It was the second time in three races Pocono’s Sunday race ended on a Monday three weeks ago that rain impacted a Sprint Cup race and only a fraction of the 160,000 in the stands Saturday night returned for the conclusion.
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Stewart has always been fond of Bristol, but the retiring driver’s last race here was thrown off by frequent vibration in his auto that forced the team to go back to the garage early in the second half of Sunday’s race.
After the wreck and the restart of the race, Joey Logano (No. 22) was considered as the new leader.
Harvick lost the lead to Hamlin on pit road during a caution just past lap 400, but a few laps after the restart, he moved back into the lead and remained up front the rest of the way.
The 8 p.m. start was delayed more than an hour, then the race was red-flagged for almost 90 minutes after 38 laps. He didn’t get into it the right way, causing him to crash in front of the field and taking some strong drivers – Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney and Matt Kenseth – with him. Pole-sitter Carl Edwards slid to seventh. The No. 46 Chevrolet driven by Justin Allgaier, who was filling in with Michael Annett out sick, plowed into the front of Busch’s damaged auto.
The future of Richard Childress Racing has yet to be announced, and it’s anyone’s guess what the 2017 Sprint Cup and XFINITY Series stables will look like.
A few laps later, eventual race victor Kevin Harvick used an old Bristol staple, the bump-and-run move to boot Jimmie Johnson from the bottom line and take the position.
It kind of motivates me, Harvick said Sunday.
While Keselowski’s tactic to many diehards was just a traditional Bristol bump-and-run, it’s sure to stir up a Busch-Keselowski tussle that frequently goes from zero-to-60 in seconds. The race was red-flagged due to rain. “That’s how we’re going to treat it and if that’s not good enough, then we’ll go back to the drawing board”. He led 100 or more laps six times, yet only twice could he convert to those wins (Bristol, Phoenix). “(I was) holding on for my dear life there at the end”.
The water-logged Sprint Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway was called after just 48 of 500 laps were run because of rainstorms throughout Saturday night. I like to pass cars.. He had a vibration early in the race and had to pit, losing two laps, and then had a wheel come loose and had to head to the garage for repairs. I hate it for my guys.
Harvick, who came from the 24th starting position for the victory, noted that his 2005 Bristol win came after he started 43rd even though he qualified 13th. “It’s something we have to address”. I really just want to applaud the racetrack for the effort that they made this weekend to get that bottom groove working so we had multiple grooves of racing. “Yeah, there’s been a couple race tracks where they beat us, but I don’t think I could count more than three races that I thought that we wouldn’t have been in contention to win”.
Brad Keselowski, who was running third at the time, had nowhere to go but into Kurt Busch’s auto.
“I’ll really miss racing at this place”, said Stewart.
“I think we have a good plan”, Harvick said.
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While Childers agreed with the importance of the timing of this race win, winning at Bristol makes the victory that much sweeter. It was one of those Bristol things..
