Unpredictable has become the norm at Bristol

There are several races that capture the spirit of stock car racing.

Certainly the Daytona 500, the Southern 500, and Brickyard 400 fit into that category, but the August Bristol race ranks near the top of everyone's list of favorites. Almost every driver in the field came up through the ranks of short track racing in one form or another and many of the fans also learned to love the sport sitting in grandstands that held fewer than 10,000 people, cheering for their local favorites.

Bristol

This week's fantasy studs, duds and sleepers.

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With more than 150,000 seats, Bristol Motor Speedway is not your typical short track and instead of the 20-odd cars competing in a local Saturday Night Shootout, twice that number will get crammed into the half-mile oval. Even the leader of the race is in constant traffic and that equals non-stop action.

Bristol hosts two events per year. The one in early spring is contested in the heat of the day when the track is slick and loose. Despite its official name, the August race is most commonly known as "The Night Race at Bristol," so this year, the track officials gave in to popular opinion and will simply call this the Irwin Tools Night Race. The grip level will be just a little bit better under the lights, which means drivers can get up on the wheel and be just a little more aggressive.

That's great for the fans, but the downside for fantasy owners is that this has become another unpredictable race. Since the beginning of the 2002 season, more than half of this week's entrants have earned at least one top 10. Matt Kenseth leads the contingent of 30 drivers with 13 results of 10th or better, but he is joined by dark horses like Mike Bliss, Travis Kvapil, and David Gilliland. Go further forward and nearly half the field have scored top-fives as well with 21 of this week's entrants taking at least one such result home since 2002.

The Favorites

Bristol is a track on which there really aren't clear cut favorites. Track position is critical and teams will jockey for it from the mid-point of the race. Six drivers enter the weekend with consecutive top-10s, but only two of these racers have earned more than two in a row -- and Denny Hamlin proved that a streak isn't the most important statistic this spring when he snapped a four-race string of results sixth or better by finishing mid-pack in 19th during the Food City 500.

However, the driver with the longest active streak of top-10s, the current King of the Hill, should be on your roster this week. Kyle Busch has both the record and temperament to recommend him for the Irwin Tools Night Race. He swept Victory Lane last season, finished second in the 2008 night race, and was ninth this spring. Other than a brief hiccup of 17th in spring 2008, he's swept the top-10 since his second season. One reason he's so successful is that he is always up on the wheel, attacking every corner as if it were the one leading to the checkered flag and yet somehow he manages to stay out of trouble.

Greg Biffle is not immune to danger at Bristol, but when he keeps his nose clean, he contends for the win. His past two efforts on this track ended in fourth-place finishes and with only three poor results in a 15-race career, he's finished 12th or better in every other event. Better still, the No. 16 team has momentum on their side with three consecutive top-fives on oval tracks that included a victory at Pocono a few weeks ago.

Jeff Gordon rarely has two bad races in a row, so last week's 27th-place finish should be put aside. On short tracks, he's been the class of the field in the past three years. Despite failing to win at Bristol, Martinsville, or Richmond, he's amassed nine top-fives, 12 top-10s, and 14 top-15s in 15 starts. Notably, his only three results outside the top 10 since the start of 2008 all came at Bristol, but his five career victories there more than makes up for the deficit.

Dark Horses

If you do not agree that Gordon is the class of the short track field, Hamlin would like to stake his claim. Since the start of 2008, he's won four races and finished in the top five 10 times compared to Gordon's nine, but he's also finished outside the top 15 more often than the No. 24. Last week at Michigan, Hamlin struggled for most of the race, but dialed his car in for the final run and used strategy to get to the front. The same thing could happen at Bristol and fantasy owners only care about the points paid at the end of the race.

If not for a pair of finishes in the mid-teens last year, Carl Edwards would be one of this week's favorites. He has more momentum than anyone else in the field with six consecutive results of seventh or better that includes a second at Chicagoland and thirds at Pocono and Michigan. Actually, he might become your top choice if he practices and qualifies well because he's shone brightest under the lights in recent years with Bristol victories in 2007 and 2008.

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Underdogs

It's a little difficult to know exactly what to do with Marcos Ambrose. Now that the announcement has been made that he will not rejoin this team in 2011, the chemistry between driver and team could start to dissolve, but last week they rallied for a top-15 finish on an oval track, which came on the heels of their road course top-five. Last year, Ambrose was the most pleasant surprise of both Bristol races with a 10th in the spring and a third in the night race. This spring, crash damage sent him behind the wall for more than 60 laps or else he might have a perfect record on this brutal bullring.

The battle for the 12th position in the points is going to prove to be an interesting one. The past two weeks have been mirror images for Mark Martin and Clint Bowyer with first the No. 33 experiencing problems at Watkins Glen, finishing a lap down and then the No. 5 stranded one lap off the pace at Michigan. This spring, both Martin and Bowyer had trouble at Bristol with crash damage relegating the No. 5 to a 35th-place finish and a blown engine on the No. 33 insuring that he finished 40th. However, Martin has the better record recently with a sweep of the top 10 in 2009; Bowyer's last top-10 came in fall 2008 and he's had progressively worse results in each passing race.