Nearly Last Of A Slowly Dying Breed In NASCAR

1. Is Bristol about to be the most important first round playoff race ever?

Admit it: Bristol Motor Speedway hasn’t really felt like Bristol for a while.

Whether it was the slowly declining crowds at the track over the years, the fact that the spring race slowly lost some of its identity (and got covered by dirt) or whatever the case may be, even the fabled Bristol Night Race lacked some of its magic over the last decade or so.

But if the Last Great Colosseum needed a spark, NASCAR couldn’t have manufactured one better than it just got. Bristol isn’t just a playoff cutoff race for the Round of 12, but arguably the most high stakes and unpredictable one since the NASCAR Playoffs became a thing.

We have Erik Jones and Bubba Wallace to largely thank for that. Consecutive weeks with non-playoff drivers winnings have resulted in a field of 16 headed to the half-mile where no one is safe. Well, nearly no one, as surprise points leader Christopher Bell is locked into the next round.

But literally no one else is, which means any playoff driver who takes the checkered flag at Bristol is essentially getting something like you’d see on a reality show where one contestant gets saved no matter how they did the rest of the time. You think Kevin Harvick wouldn’t appreciate that lifeline after how his last few weeks have gone?

Better still, there’s Kyle Busch, who currently sits below the cut line on points, but has historically done some of his best work at Bristol. There are six drivers (numbers 12-15) separated by only 13 total points. This should be a lot of fun, the kind that hasn’t always been the case as of late for one of NASCAR’s most iconic tracks.

Buckle up.

2. The grass isn’t always greener, and maybe the money isn’t either

Speaking of Kyle Busch, he’s going to announce live on Tuesday, Sept. 13 where he’ll be driving in 2023. It’s possible the ink is already done on a new contract with Rowdy’s name in it somewhere, with The Athletic citing sources telling it that Busch is headed to Richard Childress Racing.

After 15 years at Joe Gibbs Racing, both sides are likely to say they simply couldn’t work things out to stay together. It’s probably closer to the truth to say “didn’t want to” than “couldn’t,” however, because while it’s not like race teams can’t have irreconcilable differences like interpersonal relationships, that doesn’t appear to be the case here.

Busch isn’t exactly dominating like he was a…