August 17, 2008
By Kim Roberson
Kim Roberson
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Ahhhh, Bristol. Just the name lets you know that by the end of a night of racing, there will be several cars in pieces, and several drivers seething. Saturday night was no different, with cars leaving carnage across the track in several locations. Drivers who started off with their best positions of the year ended up going at least a lap down by the half-way point.
Cars balancing precariously on the bubble to make the Chase, had their hopes popped.
And when the checkered flag flew, tempers flew with it, and a new rivalry took hold in the NASCAR world.
For the second night in a row, it appeared to be the Kyle Busch show. The kid took advantage of the 42 car holding up the 99 car and it appeared he wasn't looking back. But, as was mentioned several times during the night, the guy who led the most laps in Bristol rarely crossed the finish line first.
Crashes and rough driving are the norm in this small town that straddles the borders of Virginia and Tennessee.
The 48 car, who has been playing hot and cold with success of late, was the first victim of the night. Then A.J. Allmendinger and Martin Truex Jr. tangled after the 1’s tire went flat.
Jeff Burton’s night ended up against the wall, but instead of pointing fingers, he just shrugged and called it “just racing at Bristol”.
Then we had the “big one”, where a spotter errantly clearing the 5 car, left four cars totaled, and Kasey Kahne’s hopes of making the Chase leaking away -- down the track like the coolant from his radiator.
While some of the guys who were battered around complained about the other drivers on the track, the veterans seemed to take the abuse in stride. Tony Stewart commented after Blaney’s accident that “I’m not in nearly as bad a mood as I might sound tonight.”
Looking at this weekend’s race versus Bristol races of past, even with the crashes, there wasn’t as much carnage during the race as there used to be. A lot of the focus was on the Chase and cars making it into the top 12, and several teams commented they wanted to focus on finishing well instead of winning.
Rather, the points were more important than beating the heck out of the other guys to get the trophy.
In a way, points’ racing has taken some of the glimmer off the Bristol night race. It used to be, when you went to Bristol, you came back with the trophy, or you came back with what was left of your car. You either were the one doing the running over, or you were going to be the one that got run over. Now, you may want to win, but if you are anywhere near the border line of the Chase cut off, you worry more about crossing the finish line and not so much where you do it.
Jeff Gordon stated in a pre-recorded interview run near the end of the race that he would be points racing to ensure they qualify for the Chase instead of racing hard for the win.
The fans are not thrilled with the turn of events.
“Chase racing...racing for points. The exact thing the geniuses at NASCAR said they were going to eliminate when they first came up with this dog of a points system. What a joke....” stated my friend Matt as we chatted during the race. Another friend responded “You'd think they would've gotten the hint when drivers start saying at the Daytona 500 that it was a good point’s day!”
That said, in the end, the last re-start led to the most interesting battle for the lead all evening, as Carl Edwards was able to move Kyle Busch out of the way and take off, leaving Kyle’s 18, Denny Hamlin’s 11 and Kevin Harvick’s 29 to battle it out for the finishing order behind him. It was the first real hard racing at the front of the pack that we had seen all night -- but it wasn’t the last of the night.
After the race, Kyle apparently took exception to Carl’s nudge to get him out of the way and tried to run him up into the wall, followed by Carl’s response of spinning him around on the track on his way to do his back flip. Kyle, being Kyle, got out of the car and whined about the way that Carl moved him out of the way. Carl, moments later in Victory Lane, commented that he thought about whether Kyle would have moved him out of the way, agreed that he would have, and then did just that and did what was needed to take the lead. He then reminded everyone about what happened in Richmond where Kyle moved him out of the way in a very similar way.
Sorry Shrubbie, no sympathy there. I actually can’t think of a race recently when you haven’t tried to forcefully move someone out of your way, so complaining about it when someone else does it to you does nothing but make me think that while you are very good at dishing it out, you have a very hard time taking it.
Another friend of mine compared him to her young daughter. “When it goes his way, he is all nice, but when he loses...gads, my kid doesn’t act like that when she loses at something.”
That said, it appears we solidified a rivalry for the remainder of the year.
Next week we head west before coming to my home tack here in Virginia to determine which drivers will be racing for the championship. One thing is for certain…the two guys who finished 1-2 this weekend, and who are currently 1-2 at the top of the standings, will do everything in their power to ensure they are the one holding the trophy in Homestead in 12 weeks.
My guess is that that rivalry will make the remaining races well worth watching.
The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.
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