CUP: Friday Notebook-Bristol

Sprint Cup

CUP: Friday Notebook-Bristol

A round-up of the latest NASCAR news from Bristol...

Tom Jensen | Posted March 20, 2009 Bristol, TN

The Food City 500 will be the last race for Travis Kvapil as Yates Racing shuts down the No.28 Ford Fusion team. (Photo: Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR)

GAUGING THE COMPETITION As the three-time defending NASCAR Sprint Cup champion, Jimmie Johnson keeps a close eye on rival drivers trying to knock him off the top of the hill. The two guys who have impressed him the most this year so far are Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart, while he said he was surprised that last year’s two biggest winners, Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch, haven’t been faster.

“I think it is great to see Roger’s (Penske) team winning races and running up front and Kurt for that matter,” said Johnson. “When he was in the Roush car, every time the No. 97 pulled on track, you knew you were going to have your hands full. They aren’t necessarily a surprise, but I think I saw it coming, I am not sure if anyone else did but I saw it coming. I think that the Stewart-Haas organization and what Tony has been able to do, that is extremely impressive and shocking to me to be where they are at.”

As for Edwards and Kyle Busch, Johnson said, “I expected the No. 99 (Edwards) on the 1.5-mile tracks to be a little faster and probably the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) for that matter, based on what we saw on these tracks early last year. Even though he (Kyle Busch) did win at Las Vegas, I just kind of expected to see those guys up there a little bit more. And ourselves for that matter. I can’t leave myself out of it. We have led some laps, but I have made mistakes, had some bad pit stops, strategy stuff has gone on. We just need to clean up our act and put together a good race start to finish and get the finish we should.”

SHUTTING DOWN Sources at Yates Racing confirmed that Sunday’s Food City 500 will be the last race in the foreseeable future for the No. 28 Ford Fusion driven by Travis Kvapil. Last year, the team was able to piecemeal enough sponsorship together to last the entire season for the No. 28, but despite some support from Golden Corral for the first five races of 2009, it wasn’t enough to keep the car going beyond this week.

Also in imminent danger of being shuttered is the No. 8 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet Impala SS driven by Aric Almirola. That car has sponsorship for only a few more races this season and team officials have said they will not keep racing without adequate funding.

BUSTED UP Greg Biffle will turn his Roush Fenway Racing NASCAR Nationwide Series ride over to Matt Kenseth for Saturday’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Biffle banged his ribs up in a boating accident during the off week and has opted to sit out one extra day to allow himself to heal.

“I wish I had a better story, I really do,” Biffle said Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway. “Me and a couple buddies went out fishing on Tuesday night and we were just messing around in our cove right there and we came back to the dock. I jumped over to the dock and the boat was kind of drifting out a little bit. One guy had the front corner and I said, ‘I’m gonna jump back over and grab a rope and then jump back again.’ It was about 11:30, so there was a little bit of dew in the air and the platform must have been wet, and when I jumped over it just shot my foot out from underneath me. It turned me around backwards and put me right on my side and on my back on the edge of the boat. … It was a stupid deal. If I had to do it over, I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary. Everybody’s jumped onto a boat before, but I just lost my footing.”

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tom Jensen

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