Cars race during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series IRWIN Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 25, 2012
Photo – Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
NASCAR‘s Sprint Cup Series drivers are at Bristol Motor Speedway for the IRWIN Tools Night Race on Saturday, August 24th. Television coverage begins at 7:30pm ET on ABC (check your local listings) and radio coverage is on PRN, SiriusXM channel 90. Catch all 266.5 miles of action throughout this 500 lap event.
Unpredictability is the only aspect that is predictable at Bristol Motor Speedway and that means this event is a Wild Card race for drivers looking to improve their Chase chances. With the start of the Chase for the 2013 champion, just three races away, the .533-mile track may decide who qualifies to compete for the Sprint Cup title.
Expect pressure-packed, close, physical racing throughout the fan-favorite night race under the lights. Bristol is a fan-favorite track for a number of reasons. Remember Dale Earnhardt ‘rattling’ Terry Labonte’s cage or Tony Stewart‘s thrown helmet bouncing off Matt Kenseth’s windshield?
For three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champions, Saturday night’s race is probably not their last stand. But if Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski fail to rise to the occasion here – then where?
These champs are among Bristol Motor Speedway’s most successful competitors. Gordon and Busch have each won five times at the concrete oval and Keselowski counts two victories in the past four races with a third-place finish at the spring event thrown in for good measure.
Keselowski (eighth) and Busch (ninth) are eight and six points ahead of 11th. Gordon is 14th – 26 points outside the top-ten.
Gordon’s most recent stats are the best of the three with a second-best series Driver Rating (100.6), second-fastest Average Green Flag Speed (114.863 mph) and series-high 6,974 laps among the top-15 over the last 17 Bristol races. A year ago, Gordon found himself in a similar situation – 16th in points – but with finishes of third, third and second in the last three races of the regular season, he qualified for the Chase.
“We have a good stretch of tracks ahead and we have to do everything possible to make the most of these races,” Gordon said.
Time will show if this trio of championship drivers will make the most of their road to Richmond.
For two weeks, only one driver – five-time champion Jimmie Johnson – already has a clinched berth in the Chase. Johnson knows Bristol’s fast pace, twists and turns won’t end his championship hopes.
Keeping in mind the unpredictability of Bristol night racing, there are a three drivers hoping they will join Johnson with a clinched Chase spot after the checkered flag waves on Saturday night. Clint Bowyer, Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick
The magic number is 97 points. Anyone leaving Bristol 97 points ahead of 11th will clinch their place in the Chase.
Bowyer, is now 113 points ahead of 11th and can clinch his spot by finishing 12th or better, or 13th and at least one lap led, or 14th and most laps led. Edwards is now 103 points ahead of 11th and will clinch with a win or runner-up finish, or third and at least one lap led, or fourth and most laps led. Harvick is now 90 points ahead of 11th and will clinch his spot by improving upon his current cushion by seven points.
Multiple wins will help those drivers looking for a Wild Card spot as their ticket into the Chase.
The Wild Card spots go to the two drivers outside the top-ten with the most wins, provided they are in the top-20 point standings. Those drivers with multiple wins can clinch at least a Wild Card spot this weekend, while a few drivers may fall out of the top-ten, yet still be guaranteed a Wild Card after Richmond. For example, there’s Matt Kenseth who has yet to clinch a top-ten spot – he can clinch at least a Wild Card this weekend – but a win is his guarantee. The same goes for Kyle Busch with three wins and Kasey Kahne with two wins.
Separated by just 20 points, drivers ranked seventh through 11th – Dale Earnhardt Jr to Kasey Kahne – want nothing more than to avoid trouble at Bristol. But that is asking a lot – only 20 cars finished all 500 laps of last year’s Bristol night race. Among those finding trouble was Carl Edwards, needing a solid finish to close ground on the point leaders and contrary to what he wanted, Edwards ultimately failed to make the Chase.
Saturday’s wild night of racing is a huge event in the crowded field of four Wild Card hopefuls with victories this season. Although Tony Stewart is still eligible by virtue of a top-20 place in point standings, Stewart-Haas Racing announced, the injured driver is out for the rest of the season.
As Bristol’s spring winner, Kasey Kahne is attempting to score a sweep by winning again this weekend – the first to do so since Kyle Busch in 2009. A third win for Kahne could almost lock up one Wild Card spot, but it may be a moot point since Kahne is just four points away from the top-ten.
If you’re Kasey Kahne with two victories, this is not a week to stress over ‘will I or won’t I’ make the Chase. Kahne and his No. 5 car are better than a 50/50 proposition to make NASCAR’s post-season competition.
“I’ve (gone) through it; I kind of enjoy it. I kind of enjoy the pressure, like to have to be perfect that weekend, things like that.” said Kahne, who has finished in the top-three six times but has also suffered three, accident-caused DNFs.
It was just a year ago, Kahne overcame a difficult early season to make the Chase. He came on strong finishing fourth in the season’s point standings. Kahne sees no reason this can’t happen again – especially if he can keep his car out of harm’s way.
“It’s a tough part of the season,” he said. “But it’s kind of what we’re all here for, too, to step up when times are tough. I know we have a really strong team. I think we’ll be in a really good spot, must to put those final ten (races) together. That’s what it’s all about.”
Martin Truex Jr is in a similar situation, just ten-points out of the top-ten. Last March at Bristol, Truex finished 12th and 11th a year ago. The second Wild Card holder now, Truex has only two top-five finishes at the track and they’re good ones, at third in the spring of 2012 race and second in the 2011 night race.
Neither the Michigan winner, Joey Logano, nor Indianapolis winner Ryan Newman has been able to score a Bristol victory. But Logano’s No. 22 car’s owner is Roger Penske and Penske Racing has the second most wins at the track with ten celebrations in Victory Lane. Their most recent win is the spring 2012 event with reigning series champion, Brad Keselowski. In the past, no owner with a driver failing to reach the Chase has ever qualified for a post season owners’ title. But the 2013 season may prove as the exception – and in the most unexpected way.
It’s business as usual for Kasey Kahne and his No. 5 team and Martin Truex Jr and his No. 56 team as the provisional Wild Card holders. Both can make the Chase as top-ten qualifiers in the regular season. If Kahne and Truex advance to the top-ten, they open the Wild Card door for two teams undergoing massive changes in the last several days. The No. 14 from Stewart-Haas Racing is now third in owner Wild Card standings having scored the same number of points – 653 – as the No. 56 Michael Waltrip Racing team.
Tony Stewart is out for the season as he recuperates from a broken leg suffered earlier this month at an Iowa sprint car accident. His replacement for 12 of the 13 remaining races is veteran Mark Martin, formerly sharing with Michael Waltrip and Brian Vickers, duties in the No. 55 car. That same No. 55 car now has a shot at a Chase owner’ Wild Card as they now sit sixth in the standings on the strength of now-regular driver, Vickers’ victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The irony is that Martin will battle to keep his new team ahead of his old organization, as well as the No. 22 Penske Racing car of Joey Logano and No. 39 Stewart-Haas Racing car of Ryan Newman.
Sounds convoluted…right? It’s just another reason why the Race for the Chase continues until the checkered flag falls on September 7th in Richmond.
Also worthy of note are a few milestones on tap this weekend. Carl Edwards is still looking for his 100th career top-five finish, making him the 36th driver to reach 100 top-fives and tie him with Geoff Bodine on the all-time list. After a fifth-place finish at Michigan, Clint Bowyer is on the verge of scoring his 50th career top-five, making him the 69th driver to mark this milestone. Making his Sprint Cup debut this weekend is Ryan Truex, driving the No. 51 Phoenix Racing car. Truex is the brother of Martin Truex Jr and has made 35 career Nationwide series starts and three Camping World Truck Series starts in his NASCAR career. He was also the K&N Pro Series East champion in 2009-10.
