Danica Patrick prepares to climb into her GoDaddy car Saturday night in Bristol. Patrick finished 27th, 7 laps down with car problems throughout the 500-lap race.
Danica Patrick prepares to climb into her GoDaddy car Saturday night in Bristol. Patrick finished 27th, 7 laps down with car problems throughout the 500-lap race.
Joey Logano started from the 5th position, passed Matt Kenseth with 44 laps to go to take the lead, and held off hard-charging teammate Brad Keselowki to take the checkered flag Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway’s IRWIN Tools Night Race.
It was Logano’s third Sprint Cup victory of the season and first win ever at Bristol in the Sprint Cup series. He joined Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Keselowski as the only 3-time winners this year.
Forecasts of rain had given the possibility of delays or a washout, but by mid-afternoon the skies had cleared for the scheduled 7:45 start. Fans nearly filled the 160,000 seat “Last Great Colosseum”, one of the most popular venues on the NASCAR circuit.
It remained hot and humid, offering drivers who worked the higher racing groove significantly more speed off the high-banked corners of the Bristol 1/2 mille oval. Speeds easily topped 135 mph throughout the green flag racing.
The Sprint Cup chase, with 2 races remaining at Atlanta and Richmond before the final field is set, had 12 different winners coming into the Bristol bullring, and it looked like a 13th was a possibility when Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman and Kenseth all were within striking distance with 100 laps to go.
Greg Biffle in the #16 car battles Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (#88) Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway. Biffle finished tenth while Earnhardt was collected in a crash with Denny Hamlin during lap 161, completing only 176 laps of the 500 lap IRWIN Tools Night Race.
The race had 9 cautions for 64 laps, with the most exciting confrontation of the night coming on lap 161. Denny Hamlin was leading and, as a tight pack came out of turns three and four, was spun out by Kevin Harvick. That sent Hamlin into the wall, also collecting Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the crash. The significant damage sent Hamlin and Earnhardt out of contention, although Earnhardt would later return with a patchwork car and makeshift numbers, over 150 laps down. Junior only completed 176 of the 500 lap race.
Hamlin waited until his car was on the apron before exiting his car (complying with NASCAR’s new rule following the death of Kevin Ward who was struck by Tony Stewart 3 weeks ago) , then threw his seat restraint off Harvick’s car as it passed under caution.
“I just wish I had some kind of car left so I could show him the favor back,” a furious Hamlin later said. Harvick radioed Hamiln’s team to apologize, and took blame for the accident.
Keselowski finished .390 seconds behind Logano, with Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch rounding out the top-five.
Jeff Burton, interim driver for Tony Stewart for the third straight week after the Ward tragedy, started 25th and finished 15th. At one point Saturday night, Burton had climbed to 4th place.
“We had a fast car till about 150 laps to go,” Burton said after making his 41st Sprint Cup Bristol start. “We got some nose damage and weren’t good after that.”
Danica Patrick started 24th and finished 27th. Patrick had handling problems all night. By the halfway point she was two laps down, and later was spun out before finishing 7 laps down.
“It was just a rough night,” Patrick admitted. “Our GoDaddy car just wasn’t that good from the beginning. It wasn’t the finish we wanted.”
Pole-sitter Harvick led the first 37 laps and finished 11th after being slowed by a pit road speeding penalty.
In other Bristol news, it was announced that the Spring Food City 500 race will move its date to April 19th in 2015. This will undoubtably please fans after the old race date in March had often experienced unpredictable weather.
