When it comes to racing at Bristol and the Food City 500, tempers will flare and the body shop will see overtime.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series and Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series gave us a combo platter of “old School” Bristol. It also gave us a lot of bumping and banging and even three wide racing on the high banks. But, as in the world of racing, there were the Good, The Bad and those leaving the track on a roll back.
The Good
Xfinity Series
Christopher Bell – Bell could have easily been on the bad end or even worse. The No. 20 Toyota saw it’s share of struggles early. But, Jason Ratcliff never gave up on the car and in the end was able to pass for the lead late and hold on for the win.
Monster Energy Cup Series
Kyle Busch – HALF! Kyle Busch has won half of the national series events run in 2019 and shows no signs of slowing down. Bristol saw Busch spin on lap 2 and race his way back to score his 3rd win of the season in the Cup series. Busch now has an average finish of 3.4.
The Bad
Xfinity Series
Brandon Jones – For the second straight time at Bristol, Jones saw the checkers and had them yanked away. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver used strategy to get to the front, but old tires failed him. With 3 laps to go, a brush with the wall and flat tire sent the No. 19 Toyota to pit road and 2 laps down.
Monster Energy Cup Series
Matt Dibenedetto – It wasn’t a bad run, it was bad timing. Dibenedetto was running well inside the top 10 at the time of the final caution, unfortunatly new tires didn’t mean as much as teams hoped for. The 95 team came to pit road, fell to 13th on the pit stop. Then over the final 20 laps, could do no better than 12th, their best finish of the season, but it could have been a lot more.
The Rollback Riders
Xfinity Series
Justin Allgaier – When you sweep the first two stages, lead 138 laps and running away from the field. You tend to feel things are going good. But, that’s when Bristol happens. Allgaier was well on his way until a parts failure and the outside retaining wall reared it’s ugly head. From hero to heartbreak in less time than it takes to lap Bristol.
Monster Energy Cup Series
Aric Almirola – Shazam–That’s how fast Almirola’s race was over. In fact, Thanos didn’t wipe out half of existence any faster than Almirola’s race at Bristol ended. Three laps, and one was to drive back to pit road.
Short track racing is where most of these guys got their start. Some would almost welcome Talladega after their luck at Bristol, but next up–More short racing. Hopefully the 4-leaf clovers are in bloom at Richomond.
