Well, there were a few more wrecks today than yesterday, but the racing was awesome. There was a lot of great racing through out the entire race, and made up for the lack of cautions and fights. Now, I want to mention Brian Vickers. I do not like him, and the way he raced last year was rather annoying, but today was Redemption Day for Mr. Vickers. Hasn’t driven a race car since Red Bull Racing shut down, and hops into the 55 for Mark Martin and dominated early, led many laps, and pulled a top 5. Brian Vickers came to Bristol to show teams he can race and wants to race. So, it hurts to say, but Congratulations to Vickers.
The day began with Greg Biffle and A.J. Allmendinger leading the field to the green lap, David Stremme and Dave Blaney began the day at the rear after changing transmissions. Today, different from yesterday, wouldn’t take long to find trouble. Regan Smith getting a run out of the turn, after Kasey Kahne thought he was clear, making contact, spinning Kahne out and causing severe damage to his Hendrick Chevy, bringing the caution out. Kahne would end up collecting many contenders for this race including the King of Bristol Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Marcos Ambrose, and Kevin Harvick. Harvick would repair his car and end the day in 11th. Not bad for a wrecked car! He still sits 2nd in points as well. However for others, like Kahne, this season has been rough, he has wrecked in 3 of the 4 races so far. This caution took so long to clean up, so NASCAR used it as the competition caution that was supposed to come on lap 50. Part of me hates that for him, but part of me is like, “Hey if this means the new guy at Hendrick curse is over for Dale Jr., I’m happy” Of course I’m sure some Gordon fans are not happy with me and Jr Nation for UNINTENTIONAL CONTACT from RACING AT BRISTOL! I’m sure if that accident was the other way around, you Gordon fans would be saying the complete opposite.
During the caution the leaders would pit; the Dinger, Dale Jr., and Truex Jr. were among a few who did not pit during those stops. The Dinger lead the field to the restart on lap 46, he and Truex would battle for the position for while, which was fun to watch. Again, I say the racing was entertaining today. On lap 96, Brian Vickers would take over the lead and would lead for a while before Ken Schrader would bring out the caution for smacking the wall. Vickers would hold the lead after the pit stops and lead the field to the green again on lap 122.
I quote from my notes now, “Lap 185…bored…nothing to report.” I got bored there for a while, no racing, no cautions….
Lap traffic began to play a part in strategy as it slowed Vickers up and allowed for Brad Keselowski to catch up, and shortly after on lap 217, Keselowski would take over the lead. After the last set of pit stops the Dinger just lost total control of his car and would pit real early, thus beginning the set of green flag pit stops.
At the halfway lap, Keselowski continued to lead, and we only had 2 cautions. It is not like Bristol to go so long without cautions, and while the racing was great, I’d do anything to see the old Bristol! Brad would eventually pit surrendering the lead to many others until he picked it back up after the cycle of pit stops was over. The leaders caught Tony Stewart eventually and he fought Keselowski hard to stay on the lead lap. That allowed Matt Kenseth to catch up and give us some more exciting racing for the lead. Smoke would go a lap down leaving 14 cars on the lead lap, but shortly after going down a lap, David Stremme would slam his car into the wall finally bring out the third caution of the day, giving Smoke the lucky dog.
Pits stops of course for everyone with Keselowski, Kenseth, Burton, Bowyer, and Gordon leading the field out of the pits. The race would restart on lap 347 and not long afterwards, Matt Kenseth took the lead. On lap 360 Hendrick Motorsports teammates racing hard would bump each other, Dale Jr.’s tile pipe cut down Jeff Gordon’s left rear tire bring out another caution after Gordon hit the wall rather hard.
Kenseth would resume the lead until lap 390 where Brad Keselowski took the charge. Shortly after he took the lead again, Brad reported to his team that he thought he had a tired going down, but that would not be the case as he would go on to win a well deserved race!
Lap 478, 23 laps to go, Smoke would smack the wall, save it, but NASCAR threw the caution flag anyways, and this would prove to change the results of the race. Dale Jr., Biffle and a few others had to pit because they would not make it. On top of that, Dale Jr. would get caught speeding on pit road and that sent him all the way to the rear of the field for the restart. With 17 to go, we get the final green flag and Keselowski would quickly take his lead back and go on to win the race. On the final lap after getting caught on pit road for speeding, Dale Jr. would cut his tired after finally catching up to the leaders.
Another thing worth pointing out is that Bristol is Joe Gibbs Racing central. They dominate. Today, they sucked quite frankly. Has the tide turn in the Toyota camp? I have to say Michael Waltrip Racing is the top team from Toyota now. They have consistently collected solid finishes so far this season, while Joe Gibbs Racing has struggled to get even a semi-decent finish. Granted, MWR has had a few wrecks and bangs, but they’re still finishing much stronger than Joe Gibbs’ cars.
Final thoughts basically…
- Caution wise, this race blowed
- Racing wise, this race rocked
- Many late race mistakes cost many a good finish
- Fuel became a factor as it does many times
- Brian Vickers redeemed himself
So after Bristol, the top 5 in points stand as follows:
| 1 | Biffle | 157 | |
| 2 | Harvick | 148 | -9 |
| 3 | Kenseth | 145 | -12 |
| 4 | Truex Jr. | 139 | -19 |
| 5 | Hamlin | 137 | -20 |
So there is the recap, and all of my opinions for this lap, thanks for reading, let me know what you think below or on twitter @bryantdouglass!