Twisted metal, hard feels customary aftermath of Bristol race
By Don Coble
Savannah Morning News,April 4

There were large piles of scrap metal at the Bristol Motor Speedway Sunday, leftovers from the Food City 500.

The hard feelings, however, weren't left behind.

(AP) (AP)

The short-track race had its typical share of big crashes and hot tempers - something that could carry over to next week's short-track race at the Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

Bobby Hamilton Jr. and Jimmie Johnson were blamed for causing two big crashes that involved six of the top 10 drivers in the Nextel Cup Series point standings.

Hamilton Jr. bumped Ken Schrader coming off the second turn on the 332nd lap, turning Schrader into the outside wall and in front of a huge pack of traffic. By the time all the crashing stopped, cars driven by Mike Wallace, Sterling Marlin, Mark Martin, Ricky Rudd, Dave Blaney, Rusty Wallace, Bobby Labonte, Kurt Busch, Jamie McMurray, Jeff Gordon, Michael Waltrip and Kasey Kahne were involved.

"I was trying to get a run to the outside and the right-front fender of mine caught him (Schrader) just enough to turn him," Hamilton Jr. said. "Trying to race hard, trying to get your lap back; leave it up to me to do something stupid and turn a bunch of cars around. I just screwed up. I'll put my tail between my leg right now and head back to Nashville."

It's the tires, stupid
By Mike Connolly
Bristol Herald Courier,April 4

The drivers in the Roush Racing stable haven't made too many mistakes this year. Sunday, Greg Biffle showed the first signs of Roush's mortality. With one of the strongest cars on the track and leading with 87 laps to go, Biffle and his team blew it.

They forgot one of the simple rules of NASCAR: It's the tires, stupid.

(AP)

When the caution flag came out on lap 414, every driver on the lead lap went in for fresh tires. Biffle stayed out and it cost him. Even though he had one of the best cars on the track, he was a sitting duck for the cars on fresh tires behind him. By the end of the race, he was all the way back in ninth.

"We made the decision to stay out. It was stupid. We should have pitted," Biffle said.

Biffle and his crew knew they blew it as soon as every car on their tale darted onto pit row. With great frustration, he questioned his crew over the radio as his followed the pace car around on worn tires while every other contender on fresh tires licked their chops behind him.

"Those old tires were just killing him," said Elliott Sadler, who finished second. "That's a shame for Greg as good as his car was."

When competitors start feeling bad for Roush cars, you know Biffle made a pretty dumb mistake. Tony Stewart, who finished third, considered staying out on old tires with Biffle, but when he saw all the other lead cars head for the pits, he played follow the leader. Biffle, however, didn't have that luxury.

"That's the toughest position to be in," Stewart said. "You don't know if you should give up position or get fresh tires.

"It all comes down to being the first guy to react."

When Biffle balked, Kevin Harvick pounced. Other than Biffle, Harvick clearly had the best car on the lead laps. Without fresh tires, Biffle didn't have a chance.

"I was excited. I told him on the radio that he was a sitting duck," Harvick said. "I knew when he stayed on the race track that he wasn't going to be one of the cars we had to worry about because tires meant so much."

Just 10 green flag laps after Biffle's mistake, Harvick took the lead for good. If Biffle and Harvick each had fresh tires for the last 50 laps, it might have been a great finish. Instead, the race turned into a redeeming rout for Harvick and car owner Richard Childress. With the way Biffle's team blew the final pit decision, you would have thought that it was Biffle whose crew chief was suspended, not Harvick's.

A few years ago, Biffle's decision to stay on the track wouldn't have been so disastrous. With Goodyear producing a softer tire for Bristol races the past two years, teams can't take a chance with old tires anymore. Sadler won the 2001 Food City 500 by staying on the track with old tires, but drivers have to be really lucky to get away with that strategy now.

Biffle's teammate, Kurt Busch, caught some of that luck last year. He won the 2004 Food City 500 on old tires, but he also had lost so much horsepower that his tires weren't wearing down. This year, Biffle had a strong car that was tearing up the rubber. He shouldn't have taken the same risk as Busch. Winning at Bristol takes patience, skill and a little bit of luck. But sometimes the races come down to the simplest things: It's the tires, stupid.

Dale Jr. gets a much needed top five finish
By Greg Engle
Cup Scene Daily,April 4

Dale Earnhardt Jr. needed a good run in the Food City 500 on Sunday and he got it. The fourth place finish will go a long way towards helping the DEI team get off the bench and back into the game.

An exhausted Earnhardt could barely talk after crawling out of his No. 8 Chevrolet.

(AP)

"Man, that was some hard driving," Earnhardt said. "There at the end I felt like I was arm-wrestling Sylvester Stallone.

Later he said:

"I had a great car, a top-five car all day. But being faster and passing those guys are two different things.

"We took advantage of everybody else's mistakes, had a pretty clean run, and stayed up in the top 10 all day.

"It was pretty exciting. There at the end, the car was really sliding a lot, really loose. But other than that, we had a good car through the middle, and I was happy with the way we got through the day.

"These long greens are good, because I typically do OK on the long runs, but damn boys, they are long. It's really hard to keep your concentration. It's basically seeing the same thing in every corner. I get to overdriving it and I keep forgetting to lift at the flag stand. That's where you're supposed to lift, but you can't do it when you're around people because they'll just drive right under you.

"This place is a hard, hard racetrack compared to the way it drives at night.

Bristol observations
By Bob Margolis
April 4

Thoughts, observations and random comments from the Food City 500 weekend:

It's true what they say about Bristol – it's the track that separates the men from the boys. It wasn't a coincidence that the early incidents during the race involved younger drivers like Kyle Busch, Casey Mears, Jason Leffler and Carl Edwards, and that Bobby Hamilton Jr. caused the race's biggest wreck.

(AP)

Kevin Harvick broke the Roush/Hendrick grip on victory lane this season while also ending a 54-race win drought for RCR. This was also the first Childress win at Bristol since Dale Earnhardt won there in August 1999. Harvick's hadn't won since the Brickyard 400 in 2003.

Robby Gordon still is having troubles. He either doesn't qualify or he has engine failure. Although Gordon has expressed support for John Menard's engine shop, rumor has it he has already talked with Hendrick Motorsports about using their engines for the time being.

Kudos to Hamilton – who isn't known for his humble attitude – for his candor after causing the big wreck that involved 14 cars. "I'm sure I'm a pretty good S.O.B. right now with everybody," Hamilton said. "I just screwed up and I'm going to tuck my tail between my legs and head back to Nashville.''

Speaking of wrecks, the head-on crash between Jeff Burton and Kurt Busch was very, very scary. Both drivers walked away, although Busch seemed a bit unsteady at first. They were, of course, wearing HANS devices.