Five to Watch: Bristol

The NASCAR schedule is making the first of two visits this season to Bristol Motor Speedway, gearing up for Sunday's Food City 500 (1 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM). With an already-busy two days in the books at the .533-mile track, here are five things to watch in the weekend's main event.

MOVING UP?: Sunday’s starting lineup will have a different look as a handful of big names will find themselves racing for the win from the back of the pack. Kevin Harvick, who has won three times this season, will use a back-up car after smacking the wall in practice Friday. Despite earning a second-place qualifying position, Kurt Busch will forfeit his starting spot next to his brother (pole winner Kyle Busch) and move to a reserve car after wrecking out with just minutes left in Saturday’s final practice. And even more frustrations mounted for Jimmie Johnson, who qualified 17th, as he confirmed on Twitter that the No. 48 car had a cut left-front tire after qualifying, which will force the Hendrick Motorsports driver to start at the rear in the Food City 500. And then Denny Hamlin, a favorite at short tracks, qualified 25th, matching his worst starting position of the season. -- AD

TOUGHING IT OUT: Daniel Suarez isn’t going to let a hand brace stop him from vying for the top spot and a celebration in Victory Lane on Sunday. At Texas, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver suffered a hand injury during a multi-car wreck, but was able to log 290 (out of 334) laps to finish 29th. Suarez took to Twitter on Tuesday to let fans know that he would pilot his No. 19 Toyota Camry at Bristol Motor Speedway and battle through all 500 laps. “I won’t need surgery and it’s not broke,” Suarez said in a video posted to his Twitter account. “But the tendons and ligaments are pretty bad.” The sophomore driver already has shown his toughness so far this weekend while qualifying 12th for Sunday’s race, just ahead of JGR teammate Erik Jones. -- AD

UNKNOWN QUANTITIES: In an attempt to work in another groove for side-by-side racing, track officials applied traction compound to the inside lane ahead of race weekend. The track’s surface has been unpredictable this weekend, changing 'every time you get out there,' as Kyle Busch said after winning the Busch Pole Award. The weather throws another element of unpredictability into the equation; Sunday calls for 100 percent chance of thunderstorms, prompting NASCAR to move the race up one hour. But if rain were to push the race until Monday, the temperatures would look very different; Monday’s high only reaches 43 degrees, varying greatly from the mild temperatures drivers have practiced and qualified in this weekend, suggesting the Food City 500 has plenty of unknowns in store for the race. -- JR

NEW FACE ATOP THE PIT BOX: Crew chief Alan Gustafson is not at Bristol this weekend, as the No. 9 team is serving the first of a two-race suspension for an L1 penalty following a violation at Texas last week. Veteran crew chief Kenny Francis, who has won 17 times in the Monster Energy Series, is stepping up to lead the team this week. Francis led Kasey Kahne to Bristol’s Victory Lane in the 2013 spring race. While Elliott didn’t make much of a splash early in the weekend, he’s gotten better as the weekend has progressed, notching the second-fastest time in final practice and placing fourth on the final practice 10-lap average chart. -- JR

SETTING THE STAGE: It wouldn’t be Bristol Motor Speedway if there wasn’t high drama, big wrecks and plenty of excitement to go around. Saturday’s Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 Xfinity Series event saw plenty of close-quarters racing. 'Today was a better race in my eyes at Bristol than we've had in a long time,' said fourth-place Elliott Sadler. If the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is anything like what we saw on Saturday, fans are in for a treat – and a showdown they won’t want to miss. -- AD