hammond says he thinks Zippy will let him do that too. He won’t take anything away from him. DW said he thinks Zippy will help him.
Stumpy Steve Austin is the grand marshal of the race – his movie damage is coming out on dvd tuesday.
Dr. Kate is at the track with Carl.
The pre-race show is painful – 4troop, then Lee Greenwood and we still haven’t gotten to the National Anthem.
Carl got some boos during driver introductions. He chose a remake of “Black Betty” by Spiderbait for his song. Keselowski chose “I Won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty. They both said the meeting with NASCAR yesterday was good and they got to air out some issues they had.
Mark Martin said he couldn’t decide which song to do for driver introductions since they get to choose for Bristol, between AC/DC, Easy E and Lenny Kravitz. He wanted Easy E because he’s a big gangster rap fan, he said. In the end it was AC/DC.
Finally, we’re getting there. First the colors, then the prayer, then the pledge of allegiance (by Lee Greenwood) and finally the national anthem by 4troops. It’s kinda ugly.
Ok, now that all that is over – which the planes did a flyover during the 4troop song (which seemed forever long).
They’ve added some SAFER barrier and its taken away some of the track.
Stumpy tried to bring it with the starting command. He was a little muted on television, but the crowd seemed to hear him fine from their response.
By the way – completely off topic – I watched the premiere episode of Justified, a new series on FX – and found it amusing. It followed a showing of Live Free and Die Hard and stars the bad guy from that movie. Interestingly enough I was watching the show and thinking the star of the show looks familiar, where do I know him from. So I pulled out IMDb to find out and discovered he was in the movie that preceded it as well as quite a few other things I’ve seen and in most cases I clearly remembered his character, though I never associated the actor with each role. Theoretically that would make him a great character actor, but in my opinion it makes him technically proficient, but bland. Back to NASCAR….
Moldy Bread (Joey Logano) got his first Sprint Cup pole here at Bristol. It’s really cloudy. Kurt Busch is starting next to him and Jimmie is behind Kurt.
Also the legends race was held last night and had a really ugly crash toward the end (5 laps to go). Both drivers are still in the hospital, but the one who was the most injured is expected to make a full recovery.
It’s 61 degrees with a 10-15 mph wind and the rain appears to be progressing faster toward Bristol than expected. It’s struggled to get to 61. Terry Cook was late to the driver’s meeting so he has to start at the back.
They got started and Larry Mc didn’t really get his too long crappy thing at the beginning. Kurt Busch led the first lap. Joey led the second lap. Kurt led the third lap. Jimmie is hanging all over Kurt’s bumper. Kurt is now in front of Joey. Jimmie is alongside. Kurt led the fifth lap. Jimmie led the sixth lap. Chad said last night he and Jimmie spoke for an hour and a half about how to approach this race. Their strategy – stay in the top ten all day.
Happy also took a cheap shot at Carl during the week with words.
Caution is out. Blaney had a slide toward the wall and couldn’t get down to the pit road safely so he ended up stopping on the wall. Blaney was also probably going to be a start and park, so he dropped back to the back of the field at the beginning. Jimmie says the back of the car is chattering and feels extremely loose. Kurt Busch is happy with his car. Joey says he’s tight on the center but loose on exist and the exit is when he loses all of his time. They come out the way they go in with Kurt leading and Jimmie in second.
Keselowski and Stremme are leading since they didn’t stop for fuel and tires. Jimmie coming alongside Keselowski with Big Daddy right behind him. Michael Waltrip and Aric Almirola have gone to the garage joining Blaney and ‘Joseph’ – Front Row Joe Nemechek. Jimmie is back in the lead now with Big Daddy behind him and Kurt behind him.
Ruh-roh, Clint’s car is behind the wall. He blowed up. Clint was in the 30th position when it went up in flames.
Reutimann is down a cylinder and brought it in. Logano blew a tire and lost three laps on a green flag pit stop. We’re finally under caution for Denny Hamlin losing a tire and hitting the wall. Kurt came in leading and has no one in front of him so he won’t get trapped in. Biffle got a spot on pit road and Jimmie lost a spot (to Biffle).
Caution is out for rain with Biffle leading the race and Jimmie in second. It’s not raining hard, but at lap 127 the tires aren’t going to get any grip on the wet concrete.
Rick Dickert the weather guy is such a bimbo. He says this rain should only last 10 or 15 minutes, then there should be about an hour of no rain, then it might be back. They have the cars still rolling around and the jet dryers on the track also. The headers on the cars will help dry the track.
The track is almost dry. Martinsville is next week – the shortest track. This is the last race with the wing.
354 laps to go. Biffle performed, what is called a Texas restart (start, slow up, start again).
Jamie Mc is getting nauseous from the fumes coming into the car. He’s apparently been fighting the flu.
Jimmie is coming up behind Biff and trying the bottom for a possible pass. JPM is trying for the lead from Biff now at lap 178. He just took it easily. It sounds like everybody is having some wear issues with the right front tire. Jimmie is back in fifth right now.
Scott Speed has changed his hair color – it’s now black and blue.
JPM has turned the lead back over to Biff. DW thinks it may be due to his concerns about the right front tire. Since its less than halfway through (200 of 500) he’s not fighting the issue at this point.
Caution is out lap 204 of 500, Kasey hit the wall. He said his brakes have been vibrating since lap 100 and he though the right front tire might be going down. Denny gets the Lucky Dog.
JPM is first off pit road and Biff is second. JPM had some cord showing on his right front tire.
Kasey has hit the wall again after the restart. It was right front that caused the last caution. DW doesn’t see a tire down on the car. Green flag stays out. JPM took the lead from Biff and Kurt Busch passed him also. The right tire was corded that came off the last time. Kasey is still complaining about the brakes vibrating.
Kasey is behind the wall. They believe that when he hit the wall before he did something to the suspension.
Looks like it’s getting darker again. I wonder if its going to start raining. Travis Kvapil has a flat tire and has come into the pits. Green flag remains. Kyle Busch hit the wall hard. He’s brought out the caution. He has a flat right front tire. The right front tires are seeming to last about 50 laps.
Apparently Jamie Mc got too close to the jet dryers and the fumes from the jet dryers were making him sick. They had some alka seltzer already in his water bottle and he said on the last stop he didn’t need the alka seltzer. DW said the carbon monoxide used to really get you kn this race with the small track and the bowl effect, everything used to hang over the track, especially on an overcast/cloudy day like today. Mark Martin asked his spotter to pass along to Kurt Busch that if he let him lead a lap and get his five points he’ll let him back up and they can both save their equipment. Mark’s spotter said he’s passed on the info several times, but he doesn’t know if Kurt’s received the message. DW said, “Oh I’m sure he received the message, but I don’t know that he’s gonna go for it. That’s something Mark would do, but…” Then Larry Mc jumped in and said Mark isn’t a teammate or anything.
Regan Smith has a right front tire down and hit the wall. The caution is out. Harvick was just getting ready to get lapped. Elliott Sadler bumped Regan and probably did a bit of damage to that tire. Jimmie wants grip, they’re going to make a wedge adjustment and 1/2 pound of air out.
Pit road speed is 30 mph. BooBoo asked them to not do anything to hurt the center. Jimmie lost two spots on pit road and Mark Martin lost four spots. Biff is in front of Jimmie. Grrrrrrrrrr. Kenseth’s crew is rolling the dice with a two tire change to get position. 175 laps to go.
Overall, this has been a typical, boring Bristol race so far. I just don’t dig the short tracks. They bore me to tears overall.
Both Big Daddy and Jimmie are talking about what the 2 car is doing well. BooBoo has a pit road penalty “too fast entering” and has to go back to the back of the field – he was in fifth. DW is giving a shout out to Larry Pearson. Broken ankle in two places, broken right hand, broken pelvis. Larry Mc and DW both think changing the two right side tires is not a great call. He wants to see how long this will last. DW thinks it will last about five laps. Larry Mc said staying on the old tires is a better idea than two right fronts. Carl and Keselowski are side-by-side and Harvick is right behind Keselowski. Someone on the radio said there’s a little rain falling. DW said you don’t think them driving side-by-side is by design. Mike Joy said not at all. DW said You’ve never drive much have you? There’s a big one now!
Biff and Mark Marting hung together and Mark hit the wall then he was trying to get down to pit road and then goes up in front of Jeff Gordon and they just piled up behind him. Montoya hit Ambrose, Vickers got some, Harvick got some, Logano got some. 156 to go and caution is out. DW said Mark was driving too fast with the car in the condition it was. The right side was torn up from his hitting the wall and that caused it to just go up the track into Big Daddy Jeff Gordon sending him up to the wall, trying to get out of the way and into Martin Truex Jr “Woof”. Harvick tried to shoot the gap and miss Mark Martin and did, but got clipped on the tail as he was and headed toward the wall head on, though he seemed to avoid hitting the wall.
Martin, Ragan, Robby Gordon, Biffle, Logano, Jeff Gordon, Harvick, Newman, JPM, Ambrose, Truex, Vickers, and Smith were all in that wreck.
Biff says the cord came off his headset and he couldn’t hear his spotter. Martin said he really needed to go and got pinned up against the wall. Martin’s upper control arm was broken when they took the right front tire off. He’s seems like he’s not believing Biff’s explanation/excuse. They’re repairing the safer barrier, so they will have a bit of extra time to fix things.
Mark Martin was in sixth place when the wreck happened.
Parrott’s/Kenseth’s strategy is based on what Carl was able to do yesterday in the Nationwide Race with two tires. Carl’s two tires were not a choice.
Big Daddy said he felt something rubbing when he hit the brakes, though his spotter said he didn’t see anything rubbing. Letarte didn’t take a chance and brought him back onto pit road for a pull on the fender and more tires.
Kurt is first and Jimmie is second. Jr Carl and Newman are all knocking on the top ten. BooBoo is really mad about getting busted for speeding on pit road without gaining anything. Lance is trying to calm him down. They were laughing about how that sounded just like Dale Sr at that moment. DW said he “doesn’t know how anyone can not say that Paul Menard it the most improved driver, certainly in Sprint Cup.” He says he’s driving really really smart – he doesn’t try to race anybody he doesn’t have any business racing, if they’re faster than him, he just moves over.
There were raindrops on the camera lens 130 to go.
Kenseth is currently displacing Harvick as the points leader. Kenseth and Burton are holding up Smoke lap after alp. He’s telling his spotter to tll them to line up so he can pass. Neither of them seem to want to give way. Burton went ahead and now Stewart is side-by-side with Kenseth. Jimmie and Kurt are still battling for the lead. 119 to go.
Burton drove away from those two and pulled up behind Biff for 5th. Jimmie has spent the entire race trying to take care of the right front. Chad said it looks great, so go get him. Jimmie said he thought he was abusing the right front. Burton has caught Biff. They’re battling.
Jimmie seems to have dropped back a bit. I continue to see raindrops on the camera lenses.
Caution is out for rain. Bradley K didn’t pit so he picked up the lead. Kurt beat Jimmie out of the pits again. Big Daddy, Elliot, JPM and stayed out instead of pitting. So they’re ahead of the leaders.
Rick Dickert says some of the rain is evaporating. He says it will be light, brief rain showers as the afternoon continues. He says there will probably be multiple cautions for the showers. The moisture is pushing up from the west, because the low pressure system is still off to the west, and that’s where the heavy stuff is.
Restarting with 90 laps to go. Big Daddy has fallen back to fourth already. Kurt is battling Keselowski for the lead with Jimmie lurking behind. Jamie Mc is behind Big Daddy. DW said if he were Keselowski he’d let the 2 go ahead instead of letting everybody catch them from behind. Jimmie is racing Bradley K for second. He passes him. Here comes Big Daddy going after Bradley K. Elliott faded back to tenth. Carl is next to Sam behind Elliott in the 19. BooBoo and Kyle Busch are behind them. I don’t know what happened to Biff in all that. It was weird because I saw Jimmie beat Biff off pit road, yet he was head of him when the were lining up, but now he’s in sixth battling Jeff Gordon for fifth. Larry Mc and DW think Big Daddy got more damage than they expected in that wreck.
Allmendinger got the 37 pushed up the hill and almost caused a huge problem when the cars had to start stacking up behind Kevin Conway. Jamie Mc is going after Bradley K for third place. Spank Boy is in 21st place right now with 69 to go. Mark Martin is coming back into the race after repair and is 91 laps down. Jamie Mc beat Keselowski to the line on the last lap.
Thunder just rumbled here.
Sam has dropped a cylinder with 46 to go and is dropping back in the field. Spank Boy is running 19th. He’s completed all but one lap of competition this year. DW says Jimmie can’t get underneath people right now. Behind Kurt and Jimmie we have Jamie Mc, Keselowski and Biff.
Spank Boy hit the wall, but got to pit road without a problem (and without a caution). Spank lost a tire.
Carl has battled Keselowski for sixth and won. Bradley K was battling Kyle for ninth shortly thereafter and lost the battle quickly.
Logano blew a right tire just now. Caution is out. There’s a piece of brake duct on turn four. 18 to go.
Jimme says he’s good on the short run. So no adjustments, just four.
Kurt said no changes, but he wants four tires. So they had to add a set of tires. Biff gets off first, Kenseth, Edwards, Smoke, then Kurt and Jimmie. Jimmie and Kurt both lost four spots. All the others ahead of them got two tires.
12 laps to go still in caution. One of the Miller Lite crewman has his fingers crossed. Lights are out. 10 to go when it restarts.
16 and 17 on the front row. 14 and 99 right heading. 48 and 2 behind them.
Jimmie takes the lead with six to go.
Kurt had just taken third from Biffle.
For the 50th win of his career Jimmie Johnson wins Bristol for the first time!!!
Jimmie went to the wall and did a burnout, his crew came over.
Smoke came in second, Kurt third. Addington was disgusted because he was pretty sure he had it. Jimmie was overheard to tell the crew before the race began to get the champagne ready.
Carl got a top ten finish.
Jimmie now ties Junior Johnson and Ned Jarrett on the all-time wins list.
Jimmie is doing a burnout up the ramp all the way into Victory Lane – even as he makes the turn.
Jimmie is bearded. He’s so happy to win at Bristol finally. He’s drinking Vitamin Water it appears.
DW calls him the best closer he’s ever seen.
Kyle is going to leave in the top ten in points.
Harvick is still leading the points but Kenseth is one point back and Jimmie is back fourteen. Carl is 13th now. Kasey is 23rd.
Mr Hendrick has walked over to Jimmie and they’re hugging happily.
Darien left the call up to Smoke. He says he doesn’t know if he made the right call or now.
Kurt says they got beat on luck on the draw on restarts. He said he’d like to lose to any other of the 421 cars than that 48 car. He’s really mad. He thought he had it won. Addington came over and gave him a hug and was apologizing to him for the four tire call (according to Hammond).
Woof finished 13th. Big Daddy finished 14th.
There are only five tracks he hasn’t won on now that’s he’s conquered Bristol – according to the announcer.