Brent Sherman gets tagged by fellow rookie Reed Sorenson at Bristol. Credit: Autostock

Rookies' learning curve steep as BMS corners

Truex says nothing learned after a hard-fought, half-mile battle

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Martin Truex Jr. was taught a lesson on Sunday about the etiquette of racing at Bristol Motor Speedway he better never forget.

	Martin Truex Jr. was highly frustrated after his Cup debut at Bristol. Credit: Autostock
	Inside the Numbers Rookie stats at Bristol Driver Start Finish Laps D. Hamlin 33 14 500 R. Sorenson 22 22 499 C. Bowyer 27 29 495 J.J. Yeley 24 33 469 D. Stremme 26 36 435 M. Truex Jr. 25 38 430 B. Sherman 31 42 302

Already a lap down, Truex was tapped from behind on Lap 414 and spun by Jeff Gordon, who was running in the top five at the time. As if that wasn't bad enough, Truex was penalized for a pit-road commitment.

"Yeah! The 24 just flat spun me out. I don't know why," said Truex, who finished 38th.

By then Truex's emotions were out of control.

A little more than 20 laps later Truex plotted his revenge. On Lap 437 he attempted to pin Gordon up the track. But in doing so he blocked the path of Tony Stewart, who also was running in the top five.

Stewart, not exactly the most patient of drivers, especially where rookies are concerned, bumped Truex out of the way. Truex went spinning and slammed into the inside wall of the front straightaway, where the first incident also took place.

"That second time I was probably doing something that I shouldn't have done," Truex said. "I should have just let those guys go but I raced them. I guess they didn't like it too much."

That sent the No. 1 Chevrolet behind the wall and Truex to the infield care center, where he was examined and released.

"After the first time I got spun out we were pretty much down," Truex said. "But it's unfortunate. We just had a rough day. We battled back and we were about to get our lap back when we got spun out."

Truex and the rest of his 2006 rookie class was indoctrinated into Cup racing at Bristol in a collision-packed, caution-filled day at the troublesome bullring.

All of the rookies had their fair share of excitement. Brent Sherman had a little bit more.

Kurt Busch earned his fifth career victory at Bristol. Credit: Autostock

Food City 500 Results Pos. Driver Make 1. Kurt Busch Dodge 2. Kevin Harvick Chevy 3. Matt Kenseth Ford 4. Carl Edwards Ford 5. Bobby Labonte Dodge 6. Mark Martin Ford 7. Greg Biffle Ford 8. Kyle Busch Chevy 9. Ryan Newman Dodge 10. Kasey Kahne Dodge • Complete results, click here • Standings, click here Victory LaneKurt Busch celebrates his Food City 500 win Hot bloodedPost-race tempers boil over between Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth Final lapsKurt Busch rolls to the checkered flag at the Food City 500 Tempers flareSome rough racing goes on between Martin Truex Jr. and Jeff Gordon Multi-car wreckJamie McMurray gets the worst of a multi-car wreck Early problemsJimmie Johnson has a rough start at the Food City 500 Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

And it started almost from the outset when he was bumped by Kevin Lepage on Lap 14. It was the first of four times Sherman's No. 49 Dodge went spinning.

"On the outside I would get stuff on the tires and it just wouldn't turn," Sherman said. "Kevin Lepage got into us and we were four laps down [just a few] laps into the race. I felt like it was awfully aggressive for [that early] into the race.

"I wasn't blocking him or anything and I'm turned around. And that's basically what happened three or four times -- I got turned around."

Sherman finished 42nd, completing just 302 of the 500 laps after a final incident involving Stewart ended his day.

"We were pretty competitive at times," Sherman said. "The only thing I can do is drive my hardest and try to do as well as I can, and if guys want to run you over and spin you out, there's absolutely nothing I can do about that.

"My biggest problem was trying to give guys on the lead lap room."

Denny Hamlin was the top-finishing rookie in 14th place, and the only first-timer to complete all 500 laps.

"Fortunately it's a good day for us," said Hamlin, who had some close calls nearly every lap. "Sometimes you've just got to use that front bumper in some situations when you've got to go. We had to go back so far and went a lap down but we battled back."

Hamlin is second, unofficially, in the rookie points, tied with teammate J.J. Yeley with 43. Clint Bowyer leads with 53 points.

"I feel like we're making gains every week," Hamlin said. "We keep building on this and we'll get in that top 10."

Reed Sorenson finished 22nd, but he had separate run-ins with Sherman, Ryan Newman -- which also involved teammate David Stremme -- and finally Jamie McMurray.

"Our car is torn up pretty bad and we still ended the race OK," Sorenson said. "We got into a lot of situations."

Bowyer finished 29th. He tapped the back of Dave Blaney on Lap 187, which impeded the progress of Yeley and Stremme, among others.

Yeley finished 33rd and Stremme 36th.

"Someone got together, there was cars spinning," Yeley said of the Bristol chaos. "The problem is that there are 40 cars strung out single-file at this place and you'd better be hustling up.

"I thought we had a little better finish going. After that wreck there where the 26 got into us and spun us around, it didn't seem to be quite as good after that. It's fun if your car is good. When your car gets a little bit off, it's a handful."

Sherman amended his thoughts somewhat on what he could do differently to avoid such situations in the future.

"I guess one thing I can do, obviously, is get faster and that's what I want to do," he said.

As for Truex, did he learn anything on Sunday?

"No. I mean, our car wasn't very good all day and we got it better and it was OK there when we were there on the bottom to try to get our laps back a couple of times," Truex said.

"I guess the 24 ... he's got no respect for nobody. He thinks he owns the track, he thinks everybody should get out of his way and I ain't going to do it. I was doing what I had to do. I was trying to get my lap back and my car was pretty fast. He just dumped me."