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Sharpie 500 observations

bob margolis

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Thoughts, observations and questions following the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway:

  • Not to take anything away from Matt Kenseth's dominating performance (nice job, Robbie Reiser & Co.), but for us, the big story coming out of Bristol is Jeff Gordon's entry back into the top 10 in points. Gordon struggled all night with his race car, which was really good early, really bad in the middle of the race, then really good for the final laps.

  • There's a new feud in town, Ryan Newman vs. Dale Jarrett. Newman is frustrated that he can't win a Cup race (even though he's won three straight Busch races), and Jarrett might have been having flashbacks of Shane Hmiel; who knows? But it sure looked to us that the first encounter (lap 301) between these two was unintentional. The second, on lap 317, was purely payback by Jarrett. And why didn't Jarrett talk to the media afterwards?

  • Of course, it didn't help that Kevin Harvick, who also isn't a big fan of Newman's after Friday night's rain-delayed Busch race, plowed into Newman's car after the last incident.

  • Although this wasn't one of the most exciting and controversial night races at Bristol, it doesn't take a genius to figure out why this race is always voted No. 1 by the fans as the "Race I most want to attend." Maybe that's why, with just a few laps remaining (when you normally see fans streaming out of the exits), fans still were glued to their seats.

  • The prerace driver's meeting was another star-filled affair, with Academy Award winning producer/writer Quentin Tarantino, NBA star LeBron James, drag racing legend Don "The Snake" Prudhomme and Senate majority leader Bill Frist in attendance. At the start of the meeting, Tony Stewart, who was playing around with the microphone stand used by NASCAR event director David Hoots, was told "don't get started early" by Hoots, in much the same way a parent would talk to a child. The room erupted in laughter. The reaction to Stewart makes us wonder if he now has taken on the role of the lovable bad guy that Dale Earnhardt played in NASCAR for so many years.

  • Also in the driver's meeting, we overheard NASCAR chairman Brian France asking Stewart's crew chief, Greg Zipadelli, "Are you guys gonna win all of them?"

  • In the prerace ceremonies, Bristol track officials announced that the grandstand in turns 1 and 2 would be renamed The Rusty Wallace Grandstand. It was a very emotional moment. Wallace was fighting back tears. So were we.

  • We noticed that during the prerace introductions, the crowd's reaction to the introduction of drag racing legend Don "The Snake" Prudhomme was just as strong as it was for Jeff Gordon.

  • Wasn't Friday night's Busch race one of the best you've seen in quite some time? The battle in the closing laps between race winner Ryan Newman, Greg Biffle and Kevin Harvick was better than anything we saw during the Cup race.

  • Speaking of Newman's win, we'd like to know: If Newman's Busch and Cup cars are built by the same people, why does he do so much better in his Busch car?

  • How big is the Bristol race? We arrived at the track 7½ hours before the start of the race to beat the crowds and the traffic – and that wasn't early enough. There still were lines of stopped traffic and thousands of people waiting to get into the track. The gates didn't open until 2 p.m. Thanks, NASCAR fans!

  • We ran into well-known chef Mario Batali, who is regularly featured on The Food Network, walking around the pits before the race. Batali is a big NASCAR fan who tries to get to as many races as he can.

    After attending Pocono earlier in the year, he said, "I just had to come to Bristol."

  • Of course, with Kurt Busch announcing that he'll be leaving Roush to drive the No. 2 car for Penske in 2007 (we expect he'll be released early by Roush) and Greg Biffle solidly in The Chase, we wonder: Will Matt Kenseth get the "good" car at Roush now – to get him into The Chase?

  • After Carl Edwards "helped" Kyle Petty into the wall on lap 493, the two drivers had a "friendly" discussion following the conclusion of the race. It ended with smiles from both.

  • Love him or hate him, you just gotta feel for Robby Gordon. His car began to smoke on lap 16, sending him to the pits early. He subsequently received a penalty for speeding out of the pits. Before lap 25 he already was three laps down. After a few more bumps and bangs and a spin on lap 373, Gordon finally fell victim to an oil leak and left the race on lap 386. He is a co-winner of the Hard Luck of the Race award.

  • The other co-winner is Kasey Kahne, who early in the race bent the front suspension on his Dodge and suffered with an ill-handling car. As a result, he was tagged by Kevin Harvick and sent into the wall. Repeated attempts to put his car back in the field proved fruitless, and he left the race after lap 461.

  • He started 41st. He finished 9th. He was the Lucky Dog twice. Who is he? Dale Earnhardt Jr. During the race, television offered an incredible in-camera shot of Junior. Watching his eyes focused first on the track and then quickly glance at the rearview mirror showed the intensity and concentration of a NASCAR driver up close and personal. Great stuff!

  • Wasn't Kenseth's dominating performance a bit reminiscent of his teammate Kurt Busch's run at the June Pocono race?

  • What's the deal, Jack? After sending signals over the past couple of weeks that he was leaning toward releasing Kurt Busch out of his contract early to drive the No. 2 for Penske, Jack Roush told the post-race press, "I'm looking to Kurt being in my 97 car … and then we'll make plans for 2007."

  • Frustration, thy name is Kevin Harvick. During a press conference Friday, Harvick, in no uncertain terms, expressed his unhappiness with the direction of Richard Childress Racing. His contract with Childress is over at the end of this season, and he and Childress have not negotiated a new deal. Then, after wrecking his car in the Jarrett/Newman incident, he stormed off and was MIA after his team worked to get the No. 29 car back on the track. Crew chief Todd Berrier was ready to put Scott Riggs, whose car already was out of the race, into Harvick's car. Harvick later was found (he had gone to his coach to "cool off") and got into his car, but he finished 38 laps behind.

  • How about Ricky Rudd? He spent the entire night in the top 10. It was the veteran driver's second top-five finish this season.

    "You've got to be up front where you're out of the mess all night," he said.

  • The magic number is now two.