The Superstar Racing Experience was created to showcase legendary drivers and tracks. This week’s edition of Thursday Night Thunder did both as the drivers tackled Pulaski County Motorsports Park in Radford, Virginia.
In his first start in the series, Kyle Busch added his name to the 10-driver winners list after battling Clint Bowyer and Tony Stewart on three late-race restarts.
Stewart began the race from the pole after his two heat finishes were added together. He finished mid-pack in both heats.
Busch lurked, but the early battle was between Stewart and Brad Keselowski.
Halfway through the race after a competition caution, Keselowski used the high line to pass Stewart. Kyle Busch used the bump and run to get around Stewart and a lap later he tried the same move on Keselowski.
Keselowski did not give up the bottom groove and contact sent him spinning to the back of the pack. Bowyer saw the contact and stated over his radio that gave him a ‘mulligan’ to use on Busch if he needed it. He was never quite able to get to Busch’s back bumper to use it.
Bowyer moved his way forward from a seventh-place start all the way to second. He settled there through three restarts, including a multi-car crash triggered when Paul Tracy ran Josef Newgarden.
The crash intensified bad feelings between Tracy and Ken Schrader.
“Green (Paul Tracy’s car) had Black (Josef Newgarden) shoved into the outside wall,” Schrader said as he walked away from his mangled car after being collateral damage in the crash. “I’m not running another race with him. I’m done.”
Tracy saw the incident differently.
“Newgarden and I were bumping off each other for a couple of laps and as I got a nose ahead of him, half a car ahead of him, I just got hooked and turned sideways down the straightaway,” Tracy said. “It was just hard racing at the end there. Ten laps to go and everyone’s going for it hard.”
On a restart with 10 to go, Busch drove away from the second-place battle between Bowyer and Stewart.
“I just love being able to race,” Busch said after the win. “I’d race more if I could but there’s only so much you can get in and so much you can do.”
Bowyer took the inside line on each restart and had to fight off two drivers. He made his way to second again, but it took seven laps to complete the pass and the final restart came with three to go.
Bowyer made shorter work of Stewart this time, but was not able to catch Busch.
Stewart finished third.
MORE: Denny Hamlin wins in Stafford Speedway opener
Stock car guys seem to have the advantage on this .4-mile short track with a lot of banking.
But Marco Andretti has learned some lessons from the stock car guys and in Heat 1 he held off multiple taps to his back bumper from Keselowski. A lap later, Keselowski got into Andretti’s left rear fender but Andretti saved the car.
“I don ‘t feel too bad; I would have done the same thing if I were him,” Andretti said after winning the heat. “It’s just good hard racing. I was just trying to hang onto it to not slide up the track and open the door to them. Keep it composed. Now I get to learn from these guys; see which lines they’re running.”
Busch nipped Keselowski at the finish line to steal second and described Andretti’s actions as blocking.
Bowyer was running in the top five in Heat 1 before blowing a fuse on the last lap. He fell to the back of the field, but finishing last in Heat 1 means he had the pole in Heat 2.
Bowyer wasn’t able to run away from the field. Last week’s winner from Stafford Motor Speedway, Ryan Newman clung to his back bumper until the competition caution and then raced side-by-side with Bowyer. Even running side by side for most of the heat, they pulled away from the field.
With four to go, Newman relented and fell back to watch Bowyer win Heat 2. Ken Schrader finished third.
Results: 1. Kyle Busch [6]; 2. Clint Bowyer [10]; 3. Tony Stewart [1]; 4. Brad Keselowski [3]; 5. Ryan Newman [8]; 6. Helio Castroneves [4]; 7. Bobby Labonte [5]; 8. Hailie Deegan [11]; 9. Marco Andretti [2]; 10. Paul Tracy [7]; 11. Josef Newgarden [12]; 12. Ken Schrader [9]
