Sprint Cup Race Results (Bristol)
Monday, March 17th, 2008
Richard Childress Racing sure had a great weekend. First, Clint Bowyer wins a rain shortened Nationwide Series race on Saturday and then his cars finish 1, 2, 3 in the Sprint Cup race on Sunday. Looks like that team has the Bristol race track figured out. This time, veteran Jeff Burton took the checkered flag with his teammates Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer close behind. It just wouldn’t have been Bristol without a big crash, and sure enough there was one about midway through the race, taking out 6 cars in the process. Yes, it was indeed a typical Bristol race with a unique ending.
To see where all drivers finished, keep reading after the jump.
Well, it may have been a short race (that darn rain just needs to go away when there is racing to be done, don’t you think?) but Clint Bowyer isn’t complaining. Bowyer managed to hold off Kasey Kahne and David Reutimann until the rain came and the race was called early at only 171 laps. Nationwide Series regular Brad Keselowski showed with a very strong finish in 4th place. 
Well, Toyota has finally won their first Sprint Cup race. In fact, it’s the first time in more than 40 years that a foreign manufacturer has won a Cup Series race. Kyle Busch piloted his Joe Gibbs Racing Snickers Toyota to the checkered flag on Sunday. Carl Edwards, who was looking for his third win in a row, looked very strong until he had an engine leak and ended up 42nd overall. Kyle’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Tony Stewart managed to hold off Dale Earnhardt Jr. for a 2nd place finish.
Even though qualifying for the Nationwide Series Race in Atlanta was snowed out (yes, that is right–SNOWED out), they got the race in and Matt Kenseth came out on top. There were several blown tires in the race, bringing about several cautions, including a right side tire blow out for race dominator Kyle Busch. Until his tire popped, he was on track to set a track record for number of laps led as he dominated the entire field by almost a half a lap. A little bad luck for Busch in the form of that flat tire allowed Matt Kenseth to take the lead and never look back.
Mother Nature decided she was going to interfere in the Craftsman Truck race in Atlanta this week. She teased the drivers with a little bit of rain here and there near the end of the race. It came down to pit strategy when the rain started and the caution flag came out. Most of the trucks stayed out keep track position, hoping the race would be called due to weather. Kyle Busch took a chance, however, and came into the pits for fresh tires. It paid off because the rain soon stopped and Busch easily raced his way to the front on his new tires.
Carl Edwards fans must be flipping out. After two wins in a row, Carl Edwards and the #99 Roush Fenway racing team is on fire. After a record number of caution flags, including a red flag after a hard and nasty crash on the inside wall by Jeff Gordon, Edwards was able to come back from a pit road controversy to take the checkered flag over Dale Earnhardt Jr. Carl was able to escape a pit road penalty for a loose tire after it was reviewed by the NASCAR officials and they saw that a cameraman got in the way of the crew who was trying to grab the tire.
It was a caution happy race as crashes and debris took up most of the race time. While the Toyotas looked tough in qualifying, they lost it during the race and couldn’t pull off their third consecutive win in the Nationwide Series. Tony Stewart came close again, but was taken out in an accident near the end of the race. Reigning series champion Carl Edwards also wrecked right before the checkered flag waved. Veteran driver Mark Martin won the Sam’s Town 300 by taking advantage of that late race crash by the race leaders. 
After driving a grueling Sprint Cup Series race spread over two days, Tony Stewart managed to win his second consecutive Nationwide Series race. Carl Edwards wasn’t able to manage the double win in one day, but he did finish in the top five with a very strong showing. The Nationwide Series drivers seemed to be ready to go after their two day wait due to the rain and postponement of the Sprint Cup race until Monday.
Whew! Now THAT was a long race! It took two days to finish, after all. Okay, so there was a break in between, but still, that rain caused havoc on the Sprint Cup Series Race in California. The damp track on Sunday caused quite a few accidents (including Casey Mears on his side and Sam Hornish Jr. on fire), which didn’t help the situation. Every time they seemed to have the track cleared up again, the rain would come. They eventually postponed the race and the drivers got to finish in the warm sun on Monday.
Well, Kyle Busch is off to a fast start this weekend in California. The Sprint Cup regular managed to keep everyone in his rear view mirror as he crossed the finish line to win the Craftsman Truck Series Stater Bros. 200. The trucks beat the rain (the Nationwide Series race that was supposed to happen after the Truck race was rained out) and kept out of trouble throughout the entire race. There were only three cautions (two for debris) and one single car crash. Not bad!
The 50th Running of the Daytona 500 came down to teamwork. None of the drivers could get by without a little help from their friends. Penske racing finished 1 - 2 with Ryan Newman getting pushed across the finish line by teammate Kurt Busch. Joe Gibbs Racing Teammates Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch were right behind and then came the Gillett Evernham Dodges of Elliott Sadler and Kasey Kahne. The super power Hendrick team ran into quite a bit of trouble, with only new kid on the block Dale Earnhardt Jr. placing a decent finish in 9th. The race was relatively crash free, avoiding “the big one” and only producing 7 cautions total.
For a long time, the Nationwide Series Race at Daytona was uneventful in the way of cautions. With only four total caution flags, two of which being for debris, the final caution of the race was “the big one”. 9 cars were caught up in the crash in turn 4, but Tony Stewart managed to stay clean the whole race. Smoke started on the pole, and he ended in first place as well. However, he didn’t climb any fences this time, instead preferring to save his energy for fence climbing after the Daytona 500 should he win.
The Craftsman Trucks kicked off Daytona weekend with one heck of a race on Friday night. It had a little bit of everything from suspense, to great racing, and of course - the big one. One huge crash took out no less than 10 cars and set a few on fire. Luckily, no one was hurt, but it did bring out a red flag to clean up the carnage. There was a total of 6 cautions during the 100 lap race and Todd Bodine took the checkered flag to win the first Truck race of the season.
What a couple of great races! There were close calls, crashes, cut tires, and all around edge of your seat suspense in both races. Congratulations to the winners, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Denny Hamlin, as well as all of the drivers who raced their way into the 50th running of the Daytona 500.
Domination was the word of the weekend. If I had a nickel for every time I heard any form of the word “dominate” as I watched the NASCAR championship week coverage on various channels, I wouldn’t have to write this blog anymore for the extra money. Jimmie Johnson stayed consistently dominant throughout the chase and came away with his second Nextel Cup championship in a row. 
