Busch Series 'chase' starts with Bristol excitement

"Bristol is insane. It is everything NASCAR multiplied by 10. The crowd is in your face. The banking is in your face. The excitement is high. You get dizzy ... It is everything exciting about NASCAR."

Any fan from any RV camping in any of the grassy fields just outside of Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend could have said those words.

Or maybe it was Marcos Ambrose.

"The thrill, the anthem, the jets, the crowd," Ambrose continued, "it is an awesome deal, and to be able to experience that side of the sport makes it worth it. To experience the crowds and intensity and car count ... I couldn't go back to racing on the road courses."

By the Numbers

Carl Edwards in a slump? If there's one cure, it could be a dose of fresh concrete.

• Complete story, click here

Ambrose was first introduced to NASCAR's modern-day coliseum in 2003 when he flew from Australia to Charlotte, rented an RV, drove to the Tri-Cities and camped out for a race weekend.

Now Ambrose sits immersed in the culture, and he's fully saturated in a points battle in his rookie season in the series as it turns to a Friday night special -- the Food City 250 (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2). Ambrose is eighth in the standings, but within a 76-point shouting distance of sixth position.

Carl Edwards, who won at Bristol in the spring, has a 700-point lead on Kevin Harvick, but it's Harvick who is widely considered the king of the short track -- at least since he's been racing.

Harvick is tied with Morgan Shepherd for the most victories at the track (four), and he's looking for his sixth win of the season. In the past six races that Harvick has entered, his worst finish is third, and that includes four victories.

"It's short-track beating and banging, and it's a lot of fun," Harvick said of Bristol. "I seem to have a lot of success every time I go so I'm always excited to go back."

Harvick may have been even more excited had the Busch Series followed the Cup Series and adopted a Chase format.

Bristol is the first of the Busch Series' final 10 races. And with five victories this year compared to Edwards' four, Harvick would be neck-and-neck with the current points leader.

On the other hand, Bristol's surface is newly paved concrete, which this year has been dominated by Carl Edwards. He's won all four races held on concrete tracks this year.

"I can't wait to get back on a concrete track and, to top it off, Bristol," said Edwards, who has failed to crack the top 25 over the last three races. "We have struggled over the past three races and we feel Bristol is the track where we can turn things around."

Behind Edwards and Harvick, it's a three-man race to try and catch the runner-up position in the standings, with David Reutimann just 30 points off Harvick's bumper.

Behind them, it's a crapshoot. Only 158 points separate sixth-place Bobby Hamilton Jr. and 10th-place Mike Wallace. So in some ways, it is Chase-like with every position depending on every lap each race.

And in the middle of it all is Ambrose, just four years removed from watching it all on the outside. Yet he quickly learned something in his visit to Thunder Valley.

"I wanted to come over and understand the culture of NASCAR back in 2003," Ambrose said. "And if you are going to watch a NASCAR race, you need to go to Bristol."

Same car, same result?
Matt Kenseth will be driving Chassis RK-295 on Friday night. It's the same Ford in which he won this race last all, and the same one in which he finished second in the spring.

"We tested Bristol a few weeks ago with Chassis 295," said crew chief Drew Blickensderfer. "It handled really well on the new track surface during our test session so hopefully we can pull off another top-five finish."

Iron Man
On Friday night, Kyle Busch will be driving in his third race in four days. And he's still got one to go.

Busch competed in Tuesday's rain-delayed Cup race at Michigan, then flew to Bristol for Wednesday night's Truck Series race where he finished 15th. He'll race in Friday night's Busch event, then run Saturday night's Cup race.

"It did make this week a little crazier, but it's worth it," he said of last weekend's rain at Michigan. "I've got triple-duty this week, which is a lot on top of Michigan, but there's nothing I'd rather do than race"

Welcome back DJ
For the first time since 2005 at Watkins Glen, veteran Dale Jarrett will be behind the wheel in a Busch Series race. Jarrett has 328 career starts in the series, and one of those includes a Bristol victory in the 1991 fall race.

"They claim that David [Reutimann] was really fast when they went over to test, and they are going to build me a car just like that," said Jarrett, who will drive the No. 44 Toyota. "I hope that is the case."