Bristol thoughts and observations

Carl Edwards put the bumper to Kyle Busch Saturday night at Bristol, the result being Edwards' 6th victory of the 2008 season. Busch crossed the line second followed by Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Jeff Gordon.

Thoughts and observations

Uh oh ... looks like we have a little bit of a rivalry going on between NASCAR's two hottest drivers. Kyle Busch, who has had no problem moving people out of the way in the past, got moved out of the way by Carl Edwards, a move that ended up winning Edwards the race. Busch didn't exactly agree with the move and showed it by bumping Edwards after the checkered flag. Edwards' response? He simply spun Busch out. My how I love Bristol night racing.

Remember the last few Bristol races, they were boring and frankly not all that interesting right? Well the Bristol of old popped its ugly head out from under that pavement and bit several drivers, including Jeff Burton, Kasey Kahne, Michael Waltrip, Casey Mears and several more. Welcome back Bristol, I missed ya.

Ryan Newman had a strong car all weekend at Bristol, running up front and never really falling from the lead pack. I have to wonder if he'll earn another win for Penske before jumping ship at seasons end.

Several drivers, including the DEI trio of Aric Almirola, Regan Smith and Paul Menard, had strong race cars all night long and really impressed me. Almirola ran in the top 10 for a good chunk of the race before falling a little short. Smith qualified well and backed it up with a very respectable 14th place finish. Menard meanwhile qualified 16th and finished, shockingly enough, 16th. Good night for all three drivers.

The bad luck bug didn't just bite Chase contenders Kahne and Burton, it also bit Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. While it hurt Kahne and Burton much more then it did Johnson and Earnhardt Jr., you never like to see Championship contenders have bad luck like that.

Am I the only one that was mildly impressed with how well Bill Elliott hung out up front for the first 150-200 laps of the race? He raced in the top 10 for over 100 laps before finally slipping back to a 26th place finish. I was kinda hoping 'ole Bill might pull off a top 10, but alas, it was not to be.

David Ragan is so close to a berth in the Chase he can taste it. He is only 12 points behind 12th place Clint Bowyer with only two races left before the Chase. Meanwhile, Kasey Kahne fell out of the Chase all the way back to 14th, behind both Ragan and Bowyer.

Elsewhere in the points, Scott Riggs is barely holding on to the 35th and final guaranteed spot on the starting grid over AJ Allmendinger in 36th. This might be a more interesting race to watch then the one for the championship if Kyle Busch or Carl Edwards go on a tear during the Chase.