Jennifer Jo Cobb Comments on Not Starting at Bristol Motor Speedway:

“It feels like such a ‘Jerry Maguire’ moment. There were rumblings all week about us start and parking this race. I have a commitment to my sponsors, my fans, NASCAR that I won’t start and park. I’m very serious about my career and my performance, and I’ve worked hard to prove it to everyone.

The conversation was never had with me until 10 minutes before the race that I was to start and park. I had already bought tires for the race, so you can imagine that this was a blow to my principles and my finances to get this news. As the owner of 2nd Chance, he has the right to ask NASCAR to black flag me and said he would do that if I didn’t comply.

Photo: Kerry Murphey & Jennifer Jo Cobb as Las Vegas Motor Speedway

There were also rumors that he was going to surprise me and take me out of the car at California. We have a five race agreement that says I am racing for him, which is why I decided to collect Nationwide Series points and not Camping World Truck Series points. Because of those promises, I made decisions accordingly for my career. So after thinking about it for a few minutes, which there weren’t many, I made a decision to walk away.

I thank God for giving me the strength to do that. Sometimes that is the best thing to do. I just felt like I owed it to my fans and my sponsors that I’m seeking and to NASCAR that if I say, ‘I’m here to race,’ that I go out and race.”

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(March 19, 2011)

BRISTOL, Tenn.—So what else is new? Kyle Busch hit another milestone in Saturday’s Scotts EZ Seed 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Yes, he won the race. That’s almost a given in the NASCAR Nationwide Series these days. The victory was Busch’s second of the year and the 45th of his career, leaving him four behind Mark Martin (idle Saturday) for the career lead.

Perhaps even more impressive was what Busch accomplished on Lap 265 of 300. In his 206th start, Busch, the 2009 series champion, led his 10,000th lap in the series. No one else is close. Busch, who swept the Bristol weekend in August, is the first back-to-back winner at the track since 1993 series champ Steve Grissom in 1995.

Fast-closing Kasey Kahne finished second, .524 seconds behind Busch, followed by two-time series champion Dale Earnhardt Jr., Elliott Sadler — the higheset-finishing driver championship contender — and Joey Logano. Danica Patrick finished 33rd after wrecking late in her Bristol debut.

Busch took the lead from Earnhardt moments after a restart on Lap 32 and held it the rest of the way, with the exception of one lap led by Kahne under caution and two led by Brad Keselowski, who won the series title last year.

Nevertheless, Saturday’s win wasn’t exactly a walk in the park. Under a competition caution called after Lap 25, teams were required to replace their right-side tires with a new construction rushed to the track by Goodyear after tire wear issues plagued Friday’s practice sessions.

The new tires affected the handling of Busch’s No. 18 Toyota.

“It changed the dynamic of the car quite a bit,” Busch said. “We had to compensate for that driving-style-wise and with some changes to the car, but (crew chief) Jason (Ratcliffe) and these guys did such a great job.

“We played a lot (Friday) with different setups and what we wanted to do and how we wanted to do it and what exactly we were looking for. I know the feel that I need, but it’s just hard to get it sometimes.”

On Lap 248 Danica Patrick’s Chevrolet tangled with the Toyota of Ryan Truex, spun and slammed nose-first into the Turn 1 wall. Patrick, who was running two laps down in 17th at the time, thought Truex moved off the frontstretch wall into her racing line.

“It felt like to me that I came out of the corner, and I was running down the straight, and I felt like he came off the wall. … I know I was running him early, and he just runs hard. He’s run hard every time I’ve been around him, and it just seems like overkill.”

Jason Leffler finished eighth and took over the points lead by two over polesitter Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who finished 14th.

Kyle Busch Weekend Sweep Repeat?
Kyle Busch swept the weekend last August at Bristol winning all three races at the track in a single weekend. He visited victory lane in the Trucks, NNS, and Cup Series. Kyle has 4 Cup wins, and 6 top 2 finishes in the last 9 races at Bristol, and the only two other drivers to have wins in all 3 series there (not in the same weekend of course) are Carl Edwards and Mark Martin.

BRISTOL CUP SERIES STARTING LINEUP

All time Bristol Wins List
As Bristol heads into their 50th season of racing, lets take a look at the all-time wins list at that track, which is essentially a look at NASCAR history. 8 of the top 9 are champions, and 5 are either Hall of Famers, inductees or nominees. Darrell Waltrip heads up the list with 12 wins, Dale Earnhardt with 9, Rusty Wallace & Cal Yarborough also with 9, Kurt Busch & Jeff Gordon have 5, Bobby Allison & Kyle Busch each have 4.

Wood Brothers Last Bristol Win
The Wood Brothers are heading into this weekend looking at an anniversary of their own. Besides their recent Daytona 500 win, Bristol is the site of their last win, making it almost to the 10 year mark. Elliott Sadler went to victory lane at Bristol in 2001.

TRACK STATS | BRISTOL
It’s the coliseum of auto racing, a stadium wrapped around a 1/2 mile oval and 160,000 plus screaming fans
Banking/Turns 1-4: up to 30 º
Banking/Straights: 10 º
Length/Frontstretch: 650 ft.
Length/Backstretch: 650 ft.
Miles/laps: 266.5 miles, 500 laps
Last years pole sitter: Joey Logano
Last years winner: Jimmie Johnson

1 99 Carl Edwards Scotts Ford
2 16 Greg Biffle 3M Ford
3 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet
4 27 Paul Menard CertainTeed / Menards Chevrolet
5 6 David Ragan UPS Ford
6 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s / Kobalt Tools Chevrolet
7 24 Jeff Gordon Pepsi MAX Chevrolet
8 56 Martin Truex Jr. NAPA Auto Parts Toyota
9 5 Mark Martin GoDaddy.com Chevrolet
10 4 Kasey Kahne Red Bull Toyota
11 17 Matt Kenseth Crown Royal Black Ford
12 18 Kyle Busch M&M’s Toyota
13 14 Tony Stewart Office Depot / Mobil 1 Chevrolet
14 9 Marcos Ambrose DeWALT Ford
15 29 Kevin Harvick Budweiser Chevrolet

PODCAST: BRISTOL PREVIEW
16 47 Bobby Labonte Bush’s Baked Beans Toyota
17 31 Jeff Burton Caterpillar Chevrolet
18 20 Joey Logano The Home Depot Toyota
19 21 Trevor Bayne(i) Motorcraft / Quick Lane Ford
20 22 Kurt Busch Shell / Pennzoil Dodge
21 39 Ryan Newman Tornados Chevrolet
22 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. National Guard / AMP Energy Chevrolet
23 2 Brad Keselowski Miller Lite Dodge
24 1 Jamie McMurray Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats Chevrolet
25 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Express Toyota
26 00 David Reutimann Aaron’s Toyota
27 33 Clint Bowyer BB&T Chevrolet
28 43 A J Allmendinger Best Buy Ford
29 34 David Gilliland TMone / Taco Bell Ford
30 83 Brian Vickers Red Bull Toyota
31 09 Bill Elliott Thank a Teacher / Security Benefits Chevrolet
32 60 Landon Cassill(i) Big Red Toyota
33 7 Robby Gordon Speed Energy / Food City Dodge
34 87 Joe Nemechek(i) NEMCO Motorsports Toyota
35 38 Travis Kvapil(i) Long John Silver’s Ford
36 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Target Chevrolet
37 36 Dave Blaney Accell Construction Chevrolet
38 46 J J Yeley Red Line Chevrolet
39 66 Michael McDowell HP Racing LLC Toyota
40 92 Dennis Setzer K-Automotive Dodge
41 37 Tony Raines Front Row Motorsports Ford
42 71 Andy Lally # Eco-Fuel Saver Chevrolet
43 13 Casey Mears GEICO Toyota

SHOW #148 – We return after the off week to discuss the Trucks at Darlington, Cup and NNS at Bristol this weekend, and we hear from Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, and Kasey Kahne. Hosted by Kerry Murphey and Paul Northrop

LISTEN HERE (About 48 mins)

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CREDITS:
Hosts: Kerry Murphey & Paul Northrop
Production: Kerry Murphey
Music: Radium Sound
Voice Over: Thomas Moog