I don’t why it is but I do know that no matter what happens at Bristol, almost everyone says the same thing; “That’s Bristol, baby!” Whether it’s an on-track incident or something in the pits, it seems that’s the first words out of just about everyone’s mouth. Bristol is, and always has been, a track with high speed and lots of action. Many attribute the speed and the action to those high banked turns and along with all of it, emotions run high which leads to plenty of action all around the track at all times.
Bristol seems to be a track where anything can happen at any time. It doesn’t matter if it is during practice, qualifying or anytime cars are on the track, anything can happen and it usually does. Take for example the incident between Ty Dillon and Landon Cassill during qualifying. Dillon lost control of his #14 Chevy and spun into the back end of Landon Cassill and Cassill was just slowing down to enter in to the pits after his qualifying run. Both suffered a lot of damage and it was just a case of one of them being the wrong place at the right time. But as usual, most just chalked it up to, “being Bristol.”
There were several incidents that happened during the practice sessions and in qualifying and, if the same holds true during the race on Sunday afternoon, this one could turn out to be a very interesting and action packed 500 laps. With the temperature predicted to being close to 80 degrees during race time, it can only enhance the chances of an intensely emotional, beatin’ and bangin’ time during the Food City 500. This fan expects there will plenty of slippin’ and slidin’ as the concrete surface heats up and takes on rubber and the race progresses.
As I mentioned in my last article, the JGR teams are looking very strong and show up strong consistently week after week. Once again this weekend the JGR teams qualified very well and all four of them are starting in the top five of the starting lineup. If that’s not making some kind of statement, this fan doesn’t know what is. Carl Edwards took his second straight pole and even though that doesn’t mean much at times, it does mean JGR is definitely showing up with winning in mind.
Once again, the bright spot for the Hendrick teams was Jimmie Johnson and he qualified sixth. Kasey Kahne and Dale Jr didn’t fare quite as well but from this fan’s view I don’t expect we can judge where they will finish by how they qualified.
Kevin Harvick of Stewart-Haas Racing, (and one of the Hendrick associated teams), was the bright spot for SHR by qualifying seventh. No matter how you look at it, it does appear that most of the Hendrick and Hendrick associated teams are struggling a bit even though they have been running decently when it comes to race time.
One thing is pretty evident when it comes to racing at Bristol and that is to expect the unexpected from beginning to end of the race on Sunday afternoon. From my view, picking a winner in the Food City 500 is going to be difficult but it could easily be one of the JGR teams. This may be a break out race for Carl Edwards or it could be three in a row for Kyle Bush. No way will I rule out the possibility of Matt Kenseth turning his luck around and ending up in Victory Lane. I’m not saying he will but there is a good possibility he could.
Several people have already stated they think Denny Hamlin or Joey Logano will end up in Victory Lane but this fan cannot think of two drivers he would rather didn’t win other than the two just mentioned. I don’t know why I feel that way about these two but I do know I do. Maybe someday I will change my opinion but it sure hasn’t happened yet. That’s not to say they can’t win or shouldn’t win but it does say this fan won’t be too disappointed if they don’t.
And then there are all of those other drivers that could or might win. I expect the day to be full of surprises and that could very well carry over to the one that ends up in Victory Lane. From this fan’s view, one thing seems to be certain and that is that this should prove to be one of the most interesting and exciting races so far this year. No matter what happens it will definitely live up to the favorite statement uttered from many a fan’s lips and that would be, “That’s Bristol, baby!!!”
See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© April 16, 2016 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman, Nascarfansview.com and Justafansview.com
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