Sharpie 500 - Bristol Motor Speedway Race Report
Richard Petty Motorsports results:
- 19th - Reed Sorenson - Valvoline Dodge - now 28th in points
- 26th - Elliott Sadler - Stanley Dodge - now 26th in points.
- 28th - Kasey Kahne - Budweiser Dodge - now 11th in points
- 37th - AJ Allmendinger - Hunt Brothers Dodge - now 25th in points
Notes:
- The Sprint Cup Series will take its final weekend off before returning to action Sunday night Sept. 6 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
- Kyle Busch held off Mark Martin in the final four laps to win at Bristol, his first victory since May and fourth of the season. He moved to 13th, 34 points behind the cutoff.
- Marcos Ambrose, Greg Biffle and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-five.
- The race saw 12 lead changes among five drivers and lasted three hours, eight minutes and 31 seconds.
- There were 11 cautions for 76 laps.
NOTES AND QUOTES
KASEY KAHNE - No. 9 BUDWEISER DODGE CHARGER
- Kahne qualified 29th and finished th.
- Kahne had to make an extra pit stop to clear debris off the grill.
- Restarted 27th on lap 151.
- Kahne sits 11th in the championship point standings.
KAHNE: "Not much that I can say other than what a frustrating night for the Budweiser Dodge. We started toward the back and we were never able to get up front. We just missed it tonight."
AJ ALLMENDINGER - No. 44 HUNT BROTHERS PIZZA DODGE CHARGER
- Allmendinger started 19th and finished 37th.
- Allmendinger began the race strong climbing into the top ten in just 30 laps.
- Ran in 12th on lap 135 when he reported a flat tire. While pitting, reported he had no brakes.
- Team made repairs to front brakes in the garage losing about 50 laps.
- Returned to the track to gain three spots.
ALLMENDINGER: "Man that was disappointing. We ran to the front pretty strong and I was just taking my time. We were in no hurry and then we have those brake problems. That really hurt. I thought we were going to have a great finish. Our lap times were pretty good even after we returned to the track."
ELLIOTT SADLER - No. 19 STANLEY DODGE CHARGER
- Sadler started 42nd and finished 26th.
- After claiming an engine issue early, removed ignition box chip to improve performance.
- Went down a lap to the leaders at the 133 but received lucky dog on lap 135.
- Went down a lap for the second time on lap 206.
- On lap 255 suffered front end damage that altered the car's handling.
- Stanley would have donated a $1 million for a Sadler victory.
SADLER: "We had a long way to go when we started this race. We climbed to about 25th and things were looking pretty good. We even got the lucky dog. But we hurt the front end of our car trying to avoid somebody else's mess and really hurt our chances for a good finish tonight."
REED SORENSON - No. 43 VALVOLINE DODGE CHARGER
- Sorenson qualified 10th and finished 19th
- Lost spots in the pits when another car made contact with his tire carrier. No injuries.
- Lost a lap near the midpoint of the race as he ran about 23rd.
- Sorenson was the second highest finishing Dodge
SORENSON:"That was a decent run for us tonight. We had a problem in the pits early in the race that cost us a lot of spots. But Sammy Johns and the guys on the 43 worked hard all night. We lost a lap but nobody gave up and we got it back. There's a lot of build on from this race."
RACE RESULTS
FINISH-DRIVER
1-Kyle Busch
2-Mark Martin
3-Marcos Ambrose
4-Greg Biffle
5-Denny Hamlin
6-Ryan Newman
7-Kurt Busch
8-Jimmie Johnson
9-Dale Earnhardt Jr.
10-Matt Kenseth
11-Jamie McMurray
12-Brian Vickers
13-Casey Mears
14-David Ragan
15-Scott Speed *
16-Carl Edwards
17-David Reutimann
18-Jeff Burton
19-Reed Sorenson
20-David Stremme
21-Clint Bowyer
22-Martin Truex Jr.
23-Jeff Gordon
24-Paul Menard
25-Juan Montoya
26-Elliott Sadler
27-Regan Smith
28-Kasey Kahne
29-Scott Wimmer
30-John Andretti
31-Michael Waltrip
32-Robby Gordon
33-Tony Stewart
34-Joey Logano *
35-Sam Hornish Jr.
36-Bobby Labonte
37-A.J. Allmendinger
38-Kevin Harvick
39-David Gilliland
40-Terry Labonte
41-Joe Nemechek
42-Tony Raines
43-Dave Blaney
