Articles by Heather, Nationwide Series, Sprint Cup

Looking In the Rearview Mirror: Bristol

Tuesday, March 22, 2011 65 reads
Heather Meyer

After a week off, anticipation was high last weekend.

The Sprint Cup and Nationwide drivers were headed to Bristol, one of the best short tracks in each series.

Friday started out with the right side tires not working to everyone’s satisfaction so Goodyear brought in a new tire.

Hats off to a driver standing up for principle.  Jennifer Jo Cobb quit 10 minutes before the Nationwide race because she doesn’t believe in starting and parking.  She has found herself a ride for the race next weekend in the 41 Rick Ware Racing car.

Could Kyle Busch keep his streak going?  He swept the last three races there in August.

The Nationwide Series had to wait until the race to be on the new right side tire. The Cup drivers got a set to practice with, leading to competition cautions in both series.

After crazy music intros for drivers’, the green flag flew.  It was time to see who had figured the new tires out.  We heard drivers complain all race long that they had no right rear grip.  Drivers came and went all race long… well, all but two.

Jeff Burton seemed to lose power to his car and slowed, causing a big wreck that affected several drivers.  It was surprising to see how many cars were lapped and never got those laps back.  Brad Keselowski did get his two laps back, the hard way.

The Earnhardt-Childress engines took a hit again this week with engine woes.  That’s 5 engines in 4 weeks for those of you who are counting.

The tires didn’t seem to be the problems in the Cup race; it was just how they affected the handling of the car.

Kyle Busch managed to sweep the weekend again. This guy has this track figured out.

Kurt Busch leads the points, with Jeff Burton and Joey Logano tied for 30th in points. After Fontana if qualifying is rained out, they will go by this year’s points.

Overall, the racing has been good, but the crowds have been down. I can understand the TV ratings being down this week with March madness going on. I hope things rebound soon; we need to capitalize this fall on the possibility of no NFL.

Now we’re on to Fontana where there is rain in the forecast.