Saturday’s race at Bristol featured green-flag passing as well as several on-track run-ins, although many fans still said afterward that the race was boring. So was it boring, or are fans’ expectations out of line?
Phil: It wasn’t boring. I just think the fans are still used to constant bump and running at Bristol.
Jeff: 99 percent of the fans that say that are watching it on TV.
Following a tremendous third place finish at Thunder Valley, Marcos Ambrose played the humility card with great aplomb in the post-race interview; talking in “pseudo-incredulous” terms about how he was shocked that someone like him could be racing (and holding his own) with the legends of the sport. Now modesty isn’t typically a trait you associate with Australian sport stars – and I must pause and laugh heartily at the Aussie cricket team who just lost the “Ashes” test series to England this past weekend; but in the case of Ambrose the whole “aww shucks, I’m just happy to be here” routine is going to get old quick.
Welcome back Bristol – we missed you! Or maybe you never left and we just had to get used to a few less shoving matches in the Thunder Valley bullring. Nonetheless, the Sprint Cup Series capped off an exciting week of racing at Bristol Motor Speedway by seeing Kyle Busch break out of both a …
Each week, we’ll go through media reports, interviews, PR and all of our own stuff to find the best quotes from the Sprint Cup race, capturing the story of how the weekend unfolded. It’s the most original commentary you’ll ever find: the truth, coming straight out of the mouths of the drivers, crew members and car owners themselves. This week, here’s a peek at what the drivers were thinking following the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
In Friday’s Driver Diary, Scott Speed gave the Frontstretch faithful a little insight into how he would perform this weekend when he wrote that he that believed he had a car better than what the team brought to Bristol earlier in 2009. Well, it may have not looked that way early on, but this driver and team ran the half-mile exactly the way they should have and were rewarded in the end. Speed did not overdrive the car and kept his nose clean while providing effective feedback to his crew chief.
Because he’s a nicer driver than most, Mark Martin finished second, solidifying his Chase berth a bit more and maintaining his squeaky-clean reputation. However, a well-timed bump-and-run is not a dirty move, and Martin should have been more aggressive in the closing laps. If I was his car owner, I’d have been disappointed in the performance this week.
It was a day where Joey Logano reminded us that he was still a rookie and then demonstrated how much he has grown as a driver by recovering from it. After running in the top 15 for most of the race, miscommunication put the driver in the precarious position of being up front but having to pit off sequence.
NASCAR broadcasts these days are, as many fans complain, not exactly equitable in how they dole out airtime to drivers. While one guy (you fill in the name) will be on TV throughout the broadcast no matter where he is running, another (fill in that guy, too) might be having a great run-and you hardly …
The Sprint Cup Series heads from the road course of the Glen back to the ovals, and the Irish Hills, this weekend as the race to the Chase continues to take shape. For teams like Roush Fenway Racing and Richard Childress Racing, scoring a top-10 run this weekend is imperative, while those whose playoff berths …
Marcos Ambrose had two top-two finishes at Watkins Glen, but most of the top spots on Monday went to the usual suspects – the same drivers who run in the top 10 or close to it most weeks. Is the road-course ringer a dying breed?
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