Sunday, March 16 Bristol Motor Speedway Bristol, Tennessee

Jeff Burton celebrates his 20th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win.

Burton Wins At Bristol
By Reid Spencer, Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

BRISTOL, TN (March 16, 2008) - It may not be your daddy’s Bristol, but four new tires still trump four old ones.

The green-white-checkered restart on lap 505 saw Jeff Burton take the lead, then RCR teammates Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer pass Denny Hamlin (FedEx car) - giving RCR its first-ever 1-2-3 finish...

Jeff Burton proved that in Sunday’s Food City 500 Sprint Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway, as he took the lead from Denny Hamlin after a restart on a green-white-checkered finish that took the race six laps beyond its posted distance of 500 laps.

Burton crossed the finish line .588 seconds ahead of Kevin Harvick. Clint Bowyer was third, followed by Greg Biffle and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

When Hamlin’s fuel pickup burped in Turn 4 of the next-to-last lap, it set up a 1-2-3 finish for Richard Childress Racing (RCR) teammates Burton, Harvick and Bowyer on the .533-mile concrete short track that was resurfaced before the August race last year.

The Childress drivers also benefited when Harvick took out the race’s dominant car, Tony Stewart’s No. 20 Toyota, on Lap 498 to set up the two-lap run to the finish. After a restart on Lap 496, Hamlin passed Stewart for the lead. A lap later, in Turn 1, Harvick nosed inside Stewart, slid up into the No. 20 and sent Stewart spinning into the Turn 2 wall.

Stewart had led 267 laps to that point but had to settle for a 14th-place finish. It was the third straight spring race at Bristol where Stewart led the most laps, yet failed to win.


After leading most of the race Tony Stewart spun after Kevin Harvick got into him on lap 498 of the scheduled 500...

“I thought I left him plenty of room,” a crestfallen Stewart said. “I was far enough ahead of him that I didn’t see where he hit me or when he hit me. But I’m sure, somehow, it’s my fault.”

Harvick said the mistake was his. “I just freakin’ lost it,” Harvick said on his radio after the accident.

“I got up on the inside and I just lost it,” he added later. “I was trying to win the race. I made a mistake, and they can take it for what it’s worth and go on.”

The wreck set the table for Burton, who took over second place behind Hamlin after the contact between Stewart and Harvick. Burton had the distinct advantage of four new tires, as Hamlin, Stewart and Earnhardt had stayed on the track while other contenders came to the pits on Lap 491, under caution for Brian Vickers’ brush with the Turn 2 wall on Lap 489.

After taking the green flag on the final restart, Burton rocketed past Hamlin, who slowed dramatically in Turn 4.

“I don’t know what happened,” said Burton, who claimed the 20th Cup victory of his career and his first at Bristol. “He stopped, and we nearly ran into him.

“We had some breaks, and we put ourselves in position to take advantage of those breaks, and that’s what we did today.”

Biffle remained second in the Cup standings but closed his deficit to leader Kyle Busch to 30 points, with Harvick and Burton 33 and 37 back, respectively. Busch, who started 22nd, was leading on Lap 291 when a sudden power steering failure sent him spinning off Turn 2 into the inside wall on the backstretch.

Busch finished 17th, two laps down.

To Burton the victory was a kind of cosmic payback for finishing second last year, when he raced Busch to the wire like a gentleman in the first event featuring NASCAR’s new racecar, resisting the urge to use his bumper to win the race.

“That’s who I am, and I’m not going to change who I am,” Burton said. “I could have had a trophy in my case last year by knocking Kyle Busch out of the way, but I chose not to do that. And (crew chief) Scott (Miller) and Richard (Childress) had to live with that choice.”

Notes: The combination of the new surface and NASCAR’s new racecar produced a record -- 42 cars were running at the end of the race, eclipsing the previous mark at Bristol of 40 in 1999. ... Harvick posted his fourth straight top 10 in the series and his 10th in 15 starts at Bristol. ... The sweep of the top three positions was a first for Richard Childress Racing. ... Defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson ran consistently in the top 10 until his right front tire began to go flat on Lap 475. He pitted six laps later and finished 18th, two laps down. ... Burton’s victory was the first of the year for Chevrolet. ... Dale Jarrett finished 37th, 10 laps down, in his final Sprint Cup points race.

Complete Race Results click here

Post-Race Driver Point Standings click here


Former Cup champion Dale Jarrett made his final points race start on the series at Bristol...


Dale's father Ned Jarrett - a two-time Cup champion - waved the green flag to start his son's final points race...


Jimmie Johnson stays dry Friday at Bristol while rain washed out qualifying putting Johnson on the pole by virtue of his 2007 championship. The rest of the starting grid for Sunday's Food City 500 was set by the top 35 in the 07 owner standings - the last time this year that 07 points will matter. More pix at the end of this page...

Complete Food City 500 starting lineup click here set by 07 points

Friday Practice Speed Chart click here Reutimann fastest

Saturday Final Practice Speed Chart click here Kahne quickest

Revised Saturday Schedule
Local track time shown/ET ~ subject to change without notice

8:30-10:00 AM NNS FINAL PRACTICE (90 MINUTES, TIME PERMITTING)
9:40 AM NNS QUALIFYING (TWO LAPS, ALL POSITIONS)
11:00-11:45 AM NSCS PRACTICE
12:20-1:20 PM NSCS FINAL PRACTICE
2:30 PM NNS RACE (300 LAPS, 159.9 MILES)

Qualifying Rained Out; Johnson, Gordon on Front Row

BRITOL, TN (March 14, 2008) - Rain has washed out qualifying time trials for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Bristol Motor Speedway. The starting lineup for Sunday's Food City 500 will be based on the top 35 in team owner point standings at the end of the 2007 season putting Jinnie Johnson and Jeff Gordon on the front row.

The Food City 500 is the fifth and final race where 2007 standings will determine lineups; starting next week the 2008 team owner point standings will take precedent.

Three teams failed to qualify because of the cancellation: Patrick Carpentier, Jeff Green and John Andretti.

Complete starting lineup for the Food City 500 click here

Broadcast Times*

Qualifying: Friday, March 14 (SPEED at 4:30 p.m./AT)

Practice: Friday, March 14 (SPEED at 9 p.m./AT)

Final Practice: Saturday, March 15 (SPEED at 2 p.m.)

RaceDay: Sunday, March 16 (SPEED at 12:30 p.m./AT)

Pre-Race Show: Sunday, March 16 (FOX & TSN at 2:30 p.m./AT)

Race: Sunday, March 16 (FOX & TSN at 3 p.m./AT)

*AT is one hour ahead of ET, i.e. if it's 2 p.m./AT - it's 1 p.m./ET...

Green Flag Fast Facts
The Race: Food City 500
The Place: Bristol Motor Speedway
The Track: .533-mile oval
The Distance: 266.5 miles/500 laps
TV: FOX, 2:30 p.m./AT, 1:30 p.m./ET
Radio: PRN, SIRIUS Satellite Radio
2007 Winner: Kyle Busch
2007 Polesitter: Jeff Gordon
Pre-Race Schedule (local track time/ET): Friday—Practice, noon-1:30 p.m.; Qualifying, 3:40 p.m. Saturday—Practice, 11-11:45 a.m.; Final Practice, 12:20—1:20 p.m.
Year-To-Date Standings click here

Track Map



Event Stats PDF files unless otherwise noted

stay tuned...

Pre-Race Pit Stops

• Kyle Busch Rides Early-Season Momentum To Bristol...DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (March 11, 2008) — As accomplishments and admirers multiply, Kyle Busch (No. 18 M&M’s Toyota) zooms from one track to the next these days, often at the front of the field. This week, he heads to Bristol Motor Speedway as the defending winner of Sunday’s Food City 500 and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ latest victory — last week at Atlanta Motor Speedway. “We've been fortunate with everything this year to run as well as we've run,” Busch said, “and to be as fast as we've been at the places we've been so far. So we can only hope that it continues to be that way. We have a long year ahead of us and look forward to going to the race track.” In his fourth season and first at Joe Gibbs Racing, Busch leads the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings by 73 points over second-place Greg Biffle (No. 16 Jackson-Hewitt Ford). Back-to-back NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series wins (at Auto Club Speedway and Atlanta) have him atop those standings, and he’s third in the NASCAR Nationwide Series standings. Last week at Atlanta, Busch became the first driver to score a NASCAR Sprint Cup and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series weekend sweep. A 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series victory will make him the first to win at least one race in all three NASCAR national series in four consecutive seasons.
• Dale Jarrett Prepares For Final Points Race...Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway marks Dale Jarrett’s (No. 44 UPS Toyota) final NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event. And as the 1999 series champion prepares for his ride into retirement, he reflects on what has been his ride — for 24 years. “There is no better place than Bristol because it's the most special motorsports venue in the world as far as I'm concerned,” Jarrett said. “I hopefully can go out on a good note on Sunday, but when I climb from the car, I'm sure it's going to be pretty emotional.” Sunday’s start will be his 44th at Bristol, his highest total at any track and 668th overall. He has one win and 19 top-10 finishes at Bristol. Also a total of 32 series wins (among them, three Daytona 500 crowns). The son of two-time series champion and respected broadcaster Ned Jarrett, Dale will follow his father into the booth later this season, serving as an analyst for ESPN/ABC. And he does have one more race — the non-points NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in May — before completely hanging up his helmet. “It's been a terrific career,” Jarrett said. “Certainly I'm very appreciative of the opportunities that I was given by a number of car owners; the opportunity that NASCAR has provided for all of us.” Michael Waltrip Racing teammate David Reutimann (No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota) will succeed him in the No. 44, while youngster Michael McDowell takes over the No. 00 for Reutimann.
• NASCAR’s New Car Celebrates First Anniversary...Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol marks the one-year competition debut of NASCAR’s new car — the now-generation race car. Kyle Busch, then with Hendrick Motorsports, won that day, by 0.064 of a second, and the new car raced 15 more times — in 16 of 36 scheduled NASCAR Sprint Cup events in 2007. In response to teams’ feedback, NASCAR announced last May that the new car would debut fulltime in 2008, a year ahead of schedule. Safety, competition and cost-containment enhancements all are crucial aspects of the car. “A year ago when we first took the new car to Bristol, there was speculation amongst some that the splitter would fall off and the wing wouldn’t hold up,” said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR’s Vice President of Competition. “We quickly saw that wasn’t the case at all. I think everyone has learned a lot in a short period of time. “People need to remember that this is just the second year of what was originally going to be a three-year rollout phase for the car, so we’ve just raced it 20 times going into this weekend. Along the way we’ve learned some things as they relate to pre-race and post-race tolerances, as we didn’t have any race data to fall back on and neither did the teams. “I want to compliment the teams on the job they’ve done in working on the new car; they’ve played a big role throughout this process. It will be fun getting back to Bristol this weekend.”
• Bristol The Last Chance To Solidify 2008 Top-35 Ranking...Following Sunday’s Food City 500, the top 35 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup owner standings are guaranteed starting positions each week based on the 2008 standings. The final owner standings of the previous season determine those spots through each season’s first five events. So for several teams, this week represents the last chance to improve or entrench positions in the 2008 owner standings prior to race No. 6 at Martinsville Speedway. The No. 96 DLP HDTV Toyota driven by J.J. Yeley is 35th this week, 18 points ahead of the No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge driven by former Indianapolis 500 champion Sam Hornish Jr. and owned by Roger Penske. Only 67 points separate positions 30-38, discomforting for reigning Indianapolis 500 champion Dario Franchitti, whose No. 40 The Hartford Dodge, owned by Felix Sabates, is 38th.
• Harvick On Quiet Tear...Although this week’s spotlight shines brightest on other NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers, don’t overlook Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet). He’s s third in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings, only 18 points out of second place and 91 points behind leader Kyle Busch. Harvick also leads the NASCAR Nationwide Series standings following last week’s second-place finish in that event at Atlanta. And, he’s a former Bristol winner, with one NASCAR Sprint Cup victory (April 2005) and four there in NASCAR Nationwide competition. He also has seven top-five and nine top-10 finishes in 14 NASCAR Sprint Cup starts at Bristol. Harvick will compete in Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series Sharpie Mini 300, driving his own Kevin Harvick Inc., equipment.
• Still A Factor...Carl Edwards (No. 99 Office Depot Ford), whose bid to win his second consecutive race this season was cut short by engine problems at Atlanta, likely will be difficult to ignore at Bristol. He won the NASCAR Nationwide Series event there last March, and the NASCAR Sprint Cup event last August. Last week’s engine troubles cost Edwards 10 positions in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings; he’s 17th heading to Bristol. The defending NASCAR Nationwide Series champion, he’s currently second in that series’ standings.

Kyle Busch readies for practice...


The pit area is crowded at the 1/2-mile Bristol Motor Speedway...


Dale Jarrett prepares for his 68th and final race at Bristol Motor Speedway; Jarrett retires from full-time Cup competition after Sunday's race...

IMPORTANT: All information, schedules and/or scheduled events is/are subject to change without notice. Please check with the source to confirm.