So much for better racing at Bristol--it wasn't anything better than B-O-R-I-N-G. At least not for the fans. And I certainly don't think the Thunder Valley promo masters got any new footage for their usually fantastic commercials.
The new surface made for easier passing, which meant no more beatin' and banging your way by. Passing was so much easier, that green flag passes during Saturday night's Sharpie 500 more than doubled that of the spring race at Bristol – from 991 to 2,147.
Tony Stewart: "Guys were running over each other to pass each other. It's the most fun I've had at Bristol in my career. I can't give it a better grade than an A-plus."
Unfortunately, it wasn't any fun for the fans. All that passing amounted to only two drivers leading 487 of 500 laps. A huge snoozefest for millions of fan who've been anticipating the excitement of Bristol night race all season long.
Jeff Gordon says that he isn't too worried about his team's performance on the near-eve of the Chase for the Nextel Cup. Instead, the Nextel Cup point leader and first guy to lock himself into the 2007 edition of the Chase says, the team is ready to go for New Hampshire.
"I am not a big believer in luck. I think you have to make your luck. You have to be well prepared and make the right calls and decisions," said Gordon.
Saturday night at Bristol, the No. 24 team didn't make the right calls and decisions, and Gordon wound up 19th. A combination of too many adjustments too early and ill-timed pit stop before a caution left Gordon struggling for track position late in the Sharpie 500. He would finish 19th.
For Gordon, it was his second lackluster finish in a row on top of his win-costing mistake at Watkins Glen with two laps to go. The point hasn't shriveled drastically because Denny Hamlin blew an engine Saturday night, leaving Tony Stewart in second, some 349 points back.
Could it be that Gordon is forgetting the type of role that bit his teammate Jimmie Johnson so hard back in 2004?
A few years ago before the Daytona 500, Larry McReynolds reckoned that track employees should install cots because fans are going to fall asleep.
Bristol Motor Speedway workers might want to take note for 2008.
There was no controversy, no turmoil and Carl Edwards ran a smart race and kept Kasey Kahne behind him long enough to take Saturday night's ho-hum Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Edwards led 182 laps to Kahne's 305 in a race that saw just nine cautions for 61 laps.
The real story, though, was the amount of excitement that Bristol didn't offer this time around.
Was it the newly-surfaced track? A harder Goodyear tire? The Car of Tomorrow?
It's tough to say exactly, but the truth is, Saturday night's race at Bristol wasn't worth calling home to momma about.
It sounds impossible, but in case you haven't heard, racing at Bristol Motor Speedway is going to be even better.
Jeff Gordon: "The track is spectacular. They did an awesome job. I didn't think you could make Bristol any cooler and any more fun but they have. The potential for more passing is certainly there. But here is the problem - when you have as little grip as we have because the tire is so hard, then you have to be careful. But the track definitely has multiple grooves."
Matt Kenseth: "I think you'll see a better race because there will be the possibility of running more side by side. Instead of being stuck behind somebody and having to beat and bang on them, you can just pull out and go around them and that's something we haven't been able to do here in the past. I actually think the preferred groove in (turns) three and four will be the high side. I think it's going to be hard to pass on the bottom, and I think the guy leading the race late will move to the top and protect that groove."
Elliott Sadler: "Now that you're giving the drivers a choice, we're not all fighting for the same real estate. Now, if you're going to block the bottom, that's fine, I'll just go to the top ...Now that you've given us more choices, there should be less beating and banging and stuff going on. But, this is a Saturday night Bristol race, so I think you'll see plenty of excitement."
Kasey Kahne has had a pretty darn good Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Friday afternoon, Kahne topped the Nextel Cup Series in qualifying and will start out front for Saturday night's Sharpie 500. Later Friday night, Kahne took home his first Busch Series short track victory with a win in the Food City 250.
And boy did the 250-lapper set a tone for the weekend.
Kahne won Friday night after battling three-wide with Ryan Newman and Jason Leffler with less than 15 laps to go, just before Newman blew a tire after contact and fell out. At the line, it was Kahne crossing first, Leffler spinning sideways, and David Reutimann third -- all of them close enough to fall under a blanket.
I don't think I could ever pick Kasey Kahne to win at Bristol after seeing him crash out of his first Nextel Cup race at the track during his rookie season. Needless to say, Kahne was so shook up from the experience that he was literally shaking on camera.
Friday night, though, he apparently found a good way to calm down.
Kahne won the pole for Saturday night's Sharpie 500 at the half-mile Bristol Motor Speedway with a lap of 16.016 seconds, or 119.805 mph.
Juan Pablo Montoya will line up on his outside with Jamie McMurray, David Ragan and Dave Blaney rounding out the top-5. Virginia-native Ward Burton dropped a nice lap and will start 14th.
Bristol just got a facelift over the summer with a brand-new concrete repaving job, and it really set back the lap times at the track. Jeff Gordon won the pole at BMS in April with a lap 125.453 mph in the first Car of Tomorrow race, obviously much quicker than Kahne's lap.
Slower speeds, though, could add up to better race Saturday night with more side-by-side racing because cars are more even.
As if Bristol really needs to get any better though.
AT&T: NASCAR is being "unreasonable and vindictive."
NASCAR: "NASCAR fans are not fans of litigation, and AT&T needs to do the right thing and honor the agreements that were made." TGOM: " Nextel Sprint are hypocrites and NASCAR are greedy sons of bit*hes."
AT&T was once a worthy NASCAR Nextel Cup sponsor--when they were called Cingular. Now their money is no good. Well, their money is still good, but their logos aren't.
NASCAR spokesperson Ramsey Posten said that several paint schemes were approved for RCR this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, including a GoPhone scheme. RCR and AT&T say NASCAR didn't approve any they submitted for the Sharpie 500, including a GoPhone scheme.
I think I gotta believe AT&T on this one--I'm sure if there was actually an approved scheme, they'd be running it.
Instead, the #31 AT&T Chevrolet rolled off the hauler at Bristol Motor Speedway this morning sans any visible sign of the sponsor's logo. Logos have even been removed from the hauler and pit equipment ... team AT&T shirts have been left behind in favor of generic RCR shirts.
Racing under the lights at Bristol Motor Speedway is always exciting, but having missed the last two races, I'm especially looking forward to Saturday night. A new track surface promises side-by-side racing and unpredictability in this high-stakes race on the road to the Chase. 1. Denny Hamlin - Pressure's off, desire to drive the wheels off still on. 2. Kurt Busch - Junior Nation really needs Busch to hit a points wall over the next three races to help our driver out. That's probably not going to happen in Thunder Valley, where Busch is tied with Jeff Gordon for most wins by a current driver (5). 3. Matt Kenseth - He ranks first at Bristol Motor Speedway in Driver Rating, Average Running Position, Fastest Laps Run, Green Flag Speed and Laps in the Top 15. Twice in the last four races here, he's been the first to cross the finish line.
He went from having no Nextel Cup ride, to having a third-rate Cup ride to possibly taking over what is now the most popular Cup ride on the circuit.
According to Marty Smith, DEI might solve their "too many drivers not enough cars and lack of a new high-caliber driver to replace Dale Earnhardt Jr." with the most obvious solution: putting veteran Mark Martin behind the wheel of the #8.
"If there's anyone that would represent Dale Earnhardt Inc. and what the No. 8 means to this company it would be Mark Martin."
Martin doesn't want a full-time Cup ride, though, so he'd split the season with Almirola, but nothing is written in stone yet.
The car would be sponsored by The Army and presumably this means that Regan Smith could still have a job driving the #01 for 2008 with sponsor TBD. But, it sounds like DEI is keeping their "several options" open and is still looking at Greg Biffle for 2009.
Almirola will make his DEI debut Saturday night in the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway in the #01. I don't know what to make of his racing abilities yet since I haven't seen him race too much and he hasn't completed even one full season in any NASCAR series. But I do know he's gonna have to work his a** off to get the same kind of love showered on the #8 car as it gets now.
Jeff Gordon says that he isn't too worried about his team's performance on the near-eve of the Chase for the Nextel Cup. Instead, the Nextel Cup point leader and first guy to lock himself into the 2007 edition of the Chase says, the team is ready to go for New Hampshire.
A few years ago before the Daytona 500, Larry McReynolds reckoned that track employees should install cots because fans are going to fall asleep.
Kasey Kahne has had a pretty darn good Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway.
I don't think I could ever pick Kasey Kahne to win at Bristol after seeing him crash out of his first Nextel Cup race at the track during his rookie season. Needless to say, Kahne was so shook up from the experience that he was literally shaking on camera.
AT&T: NASCAR is being "unreasonable and vindictive."
Racing under the lights at Bristol Motor Speedway is always exciting, but having missed the last two races, I'm especially looking forward to Saturday night. A new track surface promises side-by-side racing and unpredictability in this high-stakes race on the road to the Chase.
3. Matt Kenseth - He ranks first at Bristol Motor Speedway in Driver Rating, Average Running Position, Fastest Laps Run, Green Flag Speed and Laps in the Top 15. Twice in the last four races here, he's been the first to cross the finish line.
It's been quite a month for 
