Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing
This week: Harvick, who has a 26-point lead in the standings, has won once at Bristol, in this race in 2005. He has nine top-five and 11 top-10 finishes in 18 starts there but was 30th last March and 38th in August. That broke a streak of two consecutive top-five finishes (second and fourth in 2008). He has five top-five finishes in his last 10 races at BMS. “I feel good about Bristol,” Harvick said. “I am sure we will base a lot of what we do off of where they were and what we have learned this year. It is all about keeping your track position there and not getting yourself in trouble. Qualifying well definitely helps things go forward. I feel more comfortable at Bristol than I do at Martinsville as far as the performance will go. We should run at Bristol in the top five and have a good shot at it if everything goes right.”
Last race: Harvick’s ninth-place finish at Atlanta two weeks ago kept him in the points lead.
Etc.: Harvick has five Nationwide Series victories at Bristol (four with RCR), including last spring’s Scotts Turf Builders 300. He has 12 top-five and 15 top-10 finishes in 19 Nationwide Series starts there. Harvick has led an astounding 1,075 of a possible 4,839 laps in Nationwide Series competition. Harvick will drive Kevin Harvick Inc.’s No. 33 Chevrolet Impala in Saturday’s Nationwide Series race.
Matt Kenseth, No. 17 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing
This week: Kenseth is a two-time Bristol winner, in August of 2005 and 2006, and has seven top-five and 12 top-10 finishes in 20 starts. He was 33rd last March and 10th last August. “We’ve had a lot of success at Bristol over the years,” Kenseth said. “Being a concrete, high-banked track that is so small really makes Bristol stand out from other tracks on the circuit. Bristol feels like the seats are on top of you, and the great fan atmosphere really makes it an exciting place to race. It has changed a lot since they reconfigured the track surface a few years ago — although it’s still fast and small, stuff definitely happens in a hurry. Qualifying is very important at Bristol since track position and pit position can really make or break your race sometimes.”
Last race: Kenseth is coming off a strong second-place finish at Atlanta.
Etc.: Though it was an off weekend on the Cup Series schedule, crew chief Todd Parrott didn’t take any time off as he prepared for replacing the rear wing with a spoiler later this spring. “This week is a busy week for the team because we had two days of testing before we head up to Bristol for the weekend,” Parrott said. “Bristol is a place where anything can happen. We’ve got a lot of great momentum on our side to start the season with so far, and although Bristol is a place where our cars have struggled a bit recently, we’re very optimistic this week with the package we have in place on our car. Bristol is fast and treacherous, but hopefully we have a good balance on the car where we can qualify well on Friday and then stay out of trouble during Sunday’s race.”
Greg Biffle, No. 16 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing
This week: Biffle is up to third in points, 59 out of the lead, as he heads to Bristol, where he has no wins, five top-five finishes and eight top-10s in 14 starts. He was 39th in this race last year and fourth in August. “Bristol has to be one of the most exciting tracks we go to, especially for the fans,” Biffle said. “We’ve run well there in the past, and I think that if we can qualify up front, we should be able to keep it up there. We’ve had a top-five car every week this season, and I don’t see any reason why it would be any different this weekend. We’re taking the car we finished 10th with in Vegas, but we should have gotten a top-five with it out there. A win at Bristol would be incredible, but if we can get out of there with a solid top five, I’ll be happy.” … Crew chief Greg Erwin can sum up success at Bristol in three words. “Qualifying, qualifying, qualifying,” Erwin said. “Qualifying is crucial at Bristol for two reasons. The first is that pit road at Bristol is different from everywhere else because we pit on the frontstretch and the backstretch and there are no openings in pit wall, so the only good pit selections are the two ends of pit road on each side. If you don’t get one of those four, you run the risk of having trouble getting in and out of the pit box because they are so small. The other reason qualifying is so important is obviously for track position. It is extremely difficult to pass at Bristol, so track position is everything. If we can qualify well this weekend, then we should have a good run.”
Last race: Biffle finished eighth at Atlanta, continuing his fine start to the season.
Etc.: Biffle’s fast start shows that he is a contender for the title in 2010. “I’d hate to say I’m disappointed with a season that has started with four top-10 finishes in four races, but in my opinion it should have been four top-five finishes in four races,” Biffle said. “We’ve just had some things happen — like being on pit road for a green-flag stop when the caution came out and getting blocked in our pit box — that have kept us from those top-five finishes. This team is putting every effort into giving me fast race cars and fast pit stops. We have been a top-five competitor every week, and that is what it takes to win championships.”
Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports
This week: Believe it or not, Bristol is actually a track where Johnson does not excel — he has no wins, three top-five finishes and eight top-10s in 16 starts there. But two of those top-10 finishes came last year when Johnson was third last March and eighth in August. That snapped a previous streak of seven races in which Johnson had just one top-10 finish (10th in August 2006). Johnson is 74 points out of first place. “We’re getting close (to taking a win there),” he said. “It has taken a lot for me as a driver to change my habits and the way I drive that race track. I’ve had to completely switch over to a different driving style. It was easy for us to look at what worked for the No. 24 (Jeff Gordon) for so many years, but I just couldn’t make that work. Our styles are so different that I couldn’t make it work and (crew chief) Chad (Knaus) had to really focus in on some other areas, and in time we’ve gotten much more competitive. I feel like in the fall race last year we had a really good shot at it, but unfortunately a lug nut got hung up in the wheel and we couldn’t get the wheel to index back on the hub. If we didn’t have that hangup, I think we could have done it.”
Last race: After winning two consecutive races, Johnson was 12th at Atlanta.
Etc.: Johnson’s next victory will be his 50th. If he gets it in the next seven races, he will be No. 4 on the list of “fastest to 50 wins” drivers. Johnson has made 295 career starts, and Junior Johnson got No. 50 in his 303rd start. Jeff Gordon holds the record of 232 starts. “I cannot say it enough that I definitely never dreamed of being in this position,” Johnson said. “To be here and living this is pretty damn cool, and weird, and amazing. I’m very proud of what I’ve done as a driver and very proud of what we’ve done as a team and how we’ve worked together over the years. The success we’ve had isn’t because of any one person. It’s because of teamwork and people and lots of people and lots of hours, and it’s just an accumulation of things. To have so much go right for us in 300 starts … well, not necessarily go right for us because I feel we’ve created a lot of where we’re at today. So to have so many people working in the right direction and have their career paths peaking at the same point collectively as a group is pretty cool. And it doesn’t happen often in sports. And that’s why we’ve been fortunate to be in this position. I’m very proud of what we’ve done, and I continue to say that I feel we have a lot more to prove and a lot more that we can still do as a race team. We are fairly young as a whole. I would say we’re coming into the middle part of our careers, and I think there is a lot of racing left in all of us.”
Clint Bowyer, No. 33 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing
This week: Bowyer has no wins, two top-five and four top-10 finishes in eight Bristol starts. He was 13th last March and 21st in August. But before that Bowyer had finishes of eighth (March 2007), third (August ’07), third (March 2008) and seventh (August 2008). Bowyer is 86 points out of the top spot in the standings. “The racer in you, I liked the two-wide racing,” Bowyer said of the track, which has been narrowed a bit with additional SAFER Barriers. “I still think you’ll be able to do it even with the narrower track. … I don’t think it will change much. It is going to narrow it up. It seems like the fans, they like the emotion, they like the beating and banging on each other and having to knock somebody out of the way to pass them. I’m a big fan of the way the surface is right now. I like being able to run side-by-side, being able to race your way around somebody. Bristol has always been one of my favorite race tracks, (both) before they repaved it or after they repaved it. I think our fans will always get their money’s worth, no matter how wide or how narrow it is.”
Last race: Bowyer hopes to improve on his 23rd-place finish at Atlanta.
Etc.: Bowyer won the rain-shortened 171-lap NASCAR Nationwide Series race at BMS in March 2008. He started fourth and led a race-high 122 laps en route to the victory. … Michael Hodges, shock specialist for the No. 33 team, is the only member of the Cup crew who calls the Tri-cities area his home. Hodges grew up in Abingdon, Va., where he graduated from Abingdon High School in 2001.
Jeff Burton, No. 31 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing
This week: Burton has one win, eight top-five finishes and 13 top-10s in 32 races at Bristol. His victory came in this race in 2008, which was a 1-2-3 sweep for Richard Childress Racing, but that was his last top-five at the Tennessee short track. He was 42nd that August and, last year, finished eighth in March and 18th in August. He is 106 points out of the lead. “The man that designed Bristol must have been insane,” Burton said. “To build a half-mile, 32-degree banked race track … (it) is just bizarre that anybody could even think about that. So when you go there, you’ve got this challenge that the race track is and then also you have the challenge of beating 42 guys that want it as badly as you do and have a lot of skills. So it is a very rewarding experience to win there. It is what it is. When soft walls first came in, it narrowed race tracks up and everybody flipped out about it, but it really had very little impact. It just made you have to change your line a little bit. I suspect the new walls will make a little more of a difference at Bristol because the outside may not work quite as well, may not be able to arc the exit of the corner quite as much. We’ll see. I’m a race fan, too, and I certainly like the controversy and the arguing and all that stuff you typically get at Bristol. The actual racing at Bristol is better than it has ever been. The wrecking isn’t. There is not as much contact and there aren’t as many wrecks, so I guess at the end of the day that has taken some excitement away in some eyes about Bristol. But from a racer’s standpoint, most drivers like the track the way it is today.”
Last race: Burton was off the pace at Atlanta, finishing 20th.
Etc.: Burton will drive chassis No. 293 in this weekend’s Food City 500. Built new for the 2010 season, Burton drove this chassis to an 11th-place finish three weeks ago at Las Vegas.
Mark Martin, No. 5 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports
This week: Martin has two wins, 16 top-five finishes and 23 top-10s in a whopping 42 starts at Bristol. He swept both poles in 2009 and finished sixth last March and second in August, which gave him three top-10 finishes in his last four Bristol starts. Before that, Martin had 10 straight Bristol finishes out of the top-10 (March 2001 to August 2005). Martin is 123 points out of first. “Both times we went to Bristol last year, the guys gave me an awesome race car,” Martin said. “We were fast right off the truck. I went out there and both times we were crazy fast. I remember thinking, ‘This is crazy. I don’t know how many more times I can do that to my heart!’ But it’s fun. And it’s so rewarding to see the guys’ faces when we’re at the top of the chart. The second race last year, it was a really big deal for me, personally. I didn’t realize it at the time, but after intros, and it being my 1,000th start, and the way the fans reacted, and the music, it was just all really amazing. I don’t get choked up often but did that night. It was incredible. We finished second, didn’t get the win, but it was a great race. It was nearly perfect.”
Last race: Martin was involved in a crash on lap 331 at Atlanta and finished 33rd.
Etc.: Martin has nine pole positions at Bristol, more than any other active driver and tied with Cale Yarborough for the most ever. It’s also more than double the amount Martin has earned at any other active track. In addition to his two poles at Bristol last year, Martin earned four straight in 1995-96. Martin’s next Sprint Cup pole will be the 50th of his career and will place him eighth on the list of all-time pole-winners.
Tony Stewart, No. 14 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing
This week: Stewart took the checkered flag at Bristol in August 2001 and has five top-five and seven top-10 finishes in 22 starts there. He was 17th last March and 33rd in August. His last top-10 was eighth in August 2008 and his last top-five was fourth in August 2007. Stewart is 134 points back. Even with a narrower track, Stewart believes it will be the same old Bristol. “The wall is still where the wall is at,” Stewart said. “… The good thing about us as drivers, after all these years of doing this, doesn’t matter where they put it, we have to stay a fraction of an inch off of it and use every bit up to it. I am sure it is going to make a difference, there is no doubt about it, and, I mean, we all use every bit of room we can get there anyway. It will make the exits of the corners a little tighter, but I think the racing will still be good there because of it.”
Last race: Stewart was 13th at Atlanta.
Etc.: Stewart gave an interesting description of the term “side-drafting” on the bigger tracks on the schedule. “When you see geese flying in that V, that is really what it is like,” Stewart said. “If you are the guy that is off 45 degrees … the closer you can get, it is pulling your car forward and pulling their car backward. The tricky part is that once it pulls you ahead of them, then all of a sudden you have switched roles. It is knowing how close to stay to a guy and when — and when to get off him.”
Paul Menard, No. 98 Ford, Richard Petty Motorsports
This week: Menard is off to an impressive start in 2010, but he heads to Bristol looking for his first top-15 finish there. He was 25th last March and 24th in August. His best finish was 16th in August 2008. Menard is 139 points out of the Cup lead. “It’s just an accumulation of a lot of hard work the guys put in over the offseason to get the cars better,” Menard said. “Luckily, we’ve had four trouble-free races and had fast cars, so we’re sitting pretty good in points right now. I don’t want to prove anybody wrong. I’ve got nothing to prove. I just want to go out and do the best job I can, along with the race team. Everybody who supports us — from the team owner to the driver to the crew chief to the mechanics — they live and breathe racing and they’re competitive people. Nobody wants to give a half-hearted effort. Everybody wants to go as hard as they can, and that’s what we’re doing. It’s just another year and we’re working hard to do the best we can.” … With short-track races at Bristol and Martinsville coming up, Menard is ready to show that he is up to the task. “I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “We haven’t run a short track yet this year, so I’m really eager to see how the car unloads. If it’s anything like the previous four races, it’ll be fast off the truck and then all we have to do is fine-tune it. Since it’s the first short-track race there will be a lot of unknowns, but I really enjoy Bristol. Martinsville is more of a survival race, but they’re two tracks I enjoy going to every year and racing.”
Last race: Menard, who doesn’t get in the top five often, was fifth at Atlanta.
Etc.: Menard credits crew chief Slugger Labbe with giving him race cars that have allowed him to get off to a fast start this season. “It’s obviously a team effort, but it starts with the chief and that’s Slugger,” Menard said. “He gets the guys fired up and they rally around him. He utilizes the tools that he has and makes fast race cars.”
Kurt Busch, No. 2 Dodge, Penske Racing
This week: Bristol is easily Busch’s best track — he has five wins (but no other top-five finishes) and 10 top-10s in 18 starts there. His first Bristol victory came in March 2002, and he won three straight from March 2003 to April 2004. His victory in March 2006 was followed by his famous “Snow Angel” celebration on the frontstretch after it had snowed earlier that weekend. Busch finished 11th last March and seventh in August. He is 142 points from first place. “There was definitely a learning curve for me at Bristol,” Busch recalled. “All you have to do is go back and look at my first Cup race at Bristol back in 2001. It wasn’t pretty. As a matter of fact, it was downright ugly. The first time I crashed that day, it was on my own. The second time I wrecked, I was in a big pileup. I guess you could say that the third time was the charm, in that we punctured the radiator in that crash. That put us out for good. They just kept on fixing it and putting me back out there to get track time. When we were finally done for the day, I looked up on the board and there were still about 400 laps of racing left. They didn’t have the tunnel down in the third turn at the time, so I was forced to sit there and watch all the others go at it for another three hours. I promised myself that day a situation like that would never happen again. It became a necessity, in my mind, to become a good racer at Bristol. I guess I’ve done a pretty decent job at accomplishing that goal.”
Last race: Busch is the Cup Series’ most recent winner after driving to victory at Atlanta. “It feels awesome to get that first win at Atlanta,” said crew chief Steve Addington. “This is the site of my first Cup win. To come back here and put this together, this was a team effort. It all started on Friday with the feedback from Kurt. He told us, ‘We’ve got to work on this thing. If we’re going to win, we got to work on this.’ We made a lot of adjustments. We hit on some stuff on Saturday. He was happy with it. We kind of messed around there. It was just like, hey, let’s go back here, we’re not that far off on the second run from Happy Hour. Let’s adjust from there. That’s what we did. And we felt confident going in. I slept good (the night before the race). That was a different feeling than I’ve had in a long time, to be able to go in and rest because I felt confident that I had the feedback I needed to go out and win this race with Kurt Busch.”
Etc.: Additional SAFER Barriers have been extended in turns 2 and 4 at Bristol, which will take away some of the racing room. But that should bring back some of the old characteristics of the previous racing line. “Wow, that’ll make it tighter,” Busch said. “That should take away some of the options that the outside lane had. It might create some more of that old-school Bristol feel where you had to bump and grind. Maybe that’s just what Bruton Smith is looking for. It’ll be a considerable change, that’s for sure. It will definitely tighten up the groove in those areas of the track.”
Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports
This week: Gordon is a five-time winner at Bristol. He has 20 top-10 finishes in 34 starts at the track. But Gordon is worried the new SAFER barriers are going to make the track too narrow. “It’s going to be very important to get your car working well for the race because with the narrower track it’s going to be harder to pass,” he said.
Last race: Gordon, like his teammates, had tire problems at Atlanta as he ended up 18th. Still, he was able to move up two spots in the standings, into a tie for 11th with Scott Speed.
Etc.: Gordon learned during the off week that his wife, Ingrid, is expecting a boy. “There’s no doubt we were rooting for a boy,” said Gordon. “For us, the ultimate would be to have a boy and a girl. We want two. But the important thing is just for a healthy baby. So we are gonna be totally content and stop at two, even if it was a girl.”
Scott Speed, No. 82 Toyota, Red Bull Racing
This week: Speed finished 15th in his Bristol Sprint Cup debut last spring after qualifying third. “I don’t know why, but I took to Bristol from the first time I saw the place,” said Speed. “I won the pole for the (2008) Truck race and finished third in my first race there. And we ran pretty well in both Cup races last year.”
Last race: Speed finished 10th at Atlanta, his best career finish in a race without restrictor plates.
Etc.: Speed said he had a good off week. “I went to the NHRA Gatornationals in (Gainesville) Florida, I played some golf and I visited the hair salon for a black dye job with blue chunks,” said Speed. “This has been a great start to our season, and now after a fun off week I am ready to get back at it.” Speed has led 19 laps in the first four races — matching his total for all of last year.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports
This week: Earnhardt has one win, seven top-five finishes and 11 top-10s in 20 starts at Bristol. “We’ve always been pretty good there,” said Earnhardt. “I like running there. Bristol is a pretty physically demanding track. I got to go there when I was growing up, and I always look forward to going back.”
Last race: Earnhardt battled a mysterious vibration all day at Atlanta as he made two unscheduled pit stops for what he thought were loose wheels. But the team was never able to find anything wrong. Still, Earnhardt was able to rally in the final 100 laps to finish 15th and move up to 13th in the standings.
Etc.: Crew chief Lance McGrew believes qualifying at Bristol is “huge because there are really only four good pit stalls in the place, period. If you’re not in the top four, then everybody is in the same boat. It can make or break your night because it doesn’t matter how good your pit crew is if you can’t get in and out of your pit stall. Track position is everything there.”
Joey Logano, No. 20 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing
This week: Logano finished 34th and 38th last year at Bristol during his rookie season. “We had nothing but bad luck at Bristol,” said Logano. “We blew an engine in the first race and then got run into early in the night race and lost a lot of time in the pits. So things have to go better for us this year.”
Last race: Logano got caught up in an early race accident when Brad Keselowski clipped Carl Edwards. The contact sent Edwards up the track into Logano, who ended the day in 35th place as he dropped from eighth to 14th in the standings.
Etc.: Even though Logano didn’t have much luck at Bristol in 2009, he still says “it’s definitely one of the coolest tracks. You walk into that place and it feels like a giant stadium. It’s a really quick track. The laps fly by, but since they redid the track, you can move around to help the race car.”
Kyle Busch, No. 18 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing
This week: Busch won both races at Bristol in 2009, his second and third victories there, and finished second in the fall event of 2008. It’s the only track where he has multiple victories. “I’m not exactly sure what makes me so good at Bristol,” said Busch. “I’ve just had a lot of success there. When they changed the track to this current surface, I just really took to it right away.”
Last race: Busch was headed for a top-10 finish at Atlanta when he got caught up in a late-race crash. As a result, he ended up 25th to drop from 12th to 15th in the standings.
Etc.: Busch, like Jeff Gordon, is worried about how the SAFER barriers will change the racing at Bristol. “The SAFER barrier will take up a little bit more racing room up off the corners since they’ve run the wall further down the straightaway,” said Busch. “The drivers are bit unsure of how that is going to change things. But it’s taking up some racing room and it’s probably going to make the racing even tighter and we are probably going to see some more action.”
Brian Vickers, No. 83 Toyota, Red Bull Racing
This week: Vickers finished 12th last August at Bristol to match his career-best finish at the track in his 11th start there. He has finished 29th or worse five times. “We need another run — and finish — like we had in the night race,” said Vickers. “We’re only 16 points out of the top 12 even though the year hasn’t started as well as we had hoped. And we know we are going to run better.”
Last race: It was an up-and-down day for Vickers at Atlanta. After running in the top 10 during the first half of the race, he ran into handling problems before rallying in the final 50 laps to finish seventh for his first top-10 finish of the year.
Etc.: Vickers spent the off week skiing with some friends in Aspen, Colo., and Jackson Hole, Wyo. “That was my way of staying in shape,” he said. “Some people prefer to exercise in the gym. Me, I like the outdoors. Skiing is a great way to stay in shape and have fun doing it.”
Kasey Kahne, No. 9 Ford, Richard Petty Motorsports
This week: Kahne has four top-10 finishes in 12 starts at Bristol, including a second in August 2007. He does have a Nationwide Series win at the track. “Anytime you win at Bristol, it’s special because that place is so tough,” said Kahne. “I haven’t done it in a Cup race yet, and that would be even more special. I feel like we’re ready to win a Cup race at Bristol.”
Last race: Kahne led the most laps (144) at Atlanta before ending up fourth for his second straight top-10 finish. The two consecutive top-10s allowed Kahne to vault from 33rd to 17th in the standings.
Etc.: When asked what was more important at Bristol with 20 laps to go, tires or track position, Kahne said “more than likely, you’d want the track position. Passing is so difficult at times. But there have times when you can put on tires if there are 40 laps to and definitely pass a lot of cars, and other times you just stay in your spot.”
David Reutimann, No. 00 Toyota, Michael Waltrip Racing
This week: Reutimann is still looking for his first top-10 finish at Bristol. His best finish in four starts is a 12th last spring. Reutimann’s streak of 44 consecutive races without a DNF ended at Atlanta, and he hopes to begin a new one at Bristol, “which is a difficult task, taking all that happens there,” said Reutimann.
Last race: Reutimann had moved into the top 10 when his car began overheating, which eventually resulted in engine failure. Reutimann ended up in 40th place as he dropped from ninth to 18th in the standings.
Etc.: Reutimann has finished 20th or better in 15 of the last 18 Sprint Cup races. “We’ve got to just continue to be consistent and make good calls if we are going to get back in the top 12 and stay there for the rest of the year,” he said.
Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Chevrolet, Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates
This week: McMurray has four top-10 finishes in 14 starts at Bristol, including a third in August 2003. “Bristol is one of those places where you can run good all day and then something happens and you end up with a bad day,” said McMurray. “The whole key is staying out of trouble for all 500 miles, and that is not always easy.”
Last race: A late-race gamble for only two tires vaulted McMurray into the top five. But on the first of the two green-white-checkered flag finishes, McMurray was pushed into Clint Bowyer to trigger a multi-car wreck. As a result, McMurray ended up 29th and dropped from 14th to 19th in the standings.
Etc.: McMurray said he still is being congratulated for his Daytona 500 victory. “I just can’t believe the amount of people who have come up and said that they literally jumped off their couch,” he said. “It has been very exciting to me to see the amount of No. 1 hats around the garage.”
Carl Edwards, No. 99 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing
This week: Edwards has two wins and four top-10 finishes in 11 starts at Bristol, both of his victories coming in the fall night race. “We’ve had a lot of success in the night races there, but we haven’t been able to get a win during the day races,” said Edwards. “Bob (Osborne, crew chief) and I have been talking about that and trying to figure out a way to be better at these day races at Bristol.”
Last race: Edwards was involved in two incidents at Atlanta, both involving Brad Keselowski. In the first one early in the race, Keselowski tapped Edwards, who slid up the track into Joey Logano, badly damaging both cars. Edwards returned to the track, more than 150 laps down, and intentionally wrecked Keselowski. Edwards, who ended up 39th to drop from 10th to 20th in the standings, was placed on probation for three races.
Etc.: Scotts, Edwards’ sponsor for this weekend, has told the driver and car owner Jack Roush it doesn’t want a repeat of what happened at Atlanta. “We have strongly expressed those concerns to both Carl and Jack,” said a statement released by the company. “We are confident that they have a clear understanding of the trust we have placed in them as ambassadors of our company, our associates and our brands.”
Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Chevrolet, Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates
This week: Montoya has one top-10 finish in six starts at Bristol, a ninth in the spring race a year ago. “We need another run like last year,” he said. “We’ve got to start putting together a bunch of top-10s if we want to get back into the top 12.” Montoya is 74 points back of Jeff Gordon and Scott Speed, who are tied for 11th.
Last race: Montoya finished third at Atlanta to jump from 26th to 21st in the standings. Montoya was second on the last restart, but he thought leader Kurt Busch jumped the start. “He surprised me,” said Montoya. “He went before where we are supposed to go.”
Etc.: Montoya says his top priority every week “is scoring the most points we can. Sure, I want to win, but sometimes going for a win will take 150 points away, and by the time you get to Richmond, you don’t want to go thinking, ‘You remember those 150 points or 100 points we gave away that weekend? Oh, it would be nice if we had those today.”
Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing
This week: Hamlin will be seeking his fifth straight top-six finish at Bristol. He has finished sixth, third, second and fifth in the last four races. “Coming so close (to winning) has really only made us want to win one of these Bristol races more than ever,” said Hamlin. “There is no doubt that winning at Bristol would be special.”
Last race: Hamlin led five times for 32 laps and seemed to have one of the best cars on the long run at Atlanta. But two cut tires in the final 50 laps left him in 21st place when the checkered flag was waved.
Etc.: Hamlin hopes he can begin marching forward in his bid to challenge Jimmie Johnson for the championship during the next four to five races. “This is usually a good stretch of races for us,” said Hamlin. “We start visiting tracks where we feel we should not only compete but be a threat to win each and every week.”
A.J. Allmendinger, No. 43 Ford, Richard Petty Motorsports
This week: Allmendinger has struggled at Bristol — he has only one top-20 finish (16th) in five starts. “Bristol is really a unique track, and like a lot of drivers and people in the sport it’s one of my favorite tracks that we go to,” said Allmendinger. “It’s a crazy atmosphere. You have this half-mile track with stands rising tall all the way around it. It’s almost like an ancient coliseum or something.”
Last race: Allmendinger finished sixth at Atlanta. “After the way we ran at Atlanta, I’m really looking forward to getting back at it (after a week off),” said Allmendinger. “I’m sure we will be able to build off the last race’s momentum.”
Etc.: Even though Allmendinger has never had a good finish at Bristol, the track still holds a special place in his heart. “Bristol is where I qualified my way into my first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in 2007,” said Allmendinger. “For that reason alone, I’ll always remember Bristol.”
Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 Toyota, Michael Waltrip Racing
This week: Truex’s best finish in eight starts at Bristol is 11th. “Bristol feels really fast,” said Truex. “Of all the tracks we go to, you get a real sense of speed there. Corner speeds, G-forces and the banking — everything happens so quick there, it makes it different and a lot of fun to drive.”
Last race: Truex was headed for a top-10 finish at Atlanta when he was caught up in a late-race crash that dropped him to 27th place.
Etc.: Truex said selecting his favorite memory at Bristol is easy. “It was winning there in the Nationwide Series race in 2004,” said Truex. “It was my first ever Nationwide Series win. It was definitely a big deal for me. I think about that win every time I go back there. It is a very special place to me.”
Ryan Newman, No. 39 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing
This week: Newman will be seeking his fourth straight top-seven finish at Bristol and fifth in the last six races. A year ago, Newman qualified second, led 25 laps and finished seventh. It was the start of a run in which Newman finished in the top 10 in seven of 10 races to vault from 27th to fourth in the standings. He is 29th this year as he heads to Bristol this weekend.
Last race: Newman rallied in the final 50 laps to finish 17th at Atlanta after tire problems had dropped him well back in the field. He still is looking for his first top-10 finish of 2010.
Etc.: Crew chief Tony Gibson said the team’s spot in the standings (29th) “doesn’t bother me. We can climb right up through there. We proved that last year. The important thing is that these tracks coming up these next few weeks are our gravy tracks. We’ve got to capitalize on these next few races — Bristol, Martinsville, Phoenix.”
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Notes provided by The Sports Xchange
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