A 500-lap night race under the lights that gave Kyle Busch a historic weekend, a 282-lap showing at the front and a points table that moved under the Chase.
Kyle Busch took the 2010 Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol by 0.677 seconds over David Reutimann, a result that completed a triple sweep. He had also won the Truck and Nationwide events on the same bill. The race was held under the lights before a crowd of 155,000.
Kyle Busch won the 2010 Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol on 21 August, after 500 laps under the lights in Tennessee. The win was his third of the season and his 19th in the Cup Series, and it completed a rare triple sweep, because he had also won the Camping World Truck and Nationwide races that same weekend.
Why did the Night Race matter?
The race was the twenty-fourth of thirty-six scheduled Sprint Cup events in 2010, and it arrived at a time when the Chase places were still open. Busch's victory lifted him up the standings and strengthened his position in the playoff picture. The result showed how much the early weeks of the Chase had turned on single races.
The race was also a showcase for the track itself, and the event drew 155,000 people to the speedway.
Kyle Busch's 500-lap night race at Bristol completed a triple sweep unmatched in NASCAR's three top national series.
What did Bristol Motor Speedway look like?
Among the five short tracks on the Cup schedule, Bristol stands alongside Dover, Phoenix, Richmond and Martinsville. The circuit is a four-turn oval of 0.533 mi (0.858 km). The track's banking changes from the turns to the straights, which shapes how drivers approach each lap.
The turns are banked between 24 and 30 degrees, while the front stretch is banked between six and ten degrees. The back stretch carries similar banking, so drivers have to balance speed through the corners against control in heavy traffic.
Where did the points table stand before the race?
Going into Bristol, Harvick topped the Drivers' Championship on 3,400 points, and Jeff Gordon was second on 3,107. Denny Hamlin was third on 3,047, while Tony Stewart stood fourth on 3,020 and Jimmie Johnson fifth on 3,014. The top five were separated by only a few hundred points.
Chevrolet led the manufacturers with 167 points, thirty clear of Toyota. Ford was third on 106 points, ten ahead of Dodge, and the gaps in the middle of the table were narrow enough that a strong weekend could change the picture quickly.
What happened in practice?
Two practice sessions were held on the Friday before the race. The first ran for 120 minutes and the second for 45 minutes, and David Gilliland set the fastest time in the opening session. Practice times were close throughout, which made qualifying decisive.
Robby Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. were close behind Gilliland, while Jeff Gordon was fourth and A. J. Allmendinger fifth. In the second and final session Ryan Newman was quickest, with Carl Edwards and Gilliland next, and Johnson was fourth ahead of Jeff Gordon in fifth.
How did qualifying set the grid?
Fifty cars entered qualifying, but only forty-three could race. Johnson took pole with a time of 15.540 seconds, his twenty-fourth career pole, and Edwards joined him on the front row. Edwards was the only other driver on the front row, and the top ten was tightly packed.
Joey Logano was third, Tony Stewart fourth and David Reutimann fifth. Six drivers did not make the field after the TriStar Motorsports team withdrew from qualifying. Blaney, Nemechek, Lepage, Yeley, Brian Keselowski and Bliss were the ones left out.
Jeff Gordon spun during qualifying and flattened his tyres, but he changed them and still managed a 26th-place starting position. Johnson's pole gave his team a strong platform for the race.
What did the start and ceremonies look like?
The green flag came at 7:30 p.m. EDT, with live coverage on ABC. The Woodward Dream Cruise led to a preemption in southeast Michigan, where the race was broadcast on WXYZ-TV in Southfield instead. The invocation and anthem were both part of a traditional opening.
Light rain showers were falling before the start, with the air at 75 F (24 C). Ruth Graham, the daughter of evangelist Billy Graham, gave the invocation. Youngsters connected to the drivers and crews from Motor Racing Outreach sang the anthem, and the winner of an Irwin Tools trades challenge, Delwyn Thorton, sent the drivers to their cars.
Who led the early laps?
Johnson led the field through the first corner, with Edwards right behind him in second. Stewart then passed Edwards for second, and Johnson stayed in front as the pack settled into its rhythm. Johnson's early advantage was modest, but it set the tone for the first part of the race.
Reutimann's fourth place fell to Newman on lap four. By the 17th lap, Johnson and Stewart were 1.8 seconds ahead of Edwards, while Paul Menard moved into the top ten and Juan Pablo Montoya climbed to sixth by lap 27.
Robby Gordon and Michael McDowell drove to the garage as start-and-park entries after twenty-nine laps, a reminder that the early running also had its casualties.
How did the first half unfold?
Kurt Busch, who started twentieth, had worked his way to twelfth by the 51st lap. The first yellow came seven laps after that, when Gilliland hit the wall. Johnson led the field back to green, but Stewart moved into the lead for a single lap before losing it again.
Kasey Kahne had to serve a penalty for speeding on pit lane on lap 65, going through without stopping. Kyle Busch then moved into eighth position, with his brother Kurt following him up the order as the pit stops began to matter.
The race ran with long green-flag runs between the cautions, and each stop shuffled the top ten. Harvick was frustrated around lap 153 that his crew could not sort out the handling of his car.
How did the second half play out?
Scott Speed lost a tyre and brought out the fourth caution on lap 192, and Johnson took the lead after the pit stops. He led the field back to racing speed, but the race was far from settled. The restarts made the closing stretch more volatile, and every restart carried risk.
Labonte's collision with the wall on lap 253 brought out the fifth caution. The race went green again on the 261st lap, and one lap later Johnson spun after making contact with Montoya. Johnson and Hamlin both went to the garage during the caution to repair their cars.
Kyle Busch led the field back to green on the restart, and he continued to lead for most of the remaining laps. His advantage grew steadily as the race reached its final third, and the rest of the field could not reel him in.
How did Kyle Busch take control?
Kyle Busch took the lead from Johnson in the middle of the race, and he went on to lead a race-high 282 laps. By the 490th lap he had a 2.49-second lead over the rest of the field, and only fourteen cars were still on the lead lap after 467 laps.
Reutimann and McMurray were the main threats in the closing laps, but Busch kept his foot down and maintained the advantage. The late stages came down to pace, and Busch's car proved the strongest on the night.
What happened to the other contenders?
Stewart started fourth and passed Edwards for second early in the race. Later in the race he hit the wall, but kept going, and his finishing position reflected the damage he had taken. Bowyer's run showed how quickly the order could change in the closing laps.
Kahne came down pit lane with a flat tyre in the late stages, which cost him time, and he still managed to recover to fifth. Bowyer passed Kurt Busch for ninth in the closing laps, which gave him a strong run to fourth at the flag.
How did the finish play out?
Reutimann was leading near the end, and Busch passed him with seventy-one laps remaining. Busch then crossed the line first, with Reutimann second, McMurray third, Bowyer fourth and Kahne fifth. The result came down to the last few laps, and Busch's margin was less than a second.
| Finish | Driver | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Winner | Kyle Busch | Led a race-high 282 laps; triple sweep |
| Second | David Reutimann | Led near the end before the late pass |
| Third | Jamie McMurray | Top three finish |
| Fourth | Clint Bowyer | Top five finish |
| Fifth | Kasey Kahne | Top five finish |
The race had seven yellow flags and seventeen lead changes spread across nine drivers. Busch's margin of victory was 0.677 seconds, and the clock recorded a race time of two hours, forty-one minutes and twenty-four seconds.
What was the triple sweep?
Busch took the O'Reilly Auto Parts 200 for trucks and the Food City 250 for Nationwide cars, before adding the Sprint Cup victory at Bristol. Together the three wins made him the first driver to win in all three of NASCAR's top national divisions on the same weekend. The achievement drew attention across the sport and the broadcast networks.
The feat was a major milestone for Busch, and it made the weekend one of the most unusual in the sport's recent history.
What did the drivers say afterwards?
Busch said the win felt great, and that the team had expected to run well at Bristol. He added that they were keen to take the bubble spot for the Chase. The interviews after the race showed a mix of pride and frustration across the field.
McMurray said the balance had been too tight at the end, but he added that it had been a good night for his team. He also said that many fans did not like Busch, yet what he had achieved that weekend was remarkable.
Reutimann credited his crew, saying they had worked with two different drivers during the weekend and had done a good job. Johnson said he had thought there was enough room on the outside, and that the contact came suddenly on the straightaway.
How did the standings change?
Harvick kept the Drivers' Championship lead with 3,521 points. Gordon was second on 3,242, a position that secured his place in the Chase, and he held a seventy-two-point cushion over Busch and a 129-point cushion over Edwards. Gordon's place near the top of the Chase picture was secure.
Hamlin was fifth on 3,108 points. On the manufacturers' side, Chevrolet pushed its lead to 173 points, with Toyota on 146 and Ford on 110, eleven clear of Dodge.
