Whelen Modified Tour Trip To Riverhead In October Cancelled

Posted on September 21, 2020January 21, 2021 by Staff Report

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, NASCAR and Riverhead Raceway announced Monday that the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour 200 scheduled for Oct. 17 has been cancelled. This breaks a 35-year streak of NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour action at the historic quarter-mile oval, a place where NASCAR Hall of Fame drivers like Richie Evans and Mike Stefanik added to their legendary racing resumes.

“We‘re heartbroken for the track, our competitors and most importantly our fans who are struggling during this trying time,” said NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Director Jimmy Wilson. “We look forward to when we can return to Riverhead and continue adding to its rich legacy of NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour racing.”

The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will continue its season at 6 p.m. ET Saturday at Connecticut‘s Stafford Motor Speedway. It will conclude a nine-race championship schedule on Oct. 11 at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park in Connecticut.

Fans can watch both races live on TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold and get the latest news on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at NASCAR.com/roots.

Posted on September 20, 2020September 21, 2020 by Terrin Waack

Kevin Harvick doesn’t just lead the NASCAR Cup Series field with the most wins. He does so rather drastically.

The driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford boasts nine victories in 2020. That’s three more than the next-best winner in 2020, Denny Hamlin. There are only three competitors overall who have at least three total victories.

One more win and Harvick will become the 11th driver in NASCAR’s modern era to accomplish a 10-win season. He’ll be the first since Jimmie Johnson met the milestone in 2007.

“Well, I love that it’s in the conversation of being the greatest season ever,” Harvick said Saturday after his Round of 16 playoff win at Bristol Motor Speedway. “Because you look at the sport’s gurus that don’t know a lot about racing, they put these graphs up and talk about where your peak seasons are, where you’re good, where you’re bad. Where you’re good is where you have the best results, and fortunately for me, they’re coming right now.”

Harvick is in the midst of his 20th season in NASCAR’s top series. His previous season-best win mark was eight in 2018, when he finished third in the final standings. Even in his championship run – 2014 – Harvick had five wins.

There still are seven races remaining in the 2020 season, and Harvick already has topped both marks and sits comfortably atop the playoff rankings with 67 bonus points.

“I don’t know if we’ll make it to 10 (wins),” Harvick said. “But we’re going to keep trying to do the best we can every week, and it’s just been an unbelievable year.”

RELATED: Career highlights for Kevin Harvick | RACING REFERENCE: Kevin Harvick’s career stats

An unorthodox one, too.

NASCAR had a two-month pause, eight-race postponement after just the first four events due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Cup Series eliminated practice and qualifying sessions, opting to do one-day shows to limit exposure. The schedule itself featured midweek races and weekend doubleheaders, which were both new.

This season has tested teams in a way they have never been tested before.

“We’ve all learned a lot about ourselves this year, including me, and we’ve all learned to do things differently,” said Rodney Childers, the No. 4 crew chief. “We’ve learned to trust each other. We’ve learned to work hard no matter what the circumstances are – whether you’re first shift, whether you’re second shift. I haven’t had one team meeting since February. I haven’t got my guys together. I haven’t had to tell anybody what to do. I haven’t had to tell somebody they need to work harder, they need to pay more attention to details.

“I have the best group that I’ve ever worked around. … We expect to be the best.”

The No. 4 crew’s first win actually came in NASCAR’s return on May 17 at Darlington Raceway. Harvick hopped into his car after an unprecedented amount of time out of it, led a race-high 159 of the 293 laps and took the checkered flag to solidify his postseason berth. From there, he went on to win at six different tracks – Atlanta Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway (a crown-jewel event), Michigan International Speedway (swept the doubleheader), Dover International Speedway and eventually Bristol (an elimination race). He also had another win at Darlington in the Southern 500 (another crown-jewel event), the playoff opener.

Now Harvick heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the first Round of 12 race – South Point 400 (7 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). He finished eighth there earlier this season, before the on-track break. In 22 career starts, he has two wins at the Nevada track; both of which came in the past five years (2015 and 2018).

“We’ve got nine; he didn’t know if we we’re going to get 10,” Childers said. “If you don’t get 10, you’re not going to win a championship. It’s pretty simple at this point: You’ve got to win races to hold that big trophy at the end of the year.”

Posted on September 20, 2020September 20, 2020 by Zack Albert

The same four drivers who entered Bristol Motor Speedway on the outside of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs’ safety zone left without making season-saving moves above the cutline.

Clint Bowyer was the benefactor as the last driver to qualify for the postseason’s Round of 12 on the basis of points. That left four drivers eliminated — rookie Cole Custer, William Byron, Ryan Blaney and Matt DiBenedetto — from championship contention with seven races left in the season.

Bowyer advanced after notching a sixth-place result in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race, marking a season-best string of three straight top-10 finishes to open the playoffs.

“I mean, I just feel comfortable we’re getting back to our consistency,” Bowyer said. “I guess for a long time in my career I was kind of Steady Eddy, and that’s what it takes in these playoffs. To go the rounds, you can’t make mistakes. I said that going into these playoffs. For our team, we’ve got to live up to our capabilities, and if we can do that and race to our capabilities and not make the mistakes we were making through the summer months, we can contend and move forward rounds in this playoff system, and that’s what we’re doing.”

Others vying to make up points deficits were less fortunate. Byron’s demise was the most spectacular as his Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet became crossed up with Christopher Bell and Joey Gase just before the end of Stage 2. Byron retired after 232 of the 500 laps with a 38th-place night.

MORE: Byron exits early with damage

The other three drivers eliminated hurt their cause by finishing outside the top 10 — both at the checkered flag and when points were paid out at each stage.

Blaney fared the best of the ousted drivers with an unlucky 13th-place outcome. The Talladega Superspeedway winner from earlier this year had issued a warning he’d be aggressive if given the chance Saturday night, but the speed he flashed in the early segments of the season eluded him at Bristol.

“I’m upset about it,” Blaney said. “I don’t want to be knocked out with seven races to go and not be able to run for a championship. I’m not very excited about that, but there’s a lot of things we could have cleaned up as a group together, myself included, and we just didn’t perform. We didn’t perform in the first round like we needed to to transfer and that’s something you’ll have. We just needed to step up and we just had too many issues, but we still have seven races left. We’ll try to win one or two of them and try to get fifth in points. We’ve still got that, so there’s still a goal that you’re trying to go to.

“Yeah, it sucks that you’re not able to run for it, but I’m just disappointed — not really disappointed. It’s kind of hard to put into words. I wish we all had a better three races as a team. I know this team can have great races and it’s a shame we missed that a little bit.”

DiBenedetto rallied from an unscheduled pit stop early but ended the day in 19th — which wound up being his average finish for the three races in the postseason’s opening round.

“If we didn’t have bad luck, we wouldn’t have any luck at all,” DiBenedetto said. “I don’t know. It’s just frustrating. I hate it.”

Custer, who made the playoffs on the strength of a first-time win at Kentucky Speedway, finished with a crinkle of damage to the nose of his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford in 23rd place.

“We’ve accomplished a lot of our goals,” Custer said. “I mean, to go from where we started and be able to be competitive now. Obviously, tonight we were off a little bit, but for the most part we could run pretty competitively and I think that was one of our goals by the end of the year and then also to make the playoffs and to have a win by now, and to win Rookie of the Year. There are a lot of things that we can hold our head high on, but at the same time as a competitor I’m not happy about getting knocked out in the first round and really struggling tonight, but we’ll keep working at it and that’s part of it. We’ll just keep trying things and keep grinding away at it.”

Posted on September 20, 2020September 20, 2020 by Zack Albert

Kyle Busch was in prime Bristol Motor Speedway form Saturday night, leading 159 of 500 laps in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race. But an aggravating second-place finish had him in prime post-race zinger form as his season-long winless streak in the NASCAR Cup Series continued.

Busch was the runner-up for the fourth time this season after dicing through lapped traffic and swapping the lead in a late-race duel with eventual winner Kevin Harvick. Busch hung the tail of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota out as he chased Harvick through the final corner but came home .310 seconds short at the checkered flag.

“Just didn’t have enough at the end,” Busch told NBC Sports after bidding for his series-leading ninth Bristol win. “The guys did a great job and gave me a really great piece tonight to contend and at least be up there and be close. Unfortunately, just didn’t have enough. Lapped cars were definitely a problem. It’s part of racing. You have to try to get around them where you can, and there was just no room for me to do what I needed to do with a couple of those opportunities to get past them.”

Busch dropped to the rear of the field during pace laps after his No. 18 car failed pre-race inspection twice, but he quickly regained the lost ground, rising to second place after the 125-lap first stage. He remained a fixture in the top five, and his main challenge emerged from Harvick as the race entered the late going.

Lap-down traffic posed an issue for both drivers, but the two were held up in particular by the No. 22 Ford of Joey Logano, who eventually finished two laps back in 11th. His post-race criticisms for his longtime foil that weren’t aired for a live television audience were slightly more harsh.

“He’s nobody’s friend for a reason, so there you have it,” Busch said.

The lead changed hands twice between Harvick and Busch in the last 100 laps. When asked if he would have been more aggressive while battling Harvick in the late going, Busch said traffic played too big a role — managing to sneak in a dig at two drivers who slowed him at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in last year’s postseason opener.

“It actually never crossed my mind. You always try to win races clean,” Busch said of his duel with Harvick. “You always try to race hard and race clean and get the job done right. Yeah, I mean, if that lapped car wasn’t there, I would have blown it in on the outside or the inside and maybe we would have banged each other’s doors or whatever and had a greater finish to the checkered, but some of them dips — kids don’t know what the hell they’re doing or where they’re at and can’t stay out of the way. Nothing like a (Joey) Gase and a (Garrett) Smithley.”

Despite his losing skid hitting 29 consecutive races, Busch advanced out of the playoffs’ first round on the basis of his place in the points standings. He enters the Round of 12 tied for 10th in the re-seeded standings, and his outlook for the Las Vegas round opener wasn’t full of optimism when pressed.

“We’ll be eliminated in the next round,” Busch said, “so don’t care.”

Posted on September 19, 2020September 20, 2020 by Reid Spencer

In a battle of two of stock-car racing’s titans, Kevin Harvick swapped the lead with Kyle Busch and held off the defending NASCAR Cup Series champion over an intense string of closing laps to win Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Harvick picked up his ninth victory of the season, his second of the Round of 16 in the 2020 NASCAR Playoffs and his third at Bristol. The driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford finished .310 seconds ahead of Busch, who remained frustrated in a winless season.

RELATED: Official race results

Harvick won for the 58th time in his Cup career, ninth most all time. Busch has been stuck on 56 wins since his title-winning triumph in the last year’s season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Bristol sold tickets to a limited number fans who were socially distanced throughout the grandstand. But there were enough voices there to make a significant din, and Harvick noticed.

“Man, I just want to say thank you to all the fans,” Harvick said after taking the checkered flag. “I was so jacked up when we started this race because of you guys and Bristol Motor Speedway.”

It took all of Harvick’s consummate skill to hold off Busch during the final 82-lap green-flag run. Busch is the leader among active drivers with eight wins at Bristol.

“To beat Kyle Busch at Bristol, I kind of got myself in a little bit of a ringer there,” said Harvick, who already had secured a berth in the Round of 12 with his win at Darlington Raceway in the playoff opener. “I hit a lapped car and got a hole in the right-front nose, but just kept fighting. We don’t have anything else to lose.

“We were here to try to win a race. I know how much (crew chief) Rodney (Childers) really enjoys coming here and, hell, how can you not enjoy coming here with all this enthusiasm? Everybody is tired of being at home.”

The Bristol Night Race was the cutoff event for the Round of 16, and the four drivers who began the event below the cutline — William Byron, Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Cole Custer, Ryan Blaney and Matt DiBenedetto — remained there and were eliminated from the playoffs.

Busch and Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Erik Jones started in the rear of the field after multiple pre-race inspection failures, but Busch charged through the field to finish second in the first stage and won the second.

In the final run, Busch passed Harvick for the lead in traffic on Lap 459. Ten laps later, Harvick returned the favor when Busch was slowed behind the lapped car of Joey Logano. Harvick led the rest of the way, though Busch tried every racing line available to try to catch the race winner.

“I just didn’t have enough there at the end,” said Busch who advanced to the Round of 12 on points, joining Richmond Raceway winner Brad Keselowski, Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Logano, Kurt Busch, Aric Almirola, Clint Bowyer, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott and Austin Dillon. “The lapped cars were definitely a problem.

“There was just no room for me to do what I need to do to get around him. Came up short — what can I say?”

Two drivers who didn’t make the playoffs — Jones and Tyler Reddick — ran third and fourth followed by Almirola, Bowyer and Elliott. Non-playoff drivers Chris Buescher, Ryan Preece and Michael McDowell completed the top 10 in order.

Byron’s race and playoff run ended suddenly and unexpectedly on Lap 232. The No. 51 Ford of Joey Gase slowed on the backstretch, starting a chain-reaction wreck in which Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet slammed into the rear of Christopher Bell’s No. 95 Toyota.

Unable to continue, Byron exited the race, his playoff run finished.

“I think the No. 51 car checked up in the middle of the straightaway,” a frustrated Byron said after exiting his car. “As fast as we were running the top, I was right behind the No. 95, and I had literally nowhere to go. You can’t stop in the middle of the straightaway when everybody is so committed to the top like that.

“Just ridiculous that that’s what takes us out. I thought, honestly, we had a shot to run top five or seven. The car was really, really good. We just needed a couple good pit stops. We were running probably ninth or 10th there. Just super disappointing — I’ve got to go back and watch that, because that was kind of ridiculous.”

Blaney and DiBenedetto, who needed to win the race to advance to the Round of 12, finished 13th and 19th, respectively. Custer was eliminated after a 23rd-place run.

NOTE: The No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford of Kevin Harvick passed NASCAR’s post-race inspection. There were no issues.

Posted on September 19, 2020September 20, 2020 by Staff Report

Four drivers were eliminated from the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs after Saturday’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway, as the postseason field was trimmed from 16 drivers to 12.

Read on for a full update on the standings and results.

Eliminated drivers

• William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
• Cole Custer, No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford
• Matt DiBenedetto, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford
• Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford

Advancing to the Round of 12

* Note: This will be updated with the official points and standings.

1. Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford: 3,067 points
2. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota: 3,048 points
3. Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Team Penske Ford: 3,035 points
4. Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford: 3,022 points
5. Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet: 3,021 points
6. Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota: 3,016 points
7. Alex Bowman, No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet: 3,009 points
8. Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet: 3,005 points
9. Aric Almirola, No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford: 3,005 points
10. Kyle Busch, No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota: 3,004 points
11. Clint Bowyer, No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford: 3,004 points
12. Kurt Busch, No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet: 3,001 points

MORE: Official race results

The ups

• Kyle Busch did not win — yet again — but the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver did finish runner-up to remain above the playoff cutline without a 2020 victory. Busch even led 159 laps and took Stage 2, second-best to race winner Kevin Harvick.

• Austin Dillon, who won one race in the regular season to swipe a playoff berth, advanced after a 12th-place finish.

The downs

• Damage to the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet ended William Byron’s day and playoff hopes early, prior to the end of Stage 2. Byron entered the Bass Pro Shops Night Race three points back of the postseason cutline. Read more on what happened here.

• Brad Keselowski’s No. 2 Team Penske Ford lost power steering in the final stage and ultimately got black-flagged by NASCAR due to not meeting minimum speed. He came to pit road, only to return to the track 86 laps down and finish 34th. Keselowski was already locked into the Round of 12 thanks to his win at Richmond Raceway last week.

Posted on September 19, 2020September 25, 2020 by Staff Report

Which channels have NASCAR programming this week? We answer that and give the weekly NASCAR television listings here in the NASCAR TV schedule.

Note: All times are ET.

MORE: How to find NBCSN | Get the NBC Sports App | How to find FS1 | Get FOX Sports App

Monday, Sept. 21
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App

Tuesday, Sept. 22
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App

On MRN
7 p.m., NASCAR Live

Wednesday, Sept. 23
6 p.m. NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App
7 p.m., NASCAR Race Classic: 1998 Daytona 500 (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App

Thursday, Sept. 24
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App

Friday, Sept. 25
7 p.m., Classic NASCAR: 1997 Daytona 500 (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App
7:30 p.m., Refuse to Lose: Jeff Gordon and the 1997 Daytona 500 (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App
8 p.m., Dale Jr. Download, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
8:30 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay: NGROTS, FS1/FOX Sports App
9 p.m., NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series World of Westgate 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, FS1/FOX Sports App

On MRN
8:30 p.m., NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series World of Westgate 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Saturday, September 26
8 a.m., NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series World of Westgate 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (re-air), FS2/FOX Sports App
10 a.m., NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series World of Westgate 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App
Noon, NASCAR Race Classic: 1994 Coke 600 (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App
1 p.m., Dale Jr. Download (re-air), NBCSN/NBC Sports App
7 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series Countdown to Green: Las Vegas, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
7:30 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series Alsco 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN3)
10 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series Post Race: Las Vegas, NBCSN/NBC Sports App

On PRN
7 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series Alsco 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Sunday, September 27
5 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Las Vegas, FS1/FOX Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6:30 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series Countdown to Green: Las Vegas, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
7 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN)
10:30 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series Post Race: Las Vegas, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
11 p.m., IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship (re-air), NBCSN/NBC Sports App

On PRN
6 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Posted on September 19, 2020September 20, 2020 by Staff Report

William Byron’s playoff hopes ended early Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway after contact damaged the nose of his No. 24 Chevrolet.

RELATED: Official race results

Byron entered Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race three points back of the postseason cutline and finished eighth in the first stage. But contact near the end of Stage 2 with the No. 95 Toyota of Christopher Bell ended his night as both cars tangled trying to avoid the drastically slowed No. 51 Ford of Joey Gase.

“I don’t know why he just stopped on the front straightaway,” Byron said over his team radio. “… What an idiot.”

Byron completed just 232 of the 500 laps at the .533-mile track and was scored 38th in the 40-car field. Crew chief Chad Knaus consoled the 22-year-old driver after he took the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet behind the wall.

“I think the No. 51 car (Gase) checked up in the middle of the straightaway. As fast as we were running the top, I was right behind the No. 95 (Bell) and I had literally nowhere to go,” Byron told NBC Sports. “You can’t stop in the middle of the straightaway when everybody is so committed to the top like that. Just ridiculous that that’s what takes us out. I thought honestly we had a shot to run top five or seven. The car was really, really good. We just needed a couple good pit stops. We were running probably ninth or 10th there. Just super disappointing – I’ve got to go back and watch that because that was kind of ridiculous.”

Though his championship eligibility ended before the halfway point at Bristol, Byron was able to find positives when asked to assess the No. 24 team’s season as a whole. His third year in the Cup Series produced his first victory — a clutch win in the regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway.

“Yeah, I think it’s been a great season,” Byron said. “I think that we’ve performed well. I think we would have liked to perform better, based on how we ended last year. But we got a win and I feel like really the last five or six weeks, we’ve had all top-10 runs, besides Richmond, which is our worst track. I don’t know – hopefully continue being fast the next few weeks.”

Posted on September 19, 2020September 19, 2020 by Staff Report

Three Joe Gibbs Racing cars will start from the rear for the start of Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Bristol Night Race (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The No. 11 of Denny Hamlin, the No. 18 of Kyle Busch and the No. 20 of Erik Jones all failed pre-race technical inspection twice and will start the 500-lapper at the tail of the field. Hamlin is the defending race winner and was slated to start seventh. Busch is an eight-time Bristol winner and was set to start ninth. Jones was scheduled to line up 20th.

Starting from the rear carries a potential impact to Busch — the reigning series champion — and his hopes of advancing on to the Round of 12. He enters the race +18 on the cutline and ninth in the standings. Busch did start from the rear at Richmond Raceway and finished sixth last weekend. Hamlin is already locked in to the Round of 12, while Jones is not part of this year’s playoff field.

Nearly an hour before the green flag, NASCAR competition officials announced three more cars will fall to the rear of the field during pace laps:

No. 15 Premium Motorsports Chevrolet for a driver change; JJ Yeley replaced Brennan Poole after the lineup was set
No. 32 Go Fas Racing Ford of Corey LaJoie (unapproved adjustments)
No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet of Bubba Wallace (unapproved adjustments)

Posted on September 19, 2020September 19, 2020 by Nick Giffen

The Action Network specializes in providing sports betting insights/analytics and is a content partner with NASCAR. Check out more NASCAR betting analysis here.

The Bass Pro Shops Night Race (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) marks the final race of the first round of the playoffs. Usually races at Bristol are wild affairs, with an average of 11.2 cautions over the last five low-downforce races. That includes a 17-caution race earlier this year.

At a race with such volatility, we can take advantage of longer shots, especially in head-to-head matchups. Here are three props to bet for tonight’s race.

NASCAR at Bristol Odds, Betting Picks

Ryan Blaney (+250) over Chase Elliott

This one is a bit of a doozy. Blaney has actually led more laps than Elliott in terms of percentage of laps run in each of the last three low-downforce Bristol races. In addition, he’s had a higher percentage of fastest laps relative to laps run than Elliott in two of three races.

Simply put, Blaney has been slightly better than Elliott at Bristol under low-downforce rules. Blaney also has the added element of needing to win to advance, while Elliott just needs to keep his nose clean. That allows Blaney to have more aggression.

Once again, this generous head-to-head matchup is available at BetMGM. I’d take Blaney down to +110.

[Bet Blaney over Elliott at BetMGM and get an INSTANT $500 deposit match.]

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (+275) for a Top-10 finish

If we stick with the lower-downforce races in 2017, 2018 and 2020, it looks even more promising since Stenhouse’s average green flag speed was no worse than 13th for an individual race. Three of those five races landed him inside the top 10 in average speed.

A driver who is consistently hugging the top 10 in average speed should not be this heavy of an underdog to finish there.

Stenhouse has six top-10 finishes in 15 starts at Thunder Valley for a 40% top-10 finish rate. If that was his long-term average, then +150 would be much more of a fair number. Of course, he’s not in Roush equipment, but the JTG Daugherty ride isn’t much of a drop off, especially at Bristol.

This +275 offering is available at BetMGM. I’d bet Stenhouse down to +210, which is where he’s priced at both DraftKings and FanDuel. It’s also where rookies Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell are being priced.

I’d say his chances of a top-10 finish align with these two drivers.

[Bet Stenhouse at BetMGM and get an INSTANT $500 deposit match.]