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Sprint Cup
CUP: Trio Of Triple-Duty Drivers Ready To Roll
Kyle Busch, Elliott Sadler and Brad Keselowski will drive in all three races at Bristol...
Kyle Busch will run in all three NASCAR national series races this week at Bristol Motor Speedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
This week at Bristol Motor Speedway features an unusual schedule for NASCAR’s top three divisions: The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will race Wednesday night on the 0.533-mile oval, followed by the Nationwide Series on Friday and the Sprint Cup Series on Saturday.
Three drivers — Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski and Elliott Sadler — will pull triple duty, racing in all three series.
Busch, who drive his own Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 18 Toyota on Wednesday, said he’s looking forward to getting to Bristol, a track where he has a total of six race victories, including at least one in each of NASCAR’s top three divisions.
“I love the place,” said Busch. “It’s fun for the drivers and it’s fun for the fans. For some reason, I have really taken to the new surface. I loved the old surface, but I really like the new one, too. We’ve been fast every time we’ve been at Bristol in a truck and we’ve been able to capitalize on that in the last two years and go to victory lane. Obviously, we’d like to make it three in a row Wednesday night.”
This week will be a quick turnaround for the Truck Series teams, as they raced Saturday night at Darlington.
“It’s really kind of odd to do it as a midweek race because you’re used to racing on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday,” said Rick Ren, director of competition for KBM. “When you race on a Wednesday, you get back home and, on Friday and Saturday, you’re kind of wondering why you’re not at the race track. It’s just a little odd. I think it’s great for television and for the fans.”
Clearly, running the three races at Bristol in the same week has been a success.
“Every year, it seems to me there are more campers there for the Wednesday-night show,” said Ren. “I think a lot of people really enjoy doing it. People enjoy going to Bristol, anyway. Sparks are flying and you can smell everything because the track is so small. You smell the gear oil, you smell the tires and you see the sparks. It’s pretty cool racing there.”
Sadler, who won his first Cup race at Bristol with the Wood Brothers in 2001, is also fired up about pulling triple duty.
“The night race at Bristol just has this certain electricity about it and I get to experience it all three nights and I get to experience it in very competitive equipment,” he said. “We know we are going to be very fast and hard to deal with in the truck, we know we are going to be very fast in the Nationwide car as well and also in the Cup car.”
Kevin Harvick Inc. will provide Chevrolets for Sadler in the Truck Series and NNS races, while he’ll drive his No. 19 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford on Saturday night.
“To be able to run triple duty at a place like this is going to be a lot of fun for me, and just looking forward to working with the guys on Nationwide side here (at KHI),” said Sadler. “Hopefully we'll have the same success that we've been having in the trucks and move on from that.”
Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.
Three drivers — Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski and Elliott Sadler — will pull triple duty, racing in all three series.
Busch, who drive his own Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 18 Toyota on Wednesday, said he’s looking forward to getting to Bristol, a track where he has a total of six race victories, including at least one in each of NASCAR’s top three divisions.
“I love the place,” said Busch. “It’s fun for the drivers and it’s fun for the fans. For some reason, I have really taken to the new surface. I loved the old surface, but I really like the new one, too. We’ve been fast every time we’ve been at Bristol in a truck and we’ve been able to capitalize on that in the last two years and go to victory lane. Obviously, we’d like to make it three in a row Wednesday night.”
This week will be a quick turnaround for the Truck Series teams, as they raced Saturday night at Darlington.
“It’s really kind of odd to do it as a midweek race because you’re used to racing on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday,” said Rick Ren, director of competition for KBM. “When you race on a Wednesday, you get back home and, on Friday and Saturday, you’re kind of wondering why you’re not at the race track. It’s just a little odd. I think it’s great for television and for the fans.”
Clearly, running the three races at Bristol in the same week has been a success.
“Every year, it seems to me there are more campers there for the Wednesday-night show,” said Ren. “I think a lot of people really enjoy doing it. People enjoy going to Bristol, anyway. Sparks are flying and you can smell everything because the track is so small. You smell the gear oil, you smell the tires and you see the sparks. It’s pretty cool racing there.”
Sadler, who won his first Cup race at Bristol with the Wood Brothers in 2001, is also fired up about pulling triple duty.
“The night race at Bristol just has this certain electricity about it and I get to experience it all three nights and I get to experience it in very competitive equipment,” he said. “We know we are going to be very fast and hard to deal with in the truck, we know we are going to be very fast in the Nationwide car as well and also in the Cup car.”
Kevin Harvick Inc. will provide Chevrolets for Sadler in the Truck Series and NNS races, while he’ll drive his No. 19 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford on Saturday night.
“To be able to run triple duty at a place like this is going to be a lot of fun for me, and just looking forward to working with the guys on Nationwide side here (at KHI),” said Sadler. “Hopefully we'll have the same success that we've been having in the trucks and move on from that.”
Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.
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