The latest auto news, reviews, prices, product and vehicle releases. Mar
18th
Stay connected Subscribe to our RSS feed
After the disappointment of narrowly losing in Las Vegas the lucky dice rolled Kasey Kahne's way at the Bristol Motor Speedway.
After notching his 15th career win Kahne, who started second, was elated "This is a big win. This whole team was flawless, last week, today, this whole season," Kahne said. "This is a tough place; it's been a tough track for me. We're prepared hard for this race, so I'm really excited."
Meanwhile his rivals seemed to be rolling unlucky snake eyes.
Brad Keselowski had taken the lead at the .553-mile oval only to spin his wheels, after being hit from behind on a late race restart, allowing Kahne to take off.
Even Kahne not sure how it happened “I had no clue what happened on that restart other than Brad took off a little bit and I had a good start, then he dropped. I knew he spun his tires. I don't know how it all happened.”
Keselowski was tapped from behind by Denny Hamlin, on that restart, which lifted his rear driving wheels off the ground for a brief moment and thereafter the reigning champ's Ford spun its' wheels.
Hamlin explained “The 22 (Joey Logano) had me pinned -- the 22 ran into me and shoved me into the 2 (Brad Keselowski) so sorry for the 2, but I was the pinball in the sandwich and once he throttled up the 22 lifted me up and just flat out pinned me up against the 2."
Kyle Busch, the pole sitter and winner of Saturday's Nationwide race, finished second said “just too tight all day. Just never really had the car that was worth being able to run the bottom as long as it needed to.
Finishing third for another his fourth top-five of the year Keselowski was disappointed at an opportunity lost for a win, but, takes the season points lead after Jimmie Johnson suffered a tire bead failure.
“I haven't seen a replay, I just know that my rear tires were off the ground before I got to the restart zone. Eventually I got hit so hard that it pushed my foot in the gas pedal and it made myself look like an ass, but that was the deal and I never had another chance.”
A bizarre accident ended the day for two other contenders, Jeff Gordon, and Matt Kenseth - last week's victor in Las Vegas.
Gordon had been running on left side tires for over 170 laps with Kenseth catching him on fresher rubber. Then Gordon had a tire going flat sending him up the track much more slowly than Kenseth who hit Gordon's car hard eliminating both of them.
"I hate that for Matt Kenseth," Gordon said. "He was coming, and it was just a matter of time before he caught us. We needed points. This definitely isn't going to get us many."
Kurt Busch, driving for the small Furniture Row team battled back to fourth. It was the best est finish at the concrete paved track for the team. “Considering how much we had to battle back from adversity today, the finish was even more gratifying,” said Busch, who vaulted from 29th to 16th in driver points. “We fell two laps down because of a loose right-rear wheel and then we suffered left-front damage near the end of the race.”
After notching his 15th career win Kahne, who started second, was elated "This is a big win. This whole team was flawless, last week, today, this whole season," Kahne said. "This is a tough place; it's been a tough track for me. We're prepared hard for this race, so I'm really excited."
 |
| Kasey Kahne, driver of the NASCAR Sprint Cup #5 Great Clips Chevrolet SS races to victory in the Food City 500 Sunday, March 17, 2013 at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Harold Hinson for Chevrolet) |
Meanwhile his rivals seemed to be rolling unlucky snake eyes.
Brad Keselowski had taken the lead at the .553-mile oval only to spin his wheels, after being hit from behind on a late race restart, allowing Kahne to take off.
Even Kahne not sure how it happened “I had no clue what happened on that restart other than Brad took off a little bit and I had a good start, then he dropped. I knew he spun his tires. I don't know how it all happened.”
Keselowski was tapped from behind by Denny Hamlin, on that restart, which lifted his rear driving wheels off the ground for a brief moment and thereafter the reigning champ's Ford spun its' wheels.
Hamlin explained “The 22 (Joey Logano) had me pinned -- the 22 ran into me and shoved me into the 2 (Brad Keselowski) so sorry for the 2, but I was the pinball in the sandwich and once he throttled up the 22 lifted me up and just flat out pinned me up against the 2."
 |
| Kasey Kahne, driver of the NASCAR Sprint Cup #5 Great Clips Chevrolet SS wins the Food City 500 Sunday, March 17, 2013 at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Garry Eller for Chevrolet) |
Kyle Busch, the pole sitter and winner of Saturday's Nationwide race, finished second said “just too tight all day. Just never really had the car that was worth being able to run the bottom as long as it needed to.
Finishing third for another his fourth top-five of the year Keselowski was disappointed at an opportunity lost for a win, but, takes the season points lead after Jimmie Johnson suffered a tire bead failure.
“I haven't seen a replay, I just know that my rear tires were off the ground before I got to the restart zone. Eventually I got hit so hard that it pushed my foot in the gas pedal and it made myself look like an ass, but that was the deal and I never had another chance.”
A bizarre accident ended the day for two other contenders, Jeff Gordon, and Matt Kenseth - last week's victor in Las Vegas.
Gordon had been running on left side tires for over 170 laps with Kenseth catching him on fresher rubber. Then Gordon had a tire going flat sending him up the track much more slowly than Kenseth who hit Gordon's car hard eliminating both of them.
"I hate that for Matt Kenseth," Gordon said. "He was coming, and it was just a matter of time before he caught us. We needed points. This definitely isn't going to get us many."
 |
| Kasey Kahne, driver of the NASCAR Sprint Cup #5 Great Clips Chevrolet SS celebrates his victory in the Food City 500 Sunday, March 17, 2013 at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Harold Hinson for Chevrolet) |
Kurt Busch, driving for the small Furniture Row team battled back to fourth. It was the best est finish at the concrete paved track for the team. “Considering how much we had to battle back from adversity today, the finish was even more gratifying,” said Busch, who vaulted from 29th to 16th in driver points. “We fell two laps down because of a loose right-rear wheel and then we suffered left-front damage near the end of the race.”