Pit Pass Radio

In March of this year I made only my second trek to Bristol Motor Speedway, the famous half-mile bowl of concrete nestled in the hills of northeastern Tennessee. There are many things I will remember about the weekend, but a few stand out from the rest.
1. Kevin Harvick’s comments about Kurt Busch.
2. The snow during the Busch race.
3. Jeff Gordon’s shoving of Matt Kenseth on pit road.
4. The Busch brothers sweeping the weekend’s events.

First, Harvick.
He was the guest for what NASCAR calls its media ‘wake-up call’ which happens first thing Thursday morning of a given race weekend. At one point, David Poole of the Charlotte Observer asked him, “Kevin, if you had a chance to correct one misconception that seems to exist out there about you, what would it be?”.
Harvick was apparently in a feisty mood. “I think I’d a probably whipped Kurt Busch before now.”
The room filled with various media types erupted in laughter.
“I probably shouldn’t have said that.”, Kevin continued with the timing of a stand-up comedian.
More laughter.
“So technically nothing has changed!” another reporter shouted. “I’ll still tell you what I think.” Harvick continued.
Indeed.
What about the snow? I asked several veteran newspaper columnists if they could ever remember a qualifying session being snowed out. None could.
After a Thursday which saw flurries and drizzle, the Nextel Cup cars took to the track on Friday for qualifying. Several teams posted times before the snow came. And it came….and kept coming. Cars continued to be sent out onto the track. Finally NASCAR had seen enough.
Cup Series qualifying was suspended and eventually cancelled.
And then there was the impromptu snowball fight in the middle of the Busch race on Saturday between the fans and the teams on pit road. The surreal scene saw drivers and other crew members defending themselves from the onslaught of snow coming at them over the fence from the grandstands, as they attempted to ‘return fire’. Everyone seemed to enjoy the mid-race break and the action resumed within a short while. Kyle (“Shrub”, “Rowdy”) Busch came away with the victory.
Then there was the Cup race on Sunday.
A triumphant Kurt Busch made mock snow angels on the front straightaway, then wheeled Roger Penske’s No. 2 into Victory Lane for the first time. In his bid for the lead in the closing laps of the race, Kurt bumped Matt Kenseth, who was being held up by the slower, lapped car of Dale Jarrett, out of the groove. Matt, trying to gain lost ground, got into the back of Jeff Gordon, spinning the 24 car and turning a top three finish for Gordon into a 21st place result.
Needless to say, Jeff was not happy.
When they exited their cars on pit road after the race, Matt walked up to Gordon to apologize for the incident. I was about ten feet from the scene as Gordon, with helmet still in place, shoved Kenseth in the chest with both hands.
“…I probably should have known better than to go over there, but I just think that when you do something wrong, you should try to be a be a man about it and go apologize, even though I knew it wasn’t going to do any good, it wasn’t going to bring his finish back.” Kenseth told the media after the now famous incident.
Gordon agreed that Kenseth shouldn’t have come up to him in the heat of the moment.
“I was just mad, real mad.” Jeff said afterwards. “When a guy walks up to you that just spun you out on the last lap at Bristol when you were going to finish third, I know how I am, I’m going to show my displeasure. I wish he hadn’t walked over there to me, but when he did, I shoved him.”
The things I remember most about my Bristol trip: Comments about a Busch, snow during a Busch Series race, the brothers Busch sweeping the events that weekend, and Gordon’s shove after he and Kenseth were passed for the win by a Busch.
It’s Bristol time again. If I were you, I’d keep an eye on the Busch’s.