Sprint Cup 2012: Race 4 - Bristol Bangin'

While it sure lacks the drama of the August night race, there’s something about a Sprint Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway that makes watching the sport especially fun. While in the August race, drivers are consciously working to secure their position in the Chase, the stakes are equally important for some marginal teams in the spring race as time is getting short, one more race after this one, to lock into the guaranteed starting positions afforded drivers in the top 35 in owners’ points.  In this sponsor driven market, the assurance that an owner’s car decked out in sponsor advertising is dearly important so investors know their product will be marketed by making the show.

David Reutimann is a driver in the hot seat. Mired in 40^th place in owner points for Tommy Baldwin, his job was to keep the #10 car in the top 35 to assure a starting position for Danica Patrick for the 10 races she is scheduled to run for Stewart-Haas races. Baldwin and Stewart struck this deal specifically to make sure that would happen. Reutimann who showed potential when first working with Michael Waltrip racing had fallen off considerably especially in 2011 leading to his dismissal from that team. That Reutimann was bitter and bad mouthed others during the buildup to the Daytona 500 did not help his value as a driver looking for a true regular ride. He starts 19^th for tomorrow’s race right in the thick of the action His effort must show a noticeable move upward this week and do likewise next week to lock down that valuable starting spot for his team.

Much buzz surrounds the sport given Dodge’s situation for next year having unveiled their new race car after their flagship team, Penske, had announced its plans to race Fords next year. Much of the buzz suggests Richard Petty Racing might return to Mopar where he once had such a rich history; however, Richard Petty’s operation ended its relationship with Dodge and moved to Ford after the 2009 season. It gets its cars and engines from Jack Roush’s operation and given its tight finances isn’t about to start its own engine program. Conjecture has also focused on Earnhardt/Ganassi Racing; however, they are locked in with Richard Childress Racing and their joint engine program. Dodge has nowhere to go where an engine program exists. How’s this for intriguing possibilities? James Finch racing with Kurt Busch has a capable driver if he can control his tempter and abusive manner who’d provide past champion provisional positions. Front Row racing has David Ragan and David Gilliland, but is also severely underfunded. Whether any of the other operations that don’t engage in defiling the sport with start and park rip off operations would be likewise good candidates is open for speculation. If Dodge can help create an engine program and teams gain enough financing, the likes of Busch and Ragan would at very least be strong top 20 candidates.

Let’s face it, no matter what Dodge’s intentions are, we’d have to bet they are probably no better than a 50/50 chance of being in NASCAR racing next year unless they have the resources to attempt to reverse a sport that’s still obviously in contraction mode.

Some other noteworthy teams that are in danger of losing top 35 standings include the #13 Bob Germain Ford driven by Casey Mears currently in 35^th place. Richard Childress Racing’s #33 car shared between Austin Dillion and Brendon Gaughan is in 34^th spot with a 32^nd starting spot. Landon Cassill in the #83 Burger King ride starts 29^th but is only in 36^th place in the owner’s bracket. A real shocker finds the #22 Penske Shell/Penzoil Dodge with A.J. Allmendinger in 33^rd in points while James Finch’s entry in the #21 Hendricks powered Chevy with Kurt Busch is in 32^nd spot.

Considering Bristol’s remarkable ability to grind up racecars, these teams are on pins and needles with only California to go to earn their assured starting berths.

Here’s how they line up. Let the beating and banging begin!!!!

POS		CAR		DRIVER		MAKE
1	-	16	-	Greg Biffle	-	Ford
2	-	22	-	A.J. Allmendinger	-	Dodge
3	-	39	-	Ryan Newman	-	Chevrolet
4	-	24	-	Jeff Gordon	-	Chevrolet
5	-	2	-	Brad Keselowski	-	Dodge
6	-	78	-	Regan Smith	-	Chevrolet
7	-	43	-	Aric Almirola	-	Ford
8	-	99	-	Carl Edwards	-	Ford
9	-	20	-	Joey Logano	-	Toyota
10	-	5	-	Kasey Kahne	-	Chevrolet
11	-	27	-	Paul Menard	-	Chevrolet
12	-	9	-	Marcos Ambrose	-	Ford
13	-	18	-	Kyle Busch	-	Toyota
14	-	29	-	Kevin Harvick	-	Chevrolet
15	-	56	-	Martin Truex Jr.	-	Toyota
16	-	15	-	Clint Bowyer	-	Toyota
17	-	1	-	Jamie McMurray	-	Chevrolet
18	-	88	-	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	-	Chevrolet
19	-	10	-	David Reutimann	-	Chevrolet
20	-	11	-	Denny Hamlin	-	Toyota
21	-	17	-	Matt Kenseth	-	Ford
22	-	48	-	Jimmie Johnson	-	Chevrolet
23	-	14	-	Tony Stewart	-	Chevrolet
24	-	13	-	Casey Mears	-	Ford
25	-	55	-	Brian Vickers	-	Toyota
26	-	38	-	David Gilliland	-	Ford
27	-	51	-	Kurt Busch	-	Chevrolet
28	-	30	-	David Stremme	-	Toyota
29	-	83	-	Landon Cassill	-	Toyota
30	-	42	-	Juan Montoya	-	Chevrolet
31	-	34	-	David Ragan	-	Ford
32	-	33	-	Brendan Gaughan	-	Chevrolet
33	-	31	-	Jeff Burton	-	Chevrolet
34	-	93	-	Travis Kvapil	-	Toyota
35	-	36	-	Dave Blaney	-	Chevrolet
36	-	47	-	Bobby Labonte	-	Toyota
37	-	26	-	Josh Wise*	-	Ford
38	-	74	-	Reed Sorenson	-	Chevrolet
39	-	98	-	Michael McDowell	-	Ford
40	-	249	-	J.J. Yeley	-	Toyota
41	-	87	-	Joe Nemechek	-	Toyota
42	-	32	-	Ken Schrader+	-	Ford
43	-	23	-	Scott Riggs	-	Chevrolet