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FOLLOW THE FRONTSTRETCH THIS WEEKEND IN BRISTOL FROM OUR COLLEAGUES:
by The Frontstretch Staff
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Records and facts
Last year, Jeff Gordon snatched the lead away from Joey Logano on the final restart with 17 laps to go and pulled away to his third victory of 2014. Kevin Harvick was second, followed by Logano. Paul Menard and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. rounded out the top-5 finishers.
All-time, Darrell Waltrip has the most victories at Michigan with 12, including seven in a row. The most recent of those wins was the Bud 500 in 1992, the first Cup race at Bristol after the track was concreted. Cale Yarborough is second with ten wins at Bristol, including the 1973 Southeastern 500, a race where Yarborough won from the pole with a two-lap margin of victory and led every lap. Dale Earnhardt had nine victories at Bristol but only two after the track was concreted.
Among active drivers, three have five career victories each at Bristol. Both Kurt and Kyle Busch have accomplished the feat (Kyle has 16 career wins at Bristol in NASCAR's National Series, including one three-race weekend sweep) while Jeff Gordon has also done it. Matt Kenseth has four Bristol wins while Carl Edwards has three.
Track Facts
Track / Race Length: 0.544-mile concrete oval, 500 laps (266.5 miles)
Banking: 24-30 degrees in turns
Frontstretch: 650 ft., banked 4-9 degrees
Backstretch: 650 ft., banked 4-9 degrees
Grandstand Seating: 153,000
Pit Road Speed: 30 mph
Pace Car Speed: 35 mph
Opened: 1961
Website: http://www.bristolmotorspeedway.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bristolmotorspeedway
Twitter: http://twitter.com/BMSUpdates
Pre-Race Schedule:
Practice 1: Friday, August 21, 11:30 a.m. - 12:55 p.m. ET on NBCSN
Happy Hour: Friday, August 21, 1:30 p.m. - 2:25 p.m. ET on NBCSN
Qualifying: Friday, August 21 at 5:45 p.m. ET on NBCSN
Say What?!
"It's a hard race to win. It only takes one minor incident to screw up your day. You would think being a short track race that if you have a great car you can get there, but normally one small mistake will take that opportunity away from you. Seems like you have better odds of something happening that keeps from you winning than you do of actually winning. Bristol is one of those places where you've got to have everything kind of go your way. If you have one hiccup, it's hard to recover from it. We've only won one race there and we've kind of been all over the board. It's been feast or famine for us. It's like if you have one problem in the first half of the race, it's hard to recover from it. It makes for a very long day. We've had more long days than good days." - Tony Stewart
"Bristol is one of those tracks that I get a little extra pumped up for. For me, I think that feeling gets a little stronger when you're talking about the night race at Bristol. There's just something special about that race. I knew it before I ever made it to the big-league level of the Sprint Cup Series but, the first time I was able to experience the night race as a competitor, it's almost indescribable. It's a place that gives you a big adrenaline rush. You can literally feel the energy around the track from the competitors and the fans who are just excited for 500 laps of racing at Bristol. There's really nothing quite like it." - Kurt Busch
"The Bristol Night Race is probably my favorite race of the year. It's different when you race under the lights. I think the energy level is up a little bit and it's more exciting. It's a tough racetrack, though. It's physically demanding and you have to be on it for 500 laps. We were fairly happy with our car in the spring, so we will build on that when we go back with our CashCash Ford and see what we've got when they turn the lights on." - David Gilliland
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Date: Sunday, August 23, 2015
Track: Pocono Raceway, 2.5-mile triangular oval in Long Pond, PA
Race distance: 200 laps / 500 miles
Firestone tire allotment: Fourteen sets for use through the weekend
On Social Media: @PoconoRaceway, @IndyCar, #ABCSupply500, #IndyCar
2014 race winner: Juan Pablo Montoya
2014 Verizon P1 Award winner: Juan Pablo Montoya, 1 minute, 20.4034 seconds, 223.871 mph (two laps)
One-lap qualifying record: Juan Pablo Montoya, 40.1929 seconds, 223.920 mph, July 5, 2014
On Television: Qualifying, 2:00 p.m. ET Saturday, August 22 (live NBCSN); Race, 2:00 p.m. ET Sunday, August 23 (live NBCSN).
Video streaming: All practice sessions for the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series season are available live on RaceControl.IndyCar.com.
Race notes:
* There have been nine different winners in 14 Verizon IndyCar Series races in 2015.
* The ABC Supply 500 will be the last of six oval races on the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series schedule.
* The ABC Supply 500 will be the 22nd Verizon IndyCar Series event at Pocono Raceway. Montoya won the race in 2014 from the pole.
* Team Penske has won eight times at Pocono. Penske's winning drivers are: Mark Donohue (1971), Tom Sneva (1977), Bobby Unser (1980), Rick Mears (1982, 1985, and 1987), Danny Sullivan (1989) and Montoya (2014).
* AJ Foyt Racing has competed in every event at Pocono from 1971-89 and in 2013-14. Team owner A.J. Foyt is the winningest driver at the track, pocketing four victories (1973, 1975, 1979 and 1981).
Who Ya Got:
Huston Ladner is going with "the obvious choice" and taking Juan Pablo Montoya. Toni Montgomery agrees. Aaron Bearden is also going with JPM to take the victory and put a damper on the Rahal championship hype. Matt Weaver also says Juan Montoya wins, but thinks Graham Rahal gets second, keeping the championship battle close. Matt Stallknecht is not going to follow the crowd. He's going with momentum and picking Graham Rahal.
Quotable:
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA (No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): "It's unfortunate that we have given back some points over the last few races. It is what it is but we know that we can go to Pocono and win the race. It's going to be very special to go back there as the defending winner and to the place where we were able to validate Roger's (Penske) belief that I could come back over to the Verizon IndyCar Series and win after being away for so long."
GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda): "We're in a good place and we've got momentum on our side for sure with four top 5s in a row. It's been a record-breaking season for me, so at this point I'm just going to go out there and try to have fun and do the best we can and hopefully everything will take care of itself."
Toni Montgomery is a Open Wheel and NHRA Editor at Frontstretch. She can be reached via e-mail at toni.montgomery@frontstretch.com.
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Q: Terry Labonte was always in contention at Bristol in the 1990s once he made the move to Hendrick Motorsports. The 1994 Goody's 500 was no exception in that Labonte qualified well and ran up front. However, this race ended early for the veteran. What happened?
Thursday's Answer:
Q: The 1999 Goody's Headache Powders 500 at Bristol is best known for Dale Earnhardt "rattling Terry Labonte's cage" all over turn 2 on the last lap. However, Labonte was actually leading with 15 laps to go. How did he end up behind Earnhardt in the first place?
A: With 11 laps to go, Jeremy Mayfield spun and hit the inside wall on the backstretch to bring out the caution. While they were racing back to the line, Darrell Waltrip was trying to get a lap back and tapped Labonte, spinning out the No. 5. Earnhardt slipped by and took the lead, taking advantage of the contact. The incident can be seen here.
Labonte's car was undamaged but his tires were flat-spotted. He stopped for four tires, charged through the rest of the lead lap on the restart, and the rest is history.
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