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26th
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The verdict is in. The reconfiguration of Bristol Motor Speedway worked providing an action filled race won by Denny Hamlin.
Although Jimmie Johnson finished second and Jeff Gordon finished third, the real battle at the end of the 500 lapper was with Carl Edwards who desperately needed a win to try to obtain a Wild Card to make the Chase.
But Edwards' tires gave out, due to a gamble on not pitting, and then he ran out of gas leaving Hamlin to hold off the five-time champion for the win.
Hamlin described his 20th Sprint Cup win "it just hauled the mail. This is just a big win, I don't know how else to explain it."
With his third win of the year Hamlin is in position, by virtue of bonus points for wins, to be the top seed in the Chase after Richmond when the points are reset. Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski and Tony Stewart also have three wins.
"We're not done winning yet. We've still got a few more to go," Hamlin said in victory lane.
The race was characterized by the metal on metal contact not seen in recent times. After many years of sellouts, the spring race was noticeably empty at the stadium which seats 160,000. Its' nickname had been the Concrete Coliseum for the nature of the surface and wrecks of the past.
Only there hadn't been that type of racing in the spring.
So the track owner reground the top groove to force cars closer together. That worked but not as exactly intended. What didn't work is that drivers continue to prefer the top line. On the other hand there was a plethora of spins and crashes.
The most dramatic incident involved reigning Cup champion, Tony Stewart, and 2003 champ, Matt Kenseth. They battled on the main straight banging door-to-door then Kenseth's Ford hit Stewart's Chevrolet sending into the pit wall and out of the race.
Kenseth said "I was running the top leading and he got a run and he went into turn one like I wasn't there and just went straight to the fence. If I wouldn't have lifted, like he chose not to do the next corner, we would have wrecked, so I let him have it and I got a run back, drove all the way alongside of him and we just kept going."
Kenseth referred to two on track incidents earlier this year where the two have had a problem.
While the caution was waving Stewart got out of his wrecked car and threw his helmet at Kenseth's car, slowly circulating the half-mile oval. "I checked-up twice to not run over him (Kenseth) and I learned my lesson there; I'm going to run over him every chance I've got from now ‘til the end of the year, every chance I've got."
With two races to go the Wild Card battle is tightening. Kasey Kahne, who is 11th in the standings has one win and is only 16 points behind Stewart. Kyle Busch is 13th and last provisional Wild Car he has one win. Edwards is 12th in the points, but, has no wins. A win would put him ahead of Busch.
Although Jimmie Johnson finished second and Jeff Gordon finished third, the real battle at the end of the 500 lapper was with Carl Edwards who desperately needed a win to try to obtain a Wild Card to make the Chase.
But Edwards' tires gave out, due to a gamble on not pitting, and then he ran out of gas leaving Hamlin to hold off the five-time champion for the win.
Hamlin described his 20th Sprint Cup win "it just hauled the mail. This is just a big win, I don't know how else to explain it."
With his third win of the year Hamlin is in position, by virtue of bonus points for wins, to be the top seed in the Chase after Richmond when the points are reset. Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski and Tony Stewart also have three wins.
"We're not done winning yet. We've still got a few more to go," Hamlin said in victory lane.
The race was characterized by the metal on metal contact not seen in recent times. After many years of sellouts, the spring race was noticeably empty at the stadium which seats 160,000. Its' nickname had been the Concrete Coliseum for the nature of the surface and wrecks of the past.
Only there hadn't been that type of racing in the spring.
So the track owner reground the top groove to force cars closer together. That worked but not as exactly intended. What didn't work is that drivers continue to prefer the top line. On the other hand there was a plethora of spins and crashes.
The most dramatic incident involved reigning Cup champion, Tony Stewart, and 2003 champ, Matt Kenseth. They battled on the main straight banging door-to-door then Kenseth's Ford hit Stewart's Chevrolet sending into the pit wall and out of the race.
Kenseth said "I was running the top leading and he got a run and he went into turn one like I wasn't there and just went straight to the fence. If I wouldn't have lifted, like he chose not to do the next corner, we would have wrecked, so I let him have it and I got a run back, drove all the way alongside of him and we just kept going."
Kenseth referred to two on track incidents earlier this year where the two have had a problem.
While the caution was waving Stewart got out of his wrecked car and threw his helmet at Kenseth's car, slowly circulating the half-mile oval. "I checked-up twice to not run over him (Kenseth) and I learned my lesson there; I'm going to run over him every chance I've got from now ‘til the end of the year, every chance I've got."
With two races to go the Wild Card battle is tightening. Kasey Kahne, who is 11th in the standings has one win and is only 16 points behind Stewart. Kyle Busch is 13th and last provisional Wild Car he has one win. Edwards is 12th in the points, but, has no wins. A win would put him ahead of Busch.