SM Staff

For defending race and Sprint Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski, this weekend’s action at the Bristol Motor Speedway arrives at just the right time. Sitting...

The Gen-6 program, NASCAR’s most comprehensive overhaul since 2007, took a giant step toward meeting program goals on Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway. The goals of the Generation 6 program were “to re-establish brand identity among automotive manufacturers, and to provide competitive upgrades in an effort to improve competition in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series.”

In spring of 2007 at Bristol Motor Speedway, NASCAR held the first race for the brand new Gen-5 or “COT” race car as it was known as then. Jeff Gordon sat on the pole that day with a speed of 125.453 mph.

Going to Bristol last August, hugely changed my perspective of that track and why fans love the Bristol Motor Speedway so much. Bristol isn’t just a race track, it’s a community.

Steve Kinser: The 20- time champion has been almost non-existent so far in 2013. Steve has only one top-10 finish in eight starts. The Tony Stewart Racing No.11 machine ranks dead last in team points after Tucson and desperately needs a good run at the Thunderbowl.

Kyle Busch captured the Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Food City 500 Coors Light Pole Award with a lap of 129.535 mph, 14.813 seconds at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday. The qualifying lap also broke the previous track record of 128.995 mph, held by Ryan Newman (2003).

A good sponsor is hard to come by these days and finding a sponsor who will back you up no matter what is even more difficult to find. This season will be Ryan Newman’s last under contract with Stewart-Hass Racing and unless Newman can secure a primary sponsor for next season, he may be forced out of his ride.

The fourth race of the season finds the Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series heading to East Tennessee to take on the half-mile bullring that is Bristol Motor Speedway. After taking on a superspeedway in Daytona, a flat track in Phoenix, and a 1.5 mile intermediate speedway in Las Vegas, these drivers will take on the fourth different track type in as many races and will look to build on early season momentum or try to turn around early season bad luck. Either way, the races at “The Last Great Colosseum” are sure to provide us moments to talk about long after the checkered flag falls.

With rain in the desert setting the field and the Denny Hamlin fine all the talk, here is what else was surprising and not so surprising from the Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Going into a new season, there's always pressure there to get off to a good start. However, when you're with a new team, the pressure is even twice as much. Matt Kenseth admits feeling that pressure when he made the move over to Joe Gibbs Racing. He wanted to be able to show Coach Joe Gibbs that he could live up to the expectations that he would win races and championships.