Asterisk Mark Report – Bristol

Kevin Harvick – Kevin Harvick had a great car this spring at Bristol and I don’t think his 13th place finish does him justice. Harvick’s race was far from incident free and his trouble started in inspection. His team failed inspection multiple times and the penalty was “Nearly a death sentence” for his competitive afternoon. When the race went green he had to serve a drive thru penalty. Fortunately, for him a caution came out on lap #2 which minimized the penalty. However, that wasn’t the last of his problems. Around lap 50 he made an unexpected pit stop and at that point he was now 3 laps down which had him in a hole for the rest of the afternoon. In practice leading up to Bristol he was a “Stop Watch Standout” and was viewed as the driver to beat by the garage. If his race would’ve been incident free, I think he would’ve been one of the drivers to beat.

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Martin Truex Jr. – Bristol has been a consistent trouble spot on the schedule for Martin Truex Jr. He runs extremely well here, but all to often trouble strikes. Over the last twelve races he has 10 results of 17th or worse. His last four races at “Thunder Valley” haven’t been incident free. Earlier this year, Truex Jr. had a fast car but finished an asterisk mark 17th. Right before Stage #2 ending while he was running in 2nd he made an unexpected pit stop which dropped him a few laps down. Prior to that he ran exceptionally well and looked like a top five contender.

Brad Keselowski – Brad Keselowski had one of the best cars this spring at Bristol and was a contender to win, but he finished a misleading 18th. In the race he finished 3rd in Stage #1, 4th in Stage #2, led 40 laps but during a caution with about 20 laps to go while he was running in the top ten he got penalized for restarting incorrectly.