This post begins with a bit of a disclaimer. With nearly two decades of journalism work, I've learned that the only cheering worth doing is cheering for a good story.
The Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday gave me plenty of reasons to cheer. I can say without shame that the duel between Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick over the closing laps had me screaming out loud with every pass attempt by the 4 car.
When the last attempt for the lead didn't stick, Logano got the separation he needed and held off Harvick to win the Bristol night race for the second year in a row.
And I'm still catching my breath more than an hour after the race ended.
The best story of the night came with (gasp) a Joe Gibbs Racing driver getting nowhere near Victory Lane. After his win at Michigan, Matt Kenseth lost an engine at lap 110 and finished 42nd.
Even with the disappointment, Kenseth delivered one of the funniest quotes of the night, if not the season on if there was any warning about the engine in his No. 20 Toyota:
“They never warn you. It would be cool if they would send you a text or something."
Ahh, NASCAR drivers can deliver the comedy when it's required, and that is good.
Kyle Busch led 192 laps, but didn't win. He rallied from a loose wheel, fell two laps down, got both back, including one earned the old-fashioned way with a pass of the leader. In the end, a pit-road speeding penalty at lap 432 was Busch's final downfall.
He still finished eighth and has a 46-point cushion over 31st-place Cole Whitt. I'll say it right now -- with two races left until the Chase, Kyle Busch can begin planning his championship push.
Whether he does anything with it is still to be determined.
Carl Edwards led 74 laps, but could only manage a 7th-place finish.
And pole-sitter Denny Hamlin was out front for 54 laps on the way to coming in third.
Among the other random thoughts from the "World's Fastest Half-Mile:"
-With the distractions of the impending shutdown of Michael Waltrip Racing, Clint Bowyer had a tremendous run. The No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota challenged for the lead on several occasions, but finished fifth and improved his chances at getting in the Chase.
Bowyer is still the last driver on the bubble, but his cushion on Aric Almirola improved to 35 points, a gain of 12 that will be key down the stretch.
There's not much room to wiggle, but staying as close to mistake-free as possible at Darlington and Richmond will be a big key to close the deal.
-Jeff Gordon got near the front for a while over the final half of his final Bristol race, but finished four laps down in 20th.
At this point, he's comfortably in the Chase, but a zero in the win column can't be an option.
-Will we have a Ryan Newman sequel? In his 500th career start, Newman finished 10th and is second among the five non-winners who would be in the Chase.
Heck, Paul Menard is an even more engaging possibility. Menard was 24th at Bristol and still hasn't been anywhere near the top 10 since finishing eighth at the Michigan race in June.
Menard's average finish since Michigan 1 is 15.8, yet he's only nine points behind his Richard Childress Racing teammate AND two ahead of Gordon.
Go figure.
-Thank goodness we have a week off. Time to process everything for the stretch drive, but we'll enjoy the Truck and Nationwide Series races in the meantime.
Speaking of the trucks, if you're not a Ryan Blaney fan, here's one huge reason why you should be.
When the Xfinity Series raced at Indianapolis, Blaney was two corners away from a win, but got passed by Kyle Busch and finished second.
The following week at Iowa would have made Taylor Swift smile. Blaney shook off that disappointment with a dominating effort at the U.S. Cellular 250, leading 252 laps (two more than the actual distance due to a green-white-checker finish) and picking up the win.
On the truck side, Blaney got bit by the Busch nightmare, finishing second -- again -- by .157 seconds.
And in another Groundhog Day moment, Blaney turned that misfortune around and found a way to win the UNOH 200 at Bristol on Wednesday despite -- get this -- falling back as far as 21st by lap 50 and not even sniffing the top 10 in the running order consistently until there were 50 laps to go.
Somehow, even after a 46-minute red flag for rain that came with 34 laps left, Blaney evened the score again and beat Busch. His final margin was .512 seconds.
Now you know why cheering for good storylines can work.
Followers and comments are welcome on Twitter @Tomzsports.
NEXT WEEK'S RACES
-XFINITY SERIES: Road America 180 Fired Up By Johnsonville, Road America (4.04-mile road course), Elkhart Lake, Wis., Saturday, 3 p.m. ET/Noon PT, NBC Sports Network. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local MRN Radio affiliate.
Race distance: 182.16 miles, 45 laps.
2014 champion: Brendan Gaughan
-CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES: Chevy Silverado 250, Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (2.5-mile road course), Bowmanville, Ontario, Sunday, 1:30 p.m. ET/10:30 a.m. PT, Fox Sports 1. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local MRN Radio affiliate.
Race distance: 250 kilometers (157.4 miles), 64 laps.
2014 champion: Ryan Blaney.
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