NASCAR battled the rain and the Sprint Cup drivers battled each other at Bristol Motor Speedway in the Food City 500 as Matt Kenseth survived it all to win his first race of the 2015 season.
The Food City 500 in Support of Steve Byrnes and Stand Up To Cancer was delayed by rain in the area to start off with yesterday (4/19). The race would be red flagged twice because of rain once it got started. The total delay for rain would add up to nine hours of waiting to find out who would win at Bristol.
The race had barely began when Brad Keselowski spun on the track resulting in his teammate Joey Logano slamming into him on lap 20 of the race. The Food City 500 saw the first caution and red flag as a result of that accident.
When the race was restarted in the evening there would be 10 more caution periods before the checkered flag would fly. The late race caution periods would add 11 laps to the scheduled 500 making this the longest race in Bristol Motor Speedway history.
Many of the cars considered to be favorites for a chance to win the race found problems of several kinds that stole their chances at racing for the win. Some had loose wheels that put them down multiple laps when they had to make unscheduled pit stops while the field raced around the 0.533 mile track. Several of the drivers would be caught up in accidents on the track (like Brad and Joey) that would require extra repair time and take them out of the chance to win.
That ultimately would be the situation for Kevin Harvick as he was doing what he has done several times this season already, showing that he would be the car to beat if another driver wanted to capture the win. Kevin led a race high 184 laps at Bristol Sunday. The next closest in laps led was Kurt Busch with 98 laps in the lead.
Kevin was racing his way back to the front of the field on lap 312 following a round of pit stops when another car spun ahead of him. Kevin had no time to avoid slamming into the spun car and sustained major damage to his car ending his chances of winning the race.
Kurt Busch was also a casualty of racing at Bristol when he was collected by an accident in front of him that he could not avoid.
Matt Kenseth on the other hand was able to keep his #20 Toyota clean through the race and find his way to the front near the end. Matt held the lead through the last two caution periods of the race including the restart for the green-white-checkered overtime period of the race. The win was Matt’s fourth at Bristol and will definitely keep his highest driver rating at the track intact. It also is his first win in 51 races.
Jimmie Johnson overcame being in a wreck and getting into the wall to finish in second place. Jeff Gordon was able to battle back from going two laps down due to a loose wheel to capture third place. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Newman rounded out the top five respectively. See the complete results of the Food City 500 in Support of Steve Byrnes here.
Despite his bad luck at Bristol, Kevin Harvick remains the Sprint Cup point leader. Joey Logano (2nd) and Martin Truex Jr. (3rd) held steady as well. Jimmie Johnson moved up two spots in the point standings to fourth while Brad Keselowski slipped back a spot to fifth. See the complete NASCAR Sprint Cup point standings here.
Matt Kenseth adds his name to the “all but guaranteed a spot” for the Chase Grid by capturing the win at Bristol. See how the 2015 Chase Grid looks following the Food City 500 here.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup will again be short trackin’ as they head to Richmond International Raceway Saturday night, April 25th for the Toyota Owners 400.
By: Buck Stevens
