Kyle Busch continued his mastery of Bristol Motor Speedway, winning today’s Food City 500 from the pole in a race which started shortly after 1am ET due to threats of rain in the area.
“It’s great get back to victory lane here at Bristol”, a noticeably drowsy Busch said after the win. “This really goes out to all the guys on my crew who were able to get us some decent cups of coffee today. Or is it this morning. Or tonight? I don’t know—all that matters is that we won, and I can go back to bed by sun-up.”
The race’s start time had originally been scheduled for approximately 2:15pm ET today. However, threats of rain in the area saw the start time originally pushed back about an hour to around 1pm ET. Upon further consultation with area meteorologists, however, the start time was progressively moved further and further back throughout the day on Saturday, with track officials eventually settling on a 1am ET start time to avoid any and all weather issues.
“Everything we do, its all for the fans”, track owner Bruton Smith said in the official statement before the start-time was cemented at 1am ET. “And we know that fans will come out at any time with any notice to see one thing—me…wait, I mean, racing.”
The race was aired live on Fox, bumping originally scheduled programming of skin cream infomercials and “Living Single” reruns. Local officials around the track were said to be OK with the start time change, as it was discovered that nobody lives within five miles of the track.
“We were OK with Bristol moving their start time to the overnight hours, after consulting with our media partners.”, Nascar Chairman Brian France said from his Daytona Beach offices. “In fact, we hope that this expands our market reach into the coveted ‘Haven’t Slept for Five Days due to Fear of a Heart Attack’ Market.”
The race itself, meanwhile, featured 28 different leaders, three fist-fights following wrecks, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. running as a relief driver.