And since we’ve already given you our tailgating tips for Bristol, here’s an encore helping of Fast Facts about the racetrack itself. He knows these guys are peaking at the right time now. Six of the last eight Bristol winners have started from the top two positions….
Advertisement
The No. 20 Toyota driver notched his second win in the last three races after visiting Victory Lane at Michigan worldwide Speedway. It allowed Busch to sail past the leader on the restart for his eighth series victory at Bristol.
Dillon won the pole for the Daytona 500 last season and finished fifth at Daytona in another race there in July, but that was his only top-five finish until Sunday. Harvick hasn’t won at Bristol since 2005 under the old single-groove layout, but the chassis he’s using this week has great pedigree. In short confined areas like Bristol, you don’t want to give anyone and excuse to punt you because it’s so easy.
Kyle Busch leads all Camping World Truck Series drivers in wins at BMS with four. But he’s going to need some help to hold off Joe Gibbs Racing, whose current drivers have combined to win 13 times at Thunder Valley. Only Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch have as many wins among active drivers on the half-mile high-banked layout. “It was fun. I was trying and giving it everything I had, we were just fortunate it worked out for us”, said Busch. Edwards has always been good at Bristol with three wins and Hamlin has a 2012 win. A group of them –Richard Petty, David Pearson, Bobby Allison, Darrell Waltrip, Yarborough and the recently deceased Buddy Baker – combined for an incredible 574 Cup Series victories, but Earnhardt is more intrigued by the stories of how they prepared for different races.
Jimmie Johnson only has one Bristol win (2010), but has finished fourth or better in past two starts, including runner-up in April.
Kyle’s last Bristol win came in spring of 2011. He was runner-up last fall. It’s obvious he likes this track and he also has some confidence.
Advertisement
“I just really enjoy the simple things, the ways they went to the race and the process of going through race weekend”, he said.
