Another day at the office for the Sprint Cup drivers, Saturday night in August, Bristol Motor Speedway, things went a little nuts, and is anyone surprised?
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The race looked like it belonged to Kyle Busch for most of the race. He snuck out to a consistent lead until 470 when Carl Edwards nudged Kyle Busch aside to take the lead. It was a clean hit causing no accident but the mercurial Busch was steaming. During the cool down lap, Busch attempted to spin-out Edwards after the checkered flag had dropped further enhancing Kyle Busch's reputation as the sport's little brat (albeit unbelievably successful little brat.)
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It was a good night for most of the drivers attempting to secure Chase spots except Kasey Kahne who was collected in a Bristol style pile up, dropping three positions down to 14th spot, 56 points out of the Chase. It was one of those little bumps, old Mikey Waltrip at the wheel, that started one of those "he hit me, no he hit me, that guy said something bad about my mama, he hit me,....oh well, that's just racin'" kind of Bristol bang-bangs. Ask Clint Bowyer how he really feels about the driver in the NAPA Toyota, #55. The top 11 consisted of Chase contenders except for Ryan Newman in 6th. Jeff Burton found misery in an early wreck dumping him off to a 42nd finishing position. Though Dale Earnhardt Jr. did not have a good night finishing in 18th, it was enough to put him points ahead of teammate Jimmie Johnson who finished 33rd. Once again, mistakes cost Earnhardt dearly being issued a black flag drive through penalty. This laundry list of miscues is getting old for #88 fans. Of the chase pack, Earnhardt Jr., Hamlin, Bowyer, and Ragan gained one spot. Jimmie Johnson dropped one spot. Kahne dropped three. Ryan Newman now stands in 15th in the point standings, but at 181 points out, only complete mayhem for the next three spots could squeeze him in.
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The bottom of the barrel chase for 35th in owners' points was a mumbo-jumbo affair. Lots of drivers are mad at Michael Waltrip. It's Bristol after all. No one helped his cause at that level. When Carl Edwards sent Kyle Busch spinning after Busch gave Edwards more than just a couple love taps after taking the checkered flag, the crowd went WILD in approval. When asked about the bump for the lead that would put Edwards in victory lane, NASCAR's best hope for gymnastics Olympic gold reflected, if things were reversed, would Busch have bumped him? Every race fan knows the answer to that question, "Hell yeah!" That's racin', buddy. EPSN and SPEED-TV have crowned the Busch/Edwards combo as NASCAR's new rivalry. It wasn't that long ago, it was Busch and Earnhardt Jr. Bottom line is, that Busch kid must be pretty good to get all that attention, but he's still a jerk. All in all, it was good old Bristol about as entertaining as NASCAR racing can get.
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