{"id":21296,"date":"2018-08-17T22:19:30","date_gmt":"2018-08-18T03:19:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=21296"},"modified":"2018-08-17T22:23:04","modified_gmt":"2018-08-18T03:23:04","slug":"nascar-friday-bristol-notebook-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2018\/08\/17\/nascar-friday-bristol-notebook-2\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Friday Bristol Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

AUSTIN DILLON\u2019S PERFORMANCE AT MICHIGAN WAS NO FLUKE<\/b><\/p>\n

BRISTOL, Tenn. \u2013 After the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan in May, the qualifying results of Austin Dillon and his no. 3 Richard Childress racing team improved dramatically.<\/p>\n

Starting with the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Dillon made it to the second round or better in 10 of 11 knockout qualifying sessions. What Dillon and his couldn\u2019t do was translate the speed from time trials to race trim.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That changed last Sunday at Michigan, where the winner of the season-opening Daytona 500 qualified fifth and finished fourth. Dillon sees that performance as real progress, not as a one-time improvement.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, obviously that was a big run for our team there at RCR and ECR (Earnhardt Childress Racing Engines),\u201d Dillon said. \u201cEverybody back at the shop has been working really hard to turn the Camaro around for our side of things. We have seen some speed from other guys throughout the year and we have been close.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had some qualifying runs that were positive, but we weren\u2019t able to relate it to the race. I think last week we proved that we could relate the speed in qualifying to the race, and that\u2019s huge. Great momentum coming up to some good tracks for us with Bristol, Darlington, finishing with Indy leading into the Playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely think if we carry this speed into the Playoffs, we\u2019re going to be in a good spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

KASEY KAHNE DISCUSSES REASONS FOR RETIREMENT FROM FULL-TIME RACING<\/b><\/p>\n

For Kasey Kahne, the decision to retire from full-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series racing came down to one primary factor\u2014his inability to commit his full energy and focus to the sport.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t that Kahne didn\u2019t have opportunities to continue his career at NASCAR\u2019s highest level. He could have remained at Leavine Family Racing, where he has spent the 2018 season after parting ways with Hendrick Motorsports.<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Bristol2_MENCS_Kahne_081718.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

In fact, Kahne already had begun discussions with the team about an extension. But thoughts of his son Tanner and a desire to spend more time with the sprint car team he owns finally came to a head in the decision Kahne announced via Twitter on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve thought about this decision for many months, if not longer,\u201d Kahne wrote in a statement over his own signature. \u201cIt\u2019s time for me to step away from racing in NASCAR full time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI appreciate everything LFR has done for me this season and offering the opportunity to race in 2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, it was an option Kahne felt he had to turn down. On Friday morning at Bristol Motor Speedway, the 38-year-old driver elaborated on his Thursday tweet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had some neat opportunities with Leavine,\u201d Kahne said. \u201cWe were working together for the season, and it was going to keep getting better. There was money there. There were a few other offers that I had received over the last month and just options that we could talk about, things like that. It felt really good to have that, but at the same time, it wasn\u2019t necessarily about that anymore.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t feel that I could seriously race all of next year and be completely committed 100 percent, and I feel like there are guys out there that can be and that should have those opportunities over me at this point in time, because I don\u2019t feel like I can be that guy from this point on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kahne has accumulated 18 victories in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, but his win in last year\u2019s Brickyard 400 marked his only visit to Victory Lane since the 2014 season and his sixth since joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2012.<\/p>\n

Kahne\u2019s watershed season came in 2006 with team owner Ray Evernham and crew chief Kenny Francis. He won six races that year and finished eighth in the final standings. All told, he qualified for the postseason Playoffs six times, with a best points finish of fourth in 2012.<\/p>\n

Kahne\u2019s decision comes concurrent with his greatest success as a sprint car owner. Brad Sweet, who drives for Kahne, won the marquee Knoxville (Iowa) Nationals on Saturday night. Kahne said he might compete in as many as 50 races in his own cars.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot a full deal, because that doesn\u2019t do me much good for backing off a bit,\u201d Kahne said. \u201cBut you can do 40 or 50 races in about three months in that deal and still have eight or nine months to do other things.\u201d<\/p>\n

CHRISTOPHER BELL FOCUSING ON THE PRESENT TENSE\u2014FOR NOW<\/b><\/p>\n

News of Kasey Kahne\u2019s impending departure from full-time NASCAR racing put the rumor mill into overdrive.<\/p>\n

With Kahne\u2019s current Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series team, Leavine Family Racing, reportedly contemplating a manufacturer switch from Chevrolet to Toyota, there was speculation that Joe Gibbs Racing phenom Christopher Bell might step into a Cup ride with LFR.<\/p>\n

During an appearance at the Bristol motor Speedway media center on Thursday, Bell put the brakes on that notion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was all news to me,\u201d Bell said of Kahne\u2019s announcement. \u201cRight now, I\u2019ve got a great group of people, getting to drive for all of our partners at Ruud and Rheem, GameStop, and I\u2019ve got great race cars at Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota support.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, the only thing I\u2019ve got is that I\u2019m finishing out this year, and then next year I\u2019m going for the Xfinity championship again with all of our same partners.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bell has four victories in the series this year and currently tops the standings with a 17-point lead over Elliott Sadler and Daniel Hemric, who are tied for second though last Saturday’s race at Mid-Ohio.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AUSTIN DILLON\u2019S PERFORMANCE AT MICHIGAN WAS NO FLUKE BRISTOL, Tenn. \u2013 After the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan in May, the qualifying results of Austin Dillon and his no. 3 Richard Childress racing team improved dramatically. Starting with the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Dillon made […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":21298,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[177,16],"class_list":["post-21296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-bristol-motor-speedway","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/357373.jpg?fit=2922%2C1948","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-5xu","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21296"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21302,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21296\/revisions\/21302"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}