Food City 500 Qualifying Update

Bristol Motor Speedway -- 03/22/2009

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Saturday Mar 21 2009 8:16pm

It’s already been a busy weekend of racing in Bristol, Tennessee, with Saturday’s Nationwide Race won by Kevin Harvick and the Legends Race won by Sterling Marlin.

Now attention turns to Sunday’s Cup race, with a scheduled green flag of 2:16 EST on Sunday. Mark Martin captured the pole for the second week in a row, after going seven years without one. Ryan Newman’s outside pole start is his best (and first top-5) start in his five races with Stewart-Haas Racing.
Rounding out the top 10 are Jimmie Johnson and Greg Biffle (row 2), Kasey Kahne and David Reutimann (row 3), Reed Sorenson and Dave Blaney (row 4), and Jamie McMurray and Jeff Gordon (row 5).

With 45 cars vying for starting spots, only two drivers missed making the field of 43 - Scott Riggs and Jeremy Mayfield. After qualifying for the first two races of the year in Daytona and Fontana, neither driver has been able to time in to any of the three subsequent races.

Racing at Bristol is largely a matter of survival, as Richard Petty Motorsports Director of Operations Robbie Loomis notes, also mentioning the importance of qualifying, which has been one of my recurring themes this week: “You’ve got to first finish to finish first. Track position is a big (key), so it’s nice to qualify well … This is a half-mile racetrack. It’s not made for 43 race cars. The first half of the race is getting the number of cars to fit the size of the race track. As it is eliminating cars, you have to survive and be there for the second half of the race. From 250 laps on, that’s when you work to get yourself in a position to win, trying to make the right pit calls and pit strategy to put yourself there.”

There have been three practices leading up to the Food City 500 – one on Friday before qualifying and two on Saturday practice. Though Toyota has never been to Victory Lane at Bristol in the Cup series, Toyota driver David Reutimann was impressive in all three practices, despite the fact that car owner Michael Waltrip had a practice crash Friday and will be doing to a backup. Reutimann paced the first practice and was 2nd and 5th on the speed charts Saturday, along with qualifying 6th.

Denny Hamlin and Clint Bowyer were the only other drivers to run in the top 10 in all three practices, though Bowyer qualified 31st and Hamlin, 24th. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who qualified 34th, had the fastest car in Saturday’s early practice, while Hamlin led Happy Hour.

Kyle Busch, who dominated the Nationwide race Saturday before a pit road penalty sent him back in the pack, was strong in all three practices as well and will start 19th Sunday. Others with impressive practice times overall include the Hendrick teammates of Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Look for pit road issues to be an ongoing concern Sunday.

Also keep an eye on Kevin Harvick, who won the Nationwide race and has the best career average finish of all drivers at Bristol. Though he qualified 30th, Harvick was 7th-fastest in Happy Hour.

Odds-makers' Favorites:

Kyle Busch +450
Carl Edwards +450
Jeff Gordon +450

Mid-pack Maybes:

Matt Kenseth +800
Greg Biffle +1000
Kurt Busch +1500

Long-shots to Watch:

Denny Hamlin +2500
Kevin Harvick +3000
David Reutimann +4000

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User	Comment
jamming	I watched the Nationwide race and it was a great competition. I really thought Kyle Busch had it in the bag until that penalty slammed him back. Harvick did run a great race, though, and deserved the win.
Perdy	Hamlin ran a phenomenal race and I was happy to see him finish where he did. I`ve gotta check points now because I`m interested to see how today`s race changed things up.
junkyard	I`m getting ready to watch this race on my Tivo and I have my feelings that I might have picked the right guy for this week. I`m ready for a beer and my race.
peacegirl	jr. number 88 is showing progress even if he is not winning he is giving it his all!!!!!!!!!! :):):):):):):):):) GO JR!
brix12	Denny Hamlin must be showing some progress in his driving performance. And it`s a good thing that Earnhardt is trying his best to win the race in Bristol.
jade06	Another impressive record for Toyota race car performance. I hope I won`t hear or read another engine issues coming from the Toyota teams. Or it must be coming from the driver`s skill who drives the said car in the track.
ryder_29	Did I just read what Mr. Loomis talked about the importance of qualifying in the Bristol track? I thought he`s talking about how narrow the race track would be. Please correct me if I`m wrong.
Tetchie	Maybe Riggs and Mayfield are still rookies in Bristol race track? They have a long way to go before receiving a lot of praises and recognition by the media.
brownlee59	Alright Kasey! I hope he can hold on to his spot. Maybe even lead some laps and get his pionts up today. I`ll be watching at our daughters house while we BBQ. My friend that went to the Bristol race called me all excited. It was her first time at a nascar race. Lucky her has seats right at the finish line. Maybe I`ll see her on TV.lol
RIRmama	I would love to see local boy Hamlin do well in this race. My friend met him once at a grocery store and said he was the nicest guy. I will be keeping my eye on him this time!
Karlee	I`m looking to see if Hamlin, a long shot, can pull forward on this. My money is on Busch this time. He was strong in the practices and I think he`ll be even stronger in the race.