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.
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Although the Bass Pro Shops Night Race – wasn’t a night race after all – it didn’t disappoint. Fittingly for a race halted because of Saturday night storms, Harvick had to sit out one last rain delay before pulling away on the restart and cruising to victory.
Logano led Harvick and the field to the green on Lap 389. The race was scheduled to begin at 3:09 p.m. Sunday.
The victory was Harvick’s second of the season and second at Bristol – his first in 11 years.
Harvick won a race very much of attrition, then invited his boss, retiring driver Tony Stewart, to join him driving celebratory doughnuts in celebration.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you”, Harvick said over the radio as he crossed the line.
Turns out, the decision to polish the bottom groove of the truns and put resin on them created more of the wild racing which fans have longed for since the track was resurfaced in 2007. Hamlin immediately stole the lead from Edwards by the end of the opening lap once proceedings got under way.
Fellow drivers Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth and Ryan Blaney, among others, also paid a heavy price for Busch’s mistake after he got loose and took a hit from behind by Keselowski, setting off a chain reaction of events that immediately led to Blaney plowing right into the side of Kenseth. “Drove the vehicle at 101%, got loose, and it got away from me”, Busch said. This thing was good from the start of the weekend. That inside with the rosin and the VHT, if you don’t hit it exactly right you lose a lot of time. I got loose off two. I feel really bad for the Monster Energy guys. “Really looking forward to Michigan, probably my best track, so hopefully we can go win one and not have to worry about it for two weeks”. “Frustrating day. Let’s go home”.
“Glad we finally got it in”, said Buescher. “Kinda one of them Bristol things”.
A track dryer works on an area of the track during a rain delay in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race, Saturday, Aug. 20, 2016, in Bristol, Tenn. They raced that way until Busch started having mechanical problems. A frustrated Busch then tossed his helmet into his auto and told CNBC that Allgaier was a “moron” for hitting him.
Busch clearly had the strongest auto, but he spun out on lap 373, when a part in his engine broke, and Justin Allgaier hit him flush.
“It’s a shame”, he said. We’ve had some good cars here over the last few years. “I’m really exhausted of losing races here with [parts failures]”. Michael Annett was sidelined by flu-like symptoms.
“The person that’s the biggest moron out there is the spotter on the 46 and the driver of the 46”, Busch said.
With rain pelting the garage roof at Pocono Raceway and knowing he’d have to wait another day to race, Mikhail Aleshin just shrugged.
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“We’ve had the performance that we’ve needed in the cars nearly every week and it’s been one of those deals where things didn’t go exactly right”.
