Brad Keselowski sustained damage in the same lap-372 accident that sidelined Kurt Busch, but he was able to coax his vehicle to the end of the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
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Kyle Busch led 256 of the 500 laps in the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race but a bad shock led to a wreck and a 39th place finish.
The Sprint Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway is back underway after a stoppage of almost 90 minutes because of bad weather. That line appeared to be in play periodically in Sunday’s race, but overall the racing appeared to be more in line with what Bristol has produced in recent years – some side-by-side competition with a preferred line near the top of the race track.
In a season that’s been dominated by Toyota racecars, driver Kevin Harvick was able to bring the spotlight back to the bowtie brand with his recent victory at Bristol Motor Speedway. Now, he wants similar tracks to follow that lead.
The No. 4 driver set the pace and led 128 laps to win the weather-delayed Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race almost 24 hours after it was scheduled to finish.
The past few years, Harvick said there was no use taking the low side of the high-banked, concrete track because cars were three-or-four tenths of a second slower. But he spun on Lap 358 when a part broke and Justin Allgaier, driving in relief of Michael Annett, hit the No. 18 auto flush to end the defending series champ’s race.
“It gave everybody an option to do something different, and as a driver, that’s what you want, you want options”, Harvick said.
Harvick pointed out a couple of other similar circuits in need of Bristol’s grippy approach. “We made mistakes, or whatever the case may be, but to get back into victory lane here at Bristol feels really good”. But I think the biggest thing is it’s just short track racing. “It was one of those Bristol things”. “That’s life. I just want to win this race”.
“I don’t even care”, Harvick said. NASCAR and Bristol officials are eager to see the turnout after almost 100,000 turned out for the last race two weeks ago at Watkins Glen. Instead, he went behind the wall with a vibration just past the halfway point. Busch threw his helmet and called both Allgaier and his spotter the “biggest moron (s) out there”.
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There was consolation for the elder Busch brother – he clinched a spot in the Chase for the Championship along with Joey Logano and Martin Truex; Harvick’s win ensured that there won’t be more than 15 winners in the 26-race regular season, so all drivers with one win are in the 16-car Chase assuming they finish in the top 30 in points. Buescher left here 13 points ahead of David Ragan. Earnhardt is scheduled for tests and Hendrick Motorsports will update his status early next week. It didn’t finish that way Sunday.
