Rewind | Notes, observations and more on Saturday night's race

DAVID POOLE and JIM UTTER

The Charlotte Observer

Sunday, Aug. 24, 2008

Giving Saturday night's Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway another look, with some observations, notes and more:

REAR-VIEW MIRROR | DAVID POOLE

Fairness and doing unto others

Don't ask me to draw the line between what's fair and what's unfair when it comes to bumping people to pass them for the lead late in a race at a place like Bristol.

Jeff Burton is good at things like that, and the other day he said a driver makes his own rules. But he didn't mean it maybe the way it sounds. What he said was the way you drive others determines, in almost every case, the way others drive you.

That may not be the best way to draw up a code of conduct, but it pretty much is what it is.

Good for business is what that is

NASCAR and Speedway Motorsports had to sleep well Saturday night. The budding Kyle Busch-Carl Edwards rivalry got Miracle-Gro dumped all over it with their duel in the Sharpie 500, and the legend that is Bristol's August night race got another memorable chapter.

The joint was packed and stayed full until the finish despite the fact that it looked for about 450 laps that Busch was going to win going away. And the finish certainly gave everyone plenty to talk about.

Heck, it might even help Auto Club Speedway in California sell a few tickets this week.

PIT STOPS

No more superstitions for Harvick

Kevin Harvick earned his fourth consecutive top-10 finish Saturday night at Bristol and in the process ended his reliance on a superstition.

In his past three top-10 finishes, Harvick's wife, DeLana, was not present on race day and planned to continue the practice this week until Harvick asked her to remain. She watched from a suite.

"We can get rid of all those superstitions now," Kevin Harvick said. "We had a top-five run with DeLana at the race track, so we're in good shape there. I think we all know it's the cars and the team that are making us run well. But we just didn't want to take any chances."

Harvick is now eighth in points and has a 129-point cushion over 13th with two races before the Chase field is set.

Hamlin gains confidence

Denny Hamlin may not have received a big points cushion with his third-place finish, but the strong performance from start to finish certainly provided some confidence that he and his team will qualify for the Chase.

"We needed it at this point," said Hamlin, who said his team didn't deserve to make the Chase following a disappointing run last weekend at Michigan. "A lot of guys right behind me finished in the top 10 also.

"We gained a little bit on a couple of guys in front of us. But this is what we needed. All we can ask for is a top-three finish and if we do that, it's going to work itself out."

Hamlin remains 45 points ahead of 12th-place Clint Bowyer in the standings and 57 ahead of 13th-place David Ragan.

Ragan stays in the hunt

Second-year driver David Ragan's 10th-place finish kept him in the hunt for one of the 12 spots in the Chase as he moved to within 12 points of Bowyer, who currently holds 12th, the Chase cutoff position.

The finish did not come easily, as Ragan wrecked in qualifying on Friday and had to move to a backup car and start Saturday's race in last place. Also, twice during the race Ragan was forced to make extra pit stops for repairs and adjustments.

"We needed to come out of here and we didn't pick up any points, but we didn't lose any, so we'll go to California and see what happens," he said.

"We just got to watch our mistakes so they don't cost us too many spots early in the weekend."

KEY MOMENTS

Lap 1

Dale Earnhardt Jr. jumps to the outside at the start of the race, passing several cars before he gets to the starting line. That's against the rules for the start of the race, and Earnhardt Jr. serves a pass-through penalty to lose a lap he can never make up.

Lap 55

Kyle Busch makes one of the best moves you'll ever see, slicing to the inside off Turn 2 to pass Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon and the about-to-be-lapped car of Juan Pablo Montoya to go from third to first in one fell swoop. Busch would lead for 415 laps.

Lap 216

Casey Mears' spotter tells him he's clear on the frontstretch, but when Mears moves up the track Michael Waltrip is there. Mears gets clipped and turns around, starting a big wreck between turns 1 and 2 that takes out, among others, Chase contender Kasey Kahne.

Lap 462

A caution for debris on the backstretch, the second such caution in 10 laps, gives second-place Edwards another chance to pass Busch. Edwards' best hope is right after a restart because his Ford is better then - and because Busch's bumper is right there.

Lap 470

The moment of truth arrives. Going into Turn 1, Edwards gets to Busch's bumper and puts the nose of his Ford on it. It's a bump, not a punt, but it's enough to get Busch out of shape, to help Edwards take over the lead and to pump life into their budding rivalry.

NEXT RACE

Pepsi 500

Where: Auto Club Speedway, Fontana, Calif.

When: 8 p.m. Sunday.

TV: ESPN.

Radio: Motor Racing Network.

Last year's winner: Jimmie Johnson.

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