Saturday night at Bristol is behind us, so what have we learned? First, I was reminded how much I love the action broadcast from that track. Second, I like pack racing. I do not need 20 or 30 cars all bunched together, but seeing four or five on the screen battling for position is pretty cool. Hell, it is downright exciting.
Emotions ran high at Andretti Motorsports as Ryan Hunter-Reay won the race, while teammate Justin Wilson suffered a head injury from a serious crash and was airlifted from the race track.
With lots of discussion and questions about restarts in the drivers’ meeting prior to the race, here is what was surprising and not surprising after the checkered flag flew on the 55Th Annual Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
With Kevin Harvick hounding him mercilessly for 63 laps, Joey Logano kept his No. 22 Team Penske Ford out front after taking the lead on a Lap 438 restart and held on to win Saturday’s Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Helio Castroneves, driver of the No. 3 Shell V-Power Team Penske Chevrolet, scored the pole for the ABC Supply 500, with his two Penske teammates nipping at his heels.
Standing by his No. 60 Ford Mustang post-race, Chris Buescher was visibly upset and reasonably so. Scott Graves had made the perfect call to get Buescher out front, but just a hiccup on the last restart prevented Buescher from visiting victory lane. Instead, he crossed the line in 11th.
"This is home—this is where I’m supposed to be," Busch said, standing outside the car in Victory Lane. "I wish I was here Wednesday night (after the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race), so we could continue the sweep lookout for (Saturday), but that was a second place. Oh, well."
If it’s pole day in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Joe Gibbs Racing must be celebrating. Denny Hamlin powered his No. 11 Toyota around .533-mile Bristol Motor Speedway in 14.602 seconds (131.407 mph) on Friday to win the pole for Saturday's Irwin Tools Night Race (on NBCSN at 7:30 p.m. ET).
Blaney was scored fourth when the cycle completed and showed his strength of maintaining pace the rest of the way to take the checkered flag third with several of the leaders struggling with tire wear down the stretch.
Daniel Suárez, driver of the No. 7 NationsGuard Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Spire Motorsports, ran inside the top 10 for the majority of Sunday’s Goodyear 400.
Josh Berry and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane team put together their strongest stretch in the closing laps of Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway
Justin Bond outlasted an impressive field in the JBS Equipment NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by Elite Motorsports on Sunday at Firebird Motorsports Park
