Loop data shows one of five could finally get a win

Of the 23 races this season, eight have been won by a driver with a pre-race Driver Rating ranking in the top five -- 35 percent. Carl Edwards most recently fell into that category, having the top pre-race Driver Rating prior to his win at Michigan.

If the trend continues this weekend, there will be a first time 2008 winner at Bristol.

The top-five drivers in pre-race Bristol Driver Rating are all winless this season, and include some of the most prominent names in Cup Series racing: Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle and Kevin Harvick.

Matt Kenseth

Kenseth has the top pre-race Driver Rating at Bristol (109.0) since 2005, and also boasts some race-best statistics the last seven Bristol events:

Tony Stewart

Tony Stewart has been a hard-luck case at Bristol. In three of the last five races, Stewart has led the most laps -- by far -- yet failed to finish in the top 10 in any of them. Below are his race statistics in those races:

Jeff Gordon

Gordon has been strong at the three previous short-track races this season, and with five career wins at Bristol, must always be considered a favorite. Here are Gordon's statistics at the three previous short tracks this season:

Kevin Harvick

With the sun shining at Bristol, Harvick flourishes. When the lights are on, he struggles -- at least in the last three years. Since the inception of Loop Data in 2005, Harvick has scored over a 100.0 Driver Rating in each of the spring Bristol races. In the night races? His best is just 96.7:

Greg Biffle

Biffle is the only one of the previous four drivers who has yet to score a Bristol win. In this season's March Bristol race, though, Biffle scored a fourth-place finish and, statistically, had one of his strongest runs.

In that race, Biffle ran all 506 laps among the top 15, never dropped below 14th place and scored a Driver Rating of 105.7.