Today at 1:00 p.m. ET NASCAR returns to FOX from Bristol Motor Speedway for a Sprint Cup race that features Matt Kenseth sitting his first pole of 2015. Live stream the race free by clicking this link.
Talking about his pole victory, Kenseth said it's not enough to start first. He must use the excellent starting position to his advantage.
"Finishing up front is the most important part," Kenseth said after qualifying. "The guy who's on the pole always says it's a big deal for Sunday. Qualifying and racing is different, I think everywhere. Certainly getting one lap here is a lot different than being good for 500 laps."
Another notable aspect of today's race will be the lack of exposed, concrete walls. After Kyle Busch crashed into a wall and broke his right leg and foot this February, NASCAR sprung into action to increase safety measures.
"Unfortunately, it takes an accident like that to wake everybody up and make things happen," Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. "I know that NASCAR was very disappointed that there wasn't a SAFER barrier on the wall at Daytona and that Kyle was injured.
"And it's real unfortunate to have to go through that whole process to really fire this thing kind of back up and get people moving on it."
Speedway Motorsports Inc. CEO Marcus Smith said eventually, there will be no exposed concrete walls anywhere on any NASCAR tracks.
"Based on wrecks that happened in the past where the likelihood is very low [of a crash], over the last several years we've added in barrier in those locations where prior to a wreck we didn't have it," Smith said. "We just sort of realize that we've got to consider every area a potential area of contact of impact and then it's really a matter of what type of barrier is going to go there.
"It's easier to say than it is to do. One day, you will see all the exposed concrete will be covered in some fashion."
STARTING GRID
1 Matt Kenseth Toyota 128.632 mph 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 128.442 mph 3 Carl Edwards Toyota 128.322 mph 4 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 128.211 mph 5 Denny Hamlin Toyota 127.419 mph 6 Joey Logano Ford 127.317 mph 7 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 126.871 mph 8 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 126.829 mph 9 Paul Menard Chevrolet 126.829 mph 10 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 126.612 mph 11 David Ragan Toyota 126.436 mph 12 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 126.262 mph 13 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 127.081 mph 14 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 127.073 mph 15 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 126.562 mph 16 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet 126.503 mph 17 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 126.428 mph 18 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 126.088 mph 19 Michael McDowell Ford 125.947 mph 20 AJ Allmendinger Chevrolet 125.939 mph 21 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 125.831 mph 22 Matt DiBenedetto Toyota 125.798 mph 23 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 125.609 mph 24 Brett Moffitt Toyota 125.199 mph 25 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 126.378 mph 26 Danica Patrick Chevrolet 126.328 mph 27 Casey Mears Chevrolet 126.303 mph 28 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 126.146 mph 29 J.J. Yeley Toyota 126.046 mph 30 Aric Almirola Ford 125.823 mph 31 Trevor Bayne Ford 6 125.798 mph 32 David Gilliland Ford 125.625 mph 33 Greg Biffle Ford 125.551 mph 34 Jeb Burton Toyota 125.510 mph 35 Josh Wise Ford 125.453 mph 36 Michael Annett Chevrolet 46 125.158 mph 37 Clint Bowyer Toyota N/A 38 Chris Buescher Ford N/A 39 Sam Hornish Jr. Ford N/A 40 Alex Bowman Chevrolet N/A 41 Mike Bliss Ford N/A 42 Cole Whitt Ford N/A 43 Alex Kennedy Chevrolet N/A
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