Busch Best at Bristol!
Monday, March 23rd, 2009By: Drew Hierwarter
The above photo is the only view most competitors got of Kyle Busch’s speeding race car during the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday. The younger Busch led 378 of the race’s 503 laps and left no doubt that, once again, his Joe Gibbs Racing team will be one that everyone else will have to deal with as they go through the 2009 season.
The win was Busch’s second of the season, the 14th of his career, and the first time that he has repeated a win at any track. (His previous Bristol win was the spring race in 2007) He led teammate Denny Hamlin across the line by .381 seconds in a green-white-checkered overtime finish brought about by the exploding engine in the third Joe Gibbs car driven by rookie Joey Logano.
Among other drivers who had a good day include Ryan Newman and Mark Martin. Both teams have had fast cars that qualified well every week only to be bitten by bad luck that resulted in finishes that were not indicative of their on track performance. This left Mark Martin teetering on the brink of falling out of the all important top 35 in owner’s points, and Ryan Newman only three positions above him in 32nd. Martin and Newman finished 6th and 7th respectively on Sunday and that moved them both comfortably away from the edge of the cliff, at least for now.
Bristol may be able to claim only the second sell-out of a NASCAR race this year as the stands appeared to be completely full in spite of the fact that there were tickets available right up until race weekend. The economy seems to have forced some corporate sponsors to turn in their tickets and many regular season ticket holders to elect not to renew. This put the burden on track personnel to sell more tickets to the general public than ever before. The sell-out was not announced until Saturday and it kept the popular track’s streak alive. Bristol Motor Speedway has now enjoyed 54 consecutive sell-outs beginning with the fall race in 1982.
The circuit now moves on to the second short track race of the season in Martinsville, Virginia. When they get there, Scott Speed, Aric Almirola, and Paul Menard will no longer be able to rely on last year’s owner’s points and must qualify on speed to get into the race. Sadly, the Yates Racing car #28 driven by Travis Kvapil will not be entered. The team has been unable to secure adequate sponsorship to continue and has begun to lay off employees.