Column: The night race of the season is at Bristol

Published 6:57 am Friday, August 25, 2006

By Staff
There are two races each NASCAR season that I refuse to miss. The first one is the opening race of the season, NASCAR's Super Bowl, the Daytona 500 and the second is the annual night race held at the half-mile speedway in Bristol, Tenn.
This weekend, the NEXTEL Cup Series will visit Bristol Saturday night and this race very rarely disappoints even the casual fan as the 36-degree banking in the corners (equivalent to the height of a three story building) creates high speeds and hot heads as the 43 cars buzz around the track at speeds of up to 150 mph. To best describe the racing action at Bristol, I heard a driver compare it to flying fighter jets in a gymnasium.
Forty three cars on a half-mile track meaning that the cars will be spread all around the track making passing difficult. Tempers will flare as passing slower cars often requires the use of the front bumper, leading to spins and accidents. With the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup only three races away there are a handful of drivers fighting for their racing lives to get into the ten driver playoff to determine the season Champion. This could lead to some exciting action between drivers that surely will lead to one or two walking to the hauler leaving a crumpled mass of metal on the track. When the NASCAR boys visited Bristol back in the early spring, Kurt Busch drove to victory lane for his fifth victory in 11 starts at the half-mile track and going into this weekend he is one of the favorites again this weekend. Jeff Gordon also has great success here as well visiting victory lane four times. Recent winners also include Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. I am predicting that if Kurt Busch doesn't win, Dale Junior will.
Last week at the Michigan International Speedway, Matt Kenseth stole the checkered flag away from a hard charging Jeff Gordon to get his third victory of the season and closed to within 58 points of Jimmie Johnson atop the NEXTEL Cup point standings. Our local drivers did not fare well last week. Ryan Newman had the highest finishing position rolling across in 25th place after starting fourth. David Stremme got caught up in a small accident early into the race and finished 28th while Tony Raines was 32nd, one lap down to the leader. Speaking of Tony Raines, he received good news this week from the owners of his race team. He received a contract extension assuring him of a car to drive for the upcoming 2007 season.
If you aren't able to see the race Saturday night live be sure to record it because I am expecting to see fireworks on and off the track as the pressure increases to make the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup. There could be a long line of drivers and crew chiefs waiting outside the NEXTEL Cup trailer after the race to talk to the boss about incidents on the track.