There is no track like Bristol Motor Speedway here on mother earth! I have to say I was really excited about the Nationwide Series race today, because for the most part there were a lot more young and inexperienced drivers racing. However, I realized half of them were start and parkers and the others would just move out of the way. But seriously a Bristol race with only four cautions? Totally bummed about that one. But nonetheless, it’s recap time…
Joey Logano and Trevor Bayne led the field to the green flag and it would be a long green flag run that Joey Logano would dominate. By lap 85, Logano had already lapped over half of the field leaving only 16 cars on the lead lap. This leads me to say, seriously NASCAR…cut the crap, and by crap I mean get the Cup drivers out of the Nationwide Series. At least so far the series-only drivers have dominated in wins and is attempting to bring back their own identity. But, finally we get our first caution of the race on lap 104 when Joey Gase and his #39 decided to meet the wall. Pit stops of course followed under the caution with strategy beginning to take place, but after Kyle Busch took the lead shortly before the caution, Joey Logano won the race out of the pits to resume his lead. This first pit stop would prove to be difficult for Austin Dillon, Ryan Truex and Brian Scott who were hit with speeding penalties.
The race would restart and go uneventful for a few laps until Blake Koch blows an engine on lap 118, but it would not bring out a caution. Then on lap 135, Kyle Busch has a tired down, comes to the pits under green. He would leave the pits in 22nd position, and one lap down.
At the hallway point we only had 15 cars on the lead lap, and Joey Logano continued to dominate.
Then on lap 156, after the bad luck began when he hit another team’s crewmember, Sam Hornish Jr. brought out the caution after spinning in turn two, and it was a single car accident.
Trevor Bayne would lead them to the restart on lap 163, after pit stops, (By the way, great news, Bayne will race in California next week!) but would quickly lead them back to the yellow flag on lap 166 when TJ Bell spins and smacks the wall. This is a huge break because after the Sam Hornish caution, Brian Scott, Michael Annett, Mike Bliss, and Kyle Busch all took wave arounds, opting not to pit to get back on the lead lap, and in their favor it worked out. Sadly, it actually wouldn’t work out for one driver, more on the in a second.
Again, Bayne leads them to the restart, but 11 laps later, Brian Scott would drive his car behind the wall. Yes, Brian Scott is the driver of the #11 Joe Gibbs Racing car, and yes he has more “DNF’s” then the “start and park” teams! Also, you know it’s no wonder you break a clutch and end your day early when you buy your car parts at Dollar General! Okay, enough with the Dollar General, DNF puns, but seriously has Scott even finished a race this season? I honestly do not think he has. But I’m going to end this paragraph before my hate of Brian Scott gets the better of me!
With 97 laps to go another driver who has not had luck this season, Kenny Wallace blows an engine, and he told the team on the radio on his way to the garage when it blew up, it was like the engine “grenaded.” Kenny Wallace is a great driver, and did very well last year, but this year has not been going well. In Daytona, he got involved in the big one. Phoenix, he cut a tire. Last week he did real well, but this week an engine. All of this has happened on top of the team struggling to find a sponsor. I applaud Mac Tools for helping out and encourage them and every other company to help this great team out and sponsor a great ambassador and driver in this sport. I hope Kenny catches a break because luck surely isn’t going well for him. And one last thing on this topic: why are these new sponsors in the sport sponsoring start and part teams and teams with drivers that can’t race worth ten bucks? Sponsor drivers who can race, win, and finish well like Trevor Bayne, Ricky Stenhouse, and Kenny Wallace. You might actually see something out of a sponsorship then!
On lap 224, Ricky Stenhouse after an intense battle with teammate Bayne, took the lead. Shortly after, Kyle Busch would bring out the caution on lap 262 after losing a brake duct and sliding into the wall. You have to give him credit, fan or not, because he was dominate, cut a tired under green, worked his way back to 8th, and then luck turned around on him again though. He would finish 17th.
Kevin Harvick sat quietly all race long, but ran in the top 10 all day as well. He would not catch a break after being sent to the back of the field for the restart for speeding on pit road under his last pit stop.
Elliott Sadler, who did not pit along with Kasey Kahne, lead the field to the restart, and would lead the final 36 laps of the race. His victory would be his 2nd of the year in just four races, and the Cup guys are still without victory this season in the Nationwide series. This victory also proves why track position is more important at Bristol in the end. It was a gutsy call by Crew Chief Luke Lambert, but with great results. Congratulations to Elliott and the entire One Main Racing team!
Nationwide Series Standings after race 4 of 33.
1 Elliott Sadler 178
2 Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. 153 -25
3 Travor Bayne 149 -29
4 Austin Dillon 148 -30
5 Cole Whitt 137 -41
Final thoughts from me are simply this for a race at Bristol, four cautions for thirty laps, was boring. I was expecting more. I’m not sure if it was the drivers being conservative or if this new surface after it was repaved a few years ago, has really changed the way people race at Bristol. Not to mention 13 cars finishing on the lead lap in addition to the few cautions making this boring.
Well that is it for this lap, thanks for reading, and let me know what you think below or on twitter @bryantdouglass!