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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