From the Crossville Chronicle- Crossville, TN. August 28, 2007
By Joe Dunn / joe@onpitroad.com
(BRISTOL, TN.) – Finishing out the hottest week of racing on record at Bristol Motor Speedway, Carl Edwards took the Checkered Flag and did his popular Back Flip on the start / finish line Saturday Night.
Kasey Kahn started on the pole for the Sharpie 500 and proved to be the car to beat leading 305 of the first 371 laps. Kahn remained in the top 15 in all but 2 laps and those were during green flag pit stops. Edwards had run up front throughout the entire race dropping back only once during pit stops. He managed to lead 54 laps in the early racing until he took the lead for good on lap 371 and stayed out front for the win. Edwards and Kahne were the class of the race all night, finishing 1-2. A surprising Clint Boyer finished third after an amazing second half charge through the field. Tony Stewart crossed the line fourth continuing on his late season success, while Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounded out the top five, finished ahead of Kurt Busch who was sixth. Junior gained 5 points on Busch for the last Chase spot, but with two races remaining, he is still 159 points out of the Chase.
This was the first racing week for Nascar’s top series on the newly redone high banks of Bristol. Since the March race, the entire track surface was removed and redone. The new surface provided a 15’ wider surface with steeper banking on the top of the track, but a more gradual banking near the bottom. The transition from the turns to the straightaway’s was also smoothed out, eliminating what was a huge dip coming off turn 2 that traditionally forced the cars to bottom out every lap. There were far fewer cautions and wrecks than most folks have been used to at Bristol, but the new 3 and 4 wide racing sure was a sight to see.
In Friday night’s Nascar Busch Series race it was a battle between Jason Leffler, Ryan Newman in the early going, however a late racing 3 wide passing situation with Kahne going high and Leffler low as both attempted to pass Newman. They got together and Newman lost a right front tire putting him in the wall. Kahne went on to win with Leffler second, Reutimann third, Kyle Busch fourth, and Scott Wimmer fifth. Newman wound up four laps down in 28th.
Another Nascar controversy developed Friday night as Kyle Busch who was second at the time was penalized for a pit road violation, sending him to the rear of the field. A review of the call later showed that Nascar had erred and Busch should not have been penalized. Many observers feel that the call cost Busch the win. Kyle was summoned to the Nascar hauler after the race but nothing was announced regarding that meeting.
Results for the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway:
1. Carl Edwards, 2. Kasey Kahne, 3. Clint Bowyer, 4. Tony Stewart, 5. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 6. Kurt Busch, 7. Ryan Newman, 8. Bobby Labonte, 9. Kyle Busch, 10. Greg Biffle, 11. Martin Truex Jr, 12. Jeff Burton, 13. JJ Yeley, 14. David Stremme, 15. Reed Sorenson, 16. Kevin Harvick, 17. Juan Montoya, 18. Scott Riggs, 19. Jeff Gordon, 20. Robby Gordon, 21. Jimmie Johnson, 22. Casey Mears, 23. Michael Waltrip, 24. Paul Menard, 25. Bill Elliott, 26. Jamie McMurray, 27. Jeff Green, 28. Tony Raines, 29. Elliott Sadler, 30. David Gilliland, 31. Dave Blaney, 32. Kenny Wallace, 33. Ward Burton, 34. Dale Jarrett, 35. AJ Allmendinger, 36. Aric Almirola, 37. Jeremy Mayfield, 38. Ricky Rudd, 39. Matt Kenseth, 40. John Andretti, 41. David Ragan, 42. Johnny Sauter, 43. Denny Hamlin
