Kyle Busch’s rally heats up frigid Bristol
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Innsbruck. Lake Placid. Lillehammer. Sochi. Bristol?
An East Tennessee visitor who just happened across Monday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway might have imagined this being a Winter Olympics site.
The North Face jackets, blankets in the grandstands and drivers wrapping themselves in layers — even, shockingly, covering up sponsor logos — provided clear evidence of the cold weather and the cutting wind whipping through the turns.
There was sleet — yes, sleet — in late morning at this staple of NASCAR racing. For much of the day, temperatures floated in the 30s. This in mid-April, long after the Easter bunny’s departure and the blooms of early spring.
After snow at Martinsville Speedway on race weekend three weeks ago and Sunday-Monday’s bizarre weather at Bristol, one might begin to wonder about the advisability of racing at Southern short tracks before July 4.
Over two days of racing, BMS saw rain (sometimes heavy, sometimes just a heavy, annoying mist), sleet, what might be generously described as a wintry mix, snow, three red flags (most races have none), two cautions for rain and fans running back and forth to their cars or under the grandstands in futile attempts to outwit the aggressive, wacky weather.
It wasn’t a long day at Bristol, as 500 laps around this tough bowl-shaped track are often described. It was a long two days. Two hundred and four laps were completed on the original race day — Sunday — before NASCAR finally bowed to the inevitable and postponed the remainder of the race to Monday, when weather was predicted to be better.
It was. Occasionally.
In the end, the only winner was Kyle Busch, and that perhaps was the only thing about the whole Bristol adventure that wasn’t surprising.
Busch is a master at Bristol, even across a spectrum of weather. His Monday win was his seventh here, increasing his lead as the active leader in that category.
Although Kyle Larson (he’s still the other Kyle) led big chunks of the twoday race (200 laps total), he was basically a sitting duck while holding the lead in the final stages. Busch was on the move from second place, and Larson’s car wasn’t at its race-best.
With six laps to go, Busch bumped the rear of Larson’s car, sending it up the track between turns three and four, a perfectly executed bump-and-run. This was old-style racing at Bristol, enough to bring forth waves of nostalgia from the few thousand hardy fans sitting in the frigid grandstands.
Busch was so strong and Larson was declining so rapidly that Busch probably would have run to the front easily over the last five laps without the bump. Not wise to take chances, though, so Busch followed the logical path. Larson offered little resistance, ultimately finishing second by 0.62 of a second.
Busch has started the season in a big way. His record over the past six races is phenomenal — finishes of 2, 2, 3, 2, 1, 1. He leads the points race by 59 and has 12 playoff points, tying Kevin Harvick for the lead in that column.
Part of that success comes from having the same core of crewmen, along with crew chief Adam Stevens, for several years.
“Our group is pretty cool,” Busch said. “I enjoy working with my guys an awful lot, and I just feel like we’re clicking on all eight cylinders right now. That’s just a great thing to have, and it gives you a lot of confidence when you can go to the racetrack with these guys.”
That led to a friendly exchange with team owner Joe Gibbs, who was sitting beside Busch. “Joe is going to have to pay them a lot in order to keep them all as a group, so that’s fortunately not my problem,” Busch said.
Gibbs was ready. “You’re making all the money; why don’t you pay them?” he said.
Busch replied that he might have to go to the “Tom Brady effect” and take a cut in order to keep the team together.
Might take a few accountants to do all the figuring.
As Busch rolled into victory lane, light snow blew across the speedway.
It was a logical meteorological finish to a strange visit to Bristol.