2003 Bristol Night Race August 23, 2003

[Music] with his winston cup championship lead as much as he's gotten tonight glad you're with us the night race in bristol is under green martin got to the bottom right away that's what you want to do here at the beginning of the race you've got to get to the bottom if you get hung out it's like being hung out in the trap to talladega you're going to lose a lot of spots and ryan newman is right now to lose e squeezed it he somehow squeezed down so jeff gordon leads mark martin's second mike skinner third michael waltrip fourth kurt busch is fifth then you've got ryan newman back in sixth after well that's where he started he's in sixth place ted musgrave ricky rudd dale earnhardt jr matt kenseth and kenny wallace first side by side terry labonte and tony raines and that's for 13th and 14th tony needs a break right now needs to get down these guys all start closing up in behind him and he's about to lose a lot of positions right here one two well there's about 20 of them lined up to his inside oh made him a hole jimmy johnson running in 14th spot one of the guys that shuffled underneath tony raines [Applause] [Music] i guess one of the things oh trouble on stretch steve park kyle petty todd beaudine got a piece of it and i believe christian fit apology did also man oh man well that took six laps that'd be the second car of the weekend for steve park who had a practice crash here on friday yesterday okay let's see who should be mad here well we see todd bowden in the 54 car and looks like jeff green gets in the back of the 30 jeffrey and the one gets in the back of steve park and up the hill he goes into the wall and kyle petty i think todd is going to get into kyle here trying to avoid steve park so that didn't take long the first angry drivers of the night have been found here in bristol [Music] it's no surprise the home depot [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] my [Music] [Applause] but uh there's nothing i could do i got run into from behind i saw it happening uh yeah it looks like casey got me from behind there but i just uh one of those deals at bristol nothing you can do about it it's a shame for national guard and this crew we had a really good car we're 13th and happy hour really good on old tires everything you need at bristol to run up front unfortunately now we're behind the wall national guard ford spectacular wreck last week early wreck this week dave 30 car of steve park thought they could go ahead and fix the tow get it back out there he realized they couldn't they're going to have to replace among other things the left side tie rod in the center link those are suspension parts steve's going to be in here a while alan all right dave thanks one to go here's the signal they'll go back under green next time here's our nascar bush series update michael waltrip with a little bump and run move on ron hornaday last night to take a win here at bristol championship scott riggs opening up a little bit of a lead on david green they run at darlington this saturday nascar craftsman truck series update travis quapple past kevin harvick when harvick blew a right front tire leading coming to the white flag here wednesday night guava with his first win of the season and holding on to a very slim lead in the truck series championship standings they're up again at richmond one week from thursday night and we're coming to the green flag jeff gordon the 17th race at bristol that he's led in 22 career starts and bp here's where the guys in the back got to really stay on the toes because now they're all strung out they're getting the green here on the start baseline when there's guys still the backstretch yeah that's right they're 43 long now not 22 rows you know robbie loomis told me this afternoon this was a situation he was hoping for he hoped to get an early caution get the field lined up single file for a restart so they could try and put a bunch of guys a lap down early fewer people you have to race with for the win later it's working perfectly so far i was surprised during that caution flag i did not see a lot of those guys at the field go in and make any adjustments but maybe five or six left was not enough to really find out what the car was going to do yeah i don't think they even had their pressures built up yet in those four or five laps that they had so probably would really be second guessing themselves on what the chassis is doing without having the tire pressures up yet only guys that pitted under the caution were the guys who got some damage in the accident christopher baldwin casey mears did it kyle petty and todd o'reine are behind the wall as is steve park michael waltrip kurt busch 15 and 97 that's the race for fourth and fifth with lots of company from behind ryan newman and ricky rudd and dale earhart jr all stacked up tightly there together you cannot make a mistake when you're driving on this place i mean you are looking at the car ahead of you and you have to be perfect because if you make one slip especially this time of the race when everybody is nose to tail and you slide up the racetrack you're going to lose a lot of spots there's gonna come a point in the night where the lane will widen out a little bit a little bit unlike a lot of tracks where you'll see guys running the higher lane searching for better handling you just won't see that here no what you'll see is you'll see guys kind of dime in the racetrack they'll go in the corner right here then you'll see them slide up the racetrack they'll let the car take a bite then they get on the gas and they drive back down the racetrack so you're right you're not going to see like you sailing you're not going to see guys running that high line up along the wall like you see at michigan or places like that talk about kyle petty being behind the wall dave yeah he has worse damage than steve park right now they're trying to loosen up that left front suspension area that whole wheel assembly and spindle got jammed up in there and they're trying to be careful because that spring is now loaded in there yeah yeah it break the thing loose [Music] that'd and a surprise yeah yeah jack in the box yeah oh that's nothing to the driver hey come back on any racetrack especially this place with the tore up race car and just try to drive around and make up some for some point jeff gordon and mark martin have sailed away from the pack for now this is the race for third on back i can't really tell who's holding who up in this group ricky rudgestan was trying to make a move on ryan newman the 12 car so obviously his car a little bit faster but is michael the guy hold him up is kurt busch is it ryan might just be the jeff gordon and mark martin are that much faster it could be all these cars running exactly the same speed and you're right those guys are driving away but it's not going to be long before gordon catches the tail end of the field and then these guys are going to be right back up on his bumper oh nemechek got way out of the cube over there turn one and jeff gordon is i mean he's he's gaining some ground here on tony reigns who started 12th so tony went from 12 to dead last 24 laps tony can't keep his car at the bottom of the racetrack in the quarters and they were freight traded under him like we were talking earlier so when jeff gordon gets to him he'll have that inside lane open to try and duck in checking back again there was mark martin and now that race for third michael's giving a lot of pressure to skinner right here great qualifying run for mike skinner i mean they were 42nd in practice and came out put the 01 car in fourth on the grid what junior was trying to get on the inside of ricky rudd off turn four could not quite make it and a lot of times what you'll do here is you'll pull down into the left lane and let the guy think that you're there and if he hesitates just a little bit then you fill that hole and that's what a lot of times you see a lot of cars pull out and hoping the driver in front of you will just hesitate that second ted musgrave subbing for jimmy spencer in the seven getting the bristol shuffle got uh nudged up into that outside lane and about four of them went by him musgrave now back to 13th spot before he gets back in line so jeff gordon closing in on the tail end of the field has started to put some cars a lap down he's led all 29 laps that have been completed so far in the sharpie 500 in bristol the power is in your hand [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] nothing better tonight than to win the race spin around and do the old kawiki polish victory lap in allen's memory here tonight see junior going by ryan newman here comes matt kinsey battle for seventh eighth to ninth and ricky craven trying to follow these guys through a tied ride after ryan this the lack of luck or success he's had here at bristol he just wants these guys to pass him without getting bumped and spun around backing into the fence shoveling it up behind him jimmy johnson trying to move through now kenny wallace up out of the bottom lane 23 car well you can see when you're up in the bottom lane there just isn't a grip up there very hard to hold your position let alone almost impossible to pass a guy up there tony stewart by kenny wallace for 13th dave working on uh kenny there now yeah that red white blue card is blaney different paint job there you go he got slid in when you see a guy up in that high lane you hurry up try to get behind the other guy as close as you can because you want to keep that car up there to gain that spot michael walters stood up at the drivers meeting a couple hours before the green flag and said i want everyone tonight to wish kenny wallace a happy 40th birthday so now all his competitors know that kenny turned 40 today now how's rookie rusty going to say happy birthday little brother get out of my way exactly he's coming through and he may give him a present he doesn't want that's what i was thinking kenny in 15th rusty and 16th that's kevin harvick right behind them in the black and silver 29. look at him giving him room look at those breaks already on rusty's car voters carrying red rusty through and harvick through that'll give rusty 15th spot harvick 16th and kenny wallace now left to fight with robbie gordon for 17th not much of a fight not much he can do talking about brakes bp how about a look at kenny wallace's car yeah that red that you see is the brake rotor over in this area and look how much this tire deflects down here when the car goes in the corner he comes off straight away it straightens up he gets to the corner look how he's trying to roll that tire off the rim give you an idea of just how rough this bristol track is watch that suspension move i mean there the drivers are taking a beating inside the car here not just from the g-forces but from the racetrack so kenny wallace now back to 20th spot he is about a half a lap behind jeff gordon the race leader gordon out in front all 54 laps so far trying to put sterling marlin in 34th place one lap down [Music] so still clear all clear [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] himself racetrack is clear [Music] found an air attack bar got four tires here we go i think everybody just checked up because burton got a little bit loose there and then it's the typical old accordion effect here bp everybody checked up and we didn't see the contact on that shot there between jason lefler and greg biffle but it was a pretty good hit how about lefleur into wimmer yeah that's the winner got different look watch all the cars just in front of jeff gordon when they came ripping through there they were about to get lapped what a huge break for sterling marlin and some others oh i see why jeff burton got loose yeah 92. ripple got in the back of him and when he backed off yeah wimmer didn't and joe neema jeff gordon let joe nemechek his teammate get that lap back and here come all the leaders onto pit road dave alan mike skinner has the very first pit stall on pit road his car just a little bit tight a half pound out of the right rear but they're going to lower raise the track bar just a little bit to help that car be a little bit freer marty dave michael waltrip has the pit stall on the other end of pit road on the back stretch his car a little bit loose off pound on the right rear they also make a wedge adjustment that's why they take that first stall a very quick stop for the 15 bunch bill mark martin is here has an excellent pit stall easy in should be easy out earnhardt jr in front of him he they told him he was the fastest car on the track this is four tires no changes for the six car mark martin matt paulsen jeff gordon already and they pull a piece of tape off the front water a little warm gordon said the car was loose off he just couldn't get the throttle like he wanted so they made an air pressure adjustment on the tires to try to help that the 12 car will be gordon out but nobody's gonna beat michael waltrip out marty talked about uh waltrip having that first pit spot at the end of the back stretch pit road he was out by a bunch in the lead he came in seventh so we're under caution for the second time in the sharpie 500 here at bristol motor speedway negative [Music] okay and the 31 will be [Music] pretty warm under this costume running it thinking [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] 104. [Music] one to go [Music] for right sides only [Music] and the 16 also green flag green flag no no it's okay don't hang up plan family clear robbie 74 is the last count of the bottom up ahead [Music] half back to the eight with room [Music] [Music] clear [Applause] [Music] still inside and clear [Music] on jeff green by ryan and mega pressure on brian again by jeff gordon [Music] don't hit him don't hit him there you go how many all right women now we had four in the first one right three in the second one 99 16. four in the second one so this is this is this is that nine now only nine mad guys do you agree with my math there oh man i will i will on this one yeah thank you ryan newman racing for second a minute ago now he's trying to gather it back up and get back going in the right direction he and jeff gordon making contact bringing out the third caution here at bristol [Music] how you doing good my two down right now robbie just be cool you'll get them back i promise you just when they just when they give it one to go get up there whenever they give one to go here jeff green don't have as good of tires as you as he's leading the race [Music] open for lead lamp [Music] maybe [Music] [Music] oh you'll take the green at lap 80. [Music] one to go got something to say grab a new metallic two okay three more coming to 50 41 and 31 coming up here [Music] this car's off [Music] great green [Music] you're all clear [Music] player all clear [Music] plus 1.41 right in front of you you're all clear [Music] hello if you need a clear low [Music] still there still there clear clear they are clear clear [Music] just [Music] hey dave that 29 cars looking good right now and bp a lot of it for kevin harvick is confidence according to todd barrier part of this crew chiefing team for kevin trouble there and according to you know kevin this week almost won the truck race and then he finished fifth last night in the bush race and barrier told me when this guy is confident he is worth a ton on this racetrack and look at him go kevin harvick started in 23rd position they took two tires on the pit stop got him up toward the front and now he's trying to take the lead away from jeff gordon so happy harvick is happy right now he's trying to catch him first here all right here we go ryan newman trying to work his way back to the front hey matt is borland hot or what well he's watching michael waltrip oh he gets clobbered as rusty wallace had no place to go with waltrip coming down the track right into his path greg biffle tony raines getting laps back from jeff gordon michael waltrip fifth in the championship standings racing for the ninth position now there's one angry guy right he's got more bad people he is really mad who's he mad at we're gonna find out just in one second as soon as he can get out and show his displeasure at whoever he's mad at that's right he's going to show us no he's not [Music] man is he because he had a great race car they came up here they tested they really felt like tonight could be their night the rusty's out of his car that's a good sign yeah yeah well you talked about in wally's world as being a self-cleaning racetrack and things that happen on the track we're going to end up at the bottom yep you want to a lot of times on that 10 times you want to go above the crash if you're seeing it from here because the cars always slide back down the racetrack oh my goodness gracious and i see why michael was so upset he was upset at himself yeah because he caught too much of the apron i think and lost the car and we'll watch him here as he goes down into turn three he drops down hits that apron gets the car loose and bam and then the big band oh that was our camera and the lights went out so caution is out for the fourth time in the sharpie 500 michael waltrip gotta go right over here guys behind your silver [Music] so [Music] seem to come in pretty quick rob it still i got a little loose as i was running there but it definitely has better traction off the corner than that first set you look pretty good out there it looks like uh looks like tires are gonna be a little bit of an issue [Music] [Applause] [Music] michael waltrip was racing for eighth position with jeff green and the turn three and four here plows into that 15. michael waltrip has finished every race so far this season his wife buffy's watching i don't think he's going to finish tonight no marty and he's very disgusted michael what happened just uh ran out of room um jeff squeezed me down a little bit and i hit the apron and got loose so just unfortunately we got two tires and the car was a little tight for a few laps but it was coming around i got under jeff and you know i just got squeezed in a little bit tight and just messed up uh jeff's doing his job and uh just had it for rusty and hate it for our whole napa team everybody's doing such a great job this year it's a shame to have a setback like this but we can go in darlington and this won't seem near as important this team has made very few mistakes this year they haven't had a dnf since last year at richmond going to be a little bit more time cleaning this thing up pit road has been closed so far so let's take a break [Music] yeah it definitely makes it run harder caution running next year all right [Music] now [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] you are watching the sharpie 500 from bristol motor speedway on nascar and car on in demand [Music] [Music] all right one to go buddy one to six go for it that's a good investment up here yeah it seated 71 000 at the time speedway motorsports bought it seven years later 164 000. as a matter of fact you and i rode up the elevator today with one of the original builders of this racetrack carl moore he and larry carrier yep [Music] kind of watching what's going on with robbie gordon there bill what's up well when he pitted allen he started to pull out got stuck behind the four when he stopped his brakes locked up they pushed him back and forth to try and get the brakes to work they got him out then the pedal went all the way to the floor he was out on the track and said it's starting to get better it's starting to get better make a long story short they think a lug nut might have got stuck in the rotor that worked its way out now he's got to work his way back to the lead yeah robbie's in 35th place he's a couple of laps down is it richmond last year he made up like two laps this spring and got a fourth place finish on it he's coming there he's making a move on skinner so i mean he's wanting to be at least close enough where something happens he could get back by jeff gordon before the car straight flight get the lap back just past 100 laps jeff gordon leads kevin hart at second mike skinner third mark martin fourth ricky rudd fifth oh oh three wide oh larry jeff green here we go closer three wide just doesn't work you already got another car spinning in the back joe nemechek and he gets hit by uh that was bill elliott and elliot got hit by someone now watch robbie robbie gordon trying to get it back but i don't think jeff gordon is going to give it to him back do you think so there we go spotters telling the drivers the cars are all off the track in the accident site and they race back around to the caution i don't think robbie was gonna get her jeff was gonna give robbie that man there's that whole gentleman's agreement yeah well these two had a discussion about that yes they did a little while ago well that one didn't take long to come out 3y does not generally work well here at bristol nor does it work well when one car gets run into the backup by another larry floyd in the spin cycle along with joni [Music] uh remain calm here okay members think whatever you think don't say it all i said was jefferson [Music] yes i beat the 41 back [Music] [Music] see i beat the 41 back they said you have to ask [Music] feed him back [Music] now they said the 41-31 with the camera in the nose of the uh texaco havilan car what a great camera shot oh and and dave blaine had just squeezed by back to green flag casey mears life card to the inside of jeff gordon grace leader not able to get around him and get back on the lead lap 31 cars on the lead lap pit stops under this caution ryan newman mcmurray joe nemechek johnny benson bill elliott and larry foyt we're all in these guys need to run some last vp because we hear a lot of overheat yeah those cars are warm and at 35 miles per hour the speed that the pace car running runs they just don't get enough air through the grill to keep them cool dale earnhardt jr matt kenseth seventh and eighth places did you see kendall drive up on the outside of junior trying to go by on the outside i think he's trying to keep from getting freight trained after junior got under him gonna lose a spot jimmy johnson 48 under kenseth for eighth here comes kurt busch there's jeff green in the one dale jarrett in the 88 creeping into the picture [Applause] [Music] truck until jared started in 27 spot took just right side tires on his pit stop here's the eyeballs back from popular demand from yesterday oh that's a great camera last night on board with jeff fuller jeff got spun out twice in the nascar bush series race and we had replays from this view and you could see his eyes darting around and getting all big it was really cool and baron the physical racetrack boy i'll tell you what after a race here when those lights come across that visor you see those eyes looking left out ahead of him around the corner as far as he can and that's not very far here so dj picking up some track position in the early going sean parker making the two-tire call and jared now racing in 12th position trying to get 11th away from jeff green jeff gordon kevin harvick separating themselves from the pack up front while we watch the racing back in traffic here's kurt busch trying to get eight from jimmy johnson and matt kendall's going to try to do the same thing that is close and here's where he really gets close off his second corner now jimmy johnson said okay take it uncle and and smart because he gave him the spot got back in line and didn't lose four or five other positions because there's a bunch of guys lined up behind him ready to train him back and you know thinking about michael waltrip jeff green when you're the guy on the inside that can that could not work out for you also if you squeeze too much just like michael go down and touch that not a whole lot of room apron error here what's going on with the 48 car dave well at first wally they were tight from the center off the corner so they raised the track bar on it but they didn't like that too much now he's a little tight in they want to kind of reverse that next time they come back down pit road yeah and tight in at this place will get worse usually the more rubber you put down the car doesn't want to turn down to the bottom of the race track so tight in is something that you kind of want to stay away from one of them is a 17 water 240 under the caution oil 270 a little bit of a concern [Music] [Music] kurt bush running in the eighth position right ahead of his teammate earlier in the race he just could not feel the tail of the race car made a track bar adjustment and an air pressure adjustment the car is starting to come to him a former bristol winner would like to have something good happen here to end the week on a very good note bill dale earnhardt junior's car has been running hot especially under caution like you guys upstairs we're talking about under green he said the car is pretty decent a little tight when he's running up high said he learned a lot last night coaching truex in the bush race martin truax jr who drove the chance 2 car for dale jr and um teresa earnhardt at last night's last car bush series race you know the overheating thing we've heard a couple guys refer to that ryan newman matt kenseth now dale jr the pace speed here in bristol is only 35 miles an hour we've got a lot of laps behind the pace car matt ricky craven had a pretty good night he sure is betty looking for his first top 10 on the short tracks in 2003. not a lot of radio conversations tonight to his team but he did say the car was a dick tight on that first stop they made an air pressure adjustment in the right front it seems to have helped that tied race car ricky craven with a very good run so far tonight here at bristol starting 14th up to sixth obviously dale jarrett the 88 car gets on the inside of jeff green and wally green now is going to get on the outside and luke won't lose position after position [Music] [Music] and the list goes on looks like uh yeah there's delaney ken schroeder coming through one car getting shuffled back dave and they have not hit it yet just talk with tony gibson as crew chief they want to employ a two-stop strategy remember they started way back moved to the front took the lead but the car has been tight they've not adjusted on it yet and now the tires are old and now the leader is going to be getting start to be coming up on him as he's only about a straight away behind him jeff gordon with kevin harvick right in tow beginning to work through the end of the field they're right up on johnny benson's back bumper he's the last one on the lead lap in that tent car and he'll try and put the 31st place runner a lap down a little smoke coming out of the back of the 31 car yet smoking a [Music] look at the back of the singular car [Music] clear hey ravi they're black lagging us for smoking did you smell anything no no nothing at all what do you think that rear end oh man it's getting worse and worse it looks like the rear gear yeah are you going to bring it in it'll be the rear end richard childress there talking to his driver and his crew chief kevin hamlin yeah they're trying to figure it out robbie doesn't know what it is they think it might be here in the back but it doesn't smell like it down here all right so next lap robbie morton is going to see the black flag with the white cross which means they will not be scoring him anymore until he answers the black flag the sides of the tires look like they're wet yeah looks like they're a lot of soil all right so robbie gordon answering the black flag here and that million dollars appears to be safe bill smoke out of the rear end of the car they've got a fire under the left front it's a break fire [Music] [Music] behind the wall there got his window net down so it's not going far well cindy sorry there it is go right go right up on up here full lamp right there where the fish oil is right here be careful guys see the fire bottle it's gonna be hot it'll flame up when you take the gear out get out of here oh what you're doing stay with that 42. [Music] [Applause] here with a 42 clear that way buddy out of the way [Music] [Applause] [Music] 32 still there 32 still there [Music] here [Music] [Applause] [Music] jeff gordon has led one in five laps that he's ever run here in his winston cup career he's led 132 of the 148 tonight you know being teammates is about more than just helping each other win races every week it's also about helping each other learn that's right michael has taught me that nappy parts are as good or better than [Music] [Applause] 54 slow on the bottom [Applause] that away [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] claire has a dale earnhardt pass right there awesome job [Music] [Applause] [Music] slowing on the top up here player [Applause] [Music] flowing on the top [Music] clear [Music] back up over here i got my right front fender just a little bit can you see it well i just barely okay that was interesting that was real interesting i haven't seen it yet but i betcha i think right here believe it or not i think the trouble started with matt kinsey he may have i think the right rear tire is flat on kansas car he slowed off turn two and jammed all the cars up behind him what a i mean what a break for kenseth yeah marty boyp if you ever wonder if the championship is dis destin destined for matt kinsen he just called the team said i have a flat right rear i'm coming to you on pit road and that's what jacked up all the traffic brought out the caution now he gets to pit under the caution and won't go lap down all right let's go back and reconstruct what happened watch matt kenseth here he comes off the corner and these cars behind him much faster than kansas and here kurt busch gets in the back of the 41 car and tony stewart gets who's there can we check i don't know what happened way back there with uh bobby now watching the top right is christian fitter paulie smoking that happened way back further all right pit stops dave first stop for kevin harvick two tires this time four just a little bit loose up off the corner air out of both rear tires to fix that party so matt kenseth his pit road running in the eighth position he'll stay on the lead lap here pounding the right front tire the car loose for matt right now especially off of the corner bill a track bar adjustment to make mark martin's car just a little bit tighter in fact they do it with wedge a wedge adjustment you want to be just a tick tighter four tires no other changes matt and jeff gordon comes to a stop in his pit box he said the race car awesome robbie lewis calls for just a four tire change sticker tires going on as adam davis hits the lux in the left front no changes it's a 29 and the 0.1 will beat the 24 off a little bit of trouble on the left the number of cars are going to be jeff going to come out fourth kevin harvick mike skinner and ricky craven get off pit road before jeff gordon who led going in another look at this never see bobby labonte trying to avoid hitting other cars back in the fence and watch johnny sauter and jeff gord just hit him barely but on board with kurt bush [Music] great job jamie sixth caution of the night he's out at bristol [Music] uh you are around the 97 i don't guess he left here ready let's move this hook up just bounced pretty hard back there and i don't think this is going to hurt the turn my only problem i guess i'm a little loose in on the brakes into one and uh i think if we maybe cut the rear fan out of it next time or something maybe something to try you know just take a little bit of material off it how much work yeah there's thirty came over and apologized he said it was his fault he gave enough rope there okay no problem i didn't know if i pinched up there or not i thought i left my room but no big deal worked out yeah that was plenty of room he just got a little squirrel he got into there one to go when you get here one to go [Music] jack be true flap cars coming inside he's awake and alert in the infield care center and uh he said it is his decision to go to the hospital doesn't feel quite right yet okay marty thanks any further word we get on rusty wallace we'll pass along to you throughout the night kevin harvick's the leader mike skinner second those two pitted on the back stretch pit road got out first the way they do the yellow flag pit stops here at crystal then you've got ricky craven another great stop for that team out third jeff gordon out fourth maddie what happened jammed they've already gone to a back-up gun but those few final seconds to what cost him the lead and right now guys the 24-21 i think are the two fastest cars here tonight interesting to see if rud can hang out on the back bumper off jeff gordon now mark martin had been running just behind jeff gordon and kevin harvick up front but bill he's way in the back now 26th place that's right and i think he was one of the fastest cars out there too but on the pit stop they dropped the jack too soon the gun got caught between the wheel and the body of the car mark started to go they had to push him back as you look at it here around on the right side when they come around on the left watch when they drop the jack the air gun will get trapped between the tire and the car mark starts to go stop they have to push him back the gun out denmark eventually left he had to come back down pit road to put on two blood touch very costly stops the car's been great now he's got his work cut out oh man you see that rear guy standing up and punt you know and the jack man took that to me and everything was okay he left the jack down so mark martin way back in traffic in 26th place now but he's got a lot of laps left to try and make it up and a lot of cars to pass well the problem he's got you can't get hung up with these slower cars because the guys up front got clean racetrack and they're going to make their way around on the back of the pack quick curd bush trying to get eighth place away from matt kansas no contest and what a break that was for matt kensett that caution today yeah what they were losing air out of one of their tires and balanced him and got knocked off allen good thing they had that caution unbelievable when it's your year that's what that's how championships are won getting a break like that you know jeff gordon i talked with jeff last week in michigan about his championship and he said i said how do you feel about it he said i'm looking for a sign i'm looking he said in years i've won the championship i've seen signs by the way things have happened during the year that it was my year matt kenseth is seeing those signs ricky craven the 32 car almost got in the wall off turn two then lost a couple of spots looked like uh he might have got a little bit of help there from the 74 car tony reigns looked like he got a little bit of a bump getting off the turn two and ricky craven had to gather trouble off turn four ryan newman goes around ted musgrave jeff burton in it dave blaney's in it caution's out looks like burton got the worst of it and tony raines is going to get his lap back one of them yeah one of them oh man right let's see what happened on this one we got how many more mad guys here three four see uh ted musgrave and seven car looks like you got the back of ryan newman kind of turned around and then he got turned around by jeff burton and then he's going to get turned around by there's format guys to go to the list yeah and you know the 12 car newman continues on i don't think he's got a lot of damage but these cars do saturday night in bristol a lot of racing a lot of wrecking and there'll be some tempers flaring up tonight [Music] nascar's on the track odds are singled out he's got room behind him if i can't go any faster all right let's look for the best [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] i vote for uh not really a cold but not a real hot part of the year so we kind of see how we're doing on this our night rate setup i want to come in the dead in july yeah we'll probably just need to come and become marching tip for the first race and it'll kind of give you a good idea for this one you know mediocre one yeah i just like to get better because this is the track i want to do good at and i just my car's okay but i don't know if me and it don't fit like it was a good car but it wants when it wants to do or two different things i said neither one of them fans you know i'm saying okay y'all just painting time together yeah kind of i need to figure some stuff out and i i don't get enough time here coming here to practice you know you pretty much got what you got when you start to race just on it but practice so limited here i'd like to y'all [Music] just set a spring rate on these on this tire here is just a little bit stiffer on the right side we got some that are softer but i think that we're going the right way but coming to right there you know what i mean yeah i don't know either off the right side set up [Music] [Music] they got a little more work to do tonight to get him back out you can't add him to the bad driver he's not bad no no he might i don't know those guys are mad bobby labonte and tony stewart continuing to make repeated pit stops for repairs on their car after the last caution bobby and tony both one lap down to the race leader 28th and 29th spot still cleaning up the oil from jeff burton's car we'll take a break from bristol for the best quality paint you'll feel right at home at lowe's i'm so tired [Music] no problem here at it may not take much to sort of back we'll walk a little bit more okay ten four then four they actually didn't end up bad position right there we um we're running 18th i guess we'd have moved up a bunch of spots but uh for 21st now they've got four fresh tires on it so we're okay uh 20 looks like about 26 27 28. 30 cars in the lead lap right i think that part couldn't do much to help with that time i'd say you did a lot you kept us out of the wreck that's all we need if we got to put tires on every time you stay out of the wreck that's okay i hate to lose okay we wanted to go this time buddy one to go emergency 24 pack discover card why not get paid for the things you buy anyway the discover card is welcome at walgreens toys r us and 7-eleven and more than a thousand new places every day half a lap for the restart and the sharpie 500 in bristol kevin harvick the race leader 24 cars on the lead lap mark martin made a pit stop under this caution he's back in 23rd position remember he lost track position on the pit stop problem we showed you last caution and that means mark can make it on one more stop if this thing becomes a fuel mileage situation it's hard to imagine bristol be in the fuel mileage race but you never know [Music] green flag good strategy you don't have much of a choice when you're that far back skinner after kevin harvick for the race lead all right look at skinner go trying to march to the front you know that's exactly what i was going to see he carries him up [Music] jeff gordon squeezing oh a little rub there with kevin harvick gathered it back up gordon the second here comes ricky run on harvick for third clunk talking about the right front fender he got caved in there on the 21 car [Music] [Music] he radioed to his crew it rotates really hard now i want the air temperatures or the air pressures in that rear tires to come up quick yeah he had that problem he had a problem with air pressures we think during the push race last night as well he was really really fast made a pit stop it took a long time for his car to come back in looks like it's loose right now took longer than he had to get back to the front as far as remaining laps in the race jeff gordon all over the back of mike skinner now for the race lead as kevin harvick has been shuffled quickly back to fourth after the restart there's gordon taking a look got crack position turn three as jeff gordon takes the lead away from mike skinner the caution is out jeff green has crashed that one car's had a long night already it's only 192 laps in if he's finished it off here they definitely hasn't met it off it might be merciful eighth caution flag tonight it looks like someone may just so many times we see a little bit of bump going in the corner and they back them on the wall that's what they look like let's see what happens yeah you're on the edge at this place all the time anyway so it doesn't take a whole lot of contact exactly what happened vp just a little touch like that that was for 19th place and it looks like oh you're okay you're okay you're okay until you come up to that part right there thank goodness the fuel didn't rupture ouch back to bristol in a minute in 2002 ford won 14 14. [Music] [Music] when i shift the third junior right right about before i get to y'all [Music] so [Music] my [Music] uh everybody one to go one to go 239 we'll send you our free easy breathing information because of 25 again underneath [Music] green [Music] still there outside still outside still there outside so it's one time you're doing good still outside still there just clear all clear hell of a job he's talking about that car like like it's a human being you know something if a car is good that's what you feel like they can hear you bill yeah tony yuri jr told him you guys just need to spend more time together the car was tight then it was loose then it tightened up a little bit again he didn't like a set of tires yesterday but so far it's working out okay for june junior running third now behind jeff gordon and mike skinner there's matt kenseth trying to get by kevin hartman for seventh spot remember harvick was up in the lead not that long ago oh there's pimple right behind is that sterling marlin back there he's fought his way up the 10th spot after almost being left earlier and biffle was left and he's fought his way back up tonight what's going on with that 16 car there marty what an incredible run for these guys wally they did go down lap earlier made it up and they made their way back up through the field since then a little bit tied off for michael but he said i'm not going as fast as i could go right now save it a little bit for later in the race dave marty remember where sterling marlon started 36 he used a two-tier stop to work his way up on that last stop he was a little bit loose they lowered the track bar put some air out of the right rear tire it's hooked up fine now look at the scoring cereal on the 40 car yeah he was about to go lap down at one point right before one of those yellows came out looks to me like right now that the 17 car matt kendith is struggling trying to struggle to stay in front of these cars jimmy johnson curt bush racing for fifth and sixth [Music] since we're looking at the lowe's car how about our lowe's improvers guys that have gained the most ground to this point in the race yeah i thought sterling mullen would fit in that group nice job for dale jarrett tonight and jimmy johnson up he gets in the back of him now the snoozers michael waltrip of course the big crash lost 38 spots ted musgrave and rusty wallace rusty again choosing to go to the local hospital for further uh observation and uh examination by the doctors after the crash he and michael waltrip had earlier i'm telling you what that's having forecast is fast right now he passed him on the outside talking about the old one todd skinner check through the lap car opening the door the inside of skinner for dale jr hey matt what's going on 74 it looked like he had problems at the start of the race because he lost a lot of time but he's hooked up now he sure did wally in fact he had a tire going down had to make an unscheduled pit stop remember tony rains always fast on the concrete here in bristol his best qualifying ever here that pay off with a good run here tonight it looks like that car very very fast well here we go junior on the inside of skinner for the second position ricky runs right there too so i might lose a couple of spots here [Music] so skidder shuffled back to fourth dave yeah they're getting them in the middle of the corner the car won't turn there it drives up offline but he just can't get through the middle of the corner we actually mentioned that before this last pit stop too that that's where he was having this trouble so whatever adjustments they made on that piss stop didn't fix it jimmy johnson by him curt pushed by him so skinner shuffled from second back to sixth and just a couple of quick laps here at bristol tell you what while we've been watching all this stuff from second on back jeff gordon's gone he's got almost a four second lead on second place that's big and bristol only takes 16 seconds to make a whole lap and i'll tell you a lot of that was is on the restart he was able to clear the slower cars and those other cars weren't and he got a lot of track space made up because of that hey marty those wood brothers got to be delighted with only this 21 cars running it's so much fun bp to see these guys out front in the third position right now for ricky rudd and last week we talked about ford celebrating their 100th anniversary one of ford's long time mainstays the wood brothers also celebrating an anniversary this year it's their 50th year in nascar racing the stuart race stuart virginia based team has been to victory lane 97 times in nascar competition and uh the last one came right here at bristol in march of 2001. wouldn't they be great vp is he win number 98 tonight the car is very very fast closes right up on the back bumper of junior and that a car chasing him for second place he's probably the fastest car on the racetrack right now maybe not as fast as jeff gordon but certainly second quick see how that car is right down on the bottom and really is hugging the bottom of the racetrack boy that's what you have to have here at bristol he almost hooks the left front tire on the apron matt really the only problem tonight was earlier in the race we reported the water temperature had climbed to 250 and then dropped back down to 240 on lab 66 they really haven't made a lot of adjustments to this race car tonight that's how strong this board is basically with a major change they pulled a tear off off the windshield that their liquid sprayed from the 31 car ricky just kept saying thank you guys thank you thank you this car is just so awesome troubles for ted musgrave no caution yet now the caution comes out musgrave trying to limp around after getting squeezed into the back stretch wall as he and ricky craven got tangled together there i think once again i think this is a break for matt kinser looked to me like he had started struggling had gone back to the 13th position there he is [Music] that's one thing that drivers are always worried about too especially ricky rudd he wants to make sure that you they put the exact same tires or type of tires on the car pressures and everything the car was so good you don't want to make a piss stop and have that car change they didn't come down pit road because the pace car hasn't gathered up the field quite yet they kind of missed connections there jeff gordon in the pace car check it out coming off in turn two oh man i think there's more to that that we haven't seen looked like frankie just turned into him clear high uh sorry i'll tell you one thing there's a lot of damage to that 32 car i believe yeah there's a lot of damage on the right side so the leaders should come to the opening of pit road now and begin to duck in [Music] the double pit road here in bristol they go down the back and then around the front under caution dave mike skinner in they're going to take air out of the rear tires to try to get that car to turn and come up off the corner well four tires stop a little drink for mike marty jimmy johnson hit pitts road running fifth dave and a little bit tight for johnson gets tighter the longer he runs a round and a half in the right rear trying to loosen that car up bill dale earnhardt jr making his way toward his pit stall gets there now this will be four tires and a round and a half in the track bar because his car is just looks bad and jeff gordon's team waiting from the pole to a stop gordon says the car is still awesome he was a little tight in the middle on a new set of sticker tires but the car was starting to come to him no adjustments on this stuff remember on the previous stop adam davis's gun jammed they had to go to a back-up gun the rears are done the fronts are going on he's still not going to beat him ryan newman ricky rudd kevin harvick then jeff gordon so under caution here at bristol motor speedway in the sharpie [Music] not doing anything wrong here it hurts that stop now here's five all right i need to fight any car it kills my lap time [Music] if you don't have it that's why you need it almost make it too right here because just because the air pressure you know it builds up the left side that makes it better in and off i've just about done that right there but let's go [Music] all right you're all one to go right now [Music] a little bit of an edge and we're back to racing the leader is sterling marlin in the silver bullet he did not pit under the caution flag joe nemechek in front of him is on the tail end of the lead lap hoping for a quick caution and a free half-mile pass to come back around it's marlon leading dale jarrett's second mark martin third warren burton fourth ken schroeder fifth those drivers did not hit under the caution flag then you get ryan newman in sixth and then uh next to ricky rudd in seventh kevin harvick eighth jeff gordon ninth and kurt bush 10. did you say did not pick i thought yeah that's the first punch not the first puncher marlon jarrett martin and ward did not hit right schrader got rights leave ryan newman just got rights also how about that 49 card nice job by them tonight huh look at him go i congratulate him when i saw him friday morning about what his great run in michigan he said this week will be better because mechanical things work this weekend whoever yeah walk in their pit to talk to the crew you know they talk really softly and they want you to leave because they've had so much bad luck but before this pit stop i said you're gonna make any changes they said no they said even traitor said the car is good so they weren't gonna make any changes just took the two got their first top 10 of the finish of the season last week in michigan it's what bp was referring to a minute ago having a great run here tonight kevin harvick burton heavy for ninth place jeff gordon through ward push through ward now harvard through board not pitting under this caution so he's got older tires and all these guys that are steaming by him [Music] skinner johnson here comes jamie mcmurray 42 car there so there player clear [Music] there clear clear [Music] so [Music] [Music] still there clear clear [Music] still outside clear clear [Music] [Music] there there clear clear [Music] they've obviously improved the car a great deal since then it was i think it was the first caution it was very close dave what about the 40 car well wally i checked with lee mccall and i said your strategy is to hit as few times as possible and last time you got the car right right and he said yep that's right they last put it on lap 161 so they won't have to come in again until about lap 350 and i bet you that's the last time they stop they can make it on one more stop i think you're right how about these guys doing a bristol race on two stops did you ever think that you would hear people talking about yeah trouble turn three scott wimmer sliding down to the bottom of the corner no caution not yet he's off the racetrack should not be a caution got it fired we're staying under green look at robbie gordon coming up alongside joe nemechek robbie back on track after losing troubles here's one thing when you're 68 laps down and you start racing with guys guys aren't going to put up with that if the guy's starting to race for me when odds one tell me 68 laps down you're just not gonna have any patience with them at all nemechek could back on the lead lap coming to the caution [Music] my yeah up too bad got a lot of on them and uh split them but i don't know how to handle just gotta get the costumes now because i mean i'm [Music] right there was no caution the 16 thought there was and he checked up yeah that's my fault [Music] is our situation better or is it about the same it's about the same it ain't started yet it don't start till after a while start getting loose but i can tell it's going yeah just feels real soft on the right front going in might be falling out right here might be falling out from us sure [Music] you are watching the sharpie 500 from bristol motor speedway on nascar and car on in demand [Music] got me a couple spots there for every 124 so that was good that's what we need how's the right move i think robbie trying to get the car right here so he can play strategy at the end of the race but with a car that's good i'll be able to make up the three or four spots that we would've had by staying out i actually i think it's one spot i think just the five cars that we're going to lose to 5-23 maybe you get a new [Music] [Music] [Music] you know i've been fooled before on the right rear right front i feel like it's rolled over when really they ain't got enough right rear spring in it you know what i'm saying but i don't know i'm not sure whether standing the right rear up would help it put some feeling in it you know maybe just all i need is a little feeling i want to go one to go [Music] something to get this car better matt now an update on robbie gordon what happened this time robbie i guess the 41 won the position that that space a little more than i did um you know we're just trying to survive and i got up on the high side of the 25 and i don't know i think he got it in my left right corner maybe i came down on him but i'm pretty sure he got in my left right corner yeah you have to almost laugh when you have a night like we've had tonight um you know starting with the accident in pit lane uh when the floor was coming in we were leaving had a really good race car tonight very disappointed for all the guys on the singular wireless team because we had a shot at winning this deal as you saw right there with after a broken gear i could still run right with sterling so a little disappointed but it's what it green is sterling marlin mark martin dale jarrett your top three little lap traffic there here comes mark for the race lead and it takes it away and tony reigns at 74 carson still trying to get that one more lap he's down get it back that puts him tail end of the lead lap bp he gets a caution here he gets the half mile pass oh these guys are trying to give him one back here yes they are you know he's had a good car all night they had the one bad pit stop that dropped it back in the field then they used they stayed out when everybody else pitted a couple times ago they could make it to about lap 350 360. you know that could be the last stop it's a good run for mark they were pretty confident coming in here i think i even saw mark's smile smiling right now because he is leading the sharpie 500. here are the guys who pitted under that caution jeff gordon ricky craven johnny sauter scott weber bobby labonte matt kinsey mike skinner ward burton christian fitipaldi joe nemechek boy jeff gordon is fighting his car still yeah like i said earlier sometimes you just get a good set of tires you just don't want to get off now he's back in the traffic right there right he still looks like he's struggling a little bit trying to get by johnny saunder or is it reverse is johnny saunder trying to get by jeff gordon well johnny passed him last lap now jeff's trying to get back around him but i think jeff's trying to get back down to the bottom of the racetrack here's the second place uh third place shuffle ryan newman by dale jarrett here comes kurt bush [Music] etc [Music] you see minus a chunk of his right front fender that he lost a little evil wiggle yeah jimmy johnson goes by all of a sudden big brown is struggling think his tires remember he didn't hit yeah great job for that team second week in a row ryan newman curt bush third place 12 and 97. kurt winner of two of the last three here in bristol we talked with kurt at the start of the broadcast that after everything that's happened this week and all the media scrutiny on his radio transmissions and actions and his part of the confrontation with jimmy spencer about his ability to block it out go racing here tonight he said that's fine that's what we have to do it had to be tough well it is tough up until the point that you put your helmet on i mean you know everything around you walking around the garage area it's always going to be there you're always going to be thinking about it but when you strap in your race car you start it up you don't think about anything else but what's going on right now you're concentrating on the job at hand as a matter of fact you can be ill not really really feeling good and not wanting to run 500 miles as soon as you get in that car you feel a lot better that's right you don't think about it and as for jimmy spencer we heard from his owner team owner jim smith earlier that jimmy could not be any more remorseful for his part of the incident and i'll tell you what nascar in suspending got trouble christian fit apology front straightaway caution flag number 11. uh-oh that's my number wasn't it i didn't have any more yeah and just to finish the story briefly jimmy spencer could not be hurt any worse by missing this race he loves this place this is his best race track and and the punishment could not be any more severe for jimmy spencer than having to sit out this weekend here at bristol and he was sitting there he had to miss the truck race the bush race and the cup race so that one hurts you know at lap 275 i don't think we're going to see many cars pit because we got to wait to get to that window yeah well you know what we're gonna find out in about 15 seconds when they come to the pit road entry there overturned two oh so you're going to make us wait yeah well we got to prove benny right or wrong well mark's not going to stop we can see that i think anybody stops these guys that really need some tires like 88 like dale jarrett yeah all right so most of the front runners stay out we'll take a commercial break 224 laps to go in the sharpie 500 at bristol to afford a double cheeseburger from the mcdonald's dollar menu this is how much work a bikini waxer has to do [Music] the double cheeseburger just one way to get a lot for a little getting to bouncing the front getting the bounces like you're softening up the front too much or something [Music] it feels like i'm softening it up yeah it just starts bouncing like the headlight like we had earlier this spring [Music] that uh directly got worse as the night is going like spring rain in the tires doing it no just right then just right then is what i noticed it maybe maybe this set of towers here they're constellating i'm saying with the spring rates that we got i got a set of softer ones but pretty much gonna stay with what we got for the last run but i just kind of questioned myself there i was thinking on that last stop maybe moving the track bar down around on the right side that would maybe get it off of the right front where it wasn't all over that much maybe help you up off yeah what we've done slowing us down i feel like [Music] what the last adjustment or two has been making me real tight really helped to lose any but made me toe tight and centered half a pound in the right front and uh around the halfway might be just wearing the left rear out you know maybe you're pushing dragging that left rear door i don't know why why you know why it's real tight you know that may have been sideways [Music] well first off i gotta apologize i didn't check up quick enough for ryan newman there and when i checked up jeff burt turned me around which was no fault of his it just pressed over a lot of fun but i was trying to give everybody a lot of room and uh ricky craven got me under turn two over there and put me up in a wall but we'll fix it this dog's got nine lives spencer will be back next week and in a few moments busgrave will be back on the track and the problems continue for bobby labonte they have finally figured out he's a broken fitting on the rear end they have pulled the car behind the wall they're putting it up on jack stands the crew members scott zappadelli and the bunch are underneath gonna try to fix it but the night just gets worse for bobby lavonny some years back they used to give out an award at these wednesday cup races for the driver who suffered the biggest headache during the day boy would there be a lot of candidates for that tonight how about the coca-cola racing family how they faring well pretty sporty not bad kurt busch leading the group so ricky rudd intense spot and then there are some others who are not having a very fun evening mikey did not have a good day in the 15th napa chevrolet michael did not have a very good evening well we said how many cautions would there be at the top of the show here's an update bp i'm on my number you got problems drive careful boys is all i can say let's see 219 laps to go no more cautions i don't think so i think we're all in trouble vp never wins when he rolls an 11. that's true that's true bill all right set for the restart mark martin leading sterling marlon's second ryan newman third kurt busch fourth kevin hartman jeff gordon who's dominated so much of the night tonight is way back in 18th place dale jarrett made a pit stop under that yellow one of few lead lap cars to do so he's in 22nd place for the restart let's get an update on what happened during dale jarrett's pit stop just a minute ago bill four tires allen they took a rubber out of the right rear trying to prove the handle of that car they can go about 160 laps that would get him to 440 if it stays green it probably just fuels back stretch car into the inside wall it's larry foyt and yes the caution flag is out vp you're out of here just blew right by my number all right casey beers gonna get a laugh back does mark already do it yes you do that will put casey on the lead lap that was a gentleman thing to do let's see if someone was not very gentlemanly to larry foyt i guess that would be in the affirmative oh no that just got out from under him there then he got finished off another caution at bristol we'll be back name of speech exercised all race long log on to america online [Music] trouble [Music] and if we get about 80 live green these leaders are going to be screwed aren't they robbie how long have they been out there they've been out a long time a shot here 120 laps okay hopefully they'll get a lot of green and we'll be able to get up to the front anyway and then uh i'll beat it once it'd be a good thing [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] that eight card be a little more patient before we get by those live cars [Music] i'm not sure quite sure why that 99 pulled up there like that he's got to be what 30 40 life sounded yeah 10-4 try like 70 almost for fact 79. i'm sure he's having a pretty miserable time so [Music] well the 41 won't be back up there so i guess i'll just be the nine [Music] [Music] going down [Music] in the race well beat bristol well they've won they've lived 500 laps i'll say rusty what are you going to say i don't remember i don't know we'll see what's the answer survey says kelly armor let all 500 laps here march 1973 he had lapped the field by the 100th lap and he beat runner-up richard petty by two laps first of nine wins here in bristol uh for kale that year's winston cup champion two seats to my right on the broadcast booth benny parsons well thank you very much finished fifth did do well that day though hey did you finish fifth oh dude yeah now you might i don't know how many laps keep trying to get the jump on sterling marlin as we go back to green i got to wondering what's the longest we've run under the green flag tonight it's 53 laps that's the longest we've run under the green consecutively kurt bush on the outside of kevin harvick is this going to stick who's going to win this battle wow good move man look at kurt go on the outside that is impressive that is very impressive that's hard to do here racetrack just does not have a lot of grip especially on the exit of these corners if they're up high now jimmy johnson after kevin harvick for fifth now harvard's trying to take a look on the inside [Music] of kurt bush as bill elliott a lap car newman gets on the inside jimmy johnson's right there's gonna close the deal maybe but you got bill elliott down low harvick's got to get down quick ken schrader next in line to try and take a spot from [Music] so jimmy johnson is fifth kevin harvick is sixth ken schroeder is seventh check out ryan newman that 12 car he's made about 15 pit stops tonight it looks like they've got it pretty good right now battle or second no more [Music] thrown from the stands caution is out for debris man that was strange let's take a look here you can see when they go down the straightaway right there well they're talking about following the 54 car very carefully so maybe something came off todd beaudine's car and he was involved in an accident earlier could be a piece of a bumper or it looked like styrofoam or something it's definitely a piece of the card yeah and uh mark martin ran over that thing it looked like pretty hard he's got to be wondering about his tires right now hoping that he didn't puncture one when we ran that over here comes sterling so this would be the 13th yellow flag dive into the pits that's a third place car sterling marlin who will go to pitt road how about it dave they told sterling we're going to take some years off your life and pit now and see if we can make it till the end i don't know uh they're going to not make any changes other than change the tires fill it full of fuel you know they couldn't make it if there's enough yellow they couldn't do it if it keeps going like it is they'll make it we'll see if we get some more green flag racing in that might put that strategy in jeopardy [Music] 325 on stuff outlast 325 or longer got somewhere right in that area yes sir attack for me that way and maybe the next caution you can kind of give me a ring that way i can have it for my notes on what you turned in the race [Music] [Music] now [Music] hoping to uh maybe make it one more stop okay tighten them up one to go this time 196 laps to go when you take are you kidding me we're gonna try it you know we're here to win the race and uh of course lake dodge is really really good tonight but uh let's say we're here to win the race and we're here to gamble and hopefully we'll come out of here with the big vehicle all right they've gambled their way to the front now they're in the back let's see if they can stay out till the end alan also pitting under the caution greg biffle joe nemechek terry labonte and casey mears all those lead lab cars sterling will restart 22nd and what these guys are talking about doing brian newman spun the tires on that restart badly what they're the gamble they're talking about is running the rest of the way 200 laps without stopping what they're hoping for is enough caution flag laps that they'll have fuel to the finish and then when everybody else comes into pit say with 170 160 to go they'll stay out get the track position let everybody fall in behind him and try to pass him rod trying to go by junior for the eighth position back stretch car to the inside wall it's elliott sadler up the bank down the bank and big damage and the radiator is broken as you see that trail of water and another caution flag that is a similar looking incident to the one he had last year after which he got out and slapped the side of the ambulance well let's see if somebody's made him mad and johnny and he tried to turn away from spinning out johnny solder and guess what [Music] he's mad at himself yeah up the track back around down look at me still chasing it joe nemechek squeaks by and catches a piece of it and that's who would that's who got him last year wasn't it was that what that was all about between him and uh elliott who's he mad at me i'm trying to remember now you put me on the spot and i'm drawing a blank was it joe nemechek yeah this is going to leave a mark ooh caution number 14 hear it bristol [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] maybe we should put a half pound in there right there too okay we'll have it ready for you everybody be ready here uh you think about just staying out here are you gonna pay the leaders okay road will be open this time we should come with him here i mean it's pretty early they're probably almost out of gas going to stay out for one more run i don't know but if we get to the point where we can stay out to the end we're gonna get screwed so we need to we need to stay with him here now sure because here's one clean tigers are gonna make a difference i'll do whatever you want but they're all coming i think we should stay still only four of them came out or else stayed out so i thought back up there that's why i decided to do that i don't want to get too far behind here yes we're still gonna need some tires then i got 200 or 190 laps a lot don't you think i think it's a lot but i think uh 24 is up the road i'm sure he's gonna stay out to the end from here i think this is okay somewhere in here we're going to get 100 laps of green and you're going to have to have better tires i would think so i think this is okay [Music] [Music] gonna be one to go when you get here [Music] now also pitting under the caution ward burton sterling marlin topping off the fuel casey mears kenny wallace and uh those are the lead lap cards along with joe nemecheck and ken schroeder those lead lap cars all bidding here schroeder with a very long pit stop he comes off pit road last among that whole group a lot of guys are having trouble with their lug nuts tonight you saw the 24 guys there the car fell off the jack on the 49 wally sorry to interrupt you there well the 24 car had a problem with the lug nuts we watched them they were trying to find one and put one on check out our napa field summary cautions and caution lapse through all that mayhem only five cars out of the race larry floyd jeff green christian fittipaldi michael waltrip and rusty wallace and by the way no further update on rusty other than he went to the hospital of his own choosing for further examination okay 25 cars on the lead lap 188 laps to go ryan newman is now the leader most of the lead lap guys did not pit under the caution flag but they're going to have to piss before the night is over that's why those guys mark martin some of those guys gamble that they can make it the rest away there'll be more caution left they can make it look at mcmary on the inside of the 48 carb johnson the battle for the third position jimmy johnson tantalizing jamie mcmurray with that left rear fender hanging out there last year's wreck what happened i just got a little loose under the full card uh he was down a little bit house up a little bit just kind of combo score turn around 100 my fault of robert gates and everybody trying to get him next week so elliot sadler one of the many drivers involved in incidents tonight that have brought out 14 caution flags to this point in the race now let's uh throw some stats at you here most caution flags in this august race at bristol 16 2001 edition most all-time caution flags here at bristol 20 in the spring race of 89 and the spring race of 97. [Music] wally you're next on the bubble i'm already out you're out okay boys don't let me down she will be soon certainly at the rate things are going just drive carefully boys so what we're set up with here is a pit strategy situation like we've been talking about at all these other races where guys are trying to pit as soon as they think they can make it to the finish on fuel and let everybody else pit and come out behind them and gain that track position i'll just button up this thought just for a second all right sterling marlin pitted along with greg biffle terry labonte and uh casey mears at lap 300 with 200 to go then at 3 10 mark martin and some others came in so sterling marlon also came in there and topped off his fuel again but marlon is the farthest up let me check that no he's not either how about uh greg biffle is the farthest of those guys right now yeah but they can't make if it goes green right now sterling cannot make it no they have to come back in so it doesn't matter whether they topped off right now it only matters if they get some yellows needs 10 caution laps to reach the finish okay so those guys stopped at 300 are going to have to have about 20 right caution flag laps to be able to make them and now the guy that's farthest up in the running order is kevin hartman that had made the pit stops because he just went by greg biffle so harvick in 12th is the farthest ahead johnny salter about to lose a spot that's 18th and jeff gordon can lose a couple of spots all of a sudden there's something wrong with junior's car because ricky craven goes right behind takes over seventh okay ricky's had a very solid night tonight even though he got in that uh scramble with ted musgrave now the back stretch 32 car has been very strong he's been a top 10 car little wheel spin off that eight car there off the corner how about that tied ride maddie well earlier on the biggest problem the radio was out he could not hear what the team was telling him they finally swapped him to the backup channel then it was fine then later in the race it came back they worked on that made an extra stop under caution they've made a lot of track bar adjustments as junior goes back by the 32 to try been a tough summer for ricky craven last 13 races he's fallen from 7th to 21st in the championship standings five dnfs in that time some of them silly things like michigan last week cut a tire target out from under him and he got clipped by casey mears team owner cal wells told me they're working very hard on finding a sponsor for a second team to add to that stable for 2004. there are the two guys farthest forward that are on the we're done pitting for the night strategy kevin harvick in 29 and greg biffle in the 16 who's come back from a laptop marty i just talked to randy gossakrucci valen he said actually they cannot make it all the way on fuel they had to pick that time because the handling had gone away on the car but they're about 20 laps short and making it all the way on fuel so unless they get a lot of caution left they're going to have to pit again for that 16 bunch all right so scratch him from the list so he falls in that group with newman and bush and johnson mcmurray red kinseth all those guys got to stop the 88 and 19 they weak each other dale jarrett trying to move back up through the traffic he's in 12th place jeremy mayfield just shuffled back to 14th ryan newman leading at this point in the race with 166 to go maddie a very patient performance for ryan newman at one point tonight back on last he was all the way back to 32nd he has fought back matt portland kept them out on the racetrack under that last caution simply they were not in their window lap 350 to laugh 353 is what their calculator tells them is their window ryan didn't come on the radio so the car is tighter it's the best it has been all night how many times has he spun out tonight twice i was just looking back at that lap 77 he went for one of the loops last driver to win consecutive races kurt busch last fall so ryan newman won last week at michigan he could duplicate that but kurt busch who won this spring race in bristol is lurking and uh i said i mentioned in ryan spawn at last 77 he also got tangled up in the mess at 178. how about uh kurt busch running second maddie both got a car in the wall turn four bobby labonte caution flag is out and this would be number 15. okay those guys have talked about 350 350. now might be the time for them to make a pit stop [Music] 162 it'll be 161 to go and ryan newman gets picked up by the pace car but a lousy night for bobby lavonny he can't take too many hits with the back of that car no be the second one he's tearing up the pieces pretty soon all right so 161 to go and bobby labonte's gonna take his car behind the wall [Music] stays out dave kevin harvick is in two tires only fuel and then said will be done according to top barrier they'll try to go to the end party jimmy johnson running third no one pitting behind him no one pitting in front of him he says i'm rocking into the corners a little bit tight in the middle through and off he said i want to round in half in the right rear of wedge they gave him four tires and fuel he's had two top tens and has three bristol starts bill there junior slow she would stop three in free off tight in the middle they'll make a track bar adjustment give him four tires and enough fuel jeff clark says to get to the finish matt and the 12 of ryan newman you can see they're making a wedge adjustment the gas man george really getting ready for the second can as the changer [Music] sterling marlin and casey mears did not pit and the sixth car just took gas came in and topped it off and led 160 laps to go at bristol i mean my haircut is nice the dye job it worked good it's good huh uh-huh you charge the batteries right yes [Music] [Applause] [Music] let's stay ahead of the 88 okay so i make sure i wasn't mad at me before we went on the restart here got dumped into one i'll go check it out anyway [Music] to go when you get here this is a decent stop guys at a 32 speed up the road like crazy leaving there's no reason he got us so hard [Applause] a little farther toward the front but i think we're still going to need these tires so i think this is all right all right one to go everything is cooled to ten he was just trying to stay ahead of the 88 trying to do my accident sorry i didn't mind i was gonna make sure i make a mess you don't make anybody mad pal please to sit and eat day or night we're always open so come in and have a real meal at denny's back at bristol in the sharpie 500 sterling marlin is the leader casey nears his second did not pit under the caution jeff gordon just fueled on his pit stop he's there he was 17th of the yellow flag kevin harvick quickly looking on gordon is that kurt bush on the outside just blew by those guys man goes by mcmurray on the outside now he's going to try kenny wallace started eight he's trying to get six from kenny now he's trying to shut the door on mcmurray wow you play offense only so long at this joint then you gotta start playing defense so just to finish the pit story ken schroeder took fuel only he's fifth and you've got kenny wallace sixth kurt busch seventh jamie mcmurray eighth ricky craven ninth and a spinner down the front stretch and one into the outside wall it's mark martin before we even get to tell you what happened to mark martin on his pit stop he's into the outside wall and mark was such a good spot when you tell what happened yeah after the pit stop and he had to come in alan i'll tell you about that but put it away and let's load this car up yeah mark came in got fuel only on his pit stop got off pit road ahead of all the other guys that pitted but the catch can went with him out of his pit box yeah he had to come back in and put him back 26th in line and that's what happens in bristol when you get back in line exactly i mean you talk about track position well track position will hurt you here at bristol watch here see right behind the eight car the six car leaves and there's the catch can come flying out of the box you cannot take equipment out of a box so he had to come in for a stop and go the problem is he got back in the back of the pack and we always say those yellows breed yellow especially this time in bristol all right here's what happened to bring out the caution flag top of the screen look like johnny sawter and maybe bill elliot got tangled up mark just got collected solder came off the wall and just caught mark in the right rear as he went by turning head on in the wall dave now let's catch up with mark here mark checking out the damage and collecting his things mark tell us about that johnny sotter he's he lost it he's a weapon out there all night man i couldn't believe it you know and i see he's still out there running i don't know this wasn't our night we had a a great car so it's just uh that just figures you know i really believe that we had a chance to win that thing it looked like it from down here and up there too guys didn't it oh i mean he had a great car and he was in a great spot but unfortunately that mishap of the pits put him in a bad position on the restart of this race when you're back there with those guys sometimes you get caught up so mark martin you could put him on the anchor list yeah he was smiling but he wasn't happy yeah phil just want to follow up on the mark martin catch can alan when he left and that catch can fell the gasoline that spilled behind the eight car the rear tire changer and the tire carrier slipped in that that slow junior stop and put him further back in the field junior's back in 19th so caution number 16 is out here at bristol watch this mark leaves the catch can still there now watch the guys coming around the back of the car [Music] i'm not sure the rear tire changer almost got hit with the catch cam when it came sliding into the pit [Music] so we are under caution again with 150 laps to go i hate to think what might happen in the final chunk of this race where's the [Music] love [Music] [Music] get the thing caught in the lights man bill probably built that thing so we won't have to listen to him during the race sure right now sooner or later [Music] it'll be one to go when you get here i'm telling now he's back up oh now he's going down [Music] wrangler five-star premium now this gives us an opportunity if we don't need anywhere to get to our scene and maybe make a lot of decisions here it farts 150 laps 248 right now so be good all right [Music] that's how long it took us to get up there to the front while we go when the race started 150 laps we'd run a second let's do it again [Music] all right andy you're all right race cars off green flag and we're back underway in the sharpie 500 you know summer's winding down a lot of the county fairs that have demolition derbies have passed for the month of august we got one going here tonight in bristol oh gordon is all over the back of 41 car casimir and kurt busch once again on the restart got a spot on the outside past schweiter down in one and two on the outside got himself fifth position did kurt becomes kevin harvick doing the fake jeff gordon putting some pressure on casey mears looking harvick on the inside got it can kurt bush follow he's going to try the door was on his toes so kevin harvick the third yes gets to the 41. he may not be as patient as jeff was with him here's kirk bush working on jeff gordon for fourth and can schrader try to follow the open hole through i tell you what jeff gordon led 179 laps most of the opening part of this race but his car has just not been right for this whole middle section of the race and we see harick going by casey mears for the second spot harvick got just right side tires on his pit stop at lap 339 but remember sterling marlin pitted at lap 300. now granted he hasn't run a whole lot of green flag laps on those tires kirk bush put the pressure on remember casey mears in that 41 was a lap down earlier in the race after being involved in an early crash and back on the lead lap stayed on the track got some track position barney he's hanging right in there he's done a great job and he's been very patient they actually are 1.2 laps down in this race they now can make it all the way on fuel his car's been a little bit tight but on the last three stops they have made no changes to that 41 car great run for this rookie yeah he's doing a good job and he's learned a whole lot in 300 laps here at bristol tayway's going to learn in just a minute the bump and run the bump and run yeah because kurt busch cannot allow these guys to keep driving away from him the way they are right now the way the 41 car is moving up the race track i think first could be able to get underneath him here pretty quick i see the whoa nice cut there so kurt bush by casey mears the third here's jeff gordon trying to follow the opening to the inside you can't quite make it it's amazing how jeff ford's car has changed from the first 150 left to the last 150 laps up front kevin harvick trying to catch up to sterling marlin for the race lead kurt bush is third this is the race for fourth but check this out top two harvick is there [Music] yeah but if he's faster and he knows kurt bush is closing fast here he is inside sterling doesn't have the rubber that harvick has on his car he's got better tires [Music] kevin harvick led 25 laps earlier in the race he's back out in front for a second time with 134 laps to go watch this [Music] wow that's enough because you can see the body pick up off the rear tires and that's all it takes ken schrader by casey mears here comes jamie mcmurray joining the fight at the front of the pack nice best job uh by mcmurray all night he's kept our little front bumper camera one piece yeah [Music] [Applause] once again ryan on board with jamie mcmahon the 42 car in the front bumper he's currently in sixth position he started 31st oh it looks pretty fast right now is jimmy johnson jamie mcmurray in his second nascar winston cup start here at bristol he finished 11th in the race here back at the end of march and here's jeff gordon ken schroeder and mcmurray fourth fifth and sixth a little bit of free race track before you get back to seventh place now jimmy johnson uh-oh just got by casey mears oh there was a lot of and a lot of people are about to oh turn one sterling marlin has crashed second place car and the caution flag is out man this is unbelievable i don't think the tv show survivors got anything on these guys this could be the last one running tonight [Music] sterling marlin was running second and he went off into turn one uh-oh he's gonna get some help from kurt bush and i'll tell you what when you get hit going into a corner there's not a whole lot you can do that's the worst watch here as he goes down to turn one gets in the back of sterling when you're turning down into the racetrack they don't think it's bed up too bad changed right side tires only didn't pull any damage out at this point and make them back around and do that guys they were only about 10 laps shot and needed 10 yellow laps to make this thing go to the end and they didn't want to be part of that and the reason they would just change the two and come back around because they're toward the end of the field you don't have a whole lot of time for when you get to your pit stall before you might get lapped by the pace car here in bristol i'm not too sure he doesn't have some damage to those trailing arms that rear suspension on that tourist light car let's see once the car gets the left rear tire might have caught some of that abuse with the wall there's the stack up we're talking about kenny wallace got in the side of casey did a good job now they come down into the corner funk bang sterling marlin's car sits broadside across the river it's got some damage 21 lift the right front on the 21 car oh man bill dale jr was just in he got right side tires there and they had to pull the sheet metal away from the right front his car is free in free off tight in the center but they were very concerned about some right front damage and that's what they worked on ricky rudd also in sterling marlin making that second pit stop under this caution flag the second place drivers spun out and we're under caution again at bristol what makes [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] now they pulled the one to go they're not gonna go [Music] i hope we got a green rose away car felt pretty good pretty racy right there i have no idea what i'll do next time but um try to keep that same going good for four on one to go guys one to go by reducing friction one of the simplest ways to reduce friction in the engine is to use the right motor oil that oil is new quaker state erector state is now engineered to deliver a 10 lower coefficient of friction you know your goal is to win a race but we want to win championships in the last seven years we've been fortunate enough to win eight championships and quaker state helped us get there new quaker state peak performance the power to reduce friction in the sharpie 500 with kevin harvick now leading curt bush said brian newman getting a little shuffle there it is harvick bush jeff gordon ken schroeder and jamie mcmurray followed by jimmy johnson ryan newman ricky craven kenny wallace and casey mears your top 10. a lot of pressure on the race lead and look at harvick go up the hill and cannot keep his car down and push goes to the front sterling marlin after his couple of pit stops is back in 23rd position kurt busch saying this after the tangle between he and the sterling marlin moments ago he was trying to let me go and he got his right sides up in the fuzz i didn't know he was trying to let anybody was going me cut me a break tonight i'm really sorry the nascar race director david hoots came on the nascar channel and asked the inspector in kurt bush's pit to communicate to his crew chief jimmy fennig that if kurt was involved in anything with a car in front of him later tonight he would be brought to pitt road and the penalty box would be opened dave allen i did check with lee mccall sterling's crew chief to say hey were you guys going to let the 97 go and he said well they never asked but then again we never got the chance to let him go either all right matt what did you tell bush about nascar's warning well right there you know he didn't really mean to get into sterling you know and i told him we know it you know so we're trying to be extra careful out there [Music] he's got one advantage right now he's leading and nobody's in front of him yeah kurt bush out in front of this race for the first time all night as we look a little farther back at the race for fifth place actually fourth fifth and sixth ken schrader jamie mcmurray and jimmy johnson i mean kurt knows the whole world is watching him right now so you know it's not he's not going to go out there and take somebody out intentionally because he knows he knows he's on her magnifying glass so he is trying to be careful i don't think that was an intentional deal with but the end result is still insane so i mean you know nascar is going to have to make a call if it would happen again that way she just had to hesitate to get the gas there i think right now that jimmy johnson's a little bit faster than this 42 car but being faster and passing here at this racetrack is two different things talk about kirk bush being very much under the microscope tonight this was just a little while ago when he got by casey beers to pick up a spot and then the incident with sterling marlon racing for second at lap 371 yeah of course in another track that'd be a big deal here half the cars you've got some fender damage on him [Music] it will be very interesting to see what kind of reaction kurt bush gets if he's able to win this race we saw the reaction he got in driver introductions earlier ricky rudd had been having such a great night he picked up some damage in the aftermath of that accident now he's being worked on not on the racetrack a heartbreak for ricky they pulled the car behind the wall a busted radiator they're going to try to change a radiator but what a great run he had going tonight yeah that's too bad so rudd now 16 laps down and falling as he spends time behind the wall now that we've settled in a few laps after this restart kevin harvick is starting to reel kurt busch back in oh we've seen it a lot tonight and last night that hardest car is not real good after a restart but after they run our 10 10 or 15 laps the thing becomes a rocket and when kurt busch called kevin harvey harvey just moved up and let him go will current bush do the same thing knowing that he might not be able to get back behind they're going to catch the tail end of the field pretty quickly tony stewart and then bobby lamont involved in some incidents earlier tonight are going to be next up for the lead cars to negotiate well whether he doesn't whether he doesn't if he doesn't kevin will probably less patient with him because like you said you kind of expect that favor in return when you do that neither one of these guys are not aggressive they're both you know pretty pretty uh pretty high profile pretty high strung personality yeah but i mean when you come to a place like this if if you give a guy a break and then all of a sudden your car works a lot better and you get back to that guy and that guy doesn't return the favor your blood pressure goes up real quick here so you know we'll see what happens if if harvard can get back up to him how about this ward burton trying to work by dale earnhardt jr and follow sterling marlin through that's for 18th place [Applause] so junior struggles continue here and bill elliott in the nine cars managed to get himself back in the lead laughing going by junior for position [Music] so the second place driver in the championship tonight has dodged all the bullets so far as far as the cautions and the accidents are concerned but he's not having a very good night performance wise matt kenzip is running in 10. earnhardt jr now getting shuffled back to 21st place jeff gordon's running third how about your leader kurt busch still hanging on to that few car length advantage over kevin harvick it's casey mears and johnny benson that's uh 13th and 14th for racing for casey beers slipping by johnny to take the spot and an update on rusty wallace just coming in he has been released from the hospital everything's fine and he's on board his uh helicopter and heading back home that's fantastic yep good to see you the vicious crash if you missed it earlier michael waltrip crashed in front of him came down the bank and rusty wallace had no place to go and just plowed him man almost closed there so johnny benson back by for 13. here comes jeremy mayfield and terry labonte these guys are driving very very hard now with a little less than 100 laps to go they realize every spot they can get now it's go time now so mike skinner taking a spot we've had like 25 laps of well let me recheck that here i think that handle has gone away a little bit for casey he's struggling right now and he's got a long way to go yet if they're not going to stop anymore we've had 12 laps of caution since these guys made those pit stops at 3 39. so for most of these guys the fuel is has pretty much been taken care of you think yeah that'd be my guess so now it's it's a race to the checkers see casey mears as high as second place as low as 40 second a lap down at one point very nice job tonight it's got to be tough on a rookie to come here to bristol i mean it's tough on anybody exactly ted musgrave back on track after time behind the wall from a crash on the back stretch this one this place when you go to bed at night you still hear your spot inside i'll tell you what harvick is not letting kurt bush get away from him all right now we've tried to do this about eight times tonight and every time we've done it the cautions come out you know what i'm setting up here so don't jinx it well i have to we have to let's go through the field starting with the leader matt let's try it kurt busch trying to sweep bristol in 2003 at his last stop the air pressure and track bar adjustment has helped the tight loose race car but he did make one observation if they get a caution with about a 50 to go he said we might want to think about pitting her tires dave last time kevin harvick stopped they changed just the two right side tires and made no chassis adjustments to that car it's as good as it's been all night for kevin matt jeff gordon hit it back on flap 311 took on tires the last stop just gas only for track position running the same lap times as the leader bill outstanding run for ken schrader very few changes made to the car throughout the evening in the top five maybe a shot at the win very quiet night for jamie mcmurray another team that hasn't made very many changes on this car but murray's car is good both those guys can make it to the finish on fuel phil at the beginning of this run jimmy johnson had about the fastest car now his car just gotten too tight coming off of the corners they can definitely make it all the way on fuel this car won twice it's over last year maddie until the last caution marty the 12th star ryan newman he was told to conserve fuel they didn't think they could make it now they are good to go the car is the best that has been all night now that's earning this track vision meanwhile the 32 ricky craven still fighting a tight race car a wedge adjustment on the last stop the leader leaders have gotten together they're going by casey already 24th place car getting put a lap down and kevin hartman putting a lot of pressure on kirkbush for the top spot a lot of traffic in front of them now lots of traffic and how they get through this is going to determine who ends up in front about 10 or 15 laps jeff burton tony stewart give way hey you want the slower cars to go up high and that's what you're that's what guys are supposed to do when they're slower run that high grew so the fast cars can stay down low oh jeff gordon is up out of the crew off turn four troubles for the 24. jeff gordon was in third spot but he slowed coming off turn four left side tires look good same thing happened to him last week at michigan caution is coming out hearing that something has fallen off the 40 car that's why his number is up on the black flag board look at some guys getting their laps back here casey mears steve park tony stewart getting a lap back from kurt busch saying it's a bumper brace from the 40 car that'll definitely puncture a tire or radiator or all right now kurt busch talked about hitting for tires with 50 laps to go okay what about with about 75 laps to go matt what happened to 24 card you know but benny he told his team he believes he has a flat right front tire so if it is it's a lucky break for him that the caution came out and maybe he did run over that brace that came off the 40 car [Music] so who will pit here besides jeff gordon there'll be 77 laps to go as they come to the opening of pit road now you hate to give up the lead don't you oh man lead lap 24 cars i don't think he'll do it no i don't either i mean you can harvick fakes kenny wallace it looks like going to make the first move how about 10th place 9th place dale jarrett we'll go in first and a couple cars behind him on the lead lap stay out so this is going to get interesting with these guys with the fresh tires here in the final laps oh yes and talking to the guys down in the in the garage area before new tires don't make that much difference bill well dale jared on pit road talked to his crews and i think this is our best shot so they're going to bring him and give him fuel give him four tires and then send him back out everybody behind him came in so you gotta try and take advantage of this he's on his way he only took two right sides matt bill jeff ford not exactly sure which side the tire was flat he said it might be the left front i'm not quite sure they're going to change all four tires they're talking about an air pressure adjustment the car still pushes in the center of the corner so caution number 18 that would be a new high for the 2003 season is out here in bristol [Music] [Applause] what the leaders were okay let's see what happened i got kind of a bad feeling about this see the guys that paid it are only about five cars behind me i'll feel too good about that but we'll see what happens i guess that's why we're all rethinking it here too i kind of hesitated to drop off waiting for you to tell me you know i kind of waited to saw someone dropping behind me just in a rock spot if we were four cars up and the car was handling better would be okay but the way the cars handle them guys not being far behind he's always worried about that [Music] place cars off [Music] we're out of time we ran the board though let's get out and count now we'll see if this hurts a little bit we've seen him struggle a little bit on the restart pp or maybe he didn't have enough time for the tires to really get cool or it will hurt him of the 24 cars on the lead lap 13 of them pitted under that caution flag dale jarrett kenny wallace jeff gordon jeremy mayfield bill elliot johnny saunder tony raines mike skinner ward burton sterling marlin uh joe nemechek and casey mears those guys have the fresh tires on and they're trying to come from the back someone in that fresh tire dog jared just got two he goes by benson moves into the tenth spot so he's up rather than anyone else with a little bit fresher rubber that's about the position he was running in when he made the pit stop so that worked out very well for dale jarrett and in all the confusion coming to that caution flag with um jeff gordon's problems and then the piece of debris falling off sterling marlin's car let me also point out that jimmy johnson and ryan newman shuffled by ken schroeder to pick up fourth and fifth kenny's now running sixth we of course started doing it through the field and naturally the caution came out let's check out our championship leader didn't get that far back marty and he just hit either allen he said i don't like the looks of this the cars that stopped for tires are only three positions behind me why did we not stop i think we made a mistake i think those guys behind me are gonna eat our lunch because fresh tires make a difference here we saw it last night in the bush shooting race and we might see it tonight in the winston cup race did you see the closure rate on that 88 car through the corner yeah so i guess the tire is too much here in practice after the cool the tires are about as fast but obviously those new tires are working very well for dale jarrett eighth place he just picked up for matt kansas and remember dj just took rights on his stop farther behind him jeff gordon on four fresh tires picking off some spots just picked up 13 for mike skinner and dale jr trying to follow him through junior also on good road that last caution [Music] there's a little bump [Music] beginner's in trouble isn't he yeah yeah he's got him kind of bottled up behind him let's be careful he doesn't get turned around here you get late somebody gets in a hurry junior's got him up the track now bill and that's four fresh tires so junior through to pick up 14th mayfield through to pick up 15th skinner was 16th but ward burton just said excuse me yeah skinner got slid up the racetrack there he's got a whole file of cars on the bottom of the racetrack where to lose a lot of spots somebody else who's feeling the effects of the older tires ken schroeder just lost the spot to dale jarrett matt kenseth's working on him bill and that car just gotten bad loose alan i've checked check that it's tight the car is tight they were hoping that maybe it was debris on the racetrack some oil they've driven through with the handle [Music] i'll tell you what though bill it's been a great run tonight for that 49 car from the stretch they went through where they didn't qualify for two races now to be in the position for two top tens in a row and dale jarrett has moved up the sixth spot boy does he need to caution flag right now to get some of that track position get him up closer to the front he can make a run towards the victory yeah you're right he's about a tenth of a second quicker right now and all the guys he's trying to run down in front of him check out our race recap at the top of the screen caution after caution somebody's got to have sore typing figures up there making that because we've had 18 caution flags tonight the high so far this season was 17 done here at bristol back in march jeff gordon with his fresh tacos oh matt kenseth in was matt kenseth on his team radio and jeff gordon with a beat up front end chevy now there's another one that's mad yep looked like gordon had to lift because schroeder got loose or or what bill said he was bad tight off the corner so maybe schrader either way we're at that duck right here robbie they're going to eat us up you don't want to come and try to get tires on do you 56 left if you're worried about it let's put them on well i don't know what's going on that's last time i don't know how many cars i've been behind us or what's going 13 cars on us under the 49 that's when kansas got in the back of him he had a tire going down benny left front tire going down on the 49. okay really [Music] well what has been a very difficult last month or so for jeff gordon continues tonight here at bristol he's finished in the 30s three of the last four races and the local car driven by johnny sauter going behind the wall marty 17 on pit road vinnie he said i'm fading i need to do something robbie we're not going to win the race like this robbie came on the radio he says we're going for the win four tires pound out of both left side tires for the 17 car a little bit tight bill ken schrader is on pit road it was a flat right front tire right front they were going to take four just going to take two because the guy's behind him pitted he's got the tires he's on his way jeff gordon has pulled his car behind the wall robbie looma said how does the steering wheel look to see how far was knocked over says the car is junk in the front they pulled it behind the wall he says also i think the radiator's gone as well they're going to try to pull all the sheet metal off but it is leaking water tough break for jeff gordon and they've only got 54 laps left in this race to try and get that thing fixed and get back out under caution at bristol nascar's on the track odds are so is track fast just log on to america online [Music] [Music] that question earlier so this is a softer fit just like say the tires doing more work not just what you bring one to go buddy [Music] for one full year home furniture now open in tacoma south center north of linwood and our all-new showroom in olympia at martin way off i-5 there's no place like home we come back to bristol as the green flag comes back out over the sharpie 500 51 laps to go kurt busch leading kevin harvick jamie macquarie jimmy johnson and ryan newman dale jarrett is up to sixth the guys who stopped under the caution flag headed by ken schroeder restart from 17th on down matt kenseth is 18. well i think all these caution flags have kind of taken the fuel situation right out of the mix oh yeah now it's just a matter of who has the better tires and get that position in front jeff gordon behind the wall getting work done on his car being dropped down through the standings quickly farther back matt kenzen just slipped around ken schrader so kenzit now the first of the guys who hit it under that caution and he's in 17th spot i can answer your question would be jared i mean looks like he would have the best shot but he's not making a lot of progress towards these top five they do get tougher to pass as you get farther forward don't they yes they do [Music] it's stereo i'll tell you what this has not been a thing of artistic beauty tonight has it 19 caution flags 115 of the 453 laps we've run have been behind the pace car they've been beaten around they've been spun they've been banged but the one thing we haven't seen tonight that we started off talking tonight about were drivers demonstrating their anger it's been relatively calm where that's concerned now there may be all kinds of shout matches down in the garage when the race is over but it's been relatively calm on the anger front kevin harvick trying to hang on to curt bush but kurt's really gotten away after this restart look at the gap and that's what those guys were talking about and kurt's running some very good laps checking our scoring monitor in the booth and that's what they were talking about these tires you run them they get hot they start slowing down they haven't caught the flag they cool down they're right back where they started dave what they say in the 29 pitch vp kevin complained that he just can't get going on the car taught barry a reason that you know getting a caution every time we get going is what's hurting us right now they need a long run the problem for the 97 is not fuel or tires a problem losing volts they believe they have a bad alternator i talked to mike kelly the car chief they swapped to their backup battery the extra 32 pounds may mean the difference between winning and losing he says it hasn't really changed much kurt did turn off his cool suit unit to try to save as many volts as possible we'll keep an eye on that see if he starts to lose a little bit of steam here in the closing laps matt kenseth just picking up a couple of more spots marty i talked to robbie riser about the rationale of hitting under that last caution remember they were running ninth restarted 18th they have made up a couple of spots he said you know what we were not going to hold on tonight where we were and they're going to spin on the track tony raines gets turned around in turn two and the caution flag is out yes ladies and gentlemen for a record-tying 20th time that equals the track record for the most yellows of all time in a winston cup race here at bristol and tony raines who got back on the lead lap after falling behind early in the race with a slow leaking tire [Music] i believe got back around on the lead lap yeah he did [Music] the leader again [Music] longest line you know we keep trying to come back from these commercial breaks in time so we get the restarts so it left us with a little unfinished business last time the sharpie 500 from except for we just got the volts down to 10 now what should we switch back to the other battery i switched it at 11 so the cool box stopped it's off again make sure you all your stuff is off and switch it again [Music] you want to go when you get there get a truck right front straightaway up high getting into one [Music] i'm not going to go not going to go couldn't get the truck off [Music] you are watching the sharpie 500 from bristol motor speedway on nascar and car on in demand after starting in 1950 on labor day home labor day not the last southern 500 the race moves to november well for me it won't be the same the traditionalists not being on labor day all right how about it well kurt bush keeps driving away every time they have a green restart he drives away i think hart would be okay if they run the next 37 laps under the green but will they see what kind of starting jamie mccarthy gets here too yeah here's where jaime's got to take advantage of it defense he tried his best to get on the inside could not quite make it that's amazing all the 20 caution flags we've got a camera in the front bumper of a car and it's still working probably explains why he's up in third place i said this guy here earlier was pretty fast he's pretty fast right now jimmy johnson this car is working real well down on the bottom of the racetrack problem he's got he can't waste any time getting around mcmurray now he's got to use got to use the bumper a little bit he's going to have to get a little bit of aggressive don't you think marty i agree wally and the other problem for him right now is the fact that it takes a while for his car to come in they've been better on these longer runs and that's when you pointed out last time it was towards the end of a run and that's kind of been the trend for these guys johnson ryan newman dale jarrett craven and earnhardt jr in that group and just behind them matt kenseth has just picked up a couple of more spots on those fresh tires he's down to 10. trying to close in on this group jeremy mayfield will be the next one he has to pass so another championship charge for matt kenseth here tonight marty to finish what we were saying earlier robbie risen said we were not going to stay at night we were going to go backwards because the car was just way too tight so they made an adjustment on that last stop pound out of both left side tires and it's really helped the car come around and those fresh tires are making a difference drivers do know what they're talking about right wally i'll tell you what they do these guys are doing a great job i mean they just make all the right decisions and we talked about your during the commercial break that's one thing advantage of having such a huge points lead he can make decisions like this to go and change four tires instead of just okay we gotta hang out there and run in the top ten try to win this thing working on dale jr that'll be for eighth place got him no problem boy he's rolling now well he can't win unless we have caution flags two or three of them but he can sure get back on the top five before this thing's over working on ricky craven for seventh and he just passed the guy who's racing for the championship right there behind him dale jr so ken's at the seventh now with 27 laps to go [Music] he's three and a half seconds behind kurt bush he's only about a tenth of a second a lap faster than kurt that math does not add up no how about kurt busch what a weekend what a week it's been for him the aftermath of the confrontation with jimmy spencer last weekend the radio transcripts that came out earlier in the week and the tale turning on him if you will through the week he came here friday morning had a very tense press conference met with reporters for a little while and and bill it's really it's been an amazing week for kurt bush all things considered it really has alan in fact before last weekend he had promised matt kenzeth he would go to oregon wisconsin outside of madison to race on the short track at the madison international speedway after the incident on monday kenzie called bush and said listen if you don't feel at all like going you don't have to go bush said i'm going he went up there and driver introductions ten thousand fans cheered him when i talked to push here on friday morning he said if i'm booed and they're probably gonna boo me his plan is to walk taller stand taller and race harder and he hopes that pays off tonight and they did boom but i think if you win here tonight how can you be a guy that just wanted that bristol 500 you can't but right now he's starting to slow down and harvick is catching him barbic's faster right now matt something going on with this 97 car the shades of last year with tony stewart trying to turn a bad week into a good one a lot of conversation though on the radio concerning his alternator and losing goals between kurt and crew chief jimmy finnick getting everything off that'll help our batteries so we need stuff off that farm leaving a radiator fan on all right that's okay he said the balls have already gone down to ten they have told him turn off everything possible that you can we're going to try to hold out less than 20 to go hoping to pick up another win here bristow dave as the 29 is starting to close guess what matt they know about kurt's problems and that's giving kevin more confidence but that lap it seemed like when he turned everything off he got that juice that he needed because all of a sudden he ran a faster lap than harvey and it's really important to catch traffic now in your favor you got to have your spotter up there saying listen got to get these guys out of my way because if i've got to lift just one little bit for a slower car the guy behind me is going to just pounce while you're watching the top two matt kenseth has moved into fifth position around ryan newman and he's trying to close on jimmy johnson and take fourth away what a great move that was on that yes it was outstanding call last three bristol finishes sixth fifth and second and what a pleasure these cars are to drive when they're so much faster than everyone else and they stink yeah see how easy it is i love this he said i love this he'll have a big smile when he gets out tonight he won't be able to be one of the angry guys that's right and you know great point just brought up to me too we're not talking fuel mileage at the end of a race amen we're out there talking put tires on charge through the field kind of like it used to be not all that long ago so kenzit now up to fourth place trying to catch jamie mcmurray ahead of him for third meantime kurt bush hoping the battery voltage holds out his advantage over kevin harvick pretty stable in about a second like i said the traffic is the most important thing right now is to catch the traffic right kurt bush's last three finishes here at bristol a win a sixth and a win trying to make it three out of four he can take his sponsors race see how stuart moved up the racetrack that's what you want the guys to do that aren't racing for the lead and naturally the fastest car in the top ten matt kinsen [Music] harvick not making up any ground right now 10 to go for kurt busch here's mcclory and here comes kenzeth he might be able to get the third spot talking about matt campbell if we were to see a caution here and get a single file restart that get interesting it'd have to be a quick caution though the cutoff lap the point at which nascar would use the red flag in order to try and get a green flag finish his lap 495 and we're only going to be three laps away from that as kurt busch takes the crosses the strike [Music] robbie gordon who's had a tough night been behind the wall on two different occasions break problems early then involved in a crash robbie running 35th 108 laps down to kurt bush and not having a whole lot of fun making laps hey what harvick has fallen back off of kurt bush now and he's fallen into the clutches of jamie mcmurray and matt kenzit so kenseth may have a shot at getting as high as second in this thing look at him closing in yep if the voltage holds up for curt bush the race is going to be for second five laps to go it is gonna be interesting to see how the crowd reacts yeah i mean i i still think you know a guy wins a bristle drives his butt off for 500 laps how can you move that guy you need to stand up and cheer because he did a great job kenzathon mcmurray [Music] murray's gonna have to make that thing real wide i don't think he can make it that wide no i don't think he can either three laps to go lap traffic ahead taco ryan's car there's an early crash all that's going on it's racing for second and third kurt busch down to his final couple of circuits around bristol looking for his fourth win of 2003. you know we said it before but it is worth repeating what a week it's been and what a way to try and get things back on track where your racing is concerned all the off track items have been a distraction but he's come out tonight put it all aside and driven a very hard race [Music] final corner and we'll see what kind of reception good job kurt good job you want to know the stage kirk bush good job guys awesome thanks guys i always say you stick a bar on me i'll do it for you any day [Music] well jimmy fenig his crew chief talked with me this morning about what it's been like for his race team during the week that it turned out as good as it possibly could have for them today jimmy what composure this team is showing all weekend long congratulations uh i'll tell you this team's a tough team i'm really happy with them uh kurt busch he's awesome what more can you say about curt you know i i know kurt feels really bad about sterling he didn't he didn't mean to do it you know like i say kurt went through a tough week and he come out strong and he's a tough guy how nervous for you though the volts going down oh yeah well the all-nighter went out so we're a little nervous but our guys back home they do an awesome job preparing these cars and uh thank god we got two batteries kurt bush rolling into the winner's circle with his third bristol win in the last four races at his eighth nascar winston cup victory bill well kurt busch is made to ride into victory lane you heard him thank his crew you know he is wondering about the reception he's about to receive from 164 000 fans here at the bristol motor speedway one here in april came here after the difficult week that allen described came here confident he could defend or sweep the races here at bristol this season and he did that certainly some moments in the race that he'll have to discuss but right now he's going to celebrate his fourth win of the season and the bristol sweep you know he has to be hot and tired in that car while he talked in the pre-race show about how hard it is to make 500 laps here and remember billy had to turn off the cool suit and all that to save the electronic voltage too so exactly right chunk of the race he didn't have his cooling aids he talked to the media first thing here on friday morning at 9 15. he will address them again in a few minutes but this time he will go in as winner of the sharpie 500. [Music] exactly congratulations in the car [Music] and here he comes let's listen kurt busch the winner of the sharpie 500. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] well we talked first thing on friday when you got here i'm sure this conversation is a lot more pleasant congratulations on your bristol sweden thank you bill i can't mention any of my sponsors or any of my any of my people or anything before i apologize for sterling marlin i got into them and it was a place where he was trying to let me go and i was trying to get into one and set him up and get underneath him out of two so apologize to sterling i didn't mean to do that and that somewhat overshadows this obviously the probation does but this was a night for sharpie they signed on for this race this is their race they're sponsors of this for three more years and i'm sponsoring this car i want to race this car i want to do anything that i can to help this team and get behind them and do what i've got to do to be competitive how tough was this week this is by far the biggest win i don't know whether to enjoy it what to do with it right now this this beats all of my wins it's so sweet to come here with all the the hype and all the things that were going on this week to drag me down all the tabloids the things that i i was trying to stay focused on were the race car and i think i got the job done there obviously you heard the reception at driver introductions a mixed reception here in victory lane kurt yeah dale senior told me the guy that's got the most noise wins you know the crowd here will envelope you and circumference you and let you know how they feel that's for sure that's what bristol is all about and the group here you know there's a bunch of them that are screaming there's a bunch of matter crying my boy's behind me this is what matters and my sponsor is ford sharpie the whole bunch of newer rubbermaid coca-cola craft all the guys that helped me out it's just a blast to drive this car and put this behind us you thanked your crew on the radio for sticking with you they've been supporters just from no end i mean there's been so much going on this week and i don't know really what to say or what was going on through their minds at all but they're a group that smiles all the time they're never going to get up and i'm just glad that we can bring it home to victory lane you started your week in the media center now you will go end it there it was great you know i came here because i love this place and i said that on friday i love this place sorry what happened last week with the way that everything went we're in victory lane now we get to celebrate you think chris trickle is smiling somewhere kurt it for surely is i wouldn't have had this opportunity if it wasn't my old car owner from southwest tour is here tonight from star nursery and all the people that have helped me from las vegas you know there's been some rough beginnings there as well with with the racetrack with some competitors and i just tried it to be smooth and not to get into anybody at all and it's just i tried to stay a step ahead to sterling marlin and he was trying to let me go and i accidentally got into him congratulations thank you kurt bush in victory lane at bristol dave standing by with second place finisher kevin harvick and kevin i can't believe i'm talking to you again this week about being close here at bristol what was wrong with the car at the end we just couldn't get going on the restarts um you know gm goodwin's car was was really good all night we just uh you know for four or five six laps really had a tough time it felt like all the tires were flat and uh just couldn't get going hate losing the rubber head but you know i think he's uh he's learning what being a butthole will get you when you win the race and and everybody's in your boon for you so good night for the jim goodrich car kevin uh during the race earlier your car was so good i mean do you have any idea why it fell off um i knew it didn't really fall off it's just um for some reason things whether it was the two tires or we had too much air in the tires and they were sliding across the racetrack just fell off a little bit there and i think there were several cars that did that i know 24 fell off quite a bit but 97 had to hold the racetrack all night and beat us all right marty well matt kenseth the car was awesome on new tires had you stopped one caution earlier could you have caught the leaders i think we could we just ran out of time so it was a great job with my dewalt guys we had a great handling car tonight when we needed it you know on old tires everybody good and uh you know i kind of wanted to put the time before and we kind of talked it back and forth and decided to stay out and we really should have paid it we probably would have had a shot of the win but it was uh great to come back and finish fourth the only uh damper of the day is you know i wrecked jeff gordon's day and um you know i feel so terrible about that i moved over actually let him go and get out of his way and and we got bunched up with another car and he got out of gas i ran him over so i feel uh feel terrible about that i know there's nothing i could do to fix his day back for him but uh kind of wrecks the whole day for us but it was a good job for my team championship leader steams on towards new york matt ryan newman fought back from the 32nd position what a run tonight for you in this team ryan yeah and hold out a good run for the i'll tell dodge i mean uh best finish here bristol good for the points good for the team for sure especially getting spun out twice i mean uh our front bumper was pretty clean all night typical deal for us at bristol we got a baited rear bumper but just uh glad to finish as well as we did matt the guys did an awesome job awesome pit stop so that's about all it comes from six tonight in bristol here's how they ran in the sharpie 500 curt bush with the 13th season sweep here at this racetrack and jarrett got up to the seventh spot could not go any further those two tires yeah i'm just going to say mcmurray hung on to a third spot with canon tensor behind him with new tires nice top 10 for jeremy mayfield much needed there ken schrader got shuffled back to 12th and final on the lead lap was greg biffle in 22nd jeff gordon 28th after the tangle with uh matt kenseth another kink in his championship bid and the standings matt kenseth gaining more it was 329 it's 3 51 now as we head to darlington next weekend and the race for the championship continues next saturday on nbc 2 eastern nascar bush series racing from darlington next sunday the mountain dew southern 500 at 12 30 eastern what a wild night in bristol 20 caution flags and kurt bush ends up in victory lane

Channel: Racins Fun

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Length: 215min 32sec (12932 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 08 2021