'Thunder Valley'?
Full_031411_nascar_GHNS_7.qxd:Layout 1
3/14/11
1:34 PM
Page 1
NASCARRundown BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
BRISTOL
101
What have 100 previous Cup races taught us about 'Thunder Valley'?
Kyle Busch Why he matters He’s won three of Bristol’s last four Cup races. What he says “Bristol is a place I expect to run well at.” What the numbers say No wonder; toss his rookie season, and his average Bristol finish is 5.1.
ABOUT BRISTOL
SOMEONE WILL BE UPSET You can’t cram 43 cars onto a half-mile track, with drivers clicking off laps at roughly 15 seconds a pop, without tempers boiling over. “This is certainly one of the most volatile tracks we go to as far as stuff happening — getting into a wreck that you didn’t cause, causing a wreck, things like that,” says Jeff Burton. Adds Kurt Busch, “You have to be cool during the race. There are so many adrenalin-packed things that happen at Bristol, whether it’s guys bumping into you from behind or guys checking up three or four cars in front of you and you running into them or getting pushed into them.”
TRACK POSITION WILL BE VITAL Although passing has gotten a bit easier since the track was repaved in 2007, progress at Bristol can still be torturously slow, particularly for drivers who qualify poorly. Make a slight mistake during qualifying on a superspeedway, and you can make up for it. But at Bristol the laps are so short that “if you miss it just a little bit (in qualifying) there’s Greg Biffle pit stop. JASON 20 guys (ahead of) you,” says Kurt SMITH/GETTY IMAGES FOR NASCAR Busch. And that deficit can take ages to overcome under race conditions. To compound the problem, any mistake in the pits, from a fumbled lug nut to a speeding penalty, can instantly turn a contender into an also-ran. “I’m very self-conscious not to get caught speeding entering pit road,” says Jamie McMurray. “A pass-through (penalty) here would just end your day.”
BY ROB SNEDDON | GATEHOUSE NEWS SERVICE
THE CREAM WILL RISE
ristol Motor Speedway has undergone dramatic changes in its 50 years. When it opened in July 1961, the track was asphalt. Its banking was a relatively modest 18 degrees. Fred Lorenzen won the pole with a speed of 79.225 mph. The stands, which were open at both ends, held just 25,000 people. Flash forward to 2011. Bristol is now a high-banked (30+ degrees) concrete bowl that produces dizzying speeds. (Kurt Busch holds the track record, 128.709 mph.) Walled in by towering grandstands, the halfmile track has a seating capacity of 160,000. And, yet, some things are much the same. The inaugural Cup race at Bristol was a test of survival. The eight caution flags consumed more than 75 laps. Only 19 of 42 starters finished, and none escaped damage. Junior Johnson had his door torn off in a crash, yet managed to maintain the lead “after plugging the hole with something resembling a table top,” according to one account. And while its unlikely that any team will have a table top handy this weekend, the 101st Cup race at Bristol could follow a similar story line. Here’s what to expect.
Sprint Cup champions have won 74 of the 100 races run at Bristol. The list includes Darrell Waltrip, who heads the all-time list with 12 wins; Cale Yarborough, Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Rusty Wallace, who each won nine; and David Pearson, Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch, who each won five. (Gordon and Busch are the active leaders.) That helps explain why Jimmie Johnson, defending champion of this weekend’s race, was so excited last March when he made it to Victory Lane. He may have won multiple Cup championships, but he had never won at Bristol before. “When a track kicks your butt for so long and you finally can win at that track, there's just something really (gratifying) about that,” says Johnson. His crew chief, Chad Knaus, sounds almost like a kung fu master as he describes the level of enlightenment necessary to succeed at Bristol. “Before, it was like we were almost flying blind,” Knaus says. “(Jimmie) was out there chewing on the steering wheel, going as fast as he could, throwing the car around. The really good guys — the Busch brothers, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart — they feel the racetrack, get the rhythm and momentum, understand what's going on. Jimmie started to get that.”
B
ONE TO WATCH
TRACK Bristol Motor Speedway (Bristol, Tenn.), .533-mile highbanked paved oval RACE LENGTH 500 laps, 266.5 miles FIRST RACE 1961 SERIES NASCAR Sprint Cup
Quote of note “I’m really glad I came.” – Kasey Kahne, winless in Sprint Cup since 2009, after winning the Too Tough To Tame 200 truck series race at Darlington last Saturday, on an “off” weekend for Cup drivers.
Where to watch Sunday’s pre-race show on Fox starts at 12:30 p.m. EDT, followed by the race at 1.
UP TO SPEED
On the short list A top-10 finish brings a greater sense of accomplishment at Bristol, which is often strewn with wreckage after 500 laps than at most Sprint Cup tracks. It’s surprising, then, that Kyle Busch — a driver known for his win-it-or-wear-it style — would have the highest career percentage of top-10 finishes at Bristol among active drivers. The worst? Among the current top 10 in Cup points, A.J. Allmendinger has no top-10s in seven career-Bristol starts. But he has a long way to go to catch Joe Nemechek, who is 0 for 29, with a best finish of 12th in 2005.
TV bears watching Although the spike in gas prices may hurt race attendance as the season progresses, TV viewership has been trending upwards. On average, ratings for Fox’s Sprint Cup broadcasts have been 17 percent higher than last season. “We're obviously pleased we’re up dramatically in our ratings,” said NASCAR chairman Brian France. “The general interest level is going up and that's what we’re going to be working on — creating new fans.”
Milestone
Bristol Motor Speedway.
Kurt Busch, who shares the Sprint Cup points lead with Tony Stewart, made the field for the NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., last weekend in his professional dragracing debut. Busch topped out at 211.46 in Pro Stock qualifying, which put him into the elimination round against Erica Enders — who promptly eliminated him. Said Enders, who was unfazed by the prospect of facing a NASCAR guest star, “When you put the helmet on, everything’s equal. It doesn’t matter if it’s Kurt Busch or George Bush.”
GETTY IMAGES FOR NASCAR
WEEKLY STATS NEXT RACE
PAST WINNERS « 2010 Jimmie Johnson 2009 Kyle Busch 2008 Jeff Burton 2007 Kyle Busch 2006 Kyle Busch
JEFF BYRD 500, BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
THE LOWDOWN Longtime sponsor Food City has agreed to rename this weekend’s Sprint Cup race in honor of Bristol’s late president and general manager, who died last October at age 60. The race is officially called the Jeff Byrd 500 presented by Food City. Byrd had been with the track since 1996, when it was acquired by Speedway Motorsports. FEB 12 Budweiser Shootout
1st Kurt Busch
2nd Jamie McMurray 3rd Ryan Newman
JUL 9
Kentucky 400
12
9
75%
M. Kenseth
22
14
64%
3
G. Biffle
16
10
63%
4
K. Busch
20
12
60%
5(tie)
J. Gordon
36
20
56%
Brooklyn, Mich.
5
R. Newman
18
10
56%
K. Harvick
20
11
55%
1st Trevor Bayne
2nd Carl Edwards
3rd David Gilliland
JUL 17 Lenox 301
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Loudon, N.H.
2nd Kyle Busch
3rd Jimmie Johnson
JUL 31
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Speedway, Ind.
1st Carl Edwards
Bristol Motor Speedway
MAR 27 Auto Club 500
2nd Tony Stewart
Auto Club Speedway
3rd Juan P. Montoya
AUG 7 Pennsylvania 500
Pocono Raceway
Long Pond, Pa.
Bristol, Tenn.
AUG 14 Heluva Good! at the Glen
Watkins Glen International
Watkins Glen, N.Y.
Fontana, Calif.
AUG 21 Michigan 400
Michigan International Speedway
Starts Top10s PCT
K. Busch
1st Jeff Gordon
MAR 6 Kobalt Tools 400
Driver
2
Sparta, Ky.
FEB 20 Daytona 500
MAR 20 Jeff Byrd 500
Rank
1 Kentucky Speedway
FEB 27 Subway 500
Brickyard 400
Percentage of top-10 finishes at Bristol
APR 3
Goody’s 500
Martinsville Speedway
Martinsville, Va.
AUG 27 Irwin Tools Night Race
Bristol Motor Speedway
Bristol, Tenn.
7
APR 9
Samsung 500
Texas Motor Speedway
Fort Worth, Texas
SEP 4
Atlanta Motor Speedway
Hampton, Ga.
8
D. Earnhardt Jr.
22
12
55%
Talladega Superspeedway
Talladega, Ala.
SEP 10 One Last Race to Make the Chase Richmond International Raceway
Richmond, Va.
9
M. Martin
44
23
53%
APR 30 Crown Royal 400
Richmond International Raceway
Richmond, Va.
SEP 18 Chicagoland Speedway 400
Chicagoland Speedway
Joliet, Ill.
10(tie) J. Johnson
18
9
50%
MAY 7
Darlington Raceway
Darlington, S.C.
SEP 25 Sylvania 300
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Loudon, N.H.
10
C. Bowyer
10
5
50%
MAY 15 Dover 400
Dover International Speedway
Dover, Del.
OCT 2
Dover International Speedway
Dover, Del.
10
D. Hamlin
10
5
50%
MAY 21 Sprint All-Star Race
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Concord, N.C.
OCT 9 Kansas 400
Kansas Speedway
Kansas City, Kan.
10
M. Ambrose
4
2
50%
MAY 29 Coca-Cola 600
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Concord, N.C.
OCT 15 Bank of America 500
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Concord, N.C.
JUN 5
Kansas Speedway
Kansas City, Kan.
OCT 23 Talladega 500
Talladega Superspeedway
Talladega, Ala.
14
J. Burton
34
14
41%
15
C. Edwards
13
5
38%
APR 17 Aaron’s 499
Showtime So. 500
Kansas Speedway 400
Labor Day Classic 500
AAA 400
JUN 12 Pocono 500
Pocono Raceway
Long Pond, Pa.
OCT 30 Goody’s 500
Martinsville Speedway
Martinsville, Va.
JUN 19 Heluva Good! 400
Michigan International Speedway
Brooklyn, Mich.
NOV 6 AAA Texas 500
Texas Motor Speedway
Fort Worth, Texas
16
J. McMurray
16
6
38%
JUN 26 Toyota/Save Mart 350
Infineon Raceway
Sonoma, Calif.
NOV 13 Kobalt Tools 500
Phoenix International Raceway
Avondale, Ariz.
17
K. Kahne
14
5
36%
JUL 2
Daytona International Speedway
Daytona Beach, Fla.
NOV 20 Ford 400
Homestead-Miami Speedway
Homestead, Fla.
18
T. Stewart
24
8
33%
Coke Zero 400
3/14/11
1:34 PM
Page 1
NASCARRundown BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
BRISTOL
101
What have 100 previous Cup races taught us about 'Thunder Valley'?
Kyle Busch Why he matters He’s won three of Bristol’s last four Cup races. What he says “Bristol is a place I expect to run well at.” What the numbers say No wonder; toss his rookie season, and his average Bristol finish is 5.1.
ABOUT BRISTOL
SOMEONE WILL BE UPSET You can’t cram 43 cars onto a half-mile track, with drivers clicking off laps at roughly 15 seconds a pop, without tempers boiling over. “This is certainly one of the most volatile tracks we go to as far as stuff happening — getting into a wreck that you didn’t cause, causing a wreck, things like that,” says Jeff Burton. Adds Kurt Busch, “You have to be cool during the race. There are so many adrenalin-packed things that happen at Bristol, whether it’s guys bumping into you from behind or guys checking up three or four cars in front of you and you running into them or getting pushed into them.”
TRACK POSITION WILL BE VITAL Although passing has gotten a bit easier since the track was repaved in 2007, progress at Bristol can still be torturously slow, particularly for drivers who qualify poorly. Make a slight mistake during qualifying on a superspeedway, and you can make up for it. But at Bristol the laps are so short that “if you miss it just a little bit (in qualifying) there’s Greg Biffle pit stop. JASON 20 guys (ahead of) you,” says Kurt SMITH/GETTY IMAGES FOR NASCAR Busch. And that deficit can take ages to overcome under race conditions. To compound the problem, any mistake in the pits, from a fumbled lug nut to a speeding penalty, can instantly turn a contender into an also-ran. “I’m very self-conscious not to get caught speeding entering pit road,” says Jamie McMurray. “A pass-through (penalty) here would just end your day.”
BY ROB SNEDDON | GATEHOUSE NEWS SERVICE
THE CREAM WILL RISE
ristol Motor Speedway has undergone dramatic changes in its 50 years. When it opened in July 1961, the track was asphalt. Its banking was a relatively modest 18 degrees. Fred Lorenzen won the pole with a speed of 79.225 mph. The stands, which were open at both ends, held just 25,000 people. Flash forward to 2011. Bristol is now a high-banked (30+ degrees) concrete bowl that produces dizzying speeds. (Kurt Busch holds the track record, 128.709 mph.) Walled in by towering grandstands, the halfmile track has a seating capacity of 160,000. And, yet, some things are much the same. The inaugural Cup race at Bristol was a test of survival. The eight caution flags consumed more than 75 laps. Only 19 of 42 starters finished, and none escaped damage. Junior Johnson had his door torn off in a crash, yet managed to maintain the lead “after plugging the hole with something resembling a table top,” according to one account. And while its unlikely that any team will have a table top handy this weekend, the 101st Cup race at Bristol could follow a similar story line. Here’s what to expect.
Sprint Cup champions have won 74 of the 100 races run at Bristol. The list includes Darrell Waltrip, who heads the all-time list with 12 wins; Cale Yarborough, Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Rusty Wallace, who each won nine; and David Pearson, Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch, who each won five. (Gordon and Busch are the active leaders.) That helps explain why Jimmie Johnson, defending champion of this weekend’s race, was so excited last March when he made it to Victory Lane. He may have won multiple Cup championships, but he had never won at Bristol before. “When a track kicks your butt for so long and you finally can win at that track, there's just something really (gratifying) about that,” says Johnson. His crew chief, Chad Knaus, sounds almost like a kung fu master as he describes the level of enlightenment necessary to succeed at Bristol. “Before, it was like we were almost flying blind,” Knaus says. “(Jimmie) was out there chewing on the steering wheel, going as fast as he could, throwing the car around. The really good guys — the Busch brothers, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart — they feel the racetrack, get the rhythm and momentum, understand what's going on. Jimmie started to get that.”
B
ONE TO WATCH
TRACK Bristol Motor Speedway (Bristol, Tenn.), .533-mile highbanked paved oval RACE LENGTH 500 laps, 266.5 miles FIRST RACE 1961 SERIES NASCAR Sprint Cup
Quote of note “I’m really glad I came.” – Kasey Kahne, winless in Sprint Cup since 2009, after winning the Too Tough To Tame 200 truck series race at Darlington last Saturday, on an “off” weekend for Cup drivers.
Where to watch Sunday’s pre-race show on Fox starts at 12:30 p.m. EDT, followed by the race at 1.
UP TO SPEED
On the short list A top-10 finish brings a greater sense of accomplishment at Bristol, which is often strewn with wreckage after 500 laps than at most Sprint Cup tracks. It’s surprising, then, that Kyle Busch — a driver known for his win-it-or-wear-it style — would have the highest career percentage of top-10 finishes at Bristol among active drivers. The worst? Among the current top 10 in Cup points, A.J. Allmendinger has no top-10s in seven career-Bristol starts. But he has a long way to go to catch Joe Nemechek, who is 0 for 29, with a best finish of 12th in 2005.
TV bears watching Although the spike in gas prices may hurt race attendance as the season progresses, TV viewership has been trending upwards. On average, ratings for Fox’s Sprint Cup broadcasts have been 17 percent higher than last season. “We're obviously pleased we’re up dramatically in our ratings,” said NASCAR chairman Brian France. “The general interest level is going up and that's what we’re going to be working on — creating new fans.”
Milestone
Bristol Motor Speedway.
Kurt Busch, who shares the Sprint Cup points lead with Tony Stewart, made the field for the NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., last weekend in his professional dragracing debut. Busch topped out at 211.46 in Pro Stock qualifying, which put him into the elimination round against Erica Enders — who promptly eliminated him. Said Enders, who was unfazed by the prospect of facing a NASCAR guest star, “When you put the helmet on, everything’s equal. It doesn’t matter if it’s Kurt Busch or George Bush.”
GETTY IMAGES FOR NASCAR
WEEKLY STATS NEXT RACE
PAST WINNERS « 2010 Jimmie Johnson 2009 Kyle Busch 2008 Jeff Burton 2007 Kyle Busch 2006 Kyle Busch
JEFF BYRD 500, BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
THE LOWDOWN Longtime sponsor Food City has agreed to rename this weekend’s Sprint Cup race in honor of Bristol’s late president and general manager, who died last October at age 60. The race is officially called the Jeff Byrd 500 presented by Food City. Byrd had been with the track since 1996, when it was acquired by Speedway Motorsports. FEB 12 Budweiser Shootout
1st Kurt Busch
2nd Jamie McMurray 3rd Ryan Newman
JUL 9
Kentucky 400
12
9
75%
M. Kenseth
22
14
64%
3
G. Biffle
16
10
63%
4
K. Busch
20
12
60%
5(tie)
J. Gordon
36
20
56%
Brooklyn, Mich.
5
R. Newman
18
10
56%
K. Harvick
20
11
55%
1st Trevor Bayne
2nd Carl Edwards
3rd David Gilliland
JUL 17 Lenox 301
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Loudon, N.H.
2nd Kyle Busch
3rd Jimmie Johnson
JUL 31
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Speedway, Ind.
1st Carl Edwards
Bristol Motor Speedway
MAR 27 Auto Club 500
2nd Tony Stewart
Auto Club Speedway
3rd Juan P. Montoya
AUG 7 Pennsylvania 500
Pocono Raceway
Long Pond, Pa.
Bristol, Tenn.
AUG 14 Heluva Good! at the Glen
Watkins Glen International
Watkins Glen, N.Y.
Fontana, Calif.
AUG 21 Michigan 400
Michigan International Speedway
Starts Top10s PCT
K. Busch
1st Jeff Gordon
MAR 6 Kobalt Tools 400
Driver
2
Sparta, Ky.
FEB 20 Daytona 500
MAR 20 Jeff Byrd 500
Rank
1 Kentucky Speedway
FEB 27 Subway 500
Brickyard 400
Percentage of top-10 finishes at Bristol
APR 3
Goody’s 500
Martinsville Speedway
Martinsville, Va.
AUG 27 Irwin Tools Night Race
Bristol Motor Speedway
Bristol, Tenn.
7
APR 9
Samsung 500
Texas Motor Speedway
Fort Worth, Texas
SEP 4
Atlanta Motor Speedway
Hampton, Ga.
8
D. Earnhardt Jr.
22
12
55%
Talladega Superspeedway
Talladega, Ala.
SEP 10 One Last Race to Make the Chase Richmond International Raceway
Richmond, Va.
9
M. Martin
44
23
53%
APR 30 Crown Royal 400
Richmond International Raceway
Richmond, Va.
SEP 18 Chicagoland Speedway 400
Chicagoland Speedway
Joliet, Ill.
10(tie) J. Johnson
18
9
50%
MAY 7
Darlington Raceway
Darlington, S.C.
SEP 25 Sylvania 300
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Loudon, N.H.
10
C. Bowyer
10
5
50%
MAY 15 Dover 400
Dover International Speedway
Dover, Del.
OCT 2
Dover International Speedway
Dover, Del.
10
D. Hamlin
10
5
50%
MAY 21 Sprint All-Star Race
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Concord, N.C.
OCT 9 Kansas 400
Kansas Speedway
Kansas City, Kan.
10
M. Ambrose
4
2
50%
MAY 29 Coca-Cola 600
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Concord, N.C.
OCT 15 Bank of America 500
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Concord, N.C.
JUN 5
Kansas Speedway
Kansas City, Kan.
OCT 23 Talladega 500
Talladega Superspeedway
Talladega, Ala.
14
J. Burton
34
14
41%
15
C. Edwards
13
5
38%
APR 17 Aaron’s 499
Showtime So. 500
Kansas Speedway 400
Labor Day Classic 500
AAA 400
JUN 12 Pocono 500
Pocono Raceway
Long Pond, Pa.
OCT 30 Goody’s 500
Martinsville Speedway
Martinsville, Va.
JUN 19 Heluva Good! 400
Michigan International Speedway
Brooklyn, Mich.
NOV 6 AAA Texas 500
Texas Motor Speedway
Fort Worth, Texas
16
J. McMurray
16
6
38%
JUN 26 Toyota/Save Mart 350
Infineon Raceway
Sonoma, Calif.
NOV 13 Kobalt Tools 500
Phoenix International Raceway
Avondale, Ariz.
17
K. Kahne
14
5
36%
JUL 2
Daytona International Speedway
Daytona Beach, Fla.
NOV 20 Ford 400
Homestead-Miami Speedway
Homestead, Fla.
18
T. Stewart
24
8
33%
Coke Zero 400
