Racers Continue To Make History As Bristol Celebrates 50th Anniversary
This season marks the 50th anniversary of Bristol Motor Speedway, a track at which the sport has generated heaps of history – and storylines.
The all-time Bristol wins leader list is practically a one-stop shop for NASCAR history in itself. Eight of the top nine are all series champions, and five of those are either NASCAR Hall of Famers, inductees or nominees. The top nine: Darrell Waltrip (12), Dale Earnhardt (9), Rusty Wallace (9), Cale Yarborough (9), Kurt Busch (5), Jeff Gordon (5), David Pearson (5), Bobby Allison (4) and Kyle Busch (4).
Wood Brothers Bristol Return Sparks Fond Memories
The return to Victory Lane for the legendary Wood Brothers at the Daytona 500 coincides with the 10-year anniversary of it last win before 2011: at Bristol in 2001, with Elliott Sadler.
A couple of Wood Brothers storylines mesh together this weekend. There’s the anniversary on the heels of the Daytona 500 win. But there’s also its driver returning to his hometown track. Trevor Bayne, a Knoxville, Tenn. native returns home to race for the first time since his win in The Great American Race.
2011 Features Some Interesting Comebacks and Slow Starts
Statistically speaking, some drivers are having starkly different seasons this year compared to last.
Some of that might have to do with a wrinkle in the schedule. Last season opened with races at Daytona, Auto Club Speedway and Las Vegas. This season opened with Daytona, Phoenix and Las Vegas.
Still, it’s interesting to see the peaks and valleys. For instance…
Stewart-Haas Racing is having the biggest comeback start. Ryan Newman has had the biggest Driver Rating jump after three races. After three events in 2010, his Driver Rating was 66.1. Currently, Newman has a rating of 101.5, a jump of 35.4 points – the largest gain in the series. Second is Tony Stewart, who improved 30.3 points – from 88.1 in 2010 to a series-best 118.4 now.
The biggest drops are all members of the 2010 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. The biggest drop is Kevin Harvick, who had a Driver Rating of 116.4 after three races last year. He now has a 73.4, a drop of 43 points. Jimmie Johnson dropped 36.7 points, from 113.0 last year to 76.3 after the first three races this season.
Storylines Season The Standings
There are some interesting stories up and down the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points standings – especially in the top 10. For instance…
The points lead is shared by two past champions – Tony Stewart (2002 and 2005) and Kurt Busch (2004).
Two 2009 Chasers are enjoyed resurgent years after missing in 2010 – Ryan Newman and Juan Pablo Montoya.
Some surprise success stories from Paul Menard in sixth, Martin Truex Jr. in seventh and AJ Allmendinger in ninth. Can they keep continue their early-season strength?
Eight-time defending NASCAR Most Popular Driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. is back in the top 10 for the first time since April of last season.
And a couple of “usual suspects” are in there too – Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin. Both made the Chase in 2010.
NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES
Back To Work
Following its first open week of the season, the NASCAR Nationwide Series returns, bringing its highlight-reel start to the season – and its new car – to Bristol. Saturday’s race will be the first true short-track test for the new car in 2011, which made its debut on a track less than a mile in length last year at Richmond. Thus far in 2011, the new car has races on tracks of varying distances – Daytona (2.5-mile), Phoenix (1-mile) and Las Vegas (1.5-mile).
Teamwork on Display at Bristol
Turner Motorsports has each of its three full-time drivers ranked in the top five, including points leader Reed Sorenson and Justin Allgaier (fifth), the defending Bristol winner. Jason Leffler is ranked third. The team has bolstered its roster for Bristol with the addition of past Bristol champion Kasey Kahne (fresh off his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win at Darlington) and NASCAR Camping World Truck driver James Buescher. Turner, with driver Mark, Martin earned the organization’s first series win March 5 at Las Vegas.
But Turner’s quintet will have formidable challenges. JR Motorsports will bring a three-car team to Bristol led by … not two-time series champion Dale Jr., not Aric Almirola, a pre-season media favorite to win the driver title, but … by Danica Patrick, ranked fourth in the standings. She seems to have adapted well to the new car, and gets her first test at Bristol, her last series race until returning June 4 at Chicagoland Speedway. She’ll start her IndyCar season March 27 in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Roush Fenway Racing’s trio is led by surprising Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who’s second in the driver standings. Knoxville’s own Trevor Bayne, still riding high after his electric Daytona 500 win, is sixth in the points. Former Bristol winner and 2007 series champion Carl Edwards – although not competing for driver points in the series – has one top-five in 2011.
And beware of Kevin Harvick Inc., especially with the boss back in the No. 33 Chevrolet. Two-time series champion Kevin Harvick, the all-time series wins leader at Bristol with five, is joined by teammate Elliott Sadler. Chosen by the media to unify the driver and owner title this year, Sadler is off to a slow start, currently ranked 12th. He won at Bristol in 1998. And don’t forget the Joe Gibbs Racing duo of 2009 series champion Kyle Busch – who won at Bristol last fall – and Joey Logano.
NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES
New Names Flank Series Standings
Fresh off an exciting showdown at Darlington Raceway the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series has two weeks to regroup before heading to the famed Martinsville Speedway on April 2nd.
With a fourth place finish at the Lady in Black series veteran Matt Crafton is off to the best start of his career – scoring three consecutive top-10 finishes in the first three events. However, defending series champion Todd Bodine finds himself climbing out of unfamiliar territory and off to the worst start of his storied career - earning his first top-10 of 2011 in the third race of the season.
Just three races into the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season the results at the top of the standings display fresh names:
2010 Top 3 After 3 Races Finishes Avg. Finish (Points Behind Leader)
1. Timothy Peters 1st/7th/4th 4.0
2. Aric Almirola 12th/3rd/6th 7.0 (-59)
3. Todd Bodine 2nd/5th/30th 12.3 (-88)
2011 Top 3 After 3 Races Finishes Avg. Finish (Points Behind Leader)
1. Matt Crafton 10th/7th/4th 7.0
2. Cole Whitt 14th/6th/8th 9.3(-6)
3. Timothy Peters 11th/12th/6th 13.0(-7)
Timothy Peters is the only driver to earn a top three spot in the series standings after three events in both 2010 and 2011.
Buescher Rebounds After Missing the Show in Phoenix
James Buescher failed to qualify for the second NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event of the season – at Phoenix International Raceway – appearing to extinguish any hopes of a run at the series championship trophy.
Don’t count him out just yet.
Buescher qualified seventh and finished fifth at Darlington Raceway and jumped 13th spots in the standings to 11th, only 34 points out of the lead.
And coming from the back is something he has proven he can do. Last season Buescher did not attempt the first three truck series events of the season, but rallied back to finish 11th in the series standings after competing in the final 22 races.
He will attempt to compete in this weekend’s NASCAR Nationwide race at Bristol Motor Speedway for Turner Motorsports.
NASCAR Media
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