We had a typical Bristol slugfest today, but when the final 69 laps went green Kevin Harvick led 67 of ’em! Harvick survived another wild and wooly short track event at Bristol Motor Speedway today to win the Food City 500 in front of a mere 160,000 fans. We had our customary caution-filled event (14 of them for 115 laps), but Kevin put the RCR Goodwrench Chevy in Victory Lane for the first time since he won at The Brickyard in August of 2003.
Career Win #5 for Harvick ties him for 60th on the all-time win list, ironically enough with Alan Kulwicki (who we lost 13 years ago this weekend). This was win #75 [Jayski Note: actually win #77] for RCR Enterprises, was worth $189,001 from the over $5.3M in posted awards, and puts the #29 team in both the Nextel Challenge as well as on the Winners Circle Plan for 2005.
Elliott Sadler (2nd) had his best finish since he won at California last September.
Tony Stewart (3rd) had his best finish since he won at Watkins Glen last August.
Dale Jarrett (5th) had his best finish since he was 3rd at Talladega last October.
Travis Kvapil (7th) had his career-best finish today. His previous best was 19th at Daytona in February.
Kyle Petty (8th) had his best finish since he was 7th at Homestead in November of 1999.
Terry Labonte (18th) had his best finish since he was 18th at Richmond last September.
Jimmy Spencer (21st) had his best finish since he was 19th at The Brickyard last August.
Hermie Sadler (32nd) had his best finish since he was 23rd at Talladega last October (only 7 races).
STREAKIN…..Jimmie Johnson had 11 Top-10’s in a row.
Greg Biffle has 5 Top-10’s in the last 6 races.
This Week’s Elevator….UP: Operator of the Week is a lonely Kyle Petty (+29). DOWN: The Big Dropper is a tie between Jeff Green (-23) and Ryan Newman (-23), followed by Bobby Hamilton Jr (-21). Looks like Petty Enterprises had ’em covered at both ends of the “Shaft”.
This was the fateful week for those teams hovering around 35th in the Owner Point category, and Jason Leffler’s team is in at 35th this week. Ricky Rudd now joins the “must qualify on time” gang for Martinsville. Mike Wallace is still 13 points out of the Elite 35.
Jimmie Johnson tacked another 12 markers onto his lead over Greg Biffle in the points…it’s now at 94. We’ve now got 30 drivers still above the Mendoza line this week.
Dale Earnhardt Jr advanced the most spots in the standings (26th to 17th), while Casey Mears (17th to 26th) fell the commensurate amount.(more on StockCarFans)(4-3-2005)
