One good gauge as to how entertaining a race has been is by how many upset drivers we have at the end of the event. Today, we had 42 ticked off and one happy…..by all accounts, that makes this the best race of the year.
Kurt Busch put the “bump and run” on former teammate Matt Kenseth on lap 496 today (gee, we’ve never seen that type of move before at Bristol, huh?) and went on to win the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway for his 5th win at the short-track with the truth in advertising slogan “Racing the way it oughta be”! Career win #15 for Kurt moves him into a tie for 42nd on the all-time win list with Ernie Irvan and was victory #55 for Roger Penske (#58 if you count the three in partnership with Michael Kranefuss).
Busch, who had to come from two laps down after some early tire troubles (and we had a number of drivers who had those problems), took down $175,858 from the over $5.4M in posted awards and places the #2 car in the last vacant spot on this season’s Winners Circle plan.
Kevin Harvick (2nd) had his best finish since he won when we were here last April…..and you can’t bet he’s tired of following “Busch’s” this weekend.
Bobby Labonte (5th) got the Petty Enterprises #43 their first Top-5 today since John Andretti was runner-up here in March of 2001.
Jeff Green (15th) had his best finish since he was 15th at The Brickyard last August.
Sterling Marlin (17th) had his best finish since he was 13th at Kansas last October.
Stanton Barrett (39th) had his best finish since he was 34th at Dover last June (only 6 races).
STREAKIN….Mark Martin has 4 Top-10’s in a row. Kasey Kahne has 4 Top-10’s in a row.
This Week’s Elevator….UP: Operator of the Week is Bobby Labonte (+25), followed by Scott Wimmer (+21). DOWN: The Big Dropper was Jamie McMurray (-27), followed by Jimmie Johnson (-25) and Brian Vickers (-20). Bobby goes from the bottom to the top of the “Shaft” in just six short days!
In that all-important quest to be in the Top-35 in Owner Points to get an exempt spot for qualifying next week, Scott Riggs in the Evernham #10 Dodge holds down position #35…..but his teammate (and two-time Chase combatant) Jeremy Mayfield is only nine points ahead of him. Some of the drivers on the outside looking in (and having to qualify on time next week) are Sterling Marlin in 36th, Kevin Lepage in 37th, and David Stremme in 38th. We’ve got our first change at the top of the point standings this season as Jimmie Johnson’s troubles dropped him from the top-spot to 3rd in the run down. Kurt Busch (27th to 16th) made the best move forward today, while Jamie McMurray (16th to 24th) fell the most spots.(Stockcarfans.com)(3-26-2006)
