Saturday, August 22, 2015

No surprise here...JGR rules again at Bristol

The race may not be happening for a few more hours (about nine at the time of this posting), but it's Bristol, baby. Not just any other race, but the Irwin Tools Night Race held qualifying late Friday afternoon.
And in a repeat of last week -- with a slight tweak on the names -- Joe Gibbs Racing drivers will occupy the top three spots at the "World's Fastest Half-Mile."
Denny Hamlin won the pole for Bristol with a lightning-quick run of 131.407 mph, just in front of teammate Kyle Busch, who ran his No. 18 Skittles Toyota around Bristol at 131.263 mph. Carl Edwards will go off third after posting a qualifying speed of 130.655 mph.
Matt Kenseth, last week's winner from the pole at Michigan, qualified a little further back in 13th.
The top three in qualifying from a week ago were Kenseth, Hamlin and Edwards, with Busch finishing sixth.
Got the idea? Better do it now because the Gibbs cars are on a major roll and will be in the title conversation throughout the Chase.
As for those who were in the big news of the week, soon-to-be free agents David Ragan qualified fourth and Clint Bowyer qualified ninth. With the dissolution of Michael Waltrip Racing effective at season's end, the duo is basically in full-on audition mode.
While the racing will probably be the complete opposite of the snoozefest that happened at Michigan, the same fact of life applies for Bristol. If you start near the front, chances are good you'll end up there, too.
Among the last 10 races, the only disturbance in the winning force happened when Kyle Busch came from 19th in the spring race of 2010. Since then, no race winner has started from worse than 12th.
And since my local paper didn't publish it (again), here is your lineup for tonight's Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol. Enjoy.

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