2012 Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway | NASCAR Classic Full Race Replays

we are ready to race we're ready to rumble in thunder valley bristol motor speedway it's the night race at bristol for the nascar sprint cup series getting ready to begin just moments from now field of 43 rolling off onto the racetrack momentarily to begin what will be very quick parade and pace laps our espn in race reported tonight is the subject of our amazing at bristol brought to you by quicken loans karl edwards with a couple of wins tonight race here in 2007 and 2008 his average finish pretty sporty but he's starting pretty far back tonight if he's going to be amazing again he's in 27th on the grid let's dial up our espn inrace reporter carl edwards carl dale jarrett espn you have a copy i got a copy hey carl we were just looking at your amazing and outstanding record here at bristol we've talked about how difficult this race is mentally and physically you prepare yourself any differently for this long hard night now the guys at cts and my trainer and everybody uh dean is you know we try to be ready for these races but that's the physical part the mental part i was just sitting here thinking about it right now for our fasting team it's just like a saturday night special in moberly missouri i mean i'm going here just to win this race that's all we're here to do and really mentally that makes it a lot simpler for us you kind of lead us into our mailbag question from ethan from st johnsbury vermont he asked what does your team need to do and what risk do you have to take to get wins and a shot at the wild card going into the chase that's a good question we we got to do we got to do everything we can basically we just got to go out here and be as fast as we can i've got to be as aggressive as aggressive as i can and what it's going to take is just just doing those things and remembering that we have nothing to lose we just found everything to gain by winning this race that's the key a lot of talk about the racetrack in your practice session so far have you seen anything that concerns you i talked to ricky stenhouse jr a little bit right before this race uh right before i got in the car he told me some things about the track and the way it changed but really there's not much difference it's going to be really tough to pass and just like i said i don't have much to lose we've got everything to gain there are a lot of guys in that position there are guys that are locked in the chase they don't really care what happens as long as they get a win and there are guys like me who just need that win to get in so i think we're going to see some wild racing tonight all right carl we're going to follow you up through the packing to the front so you have a good night thanks for talking with us i hope you have a good broadcast hope all the fans enjoy the show carl edwards our espn race reporter tonight starting back in 27th spot at the very head of the field is the pace car for the race got a special guest driver on these pace laps that's jason clark the actor who's starring in the new movie lawless that comes out on wednesday he's got that focus going on might be appropriate here tonight too yeah there you go uh that pace car just one of the looks we'll have from onboard race cars tonight a high definition onboards riding with brad keselowski he's got the dodge on board from the front row danica patrick the godaddy.com camera in her bristol's cup debut good boy the five-hour energy camera matt kinsen the goodyear on board kyle busch has got our toyota camera there's kevin harvick with the rim on board dale earnhardt jr with the chevy camera and carl edwards with the fourth focus on board our over-the-wall camera being carried by the jack band for the pole sitting car of casey mears daryl beachy daryl have a great night tonight got that number one pit stall after they earned the poll in practice when qualifying was rained out and our telecast tonight available in spanish brought to you by espn deportees hope you enjoy and we get set to go 500 laps here in thunder valley on this half mile track a place where drivers will tell you sometimes they're going around here so quickly they get confused whether they're on the front stretch or the back stretch i guarantee it's difficult to keep up with about 60 second laps and a lot of things happen kevin harvick with a change of crew chiefs coming into this race and they're getting ready to go at it have a good night kevin guys be strong here in the pits billy i'll let you relay most of the information and we'll talk under caution have a good night buddy thank you so as we get set to go half a lap from the start in bristol so many potential stories in the race tonight how will the racing be will we see more of the bumping and grinding and crashing we have a car off the pace on the front straightaway that's going to wave off the start that's curt bush and his car just absolutely stopped running and they came off the curb forward on the main straightaway the whole field passing i thought maybe he was going to the rear on purpose but then looked like he just wouldn't fire up finally did though let's see if he gets his uh scheduled spot on the grid back he's headed back that way now yeah just go back to your spot there man just easy there easy all right there you go so we'll go one to go again right there bud right there coming to the green next time and things appear to be in good shape for kurt bush casey mayer is on the pole qualifying rained out yesterday afternoon new rules put into place through the beginning of last season the first practice session speeds determine the starting order of the field so casey neistat a huge break for the germain racing team will lead this field to the green flag he's chosen the outside lane yeah we saw this all night last night that uh that outside lane was the place to be a lot of nervous drivers right now that are starting on the inside whether it's brad keselowski they're starting on the inside or even further back i promise you the drivers aren't the only ones nervous the guys on the pit boxes are too this is one of the most nerve-wracking starts of a race that i ever experienced in these first few laps in prison drivers are nervous fans are charged up we're ready for the urban tools night race in bristol casey mears slides wide for the lead brad keselowski and the two looking underneath yeah still going to be tough even though mirrors lost a little momentum for brad keselowski get that drive up off the corner that you need and this is where we talked about patience and working hard when you have to work that low lane to pass somebody so easy to overdrive and slide up and hit the guy that's outside of you but that just starts to wreck it might mess up your car yeah if you've got any patience you better have it in lap too because it's not going to get any better throughout the night joey logano in the yellow 20 the third player in the mix he's going to get that second spot now brad is going to have one of the better cars here tonight he may be struggling a little bit right now but you saw just how difficult it was for him to make that pass now casey mears has a fast card doing a nice job sorry dj hamlin with that bottle up from the bottom lane almost collected the point leader yeah you think them it looks so inviting to go to that bottom lane and make a little time through the middle but getting off the corner is really tricky eric almarola up to third and richard penny's 43 right behind this fight for the top spot madonna 20 casey mears 13. these cars make so much power they can overpower the racetrack and overpower the tires especially from this bottom lane you see joey logano's got a great car he's gonna have a hard time making that pass on casey mears on the bottom yeah we saw him in this position last night in the nationwide race trying to pass kevin harvick among another for the lead showed a lot of patience then and i'm sure he's going to tonight second victory of the season for him would be huge here tonight here's up there close to that spot you see the lighter shade of concrete there that's where the track milled off those two degrees of banking in the very top lane trying to narrow up the racing lane and put the cars more closely together like the old bristol before 2007 was yeah more than taking away the two degrees of banking the things just given the drivers problem is they really smoothed that out but they're trying to straight away sorry dj ken schrader turned into the inside wall and the caution is out first caution of the night just 10 laps into the race and you see how badly bent the front end of that 32 car is the front wheels weren't even on the ground when it slid down off the bank he picks it up pit road guys yeah a lot of contact right there you see out of the corner you just can't get the car stopped before you get to the inside wall 49 car jason lefler you can see how quick it happens too there's just nowhere to go and once you get turned on these straightaways they're banked as well just to take it right down to the inside wall kenny running 36th at the time and a very early crimp in his night and the caution is out here at bristol casey mears has led all of the laps so far with plenty of company up front mr schroeder going to express some displeasure we'll come back to bristol after this message and a word from our abc stations still cleaning up under the first caution here at bristol as the nascar sprinkle series races at the world's fastest half mile speaking of fast which driver do you think will take first out of this week's top four qualifiers in the at t fastest driver challenge there are the drivers casey mears brad koslowski greg bibble and joey logano text fast to three four seven six three or go to att fastest driver dot com to play you could have a chance to win four g's just by playing along in today's a t fastest driver challenge every week you'll have a chance to make your pick and see where you stack up against the rest the pit lane just being opened remember at bristol the two different pit procedures under caution and under green so that entry to pit road you're looking at off of turn number two where everybody has to go in under the yellow flag and there's the first driver to take advantage jimmy johnson gotta try and work a little strategy doc because he was starting way in the back i'm sorry vince he's a little bit tight in the center and wants a little more rear security so they're going to go up a half round in the right rear and make a four tire change for jimmy johnson as you said started deep in the field starting to make his way up also the tin carved danica patrick came in you saw her just go by on her screen on the screen there took right side says she's a little tight in the center joe nemechek jason leffler travis quapo also coming on to pit road under this caution some of very few to stop greg biffle got a little donut mark on the door already mike yeah that's the least of his concerns really he came over the radio just after the caution came out complaining profusely about his race car saying it's not doing what it did in practice he's chattering the tires feels like it's bottoming out off of turn number two he's very concerned said they're terrible right now so uh obviously the track's gonna change but right now greg biffle not happy at all all right we'll keep an eye on greg who for the moment runs in fifth position now on the pace laps remember we saw kurt bush's car just lose power and stop perhaps a little further information here as to what happened you know what i think happened i did it i was adjusting to brake bias making sure everything worked and i hit the on off switch that's what i think happened just uh for reference move the brake bias away from the master on off switch for future might be a good idea oh yeah i mean what happens is that master switch is just a little like a key and it can be right beside that break by his knob and he probably just reached over there with his glove didn't he probably didn't feel it and it flipped the switch off so doubled up for the restart as the pace car hits pit road casey meers the leader choosing the outside lane as we expect to see a lot tonight joey logano in that yellow 20 to his inside [Music] so when i went around the garage earlier today and i talked to some people a lot of folks told me that the first 20 laps on new tires your car would have a chance at using that bottom lane to make some passes but after that we'd see a lot of people moving up the racetrack like logano is now and having to try that higher line i haven't seen it really work we see magano try to make it work it looks like eric ambrose at 43 he made a pass on brad keselowski on the bottom his is one of the better cars i've seen on the bottom of the racetrack that 43 is coming up he's catching legato right now you see logano still just can't make that passage jeff burton up there inside the top five not to see him running well here tonight ken schrader checked and released from the infield medical center 27-9 paul menard marcos ambrose that's for 10th and 11th spot there are denny hamlin 11 and kyle bush 18. a little further ahead 7th and 8th talk about two different agendas tonight right hamlin 10th in the championship standings a wreck and a bad night here confront him out of the top ten and back into having a fight for one of those wild card spots kyle a win tonight could get him a chance to have a wild card spot and uh make the chase yeah hamlin's had some bad ones in the last nine five for those last nights he's finished 25th or worse so he's needing a solid night joey logano being very patient but very persistent yeah yeah but how about casey meers staying up here and leading this race you know i think a lot of people really just expected yeah he put that lap down in practice but thinking that he would just fall back at the start of this doing a great job this looks a lot like last night joey logano very patient with kevin harvick when he was leading the race on tires that were not quite as good morgano had the better car but took a long long time very patient about how he he raced harvick but did end up getting the lead in the wind looks very similar to this right now got a chance here got a chance i think he's going to be able to do it now just started to see that 13 car slip around too as he was trying to stay with the 20 off the corner yeah you're either going to have to have that where you've got a car that's got really good drive off or you're just going to have to use up the side of that car that you're trying to pass now's not the time to really be doing that 9 and 29 ambrose in harvick side by side 13th and 14th we check on second place as meers continues to slide a little bit in that 13. eric alvarola 43 jeff burton 31. watch the wall it'll step out and get you it's right where that safer barrier ends and the concrete wall starts with straight away it's still just out just a little bit encroaching on the racetrack so sorting it out in the early going after one quick caution second leader of the race joey logano last night's winner let's get ready to rumble a little rumbling in the opening laps of the irwin tools night race at bristol ken schroeder turned out of traffic bringing out the first and only caution of the race so far as sun sets temperatures begin to drop track conditions change and the action from second place on back gets a little more intense joey logano out in front past casey mears after meers starting on the pole led the first 26 laps but now for second place having worked their way around beers 43 eric almarola 31 jeff burton yeah both of these drivers doing a really nice job jeff berger's car looks the best so far here that i've seen jeff burton looking a long time the struggle would kind of be an understatement for the season that 31 has had so burton going to clear almarola there's brad kozlowski the man who's won the last two straight bristol races in the nascar spread cup series sliding by mirrors kozlowski dropped back a few spots on the start remember he was on the front row i just saw kirk busch kind of move juan pablo montoya out of the way there we'll see if that comes back around later on keeping a marker sheet there's kyle bush in the 18 car he is uh running back in eighth position and maybe a little concerned about the feel of his car worst road yeah what he's talking about is you can see the steering wheel it's got a shaking rotor what happens is they don't heat up evenly in order they don't and they cool unevenly and they'll make that rotor warp so it just puts a shake in the steering wheel yeah the problem with kyle is it's not a problem it's a great attribute he has as a driver that he doesn't use to break a whole lot so whenever he's not getting that heat there he's going to have a lot of that well i see the rotor's blowing red on the car now though so he must be using more brake than he needs to or that he probably wants to use and that's causing a lot of this problem and some pretty heavy traffic there he's behind casey mears in the 13. he's got casey kane in the five who is inside and by [Music] kane up to eighth and make it up to seventh as he slides by nears frank biffle in the 16 kevin harvick in the 29 and then i'm talking a lot of these drivers they felt like that the frustration level may ramp up pretty quickly here tonight because somebody gets out truck with a fast race car starts putting people laps down they've got to get on it and the only way they're going to be able to do it is to move people yeah right now everybody's being fairly patient because they're not regano is not putting good cars a lap down yet but when he starts running up in the back of some of these good cars you're going to see that frustration level intensity level come up [Music] here junior pedaling his car off the corner big nada cars here betrayed by the very nation they swore to protect the crew of america's most powerful nuclear submarine has been targeted for destruction from the creator of the shield miley brauer and scott speedman starring last resort series premiere thursday september 27th eastern here on abc 13 years 29 harvick knocking around here for ninth and 10th spots with a whole lot of company blink boyer in the 15 trying to make some time on that inside line had a great finish in the race health back here on march the 18th dude boyer hey you're talking about a good job that casey mears did leave the race he did but i don't think his car is all that great i think he's holding up a lot of good fast cars right now and that's what's causing this congestion behind me yeah potential problem brewing right here that's when that patience thing we talked about begins to wear thin taylor hart jr 19th place in the 88 car yeah he went down and tried to make a pass because all of everybody was just lined up in the outside conversely he's lost two spots in trying to do that brian vickers in the 55 on the other hand he's been able to make some passes on the inside moving forward 55 vickers working on marco sambroz in the nine that'll be for 17th place really tough to make that pass on the bottom one of the reasons is like i said earlier is this cars just make so much power hard to get those rear tires to hook up off the bottom of the racetrack well in this particular case too you've got drivers lined up nose to tail on the outside you never have anywhere to slide up in so you just abuse the tires here you can't ever get in a position you can slide up and cool things back down and then make another run brian vickers digging hard on the bottom and that 55 vince well remember he had a good run here in march as well finished fifth led 125 laps and his troop chief rodney childers told me they brought the same car back and they really worked hard on this car running the bottom successfully they said everybody's going to be good up top but those that can work the bottom fast are going to be guys that can go forward and that's exactly what you guys were talking about he's working the bottom and running good times yeah and i really think that the bottom might come into play even more after cars handling starts going away even though they're running up top and taking that spot then i think you can make some time down there if your car is pretty good jeff gordon making a little time just got fifth place away from denny hamlin gordon in that 24. and you see brad kozlowski has slipped back to seven in the deuce nice to see that tribute paint scheme dar powell rdub huh yeah i'm trying not to make myself call it rusty wallace here just looking at it just brings back a lot of memories all this action we're showing you is going on well behind the race leader joey logano has opened up two and a half seconds on second place jeff burton logano out in front it's the nascar sprint cup irwin tools night race in bristol we invite you to check out nascar.com for all your latest nascar 70 of the 500 laps complete joey logano the second leader of the night quick reminder coverage of major league baseball continues on espn tomorrow night jason hayward and the braves travel to san francisco to take on buster posey and the giants in eighth then monday night at eight evan longoria and the rays look to keep not only their wild card but their division hopes alive when they visit adrian beltray in the rangers sportscenter scene in the tampa bay market sunday night baseball presented by taco bell monday night baseball presented by usaa so joey logano the leader catching the tail end of the field and at the tail end of the lead lap now and going the lap down tony stewart in the 14. wait really struggled with this racetrack over about the last seven races ever since really with this 14th uh just has i think he's got one top 10 defense maybe he's finished 14th or worse in the last seven starts here and remember that for stewart after some troubles he had including the engine problems in michigan last week it dropped him down to ninth in the championship standings and not that far ahead of the 11th place driver casey kane well if stewart has a bad finish tonight kane could potentially overtake him and knock tony out of that top ten and back into the wild card race for a place in the chase speaking of casey cain he is on the move in that five car just around eric almarola in the 43 and up to third almarola losing fourth getting hamlin in the 11 going by hamlin seems to have it going here in the early yeah his car looked pretty strong early on that he could make a run and get going i've seen some other cars really struggling here for some reason i'm not sure if they're having some tire problems some issues let's see matt kendall right now struggling to 24. jeff gordon falling back i don't know what's wrong with kensington he's up high going into three yeah he's really slow that 17 is oh yeah he's got some real big issues yeah there's matt he's been passed by four five cars maybe more doc the 17 car dj having issues they think they've got a loose brake line or something in the front of the car they're up on the pit wall ready to bring that in he said i'm going to try to hang on camera as you said a moment ago he is all over the racetrack way up at the top minimal breaks at all on the 17. that can't be fun and you see curt bush when matt kenseth slowed there was a whole bottle up of traffic behind him kurt busch got the worst of that he's already got damage on that left rear watch the bumper cars here oh yeah a little bit of an accordion effect there jimmy johnson with a good piece of that too on the nose of that 48 keep an eye on the temperature gauge on that car sam horner's just out of shape and into the wall off turn four debris in turn two potentially from the 22 or the 51 cars and the second yellow flag of the race at lap 82 sam was running in 19th spot when this happened and we've seen a lot of these drivers trying to get up into that white area where there's really no rubber bin laid down some others been making it work sam not so much yeah i saw a few cars up there looked like mark truex was up there a few times it looked like it was working for some of them but boy you're right it didn't work very good for sam and then look at this damage on the 48 i don't think that's going to cause any cooling issues as long as it didn't damage the ductwork that's behind the nose you can see the opening looks fine remember jimmy started way in the back of the field and this 48 car started in 37th spot one of the few that pitted under the early caution at lap 14 he pitted restarted 33rd has moved his way up to 21st now the question is do they stay out and play the strategy or do they need to come in and get a look at that damage pin road is closed so it's going to be a minute before we find out yeah i talked to earl barbara spotter for this car he said that he went ahead and kicked the front bumper and then told jimmy said don't be afraid to use it now it's not pretty anymore i don't think he meant to use it like that though so second caution of the race pit road will be open this time by which is when the field gets over to turn number two exiting turn number four now expect we'll see all the front of the field in right yeah saw tony stewart get left but unfortunately he's not going to be the one getting the free pass here no that'll be michael mcdowell in the 98 that the leader just overtook before the caution he is the guy running in front of stewart so tony missed it by one that's just crazy to me how tony stewart is not better here this looks like a track he's being really good at [Music] here they come to pit road jeff burton running second really likes his car they're not gonna make any changes it's gonna be a four tire change he's got a donut on the left side of his car right there at the driver's window seeing a lot of that here today dave leader legano very clean so far he will take a full load of sunoco fuel and four tires as well there'll just be an air pressure change his car was a little bit loose actually tight on exit on the front side of the racetrack punch defending race winner brad kellowski now pulling into his pits here he said the car very tight in the center cannot run the high line thought he might have been on the splitter four tire chain sunoco fuel air pressure okay the 43 car eric alvarez said i'm losing i'm losing drive off he said let's change all four tires air pressure change no other major chassis adjustments mike the eleventh team and denny hanlon very happy contact on pit road with denny hamlin as he tried to pull away it was a great pit stop but obviously that's not what they wanted to see happen a little bit of damage at least cosmetically to the 11 car leaving pit road all kinds of mayhem on this tight pin road here at bristol back for the restart in a moment [Music] so getting ready for the restart here at bristol after the second caution of the race in a round of pit stops denny hamlin greg biffle among those who had close calls on the pit lane let's check out what happened to hamlin as he tried to leave his bid oh man i'll tell you that right there hit right right on the wheel really worried about whether you're gonna tie rod or something right fortunately didn't knock that 11 car over into any of the 83's crew men who were coming out to serve as landon castle a lot of flags for the restart outback steakhouse gave those out tonight as a reminder that they give out free blooming onions if brian newman finishes in the top ten we're back to green let him race a lap or two then we'll tell you about some speeding penalties on pit road have a little strategy [Music] and there's a lot of slipping and sliding and fighting for spots going on out there joey logano the race leader jeff burton is settled into second casey kane brad koslowski racing for third that's one pablo montoya in the 42 just right side tires only on his pit stop to get some track position he's running fifth it's like ken's lasting that two cars got his car a little better this run he kind of slipped back third and second start on outside the front row and sniffed back in that first run jeff burton's coming back up into second by way of starting fourth his pit crew had a little problem on the right rear but they still were okay there and it worked out for them and he's back in second once again get that outside lane it helps you mention montoya with the right sides only also his teammate jamie mcmurray and carl edwards changed just two tires and picked up some track position losing track position kyle bush speeding on pit road dale earnhardt jr speeding on pit road ryan newman left his pit stall with a wrench still in the back window and had to come back to get it removed he also went to the back of the field for the restart you see burt just fighting on the bottom trying to get by casey kane and that's not going to work yeah casey came really strong here tonight always is really good here but he loves to run the high line around this racetrack came to second burton back to third brad keselowski two and clint boyer 15 now in fourth and [Music] fifth i don't know if it's too early to tell but that 11 car looks like he's doing okay for the moment i was really walking to watch and see exactly how that may affect him i thought if it really looked like he got hit behind the back of the wheel if it towed the right front out quite a bit if that may affect him we'll have to see tire wear but if the car seems to be okay he's fighting monsoon pretty hard here for this spot it doesn't think it hurt it at all he's just up ahead of him clinton warrior he started back in 23rd spot he's made a lot of headway and he's done made it a lot on the bottom making these passes and hamlet was one of those cars that really worked the bottom hard make some passes in that first range you see boyer slipped just a little bit trying to catch lobster [Music] i spoke too soon about brad keselowski making the car better doesn't look like he's any better at all this time losing some spots spoiler got by him montoya here's kevin harvick 29. [Music] he's speaking of somebody who needs a good run and it's really good at this racetrack kevin harvick and this race team could use some good things happening tonight yes sir joey logano had a big lead before the caution got out to a quick lead after the restart but now he's got company casey kane and the five going after the race lead wasted no time driving up to the back bumper legano see what his plans are now they would make that pass on burton for a second on the outside i'm sure he's going to give it up on the outside when he first caught lagano he tried to kind of squeeze between logano and the wall but logano didn't give him enough room but now he's i think he's pretty much set if he's gonna make this pass it's gonna have to be on the bottom pagano has done a lot of leading day but he's got some company now ask crew chief jason radcliffe what yesterday's win did for him he said it allows joey right from the start to know where he wants to run and how hard to push it you see him using the line he wants to keep kane behind him uh by the way jason also told me i'm a big fan of nationwide race it gives my driver a lot of confidence too joey logano has done a lot of winning in the nascar nationwide series this year i left a little too much room right there for casey kane on the exit he's been driving kind of downhill off the corner getting a good run but kane took advantage and now he's got the lead new leader so joey logano led from lap 27 to lap 107 but now at 108 complete casey kane out in front as the new leader of the irwin tools night race at bristol we're back to thunder valley after this message and a word from our abc stations so so back at bristol under the lights where it's been interesting so far a strong performance for joey logano not so strong for tony stewart already a lap down i'll tell you that's really surprising everybody tony stewart is getting his doors blowed off early that 14 car is just not handling he's got to get that thing and get working on it currently in 30 seconds it's really tight out there you see jimmy johnson getting to the back of the 34 the 22's had some problems 51's had some problems a little bit of slip and a slide up in that high groove right yeah it got a little bit loose there you can see kirk bush with some damage on the left rear that 51 car if you think it's tight on the track how about pit road oh man i could not believe what just happened here laying the castle must not have seen jo denny coming out of the pits and just clobbered his right front wheel coverage of the little league world series continues tomorrow first at 11 on espn it's panama vs petaluma california in the consolation game then at three it's the world championship game on abc japan versus goodlettsville tennessee the little league world series presented by kellogg's frosted flakes tomorrow on abc caution on the track this one for sam hornish right here sam come right here on the front stretch come to us allen that's kind of the back side of a little contact off turn four double header that left two cars with the trunk lids rearranged 22 of hornish and the 51 of curt bush kurt busch's car got his front of his decklid standing straight up it looks like a big old huge spoil on the back of it he ran like 10 laps like that i think that thing's making some downforce should be wow so kurt tried to go low under hornish slid up wasn't quite clear they made contact he caught the wall then this hornish got the nip on the bumper david reagan into him trying to go to the outside of him but wasn't able to make that happen created a lot of contact and the patience is going away [Applause] and that was matt kenzit's radio you heard and indeed he is the free pass recipient under this caution once again tony stewart the second car one laptop jimmy johnson leaving his pit vince jimmy johnson came in they have a little bit of nose damage from that accordion collection that we saw earlier but just above the radiator but i just talked with the car chief ron malik a moment ago he said a little bit of cosmetic damage but not anything that's going to affect the radiator let's go to doc dale earnhardt jr in for left side tires and juniors saying the car just uh having a little bit of an issue said the car was too too tight on exit from the center off trying to make a little adjustment so we can get back in the throttle and use it coming up off the corner guys all right doc junior trying to make up the ground lost after that speeding on pit road penalty last time sam hornish jr behind the wall third caution is out at bristol so working the third caution of the night here at bristol gives us a moment to tell you about the fastest stats brought to you live all race long by the new sprint direct connect part of the fastest push-to-talk experience upgrade to the new done joey logano has led more laps than anyone else tonight been the fastest of the pack 80 of the 127 circuits and the biggest mover in this race juan pablo montoya little pit strategy a fast car that held his track position helping him gain 24 spots the fastest stats brought to you by the new sprint direct connect upgrade to the new done find out more at sprint.com speed and get done about to get this caution done as we double up for the restart brad keselowski's back in ninth i'm trying not to panic we knew the top would be good i'm just hoping that it uh goes away if it goes away i think we'd be fine man maybe not the best car but uh you know respectable for sure i wouldn't count on that happening so he better find a way to make his car run up there and make some passes matt kemsworth got the free pass at the caution there are 29 cars on the lead lap casey kane leads into the green little bobble there for montoya 42 in the outside lane magano goes to second in the 20 still bottled up behind the 42. little dicey there yeah montoya really struck with the first part of the race running back outside the top 20. took the two tires got the track positions able to stay up here i don't think this car is driving very good though jeff burton 31 denny hamlin 11 working on him and keep an eye on that 56 mark truex jr excellent here at bristol the last couple of races he'll be a factor before the day's done okay before the night's done jeff burton still in the mix here been really impressed with this race team for as much as he talked about the struggle that they've had see denny hammond trying to make this move work on the inside of montoya again almost clear him that time yeah i'm surprised that montoya's car is as good as it is he's got 135 laps on his left side tires took right side tires to lap 85. like you said he couldn't really run in the top 20. i didn't think this was going to work for him i think this worked out great yeah a lot of crew chiefs i talked with were concerned this is a new left side tire they didn't really think with the wear that they saw that this tire might go this long but montoya may be showing him something here hamlin using his bumper now trying to make this pass and you saw those gloves on the steering wheel that 42 awfully busy going back and forth he's not afraid to use the bumper too yeah and hamlet's got a little bit of distance between he and jeff burton the next car back there so he can keep trying to make this move without being concerned of losing two three or four spots to someone getting on his miss outside race for third casey kane joey logano in front of these go these two and the field right behind quick mention while we watch this action not many lead lab cars pitted under that last yellow jimmy johnson eric almarola jeff gordon ryan newman dale jr speaking of yeah jimmy johnson looks like he's struggling with his race car greg benford just made a great move takes spot away there that's 16th place for ripple while we watch third as denny hamlin makes another attempt at that bottom line moves on juan pablo montoya this is the same type patience that you used to have to have you talk about the old bristol versus what we have now it was just opposite you were running right on the bottom and you did the same thing you were lined up there just waiting for somebody to make a mistake or knocking them out of the way kind of the same thing that you're seeing here except they do have somewhere to go to try to make these passes now but you just have to be so patient for 500 laps but you were telling me earlier when we were talking about what we might see tonight that with what they changed at the very top of the racetrack the exit of the corner when you're trying to make that pass and hold underneath somebody that seems to be where things really tighten up yeah it really does tighten up you just need to make that work with the horsepower that these cars have and as heavy as they are you just need all of that racetrack to be able to stay in the gas to complete that pass i think jimmy johnson maybe dented his nose a little bit more i'm pretty sure he's not very happy with greg biffle with what i saw a few minutes ago might this be what you saw johnson get up he's a lot of people have been up there well no reason really be that unhappy with fit with what biffle did i think jimmy's just upset with himself and now he's frustrated he's lost the spot how about this 48 vents yeah he's not complaining about how the car is handling they were a little loose early in the race but on that last pit stop they didn't make any changes just before tire change and he's giving greg biffle a bump in the back into three or four times during this run so you can see his patience wearing a little thin with the 16. look at that nose damage on that 48. well the 48's got about 40 lap fresher tires right now than greg biffle so he feels like you ought to be able to drive by yeah and mimble really is struggling with his race car and jimmy knows that he messed up there and got that spot where he could be moving forward now he's just going to try to use the vehicle up a little bit that's how you do it the new version of the bristol bus that's what you have to do and now the bump back you got to be ready for that too but that's what you're gonna have to do is we got trouble on the front stretch david reagan and he's on fire momentarily reagan has spun into the inside wall caution is out you're out you're not on fire you are not on fire something went seriously wrong in that 34 car couple of laps ago he had slipped way wide in three and four and almost caught the wall gathered it back up kept going but now he spun off the corner literally with fire coming from under the car have a look here bottom right of your screen they got into streaming it looks like he could have busted the oil cooler that's exactly what happened probably busted the oil cooler and put all that hot oil on the headers unfortunately nobody else spun in the oil so yellow flag out you see david extricating himself from that car and the pit lane quickly open on the back straightaway and some strategy being played here logano stays out as do others vince the five carve casey kane has come in he's got a little bit of damage and they're going to take a look at that that's the concern there on the right front they just gave it a little tug casey didn't want to come but they were afraid they would have a rub if they didn't so they wanted to come in and make sure you see them giving extra attention to that right front and the tire change looks to be no significant damage two tires right side mike a rather eventful pit stop last time down pit road for denny hamlin he suffered what appeared to be damage but after that came on the radio saying we have a race-winning car he's very happy with the machine right now as the team goes to work on the right side of the 11 the complete service there a four tire change for the 11. meanwhile juan montoya also taking tires and fuel last time down pit road only took two this time four and mark 2x junior a little bit tight center he'll make an air pressure adjustment and he's away boy a real split agenda and a real round of strategy there that's the race off pit road but joey logano stays on the track and he takes over the lead [Music] got some oil to clean up here at bristol so we are still under caution gives us a chance to tell you about next weekend's nighttime racing doubleheader at the high speed atlanta motor speedway saturday night nascar nationwide series 6 30 on espn2 and sunday night the nascar sprint cup series presented by pennzoil our coverage at 6 30 eastern on espn night racing at 200 miles an hour in atlanta with a place in the chase on the line casey kane was the leader at the caution making yet another pit stop under this yellow flag yeah they don't seem to be a lot of damage on the car i don't know exactly what they've got what the problem is what's going on with that five car man well the right front you see they've got some damage up underneath the well and that's what they've been working on also has some right rear damage and a little bit of splitter damage as well kenny francis the crew chief just said hey we'll lose a lap if we have to we're good enough we can get it back but we've got to make sure we get it fixed so that's the situation they're dealing with right now giving it a lot of attention for casey kane while he was leading the race and having a good run they just told me earlier today it always seems like we've got something to overcome that's the case again tonight and he has lost a lap with that extended stay on the pit lane so what happened to cause this damage on the five watch the top of the screen oh yeah you can see he got in that hole right there yep man i didn't realize he hit the wall that hard yeah there's a lot of oil up there well he clobbered that wall you can't tell that by looking at the damage on the car though it didn't look that bad obviously it was yeah a lot of cars right there you see logano got right next to the wall so there was a lot of oil put down you see look at the body damage hardly any body damage yeah i think uh the flaming spinning david reagan had all of our attention pretty well so kane is going to go a lap down and back to at the moment around 32nd position and he's pitting again jeff gordon one of those who did not pit under this yellow he's running in fourth i'm just cracking up right now i love how they they ground that top down made it smoother and now it's laying rubber and it's the best preferred place to be that's kind of what i've noticed too i mean everybody is it looks like migrating up all the way i mean completely to the wall in the middle of the corner on the exit i think they're still just a little bit of a place that they can't go and it kind of narrows the racetrack up on the exit they're using it up in the middle so the racetrack really is taking a lot of rubber and we are seeing a lot of guys uh nine-time bristol winner rusty wallace rubbing right up against that concrete in the corners yeah they really are alan we knew this was going to happen a little bit because the extra horsepower and just the pure speed of the cuff car versus nationwide truck stuff like that you know i expected this that it was going to happen i think the guy all you guys did too but i don't think bruton smith wanted this to happen he ground the top lane a couple degrees out of that trying to get these guys down in the bottom over there rooting gouge and maybe cause some more cautions and stuff but i have to agree with what jeff gordon just said it looks like it's laying rubber down to get better grip guys you know jimmy johnson and greg biffle just illustrated for us how hard it is to pass on this track and it is interesting the different strategies we're seeing the top 15 guys all stayed out yeah absolutely right and we've seen that since lap one but i think as rusty alluded to and the guys up top as we get a little further into this race maybe 50 or 60 more laps right i think we're going to see a little bit more aggressive racing where guys are going to start taking chances trying to pass in particular in that top lane where everybody seems to be favoring that little bit of cushion yeah it seems to be that everybody wants to be in that top lane and they're having trouble getting these cars slowed down it's like being in the traffic jam on the highway yeah but the guy up ahead stops and then three or four according back that we've got that accordion effect you know i'm watching the the wild card race at the uh it is it is unbelievable what's going on 11th to 14th spot dave what's going on with joey logano joey logano stayed out we heard stay out then pit pit pit your strategy still intact yeah that was the uh that was the right call for us we uh we just we need track position right now our car's a little tight so i'd like to work on it and uh original call was to stay out and i was listening to the guys behind us they were coming so but we made the right call joe's in the right spikes doing a good job tonight the dollar general camryn trying to hang on here get a good run joey logano leaves the top 15 in line did not get under the yellow one pablo montoya 42 was the first off the pit lane jeff gordon 24 brian vickers 55 for second and keep an eye on the 18 and the 88 remember they had speeding penalties earlier kyle busch and dale earnhardt jr not pinning under the yellow they're back up into the top six things are going to get really interesting and some of those cars have stayed out with dave laney jamie mcmurray that was struggling you have kirk bush whose car has been beat around they're in front of a lot of guys at the faster cars that have tires that did it there also quickly mentioned tony stewart got the free pass at the caution smoke's back on the lead lap he's in 29. see him back there coming down there three wide coming off the turns too they made it work that time jeff burton 31 denny hamlin 11 mark truex 56 among the leaders before the caution they went to pit road track position has changed carl edwards remember just took right side tires earlier gained some track position now on that other pit schedule he just stopped under the yellow back in 22nd place see a lot of cars running back here on these good tires but the way to make this strategy work is to try to stay out here and maintain your track position and then you're all sequenced but of course it just fade out so you can kind of take advantage of the next caution when they pit but you got to stay out of trouble earlier saw matt kenzit have some problems he's passing jimmy johnson there to pick up a spot that's ninth place i've been watching matt he got that car fixed with that brake line on the left rear they got the free pass got it back now his car is good real good right now just hope at the end talk about those secrets and getting all secrets you just hope you're on the right strategy when it comes time to make that last stop and you're in front or towards the front 31 jeff burton 29 kevin harvick as you look at where the children's racing cars are running paul menard was running ninth at the caution got a penalty for speeding on pit road under the yellow yeah we've seen harvick and burton run up uh inside the top ten quite a few quite a lot of laps here tonight so that's not indicative of how they're running so joey logano back out in front not yet to halfway in the irwin tools night range at bristol we're back after this message and a word from our abc stations in the hills of east tennessee where the roots of stock car racing go back to the days of moonshiners slinging their cars around the mountain roads today's nascar drivers are slinging their cars around the world's fastest half mile and there has been some beating and banging and some sparks showering tonight in the irwin tools night race at bristol joey logano out in front in the joe gibbs racing 20 toyota he has led the most laps so far tonight the beginning of the race casey meers started on pole at the opening segment logano led a chunk casey kane led a chunk till kane ran into some problems at the most recent caution when david reagan laid down some oil and keen got into the wall jimmy johnson trying to make his way from the back of the pack after qualifying was rained out in a poor practice speed resulted in him starting in 37th spot not yet to halfway in tonight's race we've got two different pit stop schedules going on right now there were 15 cars that didn't hit at the last yellow rest of the field did furthest forward of the guys who pitted after that caution flag is still not yet cracked the top 10. this is the race for third jeff gordon 24 kyle bush 18 dale earnhardt jr 88. how many watches 88 he's really running high both ends of the racetrack he is all the way up next to the wall and making really good lap times all the way up where they've ground the racetrack i mean he's getting it done up there joey logano's got some company for the race lead brian vickers after clearing jeff gordon is closing in on that 20. while we keep an eye on this we go up to speed with nationwide insurance dave has a report on the race leader he stayed out the last two times alan and right now he believed that even though he's out ahead where he's getting beat is in the center of the corner he also said that he's committed to that high line right now 55 of brian vickers of 20 spots they have not hit it since lap 84 when he took four tires really likes his race car right now it's working up and down doc back behind him five-time bristol winner jeff gordon who so needs to win tonight hitter left 123 right side tire shield added wedge the car really took off as it now is starting to go away just a minute kyle bush has stayed out the last two cautions as well last minute round left 84. the rotor shaking issue of earlier seems to be behind him right now he just says that the right front tire is not under me front not working for the 18 doc back behind them dale earnhardt jr in fifth place track bar changed four tires left 123. oh trouble on the racetrack guys contact between juan pablo montoya and ryan newman sends newman crashing and jeff burton is collected [Music] that's too bad for jeff burton he had a good run going because that's this is the danger that split strategy get back there got to stay out of trouble i'll explain that the meaning of that radio transmission that we gotta fix it get back out on newman's team in a minute but they're gonna have a hard time doing that it was a race between ryan newman and juan pablo montoya that started this whole thing wow montoya really gets into the left rear no chance for newman to save that one i saw that from montoya last week at michigan at the high speed track there too newman had been struggling some and he had been holding up some cars and still no no excuse for that no no excuse that jimmy johnson had had a tough time passing but he was able to to work newman and working but finally got by with some flight contact but nothing like that hit road open and the leaders most of them are coming in vince the 55 of brian vickers he says the car is just a little loose in and a little tight in the center especially in traffic but otherwise it's real good it's a four tire change no other no other changes on the 55. as well he'll take sunoco fuel up one round on the track bar cart will not turn the center of the corner as he [Music] wants and jeff gordon on the inside jeff gordon four tires they were gonna make an adjustment he said the car now starting to get a little more freezing they're not gonna make any adjustment at all on the 24 car left side tires going on got to get it full of sunoco fuel car really taking off on top mark marcos ambrose last stop was lap 84. they'll come down pit road the plan is to take four tires they'll make a slight air pressure adjustment ambrose saying the car felt a little bit bouncy so they'll move some pressure he's away so another split schedule on pit road matt kenzeth first out the new leader though will be dale earnhardt jr he stayed out [Music] espn's coverage of the nascar sprint cup at bristol on abc brought to you by toyota kid caring for you and your car fifth caution of the night here at bristol is a big one where the race to the chase is concerned we continue to clean up after a fight for 11th place between juan pablo montoya and ryan newman went wrong newman crashed and collected jeff burton who had such a great night going tonight just so unfortunate this kid had much to be happy about look at the impact right here wow i'm quite certain if ryan newman will take the opportunity to talk with one of our reporters he's not going to have too many good things to say about mr montoya now we heard newman's crew chief tony gibson on the radio to his driver saying if you can get that car back to us do so we've got to get it fixed and get back out well here's why in the race for that wild card spot there are those drivers that all have one win a piece and if we get through tonight atlanta and richmond and none of those drivers scores a second win or somebody doesn't get kicked out of the top group that has multiple wins then the tie breaker for that second wild card spot is going to be point standings newman only had an 11 point lead on kyle for starting the night he's already as they run behind him now as they toe that car back behind the wall yeah we keep talking about that it's just you know winning is what these drivers have to do and that's what they're trying to do to get that second victory which will probably assure them of getting one of those wild card spots but that's not assured at this point a lot of other guys out there that can win races that are in the top ten in points well pushing jeff burton's car back toward the transporter vince certainly frustrating for jeff he had a good run there what was going on what happened i saw the uh i saw ryan having trouble and um he started spinning and it looked like he was gonna stay against the wall and i saw him commit to the bottom and he started down and i just couldn't i couldn't get turned back to the right but uh pretty disappointing we had a really fast car tonight cash chevrolet was really good and uh we needed a good run he needed something good to happen for us and honestly we had a car good enough tonight to have that happen we just you know it's just been one of those years we'll uh you know i guess he'll say if he wouldn't put it on you if you couldn't take it so i guess that must be pretty tough you got to be good and you got to have some good luck jeff burton didn't have that tonight and as jeff walks away i'll show you one more time what a shot yeah jeff somebody just couldn't get turned back to the right you can't just turn these cars on a dime they're heavy and the steering just doesn't allow it to turn that quickly and coming to the green casey kane got the free pass he's back on the lead lap in 28th spot dale earnhardt jr the leader choosing the outside lane first car off the pit lane matt campbell restarts 10. kevin harvick made a big move there he had a great run from that outside was gonna have that second spot trying to get a little greedy and go to the lead now he's going to lose at least one if not two spots back trying to keep that outside lane for himself as harvick looks for some running room kevin's going to have to go back to fourth now hamlin with a bit per second on truex king hamlet be able to make some passes on the inside this could cost him a spot if he doesn't but he's able to make a big run down into three and clear truex boy his car looked real good through there through the middle of the corner able to get that drive up off the corner to complete that pass that's pretty stout clint boyer is still working the bottom lane in the 15. we've seen him a lot down that bottom side tonight yeah clan had bought into the fact that uh that high side's the place to be he's not going to be very patient he's going to go down and try to make things happen is able to do it [Applause] biffo fifth in the 16 montoya 6th in the 42 boyer 15 trying to get that spot matt kemzen in the 17. remember i mentioned first off the pit lane of the cars who did stop he restarted in 10th as the lead changes hands well danny hamlin has a fast race car here we really thought that that contact on pit road may have hurt the steering in this car but i'm not sure it didn't make it better sometimes yeah i know i swear i think this car's been better since that contact thing is really going through the center of the corner and look at the drive he gets off the phone talking about back at left number 85 if you were not with us hamlin leaving his pit stall while landon castle was just coming into his the front end of castles cars rolled right into the right front tire of hamlin's car and yet seems to be no no foul no harm and the shuffling of track position continues wasn't it just a little while ago greg nipple was way back in the pack they played the pit strategy now he's got some cleaner air and further up front track position yeah clint moyer who you're just talking about being down that bottom has made two passes he went by montoya and then michael down on the inside working his way towards the front up to fifth place in that 15. and everything that's happened so far in the race that's filled up two and a half pages of notes so far for this reporter and we're not even yet to halfway in the irwin tools night race at bristol denny hamlin out in front so back with the nascar spread cup series at bristol motor speedway still approaching the halfway point of tonight's 500 lap event denny hamlin is just gone out in front with a pass on dale earnhardt jr a little while ago behind them third place has just changed hands as cliff boyer continues to march forward in that 15 car yeah it was a great run back here in march and uh it's continuing that looks like he's got his car pretty much where he wants it able to make passes on the inside and just something we haven't seen a lot of i love this shot when they have the drink bottle there it's our drink straw accelerometer now you can see the g-force that car goes in the corner and it just slings it over there [Music] pretty solid run for kansas flint mike yeah the entire michael waltrip racing team you can say has had a solid run as they did in the spring all three cars at that point finished inside the top five right now two of them i had an interesting conversation with clint screw chief ryan patty today asking him why they've been so improved this year obviously he talked about scott miller but he pointed to mark martin he said when he speaks at our meetings or on our conference calls everyone listens he gives him a lot of credit for how good they are here at bristol especially caution on the racetrack trouble in turn one eric almarola who ran up in the top now in the race tangled up with another car and turned into the wall he was racing in 22nd at the time and it's yellow flag number six i want to say it was the 34 car he was tangled up 38 38 david gilliland yeah just not quite clear that was a race for 22nd place you see all the fluid coming out of the car investing the radiator i don't know if he knows and so the pit road is open will we have another split agenda oh yeah we will greg ripple's staying out kenseth kurt bush and a few others but the leader danny hamlin is in vince the 29 of kevin harvick has over 100 laps on his left side tires so he's going to get some fresh ones now they're going to pack now they're going to go for four so they changed their mind they were going to just put on left sides now they're gonna do all four tires and sonoco fuel dave vincent restart carl edwards lost four positions they're just gonna take two left side tires and send him on his way car was a little bit tight i want to get that loosened up a little bit dale earnhardt jr four tires that he's really really tight in the middle they're gonna make a chassis adjustment put all four tires on it gotta get a full snowfall field they're in a one-stop window from here you said the car is really good mike teddy hamlin extremely happy with his race car takes left side tires only meanwhile the 15 team going to work on the left side of that race car as well clip boyer extremely happy with the run so far he's away in 14.7 seconds hamlin first off the pit lane but he's not going to be the race leader another strategy session in thunder valley [Music] so less than a lot from the restart here at bristol the nascar sprint cup series rocketing around the world's fastest half mile a new leader and a new strategy play as greg biffle goes to the number one spot denny hamlin first off the pit lane is going to restart in 15th position free pass at the caution danica patrick on the lead lap in 27th place yeah she's doing a nice job got smoke up seventh right now and kurt bush in third after that damage earlier [Music] [Music] jimmy johnson running in third as greg ripple 16 and matt kenton 17 race for the number one spot [Music] two drivers right behind them we talked about how huge a win would be how about for marcus ambrose or kurt bush either one up inside the top five trying to battle to get a win here tonight a little bump there between the two roush fenway racing forward teammates as kenseth tries to work that low lane and get the lead this is about one of three cars we seem to be able to utilize that bottom not gonna be able to make it work this time but he stayed there quite a bit we've seen him be able to make passes like denny hamlin and clint boyer on the bottom side kirkwood 51 brian vickers 55. kurt has slipped back to six he's racing the vic for that spot and having a hard time holding on to that bottom lane i'm surprised that 51 is as good as it is he's been beating around so much hit the wall a couple of times throw the deck lid off of it left quarter panel off of it and remember early in the race if you were with us tony stewart got lapped by joey logano the van race leader stewart got a free pass under the fourth caution of the race at lap 148 less than 100 laps later they played the strategy and he's looked pretty sporty yeah i'm gonna say you know he did use the strategy to get up here but i watched him that last run when he wasn't up front his car was still a lot better than it was the beginning of the road he's actually pretty good [Music] joey lagano working really hard down on the bottom side we saw this last night from him as he went on to win the nationwide race here again tonight as he's gotten back in traffic really trying to make that bottom side work not able to pass his teammate yet kyle busch legano's led the most laps tonight in the 20. it's the strategy session that we've seen on the last few cautions that's put him back in the pack still hot up front biffle kenzeth johnson one two and three look at the front end of johnson's car you don't see that very often two words bristol baby yeah it's not often you see a car with damage like that that can run competitively that's what i love about short tracks it kind of takes that arrow factor out of it i mean it's not totally uh it's not like it doesn't matter at all but it does take it way out of the picture it's really about mechanical grip it's about the driver about to get the car right the crew making the right calls kind of take some of that technical advantage away while we keep an eye on the race for the lead we keep an eye on ryan newman the story there remember he got involved in the wreck a little bit ago doctor gonna be able to repair that car let's ask tony gibson tony you said to ryan we got to get it back here and try to get it fixed and get out what's the status well we tried we got it all cut apart and it drove the frame into the motor and made it's hard to hear but um it's just too far gone we couldn't fix it not safely enough to go back out so uh what did ryan say about the 42 well he just said somebody got in the left rear of him and cut the left rear tire the left before that started getting really loose and then the very next left it just turned around on him so he didn't say anything about the 42 car just i think we were going to spin out no matter what based off the left rear tire we just by the time we saw it he had already spun and you know it's a shame halbach steakhouse are a great sponsor we were finally got some track position to uh do something with it we were a little bit tight but we thought we'd be okay and um just misfortune rooting for the 14 now he's doing pretty good tony gibson helen hi doc thanks for that update on a couple of fronts there so ryan newman done for the night and had a left rear going down perhaps before the contact we saw when he went around and crashed look at this race for the lead biffle kentucky johnson ambrose gordon vickers the top six the ambrose up in there this is one of the best oval tracks that he races on he's had probably more success uh here than anywhere else after that victory at watkins lynn certainly another win would put him in a very prime position for the chase playing the strategy you see a little scarring on the right side door of that nine car he had a little scuff on the wall earlier you look at how tight these standings are and all the one wing guys and all that kind of thing this this wild card thing coming down to atlanta and richmond this could be a lot of fun yeah one reason we've got them all bottled up right now is we got the 16 car out there leading he's got about 40 laps more on his tires and cars behind him that's what's creating this little bottleneck joey logano moving a little further forward by tony stewart for ninth okay one thing might be helping biffle he might be holding people up a little bit but he's got his teammate behind him last thing matt kenzeth wants to do is hit him in the back bumper and turn him around just across the halfway point in the urban tools night race in bristol greg miffle is the race leader [Music] 240 to go at bristol if you're just joining us we've had some serious bubble trouble tonight for the guys trying to make it into the chase tony stewart earlier went one lap down he's up there right now though back in the top 11. denny hamlin on pit road trouble oh man he just gets clobbered coming out pit road we thought it was going to mess the handling up of his car and it really did he's doing pretty good out there right now running ninth this one was a big moment for casey kane yeah leading the race comfortably gets in some oil there from david reagan's car gets in the fence and damages the right side of his car that took him out of the lead and this was an even bigger moment for the guy who coming into the race ryan newman was in wild card contention yeah we heard ryan's crew chief tony gibson talking about him cutting down the left rear tire he gets into montoya they get together puts ryan out of the race and how about danica patrick started 43rd she's still on the lead lap and in 27th doing a great job hanging in there she did a great job last night logging laps tonight without damage and that's what she needs to do quality experience time for danica patrick she's doing a very nice job so while we were away there has been a lead change matt kenton is now out front here is how he got it done getting around his teammate greg biffle we see biffle just slides up to the top there a little bit matt gets a run on him he goes up greg just a little bit loose on top matt drives the bottom does a slide job up in front of him high line has really been the lane of choice tonight and that is a little bit surprising for something so high we expected the middle late but not quite that yeah it is it is nicole it's a little controversial too brutal smith worked hard and grinded the top line of the racetrack to take that top line away and everybody is glued to the top of the racetrack very few people at the very bottom which leads to a discussion do we like it or not i mean personally i don't like it i like one banking angle from the bottom to the top of the racetrack this track now has two banking angles that are up there right now on the real banked up part of the racetrack which has got everybody glued to the top brad yeah the bottom line yeah the bottom line though throughout this race as time goes on you're going to have to go to the bottom to pass or you're going to start moving people one way or another right now though just like rusty's saying there's really only one fast way around this racetrack and it's up near the wall that was our five-hour energy rapid recap a lot of different strategies playing out alan it's going to be interesting and a couple of people nicole who've been running well tonight running into some troubles all of a sudden here brian vickers and brad keselowski are in a little bit of difficulty as we watch this race for the lead you see vickers there falling in line and a spin it is brad keselowski all right listen we hit the wall like we did the nationwide car the nose will probably push down a little bit around the corner leaders behind you leaders behind you if you can catch them we hit like brian scott did the nationwide race so there was a race for seventh place that involved the whole gaggle of cars brian vickers and brad keselowski were in it watch the 55 yeah i think vickers had a tire going down to it just wasn't able to get going you can see kirk bush get into the back of brad keselowski turn him into the outside wall that started in trouble for the two and so then eventually what got keselowski turned around a little help from bobby labonte almost like to get another look at that angle because i'm not sure he wasn't starting to go around first when he got the rest of that help yeah come on all right we're gonna have more damage now all right we're cautious now all right listen we hit the wall like we did the nation so kozlowski who's won the last two straight nascar sprint cup series races here at bristol has some pretty significant damage leader comes to pit road not all of the leaders but the leader matt kenseth does come in dave joey logano seventh place he will give up his car is too tight in the center of the quarter so the team in addition to filling it full of fuel they're gonna go with four tires they're gonna make a chassis adjustment looks like track par and to loosen that up of course he'll go up on the track for joey and our leader matt kinsey said he was uh loose when he was behind his teammate greg biffle he got around him now he got very tight they're gonna make a minor adjustment here four tires pull off a tear away on the windshield so we can see clean the grill worried about a little bit overheating some of the cars are and that left side tires going on mike marco sambro saying the car just won't turn he's up on the fence almost they're gonna make a chassis adjustment and a four tire change for ambrose otherwise his car is pretty good meanwhile downfit road to 16. greg biffle saying he's still sliding the nose a four tire change there [Music] so you see those cars coming off the pit lane jimmy johnson did not stop and he will take over the race lead in the 48. we're back after this message and a word from our abc stations so [Music] green flag in the eric bristol jimmy johnson the race leader in the 48 contested by jeff gordon for the 24. [Music] gordon sliding wide denny hamlin in the 11 digging on the bottom i really thought clint boyer's starting fourth there and that 15 car would make that work to get into second may challenge johnson but warrior's car just doesn't work on that high side very well he wants to be down the bottom it's kind of the opposite of everybody else so stories to update you on quickly brian vickers had pitted under green just before the yellow flag he got the free pass at the caution he's back on the lead lap kurt busch speeding on the pit lane he went from ninth back to 25th on the restart i think vickers still one lap down he lost two laps and he made that stop and he did get the free pass but he is still one down thank you and he may be pitting again we hear he might have a loose wheel and the first off the pit lane after the stops was matt kinsep and he restarted in 11 there's matt as we look ahead from carl edwards car [Music] oh well between the 9 and the 18 there three wide action off four it's gonna work it did ambrose they settled all that joey logano 20 tony stewart in 14. that is a race for 13th and 14th [Music] and 17th of kenzo picking up a spot on paul menard that's eighth position jeff gordon continues to be all over the back bumper jimmy johnson he'll be all over him for a set of corners then jimmy will pull away then jeff will catch back up yeah gordon wasn't he ran up to the top five and then he fell back and i watched him during a run back about a hundred laps ago he really moved up to the top part of the racetrack picked up a lot of speed and this is certainly by far the best this car has been yeah i watched that same thing dale what happened was dale earnhardt jr was working the top way up top and he was catching gordon i think gordon looked to the mirror and saw how far up he was and he went up there gordon did and he took off i mean he picked up a couple of teams he saw the leaders overtaking sam horis jr back on track after 144 laps behind the wall with repairs to his car and while this race for the lead settles in for a second brad keselowski involved in bringing out the last caution his car went behind the wall doc they thought it was going to be a simple just reset the toe-in issue but that's not the case they have front-end suspension damage you're gonna have to peel part of the front of the way and get it fixed i talked to brad a moment ago he said you know what the 47 turned me but he said he said you know what that wasn't his fault i was just slow and in the way i don't blame him at all we're gonna try to fix it and get him back out so tough night for penske racing in troubles earlier for hornish and now keselowski behind the wall his bid for three straight wins here as 209 laps left to go jimmy johnson who started back in 37 spots has persistently driven toward the front they've played a little strategy to get to the lead as well [Music] so see how our drivers are doing an att's fastest driver challenge tonight at bristol the top four qualifiers looks like greg biffle is running uh ahead of that pack remember to text fast to three four seven six three and play a t's fastest driver challenge or visit att fastest driver dot com you can have a chance to win four g's just by playing jimmy johnson jeff gordon running one and two gordon continuing to try and find a way around is hendrick motorsports teammate but not quite finding that avenue they are upfront on a race that's featured a wild swing of pitch strategies we've got drivers on about three different pit stop schedules that have shuffled people from the front to the back to the middle of the pack back to the front again and projecting forward how it's gonna turn out in the end we'll talk about that in a minute first couple other people having some good runs tonight that have attracted our attention i think danica's done an incredible job to get back on the league lap no way i thought she would be on the lead lap at 300 laps in this race and she's doing really good job probably the best she's running all night is now yeah she's really been solid after watching her struggle so much in practice yesterday i thought it was going to be an extremely long nightmare but she's doing really a good job vince yeah she's been fighting a little bit of a loose in the center condition they've been keeping four tires on her greg zipfidelli working as her crew chief this weekend said our goal is to run 500 laps she did a great job last night in the nationwide race finished night and she's doing a nice job staying on the lead lap here in this cup racing her first time in a cup car at bristol mission accomplished so far running every lap also catching our eye is kurt bush in the 51 car had some contact knocked him into the wall knocked the entire deck lid off on that that car had a pit road speeding penalty this car to the eye just doesn't look like it's handling well but boy he's driving the wheels off it i don't know i mean all these drivers are having we talked about that we're going to have to drive hard tonight but nobody could possibly drive him harder than kurt bush here's the other night doing a really good job in this james fence machine another one the 36 you see there dave blaney just in front of kirk bush he's on another pit strategy right now but he's been up front quite a bit tonight has a great car and like you say i don't know alan what this is going to mean his pit strategy like he's all over the map i can't tell i couldn't quite pick a winner right now on who i think is the favor at this point but we do have a key number in mind see that lap counter top of the screen as tony stewart starting to slip around a little bit that lap counter top of the screen we think when that lap counter hits 340 then you're going to see the final gambit played on on the winning pitch strategy yeah once once everybody's made finally made that last stop you'll know where we stack up but right now it's just been on that split every time the caution comes out we've really got about three schedules going on right now i think every race i've ever been a part of or watched here you always have a segment where you get a long green flag run almost to that point to where were going to have to make a green flag pit stop with these different strategies right now i think things are spread out here quite a bit we may see that come into play before this is over so looking back through the top ten jimmy johnson jeff gordon running one and two there's denny hamlin in third made some bold moves a couple of times tonight and had that contact on pit rose we thought would damage the handling of this car not so maybe one of the more impressive drives of the night tonight has come from that man clint boyer he's driving his car hard and been able to make passes and and when they've gotten off on their strategy clint's been able to make or not necessarily off but on the different strategy where he's back in the pack he's been able to make passes on the inside along with his teammate martin cruz doing a great job smart running in fifth position and you dropped just a touch behind him to get back to kevin harvick in sixth there's the scoring serial on kevin look at pretty changed this week they needed something different to shake this race team up and try to get them moving forward as the chase approaches they're inside that top ten right now no victories but uh good run would go a long way vince yeah he says the car is a little bit tight the magic number for them is 366. that's the lap they want to get to to make their final pit stop of the night so you see they still got about just under 50 laps to go for uh kevin harvick to make that final stop a little tight but otherwise pretty solid night for these guys all things considered and running right behind kevin harvick dale earnhardt jr matt kenseth junior led the race at one point he's been part of that strategy shuffle that's seen him go to the front seen him go to the middle of the pack right now he runs in the number seven position matt kins is the highest running car that made the last stop he's got the precious tires on the crack now he's run up to the bumper of junior see if he can make this pass a really beneficial to stay streamed for another 40 or 50 laps here to work his way right towards the front of the pack now just to give you an idea some of the different pit stop schedules among the front runners there are the top five and when they stop last so jimmy johnson has already been 130 laps out on the racetrack and it won't be long before he'll need to make a visit to pit road 179 to go at bristol johnson and gordon running one and two so caution is out at bristol why in a moment pit road is open for the leaders vince jimmy jimmy johnson coming in he is the race leader says it's a little snug in the center they're going to make right side tire change and also one round in the right rear one round down in the right rear now they're going to change it up going to go to a four tire change for jimmy johnson also a four tire change for the 29 and kevin harvick they're gonna do it now so they don't have to take any later also a wedge adjustment for the 29 doc maybe the final pit stop for the 24 jeff gordon loosen one tight center off they're gonna take one round out of the left rear four tires and top it off got to get it full of fuel mike the last time down pit road the 11 took just a left side tires they've got 170 laps on those right sides so they'll take four this time around trying to free denny handle it up the 15 car clint boyer taking four tires as well the car started loose on that last run but tightened up as it went along [Music] caution out because kurt busch and regan smith crashed here's a look we're under the yellow and we're back to bristol after this message and award from our abc stations green flag just back in the air at bristol matt kenzen is the race leader one of six who did not hit under the caution flag kentucky stewart ambrose legato mcmurray biffle didn't stop dale earnhardt jr was first off the pit lane he restarted seven look at this and i knot wait to talk about tony stewart in second after seeing that car early in this race be so far off he made some nice adjustments as he battles for the lead now and there he goes smoke that's gonna be able to hold it well he got to the line that he wanted to so see how far kenseth drives it in here he couldn't get his slot slight job to work quite as good as a lot of contact oh no there they go wow that didn't work out for either one of them they were just arguing over space coming off four i don't know who won that already going well racing for the lead to damaged cars it's almost too early to be racing that hard for the league wasn't it it's never too early to be racing for the league that bristol at bristol that's why i'm not sure yeah i know rusty said that he didn't like the way the racing is like a lot i think this gives an opportunity for more type of of racing and contact what the fans you know came to like here at bridgeway for a lot of the part you know you have to run some single file but we've seen that no matter where the group was bottom or top i think that's only going to get wrapped up as we get closer to the end of this and remember tony stewart one of those drivers because of the run of bad luck lately down at the bottom end of the top 10 in points and a crash in not being able to finish this race is not going to help tony's pretty well locked into the chase but he won't be able to stay in that top 10 to be able to carry those win bonus points for the win he's trying to go for more bonus points by getting the win here that was his slide job down in one and two to take the spot away from kenseth now kenz tries to drive in hard slides up a little contact i have to call that racing i mean that's try to throw the blame there that's just racing does slide up in the steward a little tony comes down trying to pin him down a little bit that creates contact that gets kansas sideways yeah but i think it's only had to get down a little bit we've talked about how just on the exit right there's not a lot of room the group's fairly narrow he had to kind of keep off of that uh clean part of the track to stay in the groove see right here if he goes a little bit higher there yeah i don't think he had much choice no if you have that if you have to lay some blame somewhere it's certainly the contact was created by kenta driving in probably a little too hard tony not very happy gosh it looks familiar well we know what tommy thinks [Applause] i haven't seen one of those in a while what are you talking about well the whole helmet talks i've well from racing for the lead to a damaged car for the 17 from racing for the lead to a damaged helmet and a damaged car for tony stewart looks like the helmet held up pretty well that's a perfect strike that's a nice throw you just use one hand didn't you do i think i'm right here i think he's got both in the southpaw too yeah they called me to the truck when i did it i don't know if they'll talk to tony or not frustrations of racing at bristol showing themselves tonight tony stewart strike so so [Music] well what's next as we restart with 161 to go at bristol i can't tell you who it's going to be but it's going to be more joey logano marcus ambrose drop it in logano getting the lead after stewart and kenseth crashed racing for the lead there's jeff gordon in the 24. he is now the the guy most forward in the field that made the most recent pit stop made a big charge in that brief burst of racing after the last restart biffle won last week he's pretty much locked in the chase definitely can lock himself in tonight the other three drivers there in the top four all have one victory desperately needing another one and an add-on on that picture as we watch kevin harvick and jamie mcmurray 29-1 and dropped back to dale jr in the 88 yeah junior just got really high up in three and four it's about as high as you can get but he got really loose on the exit of the corner big slide as we watch this race for the lead tony stewart has come from the infield care center he's come from it alan he appears to be okay but uh probably not in spirit describe the frustration tony of after having a great race car well we weren't that great of a race car even but uh we were definitely faster than matt after that restart and checked up twice to not run over him and i learned my lesson there i'm gonna run over him every chance i got from now to the right at the end of the year every chance i got you uh you'll get that helmet back your aim was precise i don't give a crap hell with a helmet tony done for the night guys caution flag out 36 car of dave blaney went up in smoke and while we were talking to tony stewart 24 of jeff gordon and 48 of jimmy johnson got bottled up johnson got clear but gordon was slipping way back all of a sudden yeah i think gordon got in the wall yeah i'm not sure that there wasn't something on the racetrack though jordan was going pretty good and then all of a sudden started really slipping this is where it all started up in four coming on the exit there you almost just had to stop it didn't make much contact but it does look like something may have been on the track and maybe that's what something coming out of that 36 car it ends up blowing up or something here dave blaney damage in the uh accident a little while ago with regan smith and kurt bush [Music] so jeff gordon falling all the way back to 10th place after being up there racing for third a couple of laps ago not many tankers on pin road but dale earnhardt jr is going to give up 12th spot for a stop that might not be a bad move because he can make it from here i think on fuel he may be planning on that being his last stop and all right come on in here three two one four tires make sure pit road was open i don't believe it was no mistake there big time [Music] okay go ahead go ahead and be very costly i think the pit road was closed is what they're saying all right vince yeah jimmy johnson not close enough to the window but they said they're going to come anyway you never know how many yellows they're going to get so it's just going to be right sides and fuel for the 48 of jimmy johnson enjoy the gono the race leader in doc [Music] 24 jeff gordon coming in he said he said there's got to be something on the racetrack i got to be oil i hit something i just split up in the wall i want to just top it off and feel whoa how about the nine car mike ambrose loose in loose off a four tire change and an air pressure adjustment for ambrose who's going for his first oval win of his career so another different strategy schedule here we'll be back for the restart at bristol getting toward the late stages of the irwin tools night race at bristol under caution for the tenth time in this race after tony stewart and matt kenseth crashed earlier racing for the lead they handed the lead to joey logano he's giving it up for a pit stop highlight of the night so far strike and you knew he wouldn't let this go oh come on it was hill that's what i thought no that's that's kansas city kansas city yeah right into the window yeah one thing i should have done was catch it when it came back jeff gordon first off the pit lane is going to restart in 11th spot greg biffle the new leader with kevin harvick who is inside [Music] trying to make that pass here early on in this restart not going to make it happen kyle busch it's getting crowded up front feel the heat turn it up let's mention dale earnhardt jr did hit before the pit lane was open had a restart in 23rd position tony stewart coming back onto the racetrack and what a fight for the lead truex 56 back into his car wiggling and wobbling but he stayed in the gas and you know the last time that we saw greg biffle out front he'd held up a lot of cars this car is not that good before doing a great job of driving it but he's really got him jammed up championship leader after winning last sunday at michigan his second victory of the season [Music] tied up for us truex faster obviously than the man he's trying to pass but uh tony stewart and matt kent has provided the lesson that there's still a lot of racing to go and you can lose a chance to win really quickly here watching truex tonight i haven't seen him really be able to make that pass one below let's see if he's able if he's got his car good enough now to make that happen kyle bush having to give up that inside line falls back and forth denny hamlin would have been for second down low now we've seen him be able to make passes on the bottom not this time greg piffle using every available inch of the racetrack all the way up to that outside wall he's doing a terrific job dropping his race car and nothing against him but that's not the best car here he splits now used too many inches there new leader martin truex jr now denny hamlin in second and biffle left to race for third with kyle bush got just a little too high i got into the wall that right rear just slightly that's all the opening mark truax needed now for third place with bush and bipple and carl edwards right behind them in the 99 [Music] and still a whole element of pit strategy hanging out there on the table also kurt busch has come back onto the track [Applause] [Music] paul edwards finally showing up there in the top five taking him a lot of the night to get there [Music] what truex has not been able to get away he got the lead but denny hamlin got through to second and hamlin is all over truex's back bumper 130 laps to go martin truex jr out in front the fastest stats brought to you live all race long by the new sprint direct connect part of the fastest push-to-talk experience upgrade to the new dawn jimmy johnson starting back in 37th place running in ninth now the fastest mover in this race the fastest stats brought to you by the new sprint direct connect upgrade to the new dawn find out more at split sprint.com speed and get done a lot of folks taking those sprint phones and joining in on our tweet your seat on twitter and had a lot of material to work with tonight and some names you might recognize ryan blaney jeff block one of reporters who covers the circuit on a weekly basis crash cart media that's a good one yeah that's what he did with that and a big crowd tonight here at bristol c in a brace that's been very entertaining and very interesting we've had 10 caution flags so far we have everything from a great variety of pitch strategies that have shuffled guys from the back to the front to the back all race long to a crash among two of the sport's big stars racing for the lead and a helmet toss to a very hard caught [Music] goal for the lead right now as mark truax jr tries to hold off denny hamlin for that number one spot different things that have happened that impact the championship and the wild card base brian newman involved in a crash earlier tonight and still a long way to go in this one a little over 100 laps jimmy johnson after the most recent pit stops is most forward of those who we think have made their final trip to the pit lane in this race well it's possible he's right on the edge of his window i think he he's one that can possibly go to the end without another stop and it depends on how many cautions we have between now and the end 117 laps to go we got plenty of time for a few more cautions first shape is the 48 in man the car is pretty good but they definitely cannot make it at least according to chad canals he's told jimmy johnson we need definitely need some yellows or we're going to have to come for fuel again but save fuel at every opportunity you can but at this point they're looking at one more splash of fuel to get them to the end they're playing their strategy to count caution laps not unheard of when track position is so important will they get enough yellow flag laps there have been plenty of them tonight ten caution flags last two races here bristol had five and six yellows respectively if the uh sparks flying and that kind of thing is what you're after here then there's been there's spent some of that tonight for you paul edwards just caught break middle made a put a slight job on him down at three and four people tried to come back but now he's gonna lose a spot to harvard greg has had his hands full with that 16 car remember he was leading a little while ago and slipped up just a little bit too much he's got the right sponsor that bondo and for anybody asking what bondo is that's a material that's used to patch and fill the body on cars clint boyer by jimmy johnson ninth place there sorry in chewing on his bumper there for about 15 laps trying to do everything he could to get by i think jimmy got tired of that maybe and if he's going to save some fuel might be doing it now or his car just may be going away a little bit and still this race for the lead truex jr 56 hamlin 11 into some lap traffic now you'll see some of the beaten and battered cars that have been involved in some of the incidents tonight brad keselowski they come up on next he's been behind the wall earlier 65 laps down in 30th place after winning the last two straight races here at bristol truax jr speaking of the last two straight races even though both of them were won by keselowski truax finished second and third his last two trips here as you watch boyer pick up another spot that's eighth place on brian vickers vickers has come back from two laps down an unscheduled three black pit stop he got two free passes and he's back in the top ten brian once again doing a really nice job in this 55 car seven for mark martin and just over 100 laps to go what will the winning strategy be who will the winner be we find out after this message and a word from our abc stations [Music] so so [Music] looking ahead to next weekend as we run out the final laps in bristol the nascar nationwide series at the high speed atlanta motor speedway next saturday espn2 at 6 30 eastern then next sunday night the nascar sprint cup series from atlanta uncovered presented by pennzoil 6 30 eastern on espn the once a year race at that high speed mile and a half that the drivers love so much because you can race all over it top to bottom jeff gordon the winner there a year ago [Music] martin truax jr the race leader coming up on danica patrick to put her a lap down still on the lead lap after 406 laps tonight fighting to stay there in her sprint cup debut here at bristol that's pretty good lane it's gonna cost him the lead now hamlin has to get by the tent that one has been able to go to the bottom and make some passes though you really have to set up where you decide to make that move before you can get the drive off if danny's able to do that [Music] i just said it right we did it and truex gets by so new leader now danny hanlon and he'll have lots more lap traffic just ahead to deal with 42 montoya 55 vickers for eighth place montoya started back in 28th place used a two tire strategy on their first stop well actually on their first several stops to get and maintain track position and a nice drive tonight for the 42 vickers has come back from two laps down after an unscheduled green flag stop for a tire going down got two free passes caution trouble turn two and casey mears yellow flag number eleven tonight yeah i'm coming to payro now casey started on pole tonight it looked like that tired maybe he'd gone down as he started at the end of the corner looks like make sure while they try and fix up the meerscar pit roads open for the leaders hamlin truex kyle bush and moore in vince they're having a little bit of radio communication problems with kevin harvick in the 29 but they did make the call right side tires only dave kyle gives up third he will get a track bar adjustment and uh right side tires for a tight race car mike danny hamlin saying his car is getting a little bit tight as the run went on they're gonna go with left sides only this is the second time they've done that today last time it worked pretty well he's away meanwhile martin truex jr on pit road he works on right sides only he's away denny hamlin leads off the pit lane but he will not be the leader when the race restarts we'll come back for the green flag [Music] the nascar sprint cup series under caution for the 11th time at bristol motor speedway inside of the final 100 laps another strategy shuffle finds our espn in race reporter for the night carl edwards in the race lead carl dale jones have a copy i got you dale well looks like you finally got that thing the position you've been looking for all night can you keep it there well i think so the car is real fast around the top and uh we'll get the good starting spot here so hopefully we can make it work problem i got is chad told me to pit i didn't fit so hopefully we got enough fuel all right good one to go good luck man there's a bit of news revealed by our n race reporter carl edwards started pretty deep in the field 27th position up to the race lead our goodyear superior performer through this point in the race carl edwards i don't know if that not pitting with gucci call him in a bit was the uh the hot setup though jimmy johnson did not hit as well all right well keep saving his fuel man we're in a very similar situation as to where we were a couple runs ago we've actually got less flaps on our tires than what we stayed on that last time and we're running our fastest flaps that last time on old tires 81 to go 78 car reagan smith spoken remember he had the contact with casey mears in that last incident first off the pit lane was denny hamlin in the 11th car for the restart he lined up eighth and moving forward in that outside lane [Music] quick recap on the pitch strategy edwards vickers johnson ambrose gordon logano menard did not fit under that yellow [Music] caution debris a bumper bar reported to be down in turn one and yellow flag number twelve okay so now there's the bumper bar you're carl edwards crew chief you called him to pit last time he didn't have you kind of made your bed now almost i mean if he gets enough of these cautions he'll make it there's chad norris they don't seem to be up on the wall ready to pity [Music] look he may be scrambling wondering if that bar came out of reagan smith there's a good chance of it there it is greg biffle contact also so uh casey mears with the free pass on this caution and let's see what happens as pit road will be open to the lead lap cars when they reach turn number two by the way side note most cautions here in a sprint cup race since they reconfigured the track in 2007 last uh race on the old track had 15 yellows we're up to a dozen any takers on the bit lane it's like carl's staying out i think it's going to be kind of a quiet place back for the restart in a minute espn's coverage of the nascar sprint cup at bristol on abc brought to you by at t the nation's largest 4g network a t rethink possible just joining us we're in the final stages of tonight's nascar sprint cup series race in bristol where you been you missed a lot it's been kind of an action-packed night here in thunder valley look at some of what's happened ryan newman one of the drivers fighting for a place in the chase brad keselowski also one of many with damaged race cars racing for the lead tony stewart and matt kins let's get together a lot of damage to both of those and tony one of the drivers while with three wins would get a wild card place in the championship in danger of falling out of the top ten of that nice strike thrown they may need new helmet in atlanta much uh to the delight of the big crowd here in bristol tonight so with all the trouble tonight you look stewart just now nine points ahead of carl edwards who's leading the race tony's running 28th and if for some reason carl displaces tony in the top ten that puts stewart and casey kane on the wild card bubble knocks kyle bush out ryan newman's already had troubles tonight he's out of that picture he's still got 71 laps to go in the rock kitchen a lot to me to simon here [Music] karl edwards brian vickers for the race lead jimmy johnson denny hamlin right behind him for third tony stewart did not come completely up to speed after that restart he's headed for the pit lane kyle bush 18 martin truax 56 joey logano 20 all been up there fighting for the lead at one point or another tonight right now there's seven nathan knight that warrior back down on the bottom knowing he's got to make some time trying to get back to the front to have an opportunity at this thing remember one of the stories coming into the race the track milling away the two degrees of banking right at the very top of the racetrack drivers are using all of the concrete out there tonight trouble down the front danica patrick that's unfortunate a great job for 434 laps here tonight [Music] how bad is it it's done and number 13 is unlucky for danica patrick a little contact here oh yeah yeah that's real unfortunate because she did have an incredible race going to be on the lead lap at 435 lap [Music] that was a race for position yeah a lot of damage front stretch wall has been an unfortunate place for stuart haas racing yeah tonight all three cars hit him yeah brian newman then tony stewart now danica patrick 19th place lead lap after 400 laps here in bristol tonight and out of it it's so frustrating as a driver you worked your tail off all night long to kind of stay out of trouble get yourself in position for a good finish or a chance at a win but that's bristol that's what we come to expect here and what the fans have come to expect and we're seeing a lot a lot of contact tonight you gonna see another helmet toss a finger point yes [Applause] can't say i blame her either that could have been avoided caution out 13th time danica patrick involved still 63 laps to go so still cleaning up under the caution flag here at bristol gives us a moment to look ahead on the nascar sprint cup series schedule next weekend it's on to the atlanta motor speedway and then the chase deciding race in richmond then we open those final 10 races to decide who'll be this year's champion in chicagoland new hampshire dover talladega and more join us at the track nascar.com tickets or the number at the bottom of your screen of course all of those races seen on the espn network or on here on abc so carl edwards last pitted at lap 325 told us earlier as our in-race reporter he was called the pit road and missed it so how many caution flag laps do they need dave to make it to the finish is that the question you want asked all right so chad norrish you wanted to call him in uh how much caution do you think you'll need and do you think he's a good enough fuel saver to make it happen uh his uh record record shows that he's pretty good at saving fuel here so uh hopefully he'll do what we need to do and try to get this fast enough forward in victory lane today did you have a number in mind as far as caution lapse went uh yes and uh we aren't there quite yet he could use a few more alan i believe that's the answer he's had 33 so far dave 33 laps of yellow since the 99 fitted well i'm thinking he's going to get some more it's been a pattern tonight that shows that good time but try to win pushing and shoving is gonna get more intense here so one to go the signal here and we'll double them up and restart next time by which will give us 57 laps to go free pass on this yellow michael mcdowell does not get it back to the lead lap there are 22 cars on the lead lap a number of others beaten and battered one of brian vickers he was in a skirmish earlier lost two laps here he is starting up on the front row for a chance to win i'd have to say carl's biggest problem now is that he's not the cause she's hit they're looking forward to getting left because they're going to be chewing on the back bumper or that forward trying to get the lead i bet he doesn't give it up easy denny hamlin has been very strong a lot of the night tonight he's got that outside lane for the restart looking good for him right here see what he can do with it jimmy johnson down the inside lane in the white car here we go [Music] [Applause] brian vickers drove it hard into the corner got a good run off let that lap he's gonna get the lead no not yet well for a minute yeah i thought he was gonna be able to clear edwards off too i told you carl's not going to give it up easy carl that loud well victor's in such a tough spot right here he knows it's going to be difficult to make this pass he had a chance to slide up into second that's gone now edward squares denny hamlin does indeed get through the second while we watch this on the track we check in with doc danica patrick has been released from the medical center danica what happened with you and regan obviously i have not seen a replay i just got out of medical so um i would like to see it but um from from what i hear you know it was we're all racing hard this is bristol i think this is why people love this track is because you see a lot of that and you see i think tempers flare is usually part of the part of the broadcast when they describe what's going to happen and you know it was just a bummer because i really felt like like the godaddy car was going to get a solid maybe top 20 finish and on the lead lap and that wouldn't have been something that i would have thought would have happened tonight so the team did a great job and everything that everything was running really smoothly so it's a shame that we lost that but you know bristol is a place where you find out who's playing fair and who's not she was having an impressive run there alan i like that line before you find out who's playing fair who's not so patrick is out of the race i will say this about danica her car was totally clean right now brian vickers wants the lead of this race he did a great job he slid back in the stirrup handling tried his shot at carl edwards he held him off vickers is able to take that second spot away 56 truex 88 earnhardt jr 11th and 12th casey kane and the five there who's recovered from some earlier problems when he got into oil put down by another car while leading the race and lost laps on pit road getting that car repaired and vickers again dogging carl edwards trying to find a way to get by for the race lead she got an opening here we made a great move there ran in hard now can he still got it no oh he almost had it oh my god vickers in trouble nice save wow he was trying to stay off of carl edwards he was right there on the bumper [Music] front racing for the lead back to fifth chance to win may be gone yeah and i just think uh up in front of that denny hamlin i believe has settled in saving his tires he has pressure tires and what carl edwards does and probably a little suspect is whether carl edwards could make it racing for the lead brian vickers trying to race cleanly underneath carl edwards and watch the hands inside the windshield of this 55. you can see he's just on the the back bumper cover there look at vickers steering wheel that's some driving right there makes a great save too very nice and hamlin now with a big run at edwards he bent a couple of car legs off him [Music] cars slipping way wide in the middle of the corners the last few laps i think denny actually might have seen the 48 coming in his back bumper trying to make this pass maybe before jimmy johnson gets to him so just in case he isn't able to complete it he's not going to lose that second spot again there's a nearly 90 lap difference in the pit stop schedules of these two cars this has been a really really good tire that goodyear brought here allowing these cars to still run these type of speeds with that many laps on penguins up there trying to loosen him up without hitting him but he may have to use these up a little bit to make this pass there it is now can he put the slide job on him and carl with the crossover paul going to be able to put the slide job on he's going to have to ruby here comes johnson maybe three wide before this is over hamlin to the lead 37 laps to go hamlet did a great job there he just had to trust that carl edwards with the big run back at his rear bumper wasn't going to take him out edwards decided to try to make the pass on the inside but it wasn't successful you know it's funny because as much as we've talked about carl edwards and how desperately he needs a win to get that wild card spot after tony stewart struggles tonight carl has to play the point game also he's only a 14 point deficit to tony stewart for the top 10 right now and a lot of laps left tonight and of course atlanta and richmond still to come not that i think carl was thinking that at that moment let me clarify look at that look how tight the fight for 10th is closed up tonight and the fight for second on the track jimmy johnson with a big drive in these guys all passing edwards now all pitted later than he see has vickers recovered he's right there with jeff gordon trying to get back in the mix this thing's far from over thicker tuition that had been that simple whenever he was trying to pass edwards for the lead so no troubles for danny hamlin to make it to the finish on fuel probably johnson and gorge have gotten enough caution flag laps to make it too yeah i think they're okay brian vickers though you can see he's the one that's been out there the longest and we heard carl edmunds crew chief chad norris tell dave a little bit ago that he'd like a few more jimmy johnson up to second trying to close it on hamlin i asked chad canales the crew chief just a few minutes ago how are you on fuel are you not good enough to make it he looked at the computer and looked back at me and then kind of shrugged his shoulders he wasn't going to tell me but then he came over the radio a short while later and told jimmy johnson i think we're good he almost sounded surprised when he said it it's going to be close that vince a race that's seen a great variety of pit stop schedules shuffling people up and down the running order all night and that's kind of the luxury of having three victories and up in the points you're in the chase you can take that kind of chance here right now jenny hamlin another sitting there right now leading this race looking at a third victory we were talking about him possibly dropping outside the top ten and now he would theoretically be tied for the points lead if the chase were to start there's johnson racing now with jeff gordon for the second spot as he's trying to find a way to close in on teddy hamlin for the lead i've been watching this lead though and hamlin does have it but he's not the fastest car the three cars behind him are all quicker he's had a caution he might be in trouble yeah and he's also approaching a lot of lap traffic that may slow him down a little bit it's got to make you miserable when you're leading the race here right seeing all those cars ahead yeah you just wonder what kind of break they're going to give you are you going to catch them at the right spot because it can happen just so good all it takes is just catching the wrong spot you're out of the gas for a split second and then you've got two or three cars on your rear bumper statistics say denny hamlin's in good shape but then there are those other five races very hard fought night for johnson to the 48 even for gordon in the 24. it's been a hard fought night for everybody on the racetrack this has been a slugfest tonight these guys have had to really fight for every position they've gained on the racetrack dale jr casey kane 88-5 12th and 13th junior led the race earlier and carl edwards really sliding back here he's gone from leading back to sixth and he's got three of them on his bumper and [Music] more and you can see those hands working that wheel he's really sliding around a lot click boy gonna go by that'll be for seventh place and joey logano who led a lot of laps in this race in fact has led the most laps of anyone tonight right now back in ninth spot trying to get eight from carl edwards wow lecano just barely missed as uh he put the slide job on edwards just barely missed getting into clint foyer well he ever sideways he's just he's just out of grip just hanging off paul menard 27 casey kane and the five the big penalties issued to the 27 this week the team appealing so slugger larry the crew chief here at the racetrack nascar telling us because of things that are going on this week and uh rules meetings that nascar has already scheduled they don't know that the appeal for the 27 will be heard yet this week so they expect slugger lambie probably will still be with this team at the atlanta race next sunday also mark truax by carl edwards dale jr by carl edwards and he's given up points that he had gained on tony stewart here in these last laps kyle busch flint foyer racing for sixth place at a night where most everybody's had to run that outside lane to race clint boyer's been one of the few that's really been making ground on the bottom yeah that's been the typical night for kyle busch in bristol i don't know if it was the left side tire combination that might have him this team off a little bit uh exactly what it is but we certainly have come to expect kyle bush to be up front battling for victories had a speeding penalty earlier went to the back use some strategy to get back to the front [Applause] [Music] and has been shuffled up and down the running order by the hopscotch pit stop schedules right now again fighting for sixth place with flynn foyer and joey logano nothing happening up front denny hamlin still with a clear lead on jimmy johnson johnson not able to gain any ground and we watch the best race for position in the top 10 at the moment what a rally for casey cave in that five car now he got in some oil put down somebody busted an oil cooler got in the wall really hard lost the lap fixing it got it back now he's raced his way all the way up the top 10. and he was leading when they get in that oil and they'll leave tonight wondering what if everybody raced to crystal and had a good car that was left here at some point in time thinking that very thing what makes it so difficult to win here and what makes it so special for a driver whenever you are able to put all of it together for 500 laps and visit the victory lane and get that big trophy and as these drivers continue to race for positions behind race leader denny hamlin we focus up front as we move to the final five laps jimmy johnson trying to close in on that's carl edwards off the pace chad norris said he needed a few more all right guys here we come four thousand probably here four thousand [Music] [Applause] that's gonna be a tough way to end the night [Applause] denny hamlin said coming into this weekend coming so close here at bristol only makes him want to win here even more best bristol finish a runner-up finish the last five times he's been here have not been top five results now he's about 40 seconds away from a checkered flag here at bristol and that huge win we talked about earlier yeah and it certainly hasn't been easy by any means but denny hammond has shown he's had one of the best cars if not the best all night it was a few cars and drivers able to make some passes on the inside when they needed it a huge personal win after a late pass for the lead checkered flag is up jenny hamlin wins this night race bristol i'm so damn happy that's what i'm talking about hell yeah awesome dude coach gibbs in the middle of his team there [Music] [Music] been an interesting season for denny hamlin got a couple of wins earlier this season one in march one in april that really has been on a difficult rocky stretch over the summer months if you want to get things back together again and get going why not just before it's time to run for the championship third win of the season for denny hamlin doc it was and darien grubb up here getting congratulations for the team darian gutsy call coming in left side tires and you end up in victory lane yeah it's worked for us a couple of times the way the wear was going and everything else good you're doing an awesome job of the time they brought here gave us some options to be able to go out there and play and it was a great night for denny and the whole team the pancrea did an awesome job just a great team effort and a fast race car trying to hang on to the chase spot what does this mean to you and this team now three wins on the season we feel like we're making up for some of those that got away earlier in the season so this should pretty much lock us in now for the chase so we can keep going to building our momentum and going into the chase run winning this championship arianne grub guys locked in and momentum now for the chase and we look at the nascar sprint cup series championship standings three drivers have clinched a place in the chase with their results tonight greg biffle jimmy johnson and dale earnhardt jr denny hamlin has not actually clinched he hasn't even officially clinched a wild card because tony stewart can still fall out of the top ten and casey kane can still get a third win at atlanta or richmond and not get back into the top ten so denny in really really really really good shape really good shape just not done yet like i said that momentum is though it's a big thing at this point in the season and they've got it coming the right way they've had some problems mechanically had a lot of bad luck they sure have the performance in a fast car they have it all come together at the right [Applause] all time well denny takes a minute to get unbuckled and get the helmet off let's hear from the runner-up tonight dave that would be jimmy johnson climbing from his car after a good discussion with his teammate there hard fought night tonight you finished second how would you assess it a great night um i wish we could have been one spot better but a very solid effort for this uh the chevrolet's team um you know we got messed up in in practice and had to start in the back and had a bad pit stall and in no track position but really had a great strategy and a fast car and made the most of it today so uh very proud of this whole race team and uh also very proud to have clinched i got my clinch hat on um glad to be locked into the chase something i'm very proud of to have made it each year and uh now it's time to get to work and focus on those ten weeks looks good on him i think the competition them i think otherwise [Music] jimmy johnson in the hunt for championship number six locking in his place tonight denny hamlin in victory lane with his third win of this season he's driven up on top of the building to celebrate in bristol danny hamlin celebrating his third victory of 2012. this one's a little bit different than other ones you've had this is the night race at bristol what's this mean to you oh i can't even tell you this is uh my biggest win this is uh such a great feeling darian just came here with a different setup and it just it just hauled the mail right from the get-go and just uh been a long time since i've been this competitive in bristol and i can't thank everyone from fedex enough mike glenn's here catherine flee lori tucker and we're uh it's been a long time since we won in front of them so thank everyone from fedex ground uh i gotta thank go wildly x the fans this is the biggest crowd i've seen here forever everyone from the jordan brand coke sprint uh thanks for the phones uh toyota fedex it's just a it's a big day this is um this is just a big win i don't know how to elsa explain it other than it's the knight race of bristol and one of the things no doubt that makes it so huge it puts you very much in the race for the number one seed in the chase do you feel like you're peaking at the perfect time we're not done winning yet still got a few more to go tell me about that pass getting by carl edwards a little bit of bump and run not exactly the old bristol but it certainly looked like there was some contact yeah i mean that's what you had to do there's only thing you could do is slide job somebody it was um you know it's uh brewing ground the track but you still had you still have the old bristle here where it it's one line you saw how to knock someone out of the way to make a move but uh our car worked so phenomenal on the bottom all day and we made most of our passes without touching the soul and just uh i knew i had to get to the front as soon as possible in case of caution came out we will be able to restart first so uh big day big win just uh thank everyone from toyota for for sticking to this program congratulations thank you alan another little uh interesting nugget this is win number 200 for the number 11 in nascar cup series racing this one scored by danny hamlin i think we started this telecast by talking about that a win in bristol was big and huge and we heard it from denny hamlin in victory lane greg biffle championship leader coming into the night locks in a place in the chase doc i'm not happy about his run tonight but greg you got to be happy the fact you are now locked in the chase so that means a lot to this whole team yeah it feels really good to uh make the chase this year and you know come out of here still leading the points i know it doesn't mean a lot but man we had a tough night you know the car right from the green flag just shoving the right front tire off a four here and i just moved around moved around and i found some grip way up tight where my teammate matt was running some of the other cars and eventually ended up biting me like it did casey kane and a lot of the other guys you know getting the fence and knocked the toe out of it but uh we need a little bit of bondo for that for that car that was who was the sponsor we had mondo bodybuddy her filler on the car so uh i think we're gonna need a little bit of that okay greg biffle in the chase now locked in dave burns that'd be the same for dale earnhardt junior finished 12th and up but clint's your place in the 2012 chase how do you feel about that yeah i feel good about it we worked really hard all season i want to thank my guys they uh they did a good job every week give me a good strategy we made a little mistake and come down to close pit tonight i don't know what you're thinking but uh you know we can't make them too often but uh we had a fast car car so fast to start a race and just uh lost that track position couldn't get by some guys and had fun though i don't know what the fans thought about the race uh just yet but i really enjoyed myself you know what i think they'll tell us this week right that's true i'm sure they will so i hope that you enjoyed it and uh the guys didn't come i think they missed a good race i know what they will like junior in the chase in 2012 guys [Applause] all right dave thanks and it has been scrolling across the top of the screen but let's uh show you for final time tonight the finishing order from the night race in bristol denny hamlin the race winner yeah great night there for brian vickers he comes in there with a top five finish on a limited schedule how about marcus ambrose with the top five once again [Music] martin truax jr up there contesting the lead for a while wound up with a disappointing i'm sure 11th place right bobby labonte though a strong strong run for his team up in the top 15. greg biffle mentioned disappointing wound up 19th in the race tonight and a lot of guys that had trouble carl edwards ran out of fuel with five to go that's unfortunate casey mears their 21st lead a lot of the first part of this race from starting from the pope matt kent to tony stewart they provide us a lot action tonight crashed racing for the lead and the final finishers in the night race at bristol so two races to go until the chase and it's on to the atlanta motor speedway next weekend nascar nationwide series espn2 saturday nascar sprint cup series next sunday night on espn at 6 30 eastern denny hamlin the race winner tonight in bristol thanks for watching espn on abc this copyrighted telecast may not be reproduced retransmitted or used in any form without the authorized written consent of nascar broadcasting nascar would like to thank all of our loyal fans for your continued support and we hope you enjoyed today's broadcast

Channel: NASCAR

Views: 69,229

Rating: 4.9113798 out of 5

Keywords: NASCAR, motorsports, racing, stock car, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, chase elliott, fantasy sports, fantasy fastlane, glass case of emotion, ryan blaney, crash, wreck, pileup, pit road, penalty, race track, super speedway, highlight

Id: 1cN6FoNGQX8

Length: 204min 43sec (12283 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 17 2020