Barring the miraculous appearance of sponsor dollars, Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway is the last race this season for Yates Racing’s No. 28 Ford.

Jimmie Johnson loves Bristol Motor Speedway. At least, that’s what he’s telling himself this week.

The drivers in or out of the critical top 35 in the Sprint Cup owners’ standings didn’t change following Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

NSCS Recap: Kyle Busch dominates in Bristol victory

Kyle Busch celebrates winning the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. The win was Busch’s 14th in his career and second at Bristol. (Photo credit: CIA STOCK PHOTO)
By Reid Spencer, Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

BRISTOL, Tenn. (March 22, 2009) — You couldn’t blame Kyle Busch for believing Bristol Motor Speedway owed him a win in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series.

After all, the driver of the No. 18 Toyota led 415 of 500 laps last August, only to finish second.

Busch didn’t wait for the .533-mile short track to take its time paying him back. Instead, he seized control of Sunday’s Food City 500, leading 378 laps en route to his second victory of the season.

Busch held off Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin by .391 seconds in a green-white-checkered-flag finish that took the race to 503 laps, three beyond its scheduled distance. The win was Busch’s 14th in the Cup series and his 10th since joining JGR to start the 2008 season.

“It was just an overall great day,” said Busch, whose second victory at Bristol broke a streak of 13 wins at 13 different racetracks. “This place probably owes me a few, but you can never ask the racetrack to pay you back. You’ve just got to go out there and keep working at it. … Fortunately, we had a good enough car today.”

Continue reading “Kyle Busch Dominates Bristol Half Mile”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. can handle the criticism. If you want to blame someone for his rather underwhelming first 40 races at Hendrick Motorsports, NASCAR’s most popular driver urges you to point the finger squarely at him. But attacking his crew chief? That’s going a little too far.