Results tagged “Bristol Motor Speedway” from Haddock in the Paddock

It's hard to bet against Kyle Busch right now.
So much has changed since he won the Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway last year, and yet, he has to be considered the favorite to win again.
He changed teams, switching from Hendrick Motorsports to Joe Gibbs Racing, changed engine manufacturers, from Chevrolet to Toyota, and changed his image, from reckless upstart to unparalleled talent.
Even the track has changed since he won last year's Cup race at Bristol, the first with NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow.
Busch said he is trying to approach the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Bristol like any other race.
“It’s really no different than any other weekend -- we’re just going to go out there and do the best we can," said Busch, driver of the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. "We’ll see what kind of car we have here at the beginning of practice with the new surface and everything -- being with JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) this year versus the Hendrick (Motorsports) stuff last year. We won this race last year, but it was the old concrete and we didn’t run as well as we wanted to on the new concrete last fall. The 18 car seemed to be OK so that’s something to look forward to and we’ll try to see what we can get when we get out there."
Getting out there has been a challenge. Rain washed out qualifying and shortened the Nationwide Series race. But it doesn't seem to matter with Busch.
His cars have been fast and it looks like he was the one who made the best off-season move.
Before the season started, it was Dale Earnhardt Jr. who was making all the right moves, leaving Dale Earnhardt Inc., heading to Hendrick, with its champion drivers and winning ways.
Nobody seemed to notice Busch made a move to a team with its own rich championship tradition and formula for winning.
It could be Busch is off to a fast start and will burn out at some point. It could be Joe Gibbs Racing will hit some speed bumps and take a step back to two. It could be that Toyota is a one-hit wonder, and Busch's win last week at Atlanta Motor Speedway will be its only win of the year.
Of course, none of those are safe bets. Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota are on a roll and it doesn't look like it's going to slow down any time soon.

Jimmie Johnson will start from the pole Sunday in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
This is the second time this season Johnson, last year's Cup champion, earned the pole because qualifying was rained out. The starting order was determined by owners standings from last year.
And unless Johnson can climb to first place in the Cup standings, it will be the last time he wins the pole by default. He is 13th in the Cup standings heading into Sunday's race.
“It’s going to be nice to have that first pit stall," said Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. "And I don’t really care how we got it. We worked awfully hard last year to be where we are in points. We had a good day in practice today. We didn’t get a chance to make a qualifying run when the rain came. But we’ll take it and move on. It’s the last week for this luxury and we’ll take advantage of it and try to have a good race on Sunday.”
Jeff Gordon, Johnson's teammate at Hendrick, will start second. His team expected qualifying to be rained out and set up the car for race conditions.
“Today was a unique day," said Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. "We were looking at the forecast and the radar and we didn’t think we were going to get qualifying in today. So we did nothing but race runs and I was a little concerned with what was going to take place. I love to qualify here and it’a a fun place. We’ve qualified well here before. But this is a great place to start on Sunday.”
Clin Bowyer, who has been struggling a bit in the first four races of the year and is 16th in the Cup standings, will start the Bristol race third.
“I think we definitely need some practice. We need to pick up some areas," said Bowyer, driver of the No. 07 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. "That’s what’s so hard about this car this season. It’s really been hit or miss for us on the 1.5-miles. We were loose, loose, loose. We could make the front end turn but we couldn’t keep the back end up with it. But we’ve certainly gained a lot of ground last week at Atlanta. I feel confident about that. That path didn’t work. Last year here we were really good. We finished seventh and third I think. We’re looking forward to the race. I think we can get it ironed out and be good.”
Bowyer was eighth in the spring race and third in the fall race at Bristol last year.

New team, new car, new crew, better results.
Kyle Busch won the first Cup race with NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow last year at Bristol Motor Speedway. That turned out to be his only win of 2007, when he was driving the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.
He's already matched his win total from a year ago, giving Joe Gibbs Racing its first win of the season and Toyota its first Cup win since entering the top-tier of NASCAR last year.
Things are going well for Busch. He won last week at Atlanta Motor Speedway and leads the Cup standings after four races.
A lot has changed since Busch won the race at Bristol last year. Even the track went through some upgrades.
“Last year what we learned at Bristol, of course you want to take some of that to the race track again this year," said Busch, driver of the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. "But the first race, the race that I won last year, was still on the old concrete and the old configuration of Bristol, but we learned some stuff in the fall race that helped us some. We didn't run as well as we would have wanted to then. But when we got out front we were able to pull away from the leaders, and that was pretty satisfying."
In six career Cup races at Bristol, Busch has four straight top 10s. He had a second-place finish in 2006 and he finished ninth in his most recent race at Bristol last fall.
"So we just need to make sure that we can go to Bristol and we try to qualify well and keep our car up front, get a good pit selection and be able to keep our car up front like we did this past weekend," Busch said. "I think that's the key with this car is track position. It's more vital than ever before because you can't pass as well as you used to be able to, so you have to be able to keep your car up front all day.”

Of the five drivers for Roush Fenway Racing, Carl Edwards has the wins, but Greg Biffle is the highest ranking driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings after four races.
Biffle, coming off a fourth-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway, is second in the Cup standings, trailing only Kyle Busch.
In all fairness, Edwards would be in the top 12 and among the Chase contenders, if he wasn't penalized by NASCAR for having his car fail a post-race inspection after winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Biffle heads to Bristol Motor Speedway, site of Sunday's Cup race, with six top 10s in 10 career Cup races there. But he has never won a race at Bristol.
“I love racing at Bristol and this weekend I’ll be in both the Nationwide race and the Sprint Cup race, so I can’t wait to get there," said Biffle, driver of the No. 16 Ford for Roush Fenway Racing. "We’re taking a car that we ran well with at Dover last year, and that combined with the way things are going for us this year makes me feel like we’re going to get to victory lane sooner than later."
The car his team is taking to Bristol raced at Dover International Speedway in Delaware last year and finished fourth. Biffle has never finished higher than third in a Cup race at Bristol and that came in 2005.
"I don’t have a win at Bristol and I would love to win there," Biffle said. "It’s a fun track and the fans get a great show every time because there’s not a bad seat in the house.”

“Stay out of trouble and don’t wreck."
That seems like a pretty simple approach to Bristol Motor Speedway, site of Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. But successfully achieving that goal is not always so simple.
"To win you have to be there at the end and with Bristol, like any other short track, the racing is tight and you can easily get into trouble," said Harvick, driver of the No. 29 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. "You just have to stay clean and stay focused. As long as you are there at the end, you have a shot.”
Harvick knows something about winning at Bristol. He has one win at the track, coming in April 2005. The car his team is bringing to Bristol is the same car Harvick raced at Las Vegas Motor Speedway two weeks ago. He finished fourth with it at Vegas.
“Bristol is one of my favorite race tracks," Harvick said. "I enjoy the short track stuff and we’ve always been fortunate to run really well there. We go there with high expectations but you never know what’s going to happen. You can get caught up in a wreck in a hurry and have your day ended. You have to go to Bristol and enjoy it but know that the outcome could be the opposite of what you want it to be.”

Ryan Newman, winner of the Daytona 500, holds the qualifying record at Bristol Motor Speedway and has won two poles at the track, but he has never won a Cup race there.
He has won one race in the Busch Series, now called the Nationwide Series, at Bristol. That came in 2005 when he was teamed with Roy McCauley as crew chief.
McCauley and Newman are together again, this time on the No. 12 Dodge for Penske Racing. In 12 career Cup races at Bristol, Newman has six top 10s and one top five. His best finish came in 2004 when he was second.
“Bristol has always been a game of survival," Newman said. "Everything happens so fast there. It’s really amazing. I learned that in 2003 when I won the pole there. I knew I had a good car, but I never anticipated that I could put down a lap that fast. You just don’t realize how quickly everything happens at Bristol."
The car his team is bringing to Bristol is the same car it tested at Phoenix International Raceway a couple weeks ago. It has never raced.
Newman said he was impressed with the track in last year's race, even though there was a reduction in the bumping and grinding that traditionally happens at Bristol.
"The track is better racing-wise than it ever has been," Newman said. "I think that a lot of the fans are disappointed in the lack of bumping and the lack of pushing that happens now compared to the way it was, but the racing from where I sit is by far better and I look forward to going there. We had a decent run in both the Nationwide and Cup cars there last year and I’m excited about going back there.”

Jeff Burton has finished in the top 15 in the first four races of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. That's good enough for fifth place in the Cup standings.
He finished 10th at Atlanta Motor Speedway, finishing well in what he described as an ill-handling car.
“For the majority of the race we were really, really loose," said Burton, driver of the No. 31 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. "The AT&T Chevy was all over the place. We made adjustments throughout the race and nothing really seemed to work. We were tight for a little bit towards the end of the race, which we seemed to be our best. On the last restart we put on a set of tires that didn't help the handling of the car. It was a good points day for the AT&T Racing team and we'll keep digging and doing our homework.”
The next race for the Cup drivers is Bristol Motor Speedway. Burton finished second last year in this race, the first for NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow.
Kyle Busch was the winner of the first Car of Tomorrow race. But that was in the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.
Busch won Sunday's race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, his first with his new team, Joe Gibbs Racing, and the first for Toyota.