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Rain interrupts Bristol race, forces postponement until Sunday

The start of the Sprint Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway has been delayed because of bad weather.

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GOOD LUCK BUESCHER: Rookie Chris Buescher, the surprise victor at Pocono earlier this month, moved into 30th in points which would qualify him for NASCAR’s Chase. But to get back to Victory Lane here at Bristol, it feels really good. Keselowski detailed their rocky relationship on and off track in a blog previous year.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished the race in second-place and he was followed by Hamlin, while Austin Dillon and Chris Buescher rounded out the top five.

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.

“That was a lot of fun”, Buescher said.

Drivers and fans had complained that Bristol had become a top-heavy, one-groove race track where passes were far less frequent than in the bump-and-run days of Darrell Waltrip, Rusty Wallace and the late Intimidator, Dale Earnhardt. I’m exhausted of losing races here because parts are breaking.

“It kind of motivates me”, Harvick said Sunday. That’s the nature of short-track racing.

Busch slowed in traffic on Lap 286 and Harvick blasted by him to take the lead. Kurt Busch had finished on the lead lap of every race this season, the longest streak ever to start a season, according to NBC.

Though rain did briefly stop the race once more, ultimately a Saturday night race turned into your typical mid-Sunday afternoon affair. He took the lead on lap 23 and was up front when the race was halted for the night after the completion of 48 laps.

“We had a vehicle that we had to really work on all day”, a red-faced and worn-out-looking Dillon said on pit road after the race. He previously reported a problem with a shock. But his bid for victory ended on Lap 348 when a suspension failure caused him to crash, which also collected Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Larson, who appeared to have a contending vehicle. Keselowski said Busch got loose, and “by the time I saw it, I was already making contact with him”. Busch said to NASCAR after exiting his No. 18 Toyota Camry. “We’ve been having parts failures here, so something we’ve got to address and fix”. Quote of the Day: “The person that is the real moron out here is the driver of the No.46 and the spotter of the No.46”, Kyle Busch on Justin Allgaier after their accident knocked both from the race. “In the last ten laps, we weren’t racing anybody, so I told myself to just soak it all in”. “I don’t know. Frustrating day”. Along with Edwards, JGR teammates Hamlin was second, Busch was third and Kenseth fifth on Friday. This thing was good from the start of the weekend. “You don’t hit that resin exactly right, you lose a lot of speed”. It’s been a decade since I’ve been to victory lane here, and I know this is the race that he had circled on the calendar every year. He had raced his way back toward the front before being collected in two on-track incidents.

Crew members make their way into Bristol Motor Speedway under threatening skies for a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race, Sunday, Aug. 21, 2016, in Bristol, Tenn. Allgaier was subbing in the No. 46 Chevy for Michael Annett, who sat out the race because of flu-like symptoms. I was really happy with a. Harvick three takes the lead in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings.

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It’s the second time in three races weather has altered the Sprint Cup schedule.

NASCAR via Getty Images