By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Kyle Busch has a special fondness for Bristol Motor Speedway, but the driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota needed a huge stroke of luck on Sunday night to rekindle his love affair with the half-mile track.
Busch won the Food City Dirt Race from a distant third place after the Ford of second-place Chase Briscoe slid up the high-banked dirt track into the Chevrolet of leader Tyler Reddick in the final corner, turning both cars sideways.
Reddick righted his Camaro and steered toward the finish line, but Busch’s momentum off Turn 4 carried his No. 18 Camry past the flag stand .330 second ahead of Reddick, who was denied his first NASCAR Cup Series victory.
Busch, on the other hand, notched his 60th career victory, ninth-most all-time and most among active drivers. With his first win of the season, he matched Richard Petty’s series record streak of 18 years with at least one trip to Victory Lane.
An eight-time winner on Bristol’s traditional concrete surface—again, most among active drivers—Busch won the second NASCAR Cup Series dirt race since 1970 and the first featuring the new Next Gen race car.
“Yeah, we got one,” Busch said with a wry smile. “Doesn’t matter how you get ‘em. It’s all about getting ‘em. Can’t say enough. I mean, man, I feel like Dale Earnhardt Sr. right now (as the crowd booed his unexpected victory). This is awesome. I didn’t do anything.”
After the second of two rain delays, Busch restarted second on Lap 227, but he fell back as Briscoe passed him on Lap 232 of 250 and began to chase Reddick for the lead.
“I don’t know why, we couldn’t fire off after it rained, both times,” Busch said. “It just would not fire. Took it about 20 laps to get going.
“Overall, just really pumped to be back. Real pumped to get a win. This one means a lot. I can win on any surface here at Bristol. Bring it on, baby.”
A chagrined Briscoe took full responsibility for the accident that handed Busch the win.
“I was running Tyler down and tried throwing a slider and didn’t expect him to drive in there on me, and I got loose,” Briscoe said. “I was spinning either way. I feel terrible. I didn’t want to wreck him. That was my fault 100 percent. I hate it for Tyler. He’s a good friend of mine.”
Reddick took the disappointment with consummate grace.
“I don’t think I did everything right, to be honest with you,” Reddick said. “Briscoe was able to run me back down there. Just looking at it, I should have done a little bit better job of just… I don’t know. I shouldn’t have let him get that close. He ran me back down. Worked really hard to do that.
“I mean, you’re racing on dirt, going for the move on the final corner. It’s everything that, as a driver, you hope to battle for in his situation. Made it really exciting for the fans, so… It does suck, but we were able to finish second still. I’m being honest. I should have done a better job and pulled away so he wasn’t in range to try to make that move. That’s how I look at it.”
Reddick took control of the race after a restart on Lap 151 to begin the final stage. With a ferocious run through Turns 1 and 2, he shot between the cars of Kyle Busch on the top and Joey Logano on the bottom to take the lead for the first time.
He held the top spot for the next 99 laps, through five cautions and the second rain delay. The final lap was the only one Busch led.
Briscoe was credited with a 22nd-place finish after running second into the final set of corners.
Joey Logano came home third, 4.004 seconds behind the race winner. Kyle Larson was fourth, followed by Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, Michael McDowell and Ty Dillon.
NASCAR Cup Series Race – 62nd Annual Food City Dirt Race
Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt
Bristol, Tennessee
Sunday, April 17, 2022
1. (11) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 250.
2. (3) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, 250.
3. (10) Joey Logano, Ford, 250.
4. (5) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 250.
5. (25) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 250.
6. (8) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 250.
7. (2) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 250.
8. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 250.
9. (17) Michael McDowell, Ford, 250.
10. (7) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 250.
11. (18) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 250.
12. (21) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 250.
13. (1) Cole Custer, Ford, 250.
14. (6) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 250.
15. (15) Chris Buescher, Ford, 250.
16. (20) Austin Cindric #, Ford, 250.
17. (23) Todd Gilliland #, Ford, 250.
18. (19) William Byron, Chevrolet, 250.
19. (26) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 250.
20. (24) Harrison Burton #, Ford, 250.
21. (30) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 250.
22. (4) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 250.
23. (31) Aric Almirola, Ford, 250.
24. (14) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 250.
25. (36) Josh Williams(i), Ford, 250.
26. (35) Cody Ware, Ford, 250.
27. (28) Noah Gragson(i), Chevrolet, 248.
28. (22) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 245.
29. (16) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 240.
30. (29) JJ Yeley(i), Ford, Accident, 221.
31. (12) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, Accident, 211.
32. (13) Kurt Busch, Toyota, Accident, 211.
33. (33) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, Engine, 150.
34. (32) Kevin Harvick, Ford, Accident, 100.
35. (34) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, Engine, 91.
36. (27) Justin Allgaier(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 74.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 34.973 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 34 Mins, 27 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.330 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 14 for 82 laps.
Lead Changes: 6 among 5 drivers.
Lap Leaders: C. Custer 0;C. Briscoe 1-48;K. Larson 49-75;D. Suarez 76-139;C. Briscoe 140-150;T. Reddick 151-249;K. Busch 250.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Tyler Reddick 1 time for 99 laps; Daniel Suarez 1 time for 64 laps; Chase Briscoe 2 times for 59 laps; Kyle Larson 1 time for 27 laps; Kyle Busch 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 5,42,20,3,18,48,22,8,12,47
Stage #2 Top Ten: 14,20,99,9,18,5,22,34,12,8
Watched the whole race except the last 15 minutes or so. Some idiot failed to negotiate the straightaway, and popped the pole right across from my driveway, literally in the middle of a half mile straight. Didn’t know Kyle won till I saw it here, thought for sure Briscoe would win. Good race though.
Most watched cup race at Bristol since 2016, even with the rain delay.
Most watched truck race at Bristol ever, 7th most watched truck race on fs1 ever, most watched truck races since 2017.
Best spring Bristol crowd since 2017 or 2016.
Shouldn’t surprise anyone they intend to do it again.
Still would rather see a DIRT race on a REAL DIRT TRACK, if you want to make the Bristol Spring Race more exciting for fans then Do Not run on Easter and have 200 lap races on Sat. and Sun. instead of 400 or 500 laps and run the XFINITY series 100 laps same days.
If you want to do dirt, do it on a real dirt track, and a flat dirt track.
Trying to remember the announcing at NASCAR races last century. When exactly did the announcing turn into a clown act with the endless banter, talking over each other trying to show what a great time they’re having. Am I the only one that thinks they’re trying to hard and it’s annoying? When NASCAR was at it’s height of popularity it wasn’t like that was it? You CUP watching regulars, what do you think of the announcing these days.
It was a Jim dandy by gum wasn’t it? The 4 million plus viewers even more impressive considering it was 3 million plus the first go around. The ending pretty much idea I should think for a long dirt race.
Still the stands in both races show sketchy attendance. Considering the expense why not consider having it at an established dirt track it could actually be an even better race.
Would like to see them at Eldora or some other famous dirt track. Run them on the mile at Syracuse to kick off super Dirt Week. I think they’ll run Bristol for a while as there are other races that happen once they lay the dirt down
Said it before, I think the best in the booth was the combination of Bob Jenkins, Benny Parsons, and gentleman Ned Jarret, with Dr Jerry Punch as pit reporter.
The best breath of fresh air was having Chad Knaus a few weeks ago in the booth, proving bowyer wrong on many theories. Low key, thoughtful.
I thought I noticed the other night that Darrell Waltrip, other than his opening boogity salvo, was off. Mike Joy seemed to try to get him to comment a few times on certain topics, but Waltrip was oddly quiet. Or maybe cause the new “Jaws” (Boyer) could not be stopped.
This will probably rankle a few Earnhart fans, but the combination of Jr and Burton in the booth (nbc broadcasts) is like fingernails on a chalkboard in my opinion. Yet the jr downloads and lost speedways series is a much better vehicle ( no pun) for jr imo.
I turn the tv sound down and go to mrn.
It seems these days that announcing has to be like the Friday night fight ring announcers, to try to create excitement. I like thoughtful stories and experiences that sportcasters can bring.
But if I want a clown show, I’ll go to the circus, thank you. Yuk. Jmo.
What Bobf said!!!!!!
👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏
And Doug, you asked a question.
Sorry I did not answer it in my previous post. And my answer is an opinion only.
The broadcasting and broadcaster “script” changed in 2001 when for the first time ever, when stalwarts tnt, tnn and espn were booted for the bright lights, Fox, bellying up to the bar with big money, for the Nascar broadcasting rights. (Albeit half season split with nbc).
It changed then. The mantra was nascar would be like Sunday football. For better, for worse, depending on how one views the changed coverage. Appeal to a football audience that knows nothing about Nascar or racing on the weekend. It changed then. Jmo. Dissenters? I’m open to hear how that wasn’t the case for fellow fans of the era. Respectfully…..B
Bob & Dareal, definitely agree! I also enjoyed having Dick Berggren reporting from pit road as well. No pomp and circumstance, just great play-by-play race commentary back then.
Great insights Bobf you Waskawy Wabbit! Thanks!
Bobf & Fast Eddie… that was back when it was all about racing. Racing has been turned into an event and a show, and the racing has been lost in all the selling. The racing has become a platform that is being used to sell and advertise, and the racing has to conform to the demands of the sponsors and advertisers. That’s capitalism for ya!
But we have to realize how racing broke out… it was around for a while as an off-broadway sport until that famous race and huge fight that took place once the cars slid to a stop. People wanted more of that and the media reacted to it, and racing pretty much sold itself then. It’s become too much of a carnival the last few years. It’s become tabloid fodder, like the trash sold at checkout counters in the grocery stores.