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BRISTOL, Tenn. – Four red flags, 18 lead changes and 13 cautions were Kyle Busch’s road blocks to winning Monday’s weather-delayed Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

All occurring over a 24-hour-plus span that fought rain, snow and blisteringly cold temperatures in the mountains of Tennessee — that also played host to one of the year’s more exciting races of the year.

“I was breathing hard there those last 20 laps, whatever it was,” Busch said after a back-and-forth battle with Kyle Larson for the win. “That was a heck of a run right there with the 42 – chasing him down, being able to get to him, being able to get by him and then trying to hold him off with some lap traffic ahead of us.”

MORE: Busch gives Larson bump-and-run | Larson: Getting beat by Busch ‘gets frustrating’ 

“This place almost always puts on an incredible race,” winning No. 18 crew chief Adam Stevens said. “There’s so much that the driver can do behind the wheel adjusting his line and little adjustments that he has inside the car. Chasing the rubber as it moves around the race track and as the groove changes and it always puts on a good show.”

The weather led to a stop-start motion on Sunday and more delays on Monday that caused a skip in the regular rhythm for drivers and teams, even for race winner Busch.

“It’s just the long, long delays and things that happen that kind of get you in and out of your game,” Busch said. ”Tell you what, you just got to stay focused for the entirety of it and try to keep going.”

For some, the breaks in racing were welcome.

“It kind of helped me a little bit to rest more and kind of like breaks for myself,” said Daniel Suarez, who sustained a left thumb fracture at Texas Motor Speedway last weekend. “On that side, it was kind of nice, but right here over the 300 laps straight, I’m a little sore right now …

“The thumb is fine, the rest of the hand is actually sore. I feel like it was just working extra hard. But it’s fine.

He smiled. “I knew if I could go to Bristol, I’m going to be fine for the rest of the year. This is a tough place.”

He wasn’t the only driver feeling the effects of Bristol. The weekend was a lengthy one for the entire NASCAR fleet; Stevens said he felt like they had been at the track for “two weeks” and Clint Bowyer called the weekend “long” and “weird.”

MORE: Elliott, Truex involved in pileup | Keselowski gives Larson a shove for lead

But teams stuck it out and for fans and spectators, it was appreciated. Bristol always puts on a show and the Sunday/Monday event was no exception. The weather led to a sense of urgency among drivers to get to the front, entailing aggressive maneuvers and battles for the lead that were thrilling from a spectator’s eye.

Darrell Wallace Jr. was one of the drivers who came out aggressively when the race resumed Monday, taking the field three-wide at one point for position and passing veterans Busch and Brad Keselowski to lead his first laps in a Monster Energy Series car.

Bristol is where drivers can flex their muscle – and that he did.

“The track was really fast there in the beginning and it was one of those deals where we fired off pretty good. I was excited about that. We had a great race and at the end we just fell off.” Wallace told NASCAR.com “… We got a lot of respect today, passing the 18 on the outside, passing the 2 for the lead.

“So, badass day.”

One thing’s certain: fans got their “It’s Bristol, Baby” type of show on Sunday and Monday between all the elements Mother Nature threw NASCAR’s way.

Who knows; maybe she just wanted the show to last a little longer.

Posted on by Brad Norman

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Eyes forward. Keep racing.

That’s what the drivers at Hendrick Motorsports have continued to do, as all four teams have dealt with on-track obstacles throughout the first seven races — all while trying to find a handle on the new Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 body introduced this season.

Monday’s top-five finishes at Bristol Motor Speedway from Jimmie Johnson and Alex Bowman are steps in the right direction, but it’s not a total surprise for those behind the wheel. Especially for the in-house veteran Johnson, who has been open about his on-track struggles so far in 2018.

MORE: Bristol doesn’t disappoint | See how your team fared in Fantasy

“We’ve been talking about our cars performing better and driving better and creating speed the last three weeks or so,” Johnson told the media after the Food City 500, “but to finally back it up with a solid finish is exactly what we needed. And to see my teammates with positive comments about their cars the last few weeks and some good results yielding from all of that, we definitely have it rolling in the right direction.”

A third-place finish for the seven-time champion is Johnson’s best run of the season, and his 12th top-five finish at the .533-mile track. Taking to social media with inspirational quotes to combat difficult stretches, the driver of the No. 48 entered Bristol 20th in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series standings, the worst statistical start of his 17-year career.

Yet, momentum has a funny way of sneaking in and changing up the course.

“… If things seem to be going wrong, they continue for a while,” he said. “Sometime it’ll turn around, you just don’t know when. And I think in most cases, you’re right.

“I have experienced it in my career where we have had different dry spells, and we’ll get the car going well, and I’ll make a mistake, or the car going well and we have a bad pit stop, or just unlucky, and it takes a little while — I can’t explain why or how, but it takes a little while to get the momentum rolling in the right direction, and I think today was — the last two days was a big step in the right direction for us.”

Not to be outdone by his teammate, Bowman piloted a career-best fifth-place finish at Bristol — an accomplishment he hopes the No. 88 team can build on heading into Richmond as he looks for his first career win at the sport’s highest level.

The 24-year-old driver improved three spots from his eighth-place qualifying position, and is currently 13th in the series standings.

“… Just thankful for driving for Hendrick Motorsports,” Bowman said post-race. “It’s been a lot of fun finally getting some good runs going our way. It’s been cool. To run fifth, it’s not a great day, but it’s better than what we started the year doing. We are making progress, making steps in the right direction and just got to keep doing that.”

Rookie William Byron finished 18th in his first premier-series showing at Bristol. Chase Elliott, who was involved in an early wreck on Sunday, finished 29th to round out the Hendrick Motorsports stable.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Everyone knows Kyle Busch as “Rowdy,” but you could also call him “The Postman,” given that neither rain, snow, sleet nor hail could keep him from completing his appointed rounds at Bristol Motor Speedway.

 

Executing a textbook bump-and-run against runner-up Kyle Larson on Lap 495 of 500, Kyle Busch pulled away to win Monday’s weather-delayed Food City 500, claiming his second straight victory of 2018 and his seventh win at Thunder Valley, most among active drivers.

 

In a race delayed by rain after 204 laps on Sunday—then prefaced by sleet on Monday—Busch, the pole winner, claimed the 45th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory of his career, breaking a tie with NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott for 16th on the all-time win list.

 

Larson, who led a race-high 200 laps, held the top spot after a restart on Lap 479, following the 13th caution of the race for Brad Keselowski’s contact with the outside wall off Turn 2. Busch charged past eventual fourth-place finisher Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on Lap 485 and took off in pursuit of Larson.

 

As the drivers worked traffic, Busch got to Larson’s bumper and nudged the No. 42 Chevrolet in Turns 1 and 2. The coup de grace came in Turns 3 and 4, where Busch’s No. 18 Toyota pushed Larson’s Chevy up the track, with Busch diving underneath for the lead.

RELATED: Race results | Series standings | At-track gallery | Shop Kyle Busch gear

The final caution was a godsend for Busch, who thought he had a tire going flat and was preparing to pit.

 

“We weren’t quite as good as the 42 (Larson) on that long run before that last caution came out,” said Busch, who led 117 laps in the two-day affair. “I actually thought I had a tire going down, but we were able to get some tires on it and go give it everything we had.

 

“We had a 20-lap shootout, and that was everything it was about right there, just chasing down that 42 and being able to get there.”

 

The final pit stop proved critical, because Busch had the superior car after the final restart.

 

“It was the best right at the end,” said Busch, who won his second straight Cup race at Bristol. “I know Larson was a little bit loose right there. It seemed like he was over-driving and trying to hold the bottom, but he was slipping out of the bottom, and I got a huge run on him and got to him and it was just on.

 

“I knew I might as well just take the opportunity that I got right now. I knew it was a little early ‘cause you tend to try to want to think about saving that bump-and-run deal for the last lap, but I just took my chance with it, and if he got back to my rear bumper, then so be it. I think that’s fair game, being able to race that way. Fortunately, I was able to run away from him and he couldn’t get back to me.”

 

Finishing second to Busch at Bristol has become an annoying habit for Larson, who crossed the finish line .628 seconds behind the No. 18 on Monday. On three previous occasions in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, 2013 through 2015, Larson ran second to Busch at Thunder Valley.

RELATED: Larson comes oh-so-close to victory | See every spring race winner at Bristol 

 

“I’ve been beat by Kyle about every time I race here, too, so that gets frustrating after a while,” Larson said. “As soon as we restarted there, I was extremely loose. The No. 17 (Stenhouse) got to my inside. I just really didn’t have any grip.

 

“I thought it would tighten up for me and I could get going, but it never really did, and I was just really loose. I hate that I didn’t win. It’s another one at Bristol. I feel like every time I race here I almost get a win.”

 

Seven-time series champion Jimmie Johnson ran third, posting his first top five of the season after starting from the rear because of a tire change after qualifying. Alex Bowman, Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, finished a career-best fifth.

 

Aric Almirola, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano and Ryan Newman completed the top 10.

 

Busch expanded his series lead to 59 points over second-place Logano. Monday marked the first time a series leader had won at Bristol since Dale Earnhardt accomplished the feat in 1987, when he swept both Bristol races as the points leader.

Posted on by Staff Report

A Bristol breakthrough? More like a Bristol bummer.

Chip Ganassi Racing driver Kyle Larson looked to have the best car in the field at several points during Monday’s weather-delayed race at Bristol Motor Speedway, but he couldn’t hold off a hard-charging Kyle Busch at the end.

Busch executed a bump-and-run on Larson with six laps remaining at Bristol Motor Speedway, then held on as Larson desperately tried to catch him in a frenzied finish at the .533-mile track.

RELATED: Busch wins at Bristol | At-track photos | See the spin Larson overcame

It was a moment of heartbreak for Larson, who led a race-high 200 laps but had to settle for second.

“I hate that I didn’t win,” Larson said after emerging from his Chevrolet. “I feel like every time I race here I almost get a win. I’ve been beat by Kyle about every time I race here, too, so that gets frustrating after a while.”

Larson was the leader at Lap 204 when the race was halted from its Sunday start and pushed to a Monday finish. Larson was in position to post his first stage win of the season, but Brad Keselowski scooted past him on Lap 244 to lead at the halfway mark.

Busch led 117 laps after starting from the Busch Pole, winning for the second consecutive race. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver won last week at Texas Motor Speedway.

Posted on by Staff Report

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series head to Richmond Raceway, while the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is off. Check out the tentative full schedule below, subject to change.

Note: All times are ET

Saturday, April 21
Race-day schedule
4:30 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Driver/Crew Chief meeting
5:59 p.m.: Intro Grand Marshal: Lauren Fulcher
6 p.m.: Driver Introductions
6:27 p.m.: Pledge of Alliance: Cool Springs Baptist Church Cub and Boy Scout Park 521
6:27 p.m.: God Bless America: Sophia Nadder
6:30 p.m.: Invocation: Chaplain Col. Terry Romine
6:31 p.m.: National Anthem: Elliott Yamin
6:37 p.m.: “Drivers Start Your Engines” by: Lauren Fulcher
6:44 p.m.: Green flag for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Owners 400 (400 laps, 300 miles), FOX (Canada: TSN 1, 4) (Results)

Press Pass (Watch live)
9:30 p.m.: Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race

Friday, April 20
8-8:45 a.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series first practice (Results)
9:40-10:25 a.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series final practice, FS1 (Canada: TSN GO) (Results)
11:05-11:55 a.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series first practice, FS1 (Canada: TSN GO) (Results)
12:35-1:25 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, FS1 (Canada: TSN GO) (Results)
4:05 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series qualifying, FS1 (Canada: TSN GO) (Results)
5:30 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Busch Pole Qualifying, FS1 (Canada: TSN 3) (Results)
7 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series ToyotaCare 250 (250 laps, 187.5 miles), FS1 (Canada: TSN 3) (Results)

Press Pass (Watch live)
10 a.m.: Kyle Larson
10:15 a.m.: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
10:50 a.m.: Justin Allgaier, Spencer Gallagher and Elliott Sadler
2:05 p.m.: Daniel Hemric
2:20 p.m.: Kyle Busch
4 p.m.: Denny Hamlin
6:15 p.m.: Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying
9:15 p.m.: Post-NASCAR Xfinity Series race

 

Posted on by Staff Report

Monday’s resumption of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Food City 500 has been delayed by inclement weather at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Just 204 of the scheduled 500 laps were completed Sunday afternoon before rain bumped the remainder to a 1 p.m. ET start (FOX, PRN, SiriusXM) Monday. But rain mixed with wintry precipitation late in the morning, plus a cloudburst just 20 minutes before the scheduled restart, have placed the race’s resumption on hold.

RELATED: Race leaderboard | At-track photos

Kyle Larson will be scored as the leader when the race resumes with 46 laps remaining in the second stage. Larson led 74 laps and had stretched out a significant advantage when rain stopped the event. Four red flags slowed Sunday’s action — three for weather, one for crash clean-up.

NASCAR officials announced Monday morning that the track would attempt to re-apply a light coat of PJ1 traction compound if time and weather conditions allowed. Teams also were granted the option for an extra set of new or scuffed tires for the remainder of the event.

MORE: Weather updates

NASCAR has an allotment of eight Air Titan dryers, five jet dryers (three side-draft and two down-draft), two track vacuums, one Elgin sweeper and one tractor broom to prepare the .533-mile track.

Posted on by Holly Cain

The one-day race postponement of Bristol Motor Speedway’s Food City 500 to Monday, combined with unfavorable weather conditions forecast for Michigan International Speedway this week, has forced the rescheduling of a Goodyear tire test.

Goodyear officials have postponed this week’s scheduled Tuesday and Wednesday test at Michigan and will instead hold the session April 24-25.

RELATED: Buy tickets for Michigan

That late April date was originally a planned test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but because the Michigan race weekend is June 8-10 and the Indianapolis race weekend is not until Sept. 7-9, officials decided to reschedule.

“Given the postponement of the Bristol race and the extremely cool conditions forecast for Michigan this week, Goodyear and NASCAR felt it best to reschedule the tire test at MIS until next week,” Goodyear’s Director of Racing Greg Stucker said Monday. “Hopefully this will give us much more representative conditions of what to expect for race time in June (at Michigan.)”

Stucker said the company was hopeful to move the Indianapolis tire test to another date in either June or July.

Martin Truex Jr. (Furniture Row Racing), Alex Bowman (Hendrick Motorsports), Brad Keselowski (Penske Racing), Austin Dillon (Richard Childress Racing) and Aric Almirola (Stewart-Haas Racing) are scheduled to test at Michigan.

Posted on by Emily Bradley

NASCAR Drive for Diversity driver Rajah Caruth and NASCAR Diversity Internship Program graduate and current Rick Ware Racing engineer Monon Rahman organized the George Floyd 100 – an iRacing event helping raise awareness within the motorsports community about the Black Lives Matter movement. The race will take place Friday night at 8:30 PM ET and will be broadcast on YouTube provided by STN Racing.

Each entrant racing in the George Floyd 100 donated $9 to the Official George Floyd Memorial Fund and as of June 3, the over 101 entrants helped raise $1,286. During the race broadcast there will also be information for viewers to donate to the NAACP Legal Defense fund. Trading Paints will be backing a donation of $1 per unique stream/viewer of the race up to $1,000.

During the race, there will be a competition caution on Lap 20 to have three minutes of silence to signify the three minutes Floyd was unconscious. All iRacing participants have been encouraged to have paint schemes that pay tribute to Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others who have been killed.

Rajah Caruth spent his first season with Rev Racing, participating in the NASCAR Drive for Diversity Youth Development Program, running in the U.S. Legend Car Series. In 2020, In 2020, Caruth will pilot a full-time ride in the Whelen All-American Series as well as participate in the Bojangles Summer Shootout at Charlotte Motor Speedway beginning next week. Caruth is the first driver from a majority iRacing background to be selected for the program. He is a product of the eNASCAR IGNITE Series – a grassroots youth racing platform that identifies drivers without access to traditional racetracks around the world.

Posted on by Staff Report

Brad Keselowski won both stages and did it in a span of over two days in the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Keselowski won an eventful opening stage Sunday, taking the top spot when teammate Ryan Blaney crashed to lead the way at the quarter mark of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race. Then, he took the second stage when the race resumed Monday because of inclement weather.

In Stage 1, Keselowski’s Team Penske No. 2 Ford led just eight of the 125 laps, which featured a handful of crashes and a pair of red flags. Keselowski’s stage win was his second of the season, earning him a playoff point to bank for the postseason.

RELATED: Stage 1 results | Blaney involved in wreck late in Stage 1

Ryan Newman surged to second place, and Clint Bowyer, AJ Allmendinger and Kyle Larson completed the top five on the .533-mile track.

Blaney’s No. 12 Ford led 100 laps before sustaining race-ending damage to the front end during a Lap 117 pile-up. Chris Buescher and Trevor Bayne tangled on the backstraight, collecting Jamie McMurray, Harrison Rhodes and Blaney in their wake.

The race was slowed by two caution periods before the third yellow flag flew because of rain. The first was the largest, a multicar stack-up triggered by Michael McDowell’s spin off Turn 4 on Lap 4. McDowell’s No. 34 Ford collected the cars of Chase Elliott, William Byron, Allmendinger, Martin Truex Jr. and others on the frontstretch.

A solo spin by Allmendinger brought out the second caution. The third yellow flag (which developed into a 25-minute, 25-second red flag for rain) also served as a scheduled competition caution period.

Finish Driver Team Race points
1 Brad Keselowski Team Penske 10
2 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing 9
3 Clint Bowyer Stewart-Haas Racing 8
4 AJ Allmendinger JTG-Daugherty Racing 7
5 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing 6
6 Erik Jones Joe Gibbs Racing 5
7 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports 4
8 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing 3
9 Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Racing 2
10 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing 1

STAGE 2

Keselowski rolled to a Stage 2 victory, his third of the season, Monday afternoon at Bristol Motor Speedway, leading at the halfway point of the Food City 500.

Keselowski swept past second-stage dominator Kyle Larson with six laps left in the 125-lap stage to collect his third stage win of the season. The eighth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of the year is scheduled for 500 laps.

RELATED: Stage 2 results | At-track photos

Pole-starter Kyle Busch took second place at the drop of the green-checkered flag. Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin and Larson completed the top five.

The stage took place over two days, as intermittent rain Sunday afternoon suspended the race until Monday with 204 laps complete. Larson was leader at that point, having led 74 consecutive laps.

Finish Driver Team Race points
1 Brad Keselowski Team Penske 10
2 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing 9
3 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports 8
4 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing 7
5 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing 6
6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing 5
7 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports 4
8 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing 3
9 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing 2
10 Darrell Wallace Jr. Richard Petty Motorsports 1

 

Posted on by Staff Report

Ryan Blaney’s high hopes for Bristol Motor Speedway ended in a crash near the end of Sunday’s first stage in the Food City 500.

Blaney led twice for 100 laps, but his Team Penske No. 12 Ford was collected when Trevor Bayne and Chris Buescher tangled on the backstretch, clogging the track on Lap 117 of a scheduled 500. Harrison Rhodes and Jamie McMurray also piled in, but Blaney’s front-running car sustained race-ending front-end damage.

RELATED: At-track photos | Big wreck at Bristol on Lap 3

“It’s obviously frustrating when lapped cars wreck and take the leader out. That’s unfortunate,” Blaney said after being checked out at the infield care center. “They weren’t lap-down cars yet, I guess, but I don’t know. I didn’t really see much. By the time I got away from the car right in front of me they were already turned right up the race track and I was already going to the top.

“I kind of saw them spinning low and I thought that top was gonna be OK and then they slid back up and got us. That stinks. I thought we had a good car and nothing to show for it.”

RELATED: Blaney comments after Bristol crash

Blaney was in position to clinch his third stage win of the season, but teammate Brad Keselowski took over the top spot and held on for his second stage victory of 2018.

Bayne continued after the contact, but Buescher and Rhodes were sidelined for the rest of the day.

“Unfortunately, I hate that it did collect Blaney and everybody involved,” Buescher said. “I hate that we all got a bunch of torn-up race cars. All three or four of us were trying to get clear of one car for a long time and it got very frustrating. The top (groove) was coming in. It was exciting, I think it’s going to be a great race to the end. I’m just pissed off that we are not participating anymore.”

The clean-up forced the second red flag of the cool, damp day at the .533-mile track. The red flag period lasted six minutes.