BRISTOL, Tenn. – Denny Hamlin, who has come close, yearns for a Bristol victory that could make him the top seed in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

            Coming off a runner-up finish in Michigan, Hamlin has five victories this season, the same number as four-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson. Three races remain in the regular season, and the order at the beginning of NASCAR’s approximation of playoffs is based on victories.

            Hamlin has never won at Bristol Motor Speedway, site of the Irwin Tools Night Race on Saturday night. His last six Bristol finishes, reverse order, are 19^th, fifth, second, third and sixth. His overall average finish at the .533-mile oval is 12.4.

            “Coming so close has made us want to one of these Bristol races more than ever,” he said. “Winning at Bristol would be special. … We’ve felt like we’ve had the car on a couple of occasions, but had some bad luck in terms of parts going bad at the worst possible times, or just having to come from too deep in the field at the start. Twice we ran almost 500 laps around Bristol to get in position to win, only to have things go wrong at the very end.

            “I always like our chances coming here.”

            Pizzazz – Marcos Ambrose is mostly noted for his road-racing prowess, but NASCAR’s only Australian driver has a top-five and two top-10 finishes.

            Ambrose said the excitement doesn’t hurt.

            “Night racing at Bristol Motor Speedway is the epitome of NASCAR,” he said. “It’s a short-track, concrete oval with high banking, high speed and an amazing crowd.

            “I like to call it NASCAR’s ‘pizzazz event.’”

            Head for the mountains -- Bristol is the only track where Kyle Busch has won three times at the Cup level. Busch won the Camping World Truck Series race run at the track on Wednesday night.

            The Busch brothers, Kyle and Kurt, have combined to win eight times.

“Your driving style has had to change at Bristol a lot,” said Kyle. “Bristol used to be a track where you could charge the corners a little bit, and get it right in and down to the bottom of the track. You would go through the middle of the corner and then slingshot out on the exits. Now it’s just so smooth that you’re easy in, you’re kind of easy through the center, and easy off. The track is a little slower than I think it was because they reduced some banking in order to put sort of the progressive banking into it to make the outside groove better.”

            Sums it up – “Bristol is just so intense,” said Greg Biffle. “You can’t relax at all. It’s like walking a tightrope for 500 (laps) and holding your breath the whole time. No other track is like that.”

You may contact Monte Dutton at mdutton@gastongazette.com.