The caution is out in the Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway for the second time tonight after 120 laps after problems for Sam Hornish Jr. culminated in a blown left front tire and an encounter with the wall. Hornish made contact with Kurt Busch, knocking Busch into the wall and peeling the deck lid - a trunk lid on a passenger car - straight up in the air.
Kasey Kahne has ever won at Bristol in the Sprint Cup Series, but he was out front at the yellow flag. A triumph Saturday would be pivotal, as it would give Kahne a third victory on the season. That wouldn't matter if he needed to rely on the Wild Card to make the Chase, but Kahne has steadily trimmed his margin outside the top-10 since a miserable open to the season. If he gets into the top-10 with those three victories, he would be tied with Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski, and Tony Stewart with nine bonus points - three points for each race win - for the top seed in the Chase.
Joey Logano - winner of Friday's Nationwide Series event and seeking a win of his own that could get him into a Wild Card position - sat second at the yellow, with Jeff Burton, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Kevin Harvick completing the top-five.
Burton is having his finest performance thus far in what has been an awful 2012 season for his Richard Childress Racing effort. Teammate Harvick has been in the top-10 for much of the year, but is still winless. He now has his former crew chief Gil Martin back atop his pit box, replacing Shane Wilson.