Bristol 500 Race Recap
Aug 24, 2013; Bristol, TN, USA; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver David Reutiman (83) and Jimmie Johnson (48) crash during the Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports
No time for any further changes in position as once again NASCAR spots some debris on the track so the seventh caution of the day comes out. The leaders all come to pit road and again some different strategies alters the look of the leaders with Kevin Harvick only taking two tyres and Martin Truex Jr taking none moves them up to first and second respectively. Behind them Edwards, Montoya and Gordon leave pit road, but Montoya gets caught speeding and will have to serve a drive through putting him back in 26th place. Harvick appears to get a good restart and seems to be clear heading into turns one and two but a great move by Edwards brings up to the side of the 29 car after a couple of laps like that he takes the lead. Once again back markers come into play as Edwards gets caught up behind one allowing Harvick to ride his rear bumper. But no time for a move for the lead as the caution flags are back out. Vickers gets into the side of Reutimann who hits the outside wall and rolls back down the track and into the path of Johnson who has run into the back of a hard braking Aric Almirola. Of the front-runners only Harvick comes to pit road so the front row at the restart will be Edwards and Truex Jr, with a great come back from Kenseth who will be in third.
Edwards gets a good push at the restart from Kenseth and the 99 retakes the lead. Truex Jr tries to keep Kenseth behind him but he it is a fruitless task as the 20 steams by the 56 for second. The cautions are coming thick and fast now as for the ninth time out they come when Jeff Burton gets tagged by David Stremme who was in turn hit by Montoya. Right before that happened Kenseth got his nose in front of Edwards and will be the leader at the restart. But Edwards is reporting ignition issues and on the restart immediately moves out-of-the-way of the charging pack allowing Kenseth an easy run into turn one and the lead as the 99 goes to garage. Gordon gets by the 56 for second with Jr in fourth and Bowyer and Kyle in 5th and 6th respectively. While Truex Jr starts to slip outside of the top 5 Kenseth is extending his lead and with 75 laps to go its up to 1.3 seconds. That gets wiped out though when after annoying one to many drivers Montoya gets hit from behind and although he keeps control of his car it spills debris onto the track and another caution comes out.
Aug 24, 2013; Bristol, TN, USA; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Ryan Newman (39), Brad Keselowski (2), and Denny Hamlin (11) crash during the Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports
No issues for Kenseth on the restart has he exits turn 2 comfortable in the lead. But behind them all hell breaks loose as a big crash takes place when it appears that Hamlin got moved down the track by Vickers and when he moved back up Newman and Harvick where there and pushes them into the outside wall and with the pack being bunched up Truex Jr and Keselowski plough into them, with other cars getting caught up. After a brief red flag period to allow clean up the five on the restart is Kenseth, Bowyer, Gordon, Montoya (who made up a lot of places avoiding the wreck) and Kyle. A good start for the 20 sees him easily take the lead and an even better restart for the 42 who rockets up into second. It was also a good start for Kahne who is on the freshest tyres and moves up to third after a couple of laps. His tyres are really paying off as he catches up to Montoya and easily gets by him and has 25 laps to erase a one second gap and make a pass for the lead.
Aug 24, 2013; Bristol, TN, USA; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Matt Kenseth (20) races along side Kasey Kahne (5) during the Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports
Kenseth catches up to some slower drivers which allowed Kahne to start eating into the 20s lead. With 15 laps to go the lead is down to 0.27 seconds but Kahne has not had the best of times catching and passing people for the lead in the closing laps. However the 5 looks to be determined to get this win as the two of them go side by side through the turns neither of them willing to give an inch. At the times it looks like they touch but they both keep control and their foot firmly planted on the loud pedal. Kahne gets his nose in front a few time but not enough to get in front of the 20. He then tries to set up a few slide jobs but again he can’t make that move stick. As they enter the last lap the only way the 5 is going to take the win is by wrecking the 20, but he doesn’t do that and as they cross the line it’s Matt Kenseth who takes his fifth win of the season.
Aug 24, 2013; Bristol, TN, USA; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Matt Kenseth celebrates in victory lane after winning the Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports
There has been criticism of Bristol since the repave and it has been right that since the track had its repave, and subsequent second repave the racing has never been the same, but this certainly came close to the Bristol of old. There was banging and pushing up and down the track by drivers trying to make moves up the field. There were enough incidents on the track to keep the lead cars together as well as some unlucky, unforeseen incidents affecting the leaders. It is not often that a 500 lap race flies by but this is exactly what happened for me and despite not getting to bed until sometime after 4am it was one of the best races of the season. With the race for the Chase one of the closest in years and only two races left things are certainly hotting up.