Earlier rain has washed the rubber off the track so we’re dealing with a green track again. There’s a chance of rain in the forecast. The skies are cloudy. The Nationwide Series had a green track yesterday after a morning rain. Kyle Busch, who, at 27, is the winningest driver in the Nationwide series, won the race yesterday. Kyle Busch also starts on the pole today.
Smoke loses a tire on lap 5 to bring out the first caution. He has a failing left rear tire. He couldn’t get to the bottom of the racetrack to get out of the way. Michael McDowell also spins.
Burton hits the wall on lap 54 to bring out the second caution. Marcos Ambrose was involved. Burton’s foot is jammed between the gas and the firewall and he couldn’t get his foot out. Carl ran into Burton and bounces off Ambrose.
Restart on lap 62. Carl Edwards and Jeff Burton and Kyle Busch restarting at the back. Kyle got caught speeding in three segments. Fox has the restart box indicated to show the earliest the leader can begin to accelerate and start the race. Casey Mears gets tapped by the 38 and gets loose and into the wall, but gathers it up and keeps going but causes everybody to check up behind him including the 38 and the 42 who gets hit by the 31 which slows him down, causing Carl in the 99 to slam into him, Ambrose runs up on the other side of the 99 while its slowing from crashing into the 31 and the 43 goes by on the outside of Ambrose in the 9 and as he goes down the track the 87 gets a little bit of him.
Caution 3 on lap 70 as Jamie McMurray spins in turn four and hits the wall.
Somebody needs to teach Larry Mc what he needs to add to the broadcast. He needs to understand that the driver sitting next to him can tell us what we need to know from a driver’s perspective, so Larry’s job is to tell us things from the crew chief’s perspective – and if there isn’t a crew chief’s perspective necessary – he should keep his mouth shut. He’s constantly telling us what the driver feels, thinks, etc. He usually follows those statements with the fact that he’s never driven a car. Then shut the hell up. You don’t know what you’re talking about and the guy sitting next to you has a lot of experience driving a lot of cars. Let him speak on those subjects!
I know you learn from watching and working on cars, but I also know you don’t know the same things that the person sitting in the car knows. The reason there are three people in the booth is to get three opinions. Mike Joy does the things a professional race announcer should do. Darrell Waltrip gives us the info from a professional race driver’s perspective. Larry McReynolds should give us info from a crew chief’s perspective. I don’t think most people need to hear as much of that as
100 of 500 laps completed with Denny Hamlin in the lead.
Kyle Busch on lap 117 has come from 38th position to 14th since lap 62.
Kurt Busch is in second place.
On lap 143 Carl Edwards is giving the leaders a hard time as they try to pass him. Danica was doing the same thing. Carl has unlapped himself as Kasey Kahne and Denny are battling for the lead behind Carl Edwards.
Caution on Lap 152 David Gilliland hits the wall.
KyBu comes out second from pit lane followed by Kasey Kahne. Denny came out first by inches.
Lap 161 Bobby Labonte takes the 47 to pit road with fluid and smoke coming out of his car. We stay green.
Denny has a big lead as a result of the battle between Kasey Kahne and Kyle Busch’s battle for second. Smoke is 27 laps down in 41st position back on the track after losing a tire and hitting the wall to bring out the first caution on lap .
Lap 192 Kasey Kahne take the lead again. Spankboy takes his car behind the wall.
Denny has been on the radio for the last ten minutes telling Darian he’s having an issue. He thinks its a tire issue perhaps and is telling them to be ready, but he’s staying out for now.
The laps cars are using the high lane in this race and since that’s the fast way around today its causing constant bottle-necks and holding up the leaders behind the lapped cars like Danica Patrick.
Kurt Busch is on pit lane on lap 224 with a right rear going down. He goes two laps down for the pit stop on green. It was a loose right rear wheel that caused the problem. Danica has a little rear end damage and Ryan Newman has been in the wall.
Caution five on lap 236 for Landon Cassill in the wall.
Kenseth wins the race off pit road followed by Jimmie Johnson.
Kurt Busch is back on the lead lap it appears as they get back underway on lap 242. 5 cars out of the race. Aric Almirola into the wall on lap 245. He’s trying to work his way onto pit road. Right rear tire is flat. We stay green.
Caution six is out on lap 250 Aric Almirola spins in turn four and apparently has a lot more damage. TV is in the middle of a mid-race report so we don’t see any of this, instead we see a procession of big heads on screen. Now we see Almirola’s spin. He tore the back bumper off his car. Aric is walking to the infield care center.
Aric said coming out of pit road the 17 ran into his left rear and cut his tire down and it got out of control after the restart.
Denny Hamlin was in the front and didn’t get a good start causing everybody to back up and lose spots allowing Kevin Harvick to gain spots. Joey Logano is up in the top ten.
Kasey Kahne is chasing down Matt Kenseth for the lead. Ricky Stenhouse has been in the wall again on lap 273 but keeps on going.
Caution is out on lap 321 Dave Blaney is in the wall hard.
Jeff Gordon wins the race off pit road with a two-tire change.
Todd Gordon, Joey Logano’s crew chief, says they’re a little short of making it from here on fuel. Carl is taking the wave around to get back on the lead lap. J.J. Yeley also hit the wall hard – so both Tommy Baldwin cars hit the wall.
Logano is battling Jeff Gordon for the lead.
Hamlin taps Logano and spins him out on lap 347.
Caution eight on lap 348 as Denny Hamlin spun Joe Logano out. The bumper cover on the 22 car is totally gone from his clipping the wall.
Hamlin had a problem on the restart. He apologized for spinning Denny Hamlin out over the radio. Denny loses quite a few places on the restart. Denny’s back end went around on the restart. He probably didn’t have his tires cleaned up good enough.
Burton has decided to take his car to the garage on lap 366.
Caution nine is out on lap 391 as Jeff Gordon lost a right front tire and hit the wall and Matt Kenseth ran under the back of him. Both cars are torn up big time. Looks like they’re going to get Burton back on the track.
Keselowski, Menard & Stenhouse did not pit as they lead the restart.
Paul Wolf and Brad Keselowski are counting on future caution laps to make it to the end of the race.
Kasey Kahne and Brad Keselowski are battling for the lead as Denny Hamlin gains ground on both of them.
Kasey Kahne takes over the lead on lap 446. Keselowski re-takes the lead as Kasey gets blocked by Bobby Labonte on lap 448.
Caution ten is out on lap 455 as Jimmie Johnson hit the wall. He lost the right front tire. Larry Mc says he melted the bead.
Keselowski spun the tires on the restart allowing Kasey on the inside to get a good jump as KyBu follows him and is battling for the lead. Keselowski is making it three wide for the lead. Keselowski made a mess of the restart for the top lane causing a lot of people to back up and bump the guy in front of them.
Jimmie back on the track and drops to the bottom as the leaders catch him. He’s two laps down.
Denny is dropping back consistently as the laps tick down. Hamlin hit the wall again as the leaders come b again. He’s not trying to get to the bottom though there’s something obviously wrong with his car.
NASCAR is telling Denny to pick up his speed he’s going too slow. Kasey takes the white flag. Kasey Kahne wins!!!! Denny’s behaviour was deplorable!!! That boy needs help. He seems to be having an early season meltdown.
Keselowski thinks he got run over on the restart. He was trying to do his restart thing and no one else was playing. He’s blaming Hamlin. Bowyer said, “Hey look everybody they’re fighting its Bristol, that’s what you’re supposed to do at Bristol. I’m not sure who he’s talking about is fighting. Sounds like Hamlin’s team is fighting. Joey Logano went over to talk to Denny and his crewmember is trying to keep him back and they’re pushing and shoving and members of both teams got into it. Denny says he would’ve been in the garage if he wouldn’t have checked up earlier.
KyBu is bummed because he didn’t win. He says they’re trying to take too much off pit road and they have to ease up on that. He’s talking about the problems with his car, but he says it’s a good day he guesses. Joey is giving his interview with his sunglasses on. He won’t say what he was saying to Denny. He said that’s for him to know and for Denny to know. Joey says he understands how Denny races now that he’s not his teammate and that’s how he will race him going forward.
A media member told Joey that Denny said he didn’t mean to pinch him down. Joey replied, “Okay. If he didn’t mean to do it he would’ve apologized and that’s not what he said.” He’s frustrated that he’s had good cars and keeps getting into situations that result in finishes that are not what they should be.
Dale Jr. ran over to shake Kasey and Kenny’s hands in victory lane.
Jimmie falls from first to third in the points while Jimmie moves up to second position. Kasey moved up seven positions to seventh. Carl Edwards is in ninth.
I’d say this is one of the best Bristol races in a couple years.