The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Tennessee this week for Friday’s Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The CW App will air Xfinity Series qualifying Friday at 3:05 p.m. ET. A 50-minute practice session is scheduled for Friday at 2 p.m. ET, also airing on The CW App.
By the numbers, Sammy Smith had an average regular season. But he doesn’t think that should sway you from believing that the No. 8 team is not a realistic threat for the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship.
“It’s been up and down; we haven’t been as consistent as we need to be,” Smith told NASCAR.com. “We’ve learned a lot about each other as a team. We’ve improved and made mistakes as a team as well. I feel like we’re in a really good place going into the playoffs.”
Speed hasn’t been an issue. To Smith, it was a lack of execution and failing post-race inspection at Charlotte Motor Speedway that cost the No. 8 bunch valuable points. The fourth-year driver is still on track to set new personal bests in top 10s and average finishes.
After tangling with Taylor Gray on the final lap at Martinsville Speedway in the spring, Smith felt he needed to reshape his image. He’s worked tirelessly to avoid any additional controversy, though it hasn’t hampered his performance.
“I think it made me grow better as a driver and as a person,” Smith said, reflecting on Martinsville. “In the moment, I thought it was the best thing to do to try and win the race. Obviously, after the fact, I didn’t win the race, and it wasn’t the best thing to do.”
Smith shies away from listening to outside noise. Unless he’s getting critiqued by NASCAR Hall of Famer/JRM co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. or someone with senior experience, he handles himself accordingly.
“We told him, everyone thinks [you’re] a punk, you’re giving them a good reason to think that, don’t give them the reason,” Earnhardt said on the Sept. 2 edition of the “Dale Jr Download.” “Go out there and figure it out. Go out there and rebuild, gain back your reputation. He’s worked hard to be solid, and he has. I’ve seen him get better as a driver.”
With the points reset, Smith jumped to the sixth seed on the playoff grid, four points above the cutline entering Friday’s Round of 12 opener at Bristol Motor Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The playoff venues line up well for the No. 8 team, with past victories at Phoenix Raceway (2023) and Talladega Superspeedway (2024).
“It’s the best place that I’ve been in probably the past few years,” Smith said of entering the playoffs. “We have a stronger team. We’ve had a lot more speed this year than we had last year. The races that are in the playoffs suit our style, my style and what I like. I think that’s to our advantage.”
Smith has come up clutch in the playoffs in the last two years. His Talladega victory came in Hail Mary fashion; his only path to the Round of 8 in 2024 was by winning. As pilot of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, he was in position to win the penultimate race of the 2023 season at Martinsville, leading a career-high 147 laps from the pole until the race went haywire in the waning laps.
“It’s that mindset of being back on an even playing ground,” Smith said. “Momentum is a big thing in racing, and once you get it and are on it, you can keep riding that.”
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The opening round in 2025 could be the most challenging round for Smith. He has a pair of top-10 finishes in four Bristol starts, including a fourth-place effort in the spring. He has an average finish of 21.7 in three attempts at Kansas Speedway. With an average finish of 10.5 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, he’s also respectable at the 17-turn layout.
The mindset, according to the No. 8 team, will be a straightforward one.
“You have to take it one stage at a time,” Phillip Bell, crew chief of No. 8 Chevy, said. “You can’t overthink it. You have to take it one race at a time.”
According to Bell, no tracks in the opening two rounds of the playoffs scare the No. 8 team. Smith has been mediocre through five starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but he is a threat on superspeedways and is normally in the mix at Martinsville.
“I don’t want to look too far out, but there’s not a track in the Round of 12 or Round of 8 that is worrying me,” Bell said. “Last year, we struggled pretty bad at Bristol, and we hit on something in the spring with Sammy and fought for a win there and was solid top five all day. Kansas, JRM always runs well there. Roval, we’ve made gains on it. Round of 8: Vegas, Talladega, Martinsville, that’s three tracks that you go there and expect to win.”
Given Smith has only five top fives (tied for the second fewest among all playoff drivers) and led 62 laps this season (second fewest), he could be considered a sleeper. Just don’t tell that to the No. 8 crew.
“The people that are around me and the team know what we’re capable of,” Smith said. “We expect to be in the final four. I’m sure to a lot of people on paper, it probably looks like we’re not very good as a team and we struggle, but I think we can prove a lot of people wrong and prove to ourselves that we can do it.”
Bell’s goals are loftier, expecting to hoist the title come the championship race at Phoenix.
“The expectation is to win the championship,” Bell said. “The expectation is to be in the final four, and he’s won at Phoenix before. Anything less than that is failure.”
Such a bond translates to the race track, where endless competitiveness drives both to achieve their absolute best.
This friendship-competition mix will transition to the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs, beginning at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where both drivers will embark on their respective quests for championship glory.
“It’s easy to blend the two together, your outside friend life and your racing job, almost, and it’s easy to forget that we are different people when we put our helmets on,” Zilisch, driver of the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, said during Xfinity Series Playoffs Media Day. “But thankfully, I’ve got a great friend group that we can go out and compete and be fierce competitors on the race track, and then come off the track and not treat each other how we do on the race track and be friendly. And it’s a hard balance because you don’t want to wreck your friend, you don’t want to have incidents with friends of yours, but you just kind of have to expect it if you’re going to race around each other. And if you’re going to kind of be friends, you have to understand that on the other side of it, you’re gonna have to race against each other, too. And some things could happen.”
Love and Zilisch’s first interaction came at the Trackhouse Motorplex, where a young Love — then a Toyota Racing Development (TRD) driver — was learning the go-karting ropes. While Love liked Zilisch, he wasn’t ready to heed advice from him; initial attempts by Zilisch to provide pointers to Love were rebuffed.
That is, until Zilisch — a well-known karting phenom — hopped into a machine himself and turned a few laps. Such speed from Zilisch on the course resonated with Love, and following a transition from squashing to receiving advice, the two popped off.
“We got along then, and then basically have hung out and realized we like the same music, talk about the same things, have the same sense of humor, like the same food,” Love, driver of the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, said during Xfinity Series Playoffs Media Day. “So yeah, we’ve obviously hit it off since.”
Jonathan Bachman | Getty Images
Fast forward to 2025, and both drivers aim to leave their mark in championship-clinching fashion. Entering the Round of 12 opener at Bristol, Zilisch has taken the field by storm; the 19-year-old begins postseason play 59 points above the playoff cutline, riding a four-race winning streak. The 20-year-old Love — who won the 2025 season opener at Daytona International Speedway — enters the playoffs eight markers to the good.
Although the 2025 playoffs will be the first time both drivers have competed against each other for championship hardware in one of NASCAR’s national series, neither believes the raised stakes will alter their friendship.
“I don’t think the playoffs really will change too much,” said Zilisch, who is now one of 25 different rookies to qualify for the Xfinity Series Playoffs since its inception in 2016. “I obviously hope that we don’t have any run-ins, and we’re not battling for a transfer spot into the playoffs or anything like that. And that could create some tension, but we don’t let what happens on the track affect our relationship and friendship off the track. It’s easy to forget sometimes, but it’s important for us to have each other to lean on off the track and have that friendship, but not let it get in the way of what we’re doing on the track.”
Motivation abounds for both drivers as the postseason looms. For Zilisch, the opportunity is present to cap off an adventurous season with an Xfinity title ahead of his full-time move to the Cup Series next season with Trackhouse Racing.
To Love, the opportunity is also present to not only seize an Xfinity Series title but do so against a good friend, with motivation from past competitions with Zilisch as steady fuel to continue improving. Love and Zilisch have finished inside the top five together five times, including a 1-2 finish at Pocono Raceway in June.
“Does it suck? Getting beat by your friend, yeah, it sucks,” Love said. “I’m not going to try to lie about that and say it doesn’t exist. It does exist. It isn’t fun. I do wish I was on the other side of that coin right now. But I also know that my timing is what it is for a certain reason … so I’m not necessarily worried about it. It does motivate me to get better. I’ve definitely gotten better this year as a driver, as a leader, as an athlete, because Connor’s motivated me because I don’t want to be second fiddle to him. That is something that gets my mood. It is something that bothers me, something that I’m not OK with, but at the same time, what’s the mindset that I have to have to achieve my goal is to try to a little bit disassociate from the result and focus more on maximizing my day every weekend.”
And maximize every weekend, these friends and competitors are sure to do so in their next adventure.
Hendrick Motorsports will have new pit-crew personnel set to go over the wall for Alex Bowman and the No. 48 Chevrolet this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, aiming to provide a boost to the team’s fortunes in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
The No. 48 Chevy team will use four pit-crew members previously with the No. 77 Spire Motorsports group and driver Carson Hocevar in Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race (7:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App). Hendrick Motorsports supplies Spire’s three-car operation with pit-crew athletes.
The move comes after pit-stop gaffes for the No. 48 team in consecutive weeks to open the Cup Series Playoffs. Bowman was slowed by a nearly 40-second stop in the postseason opener at Darlington Raceway two weeks ago, when the pit-gun air hoses became disconnected. Bowman never recovered from the lost ground and finished 31st, two laps down. Last Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, the jack dropped before the left-rear wheel was fully fastened in a mid-race stop, and the time lost knocked Bowman from seventh to 30th in the running order. He finished 26th after a pit-road speeding penalty compounded his issues.
“It was just really poor execution on all angles today,” Bowman said Sunday at Gateway. “It was a bummer.”
Bowman ranks 15th of the 16 drivers eligible for the Cup Series title, and he faces a 35-point deficit entering Saturday’s elimination race, which will trim four drivers from the playoff field.
The No. 48 team did not make a switch at the fueler position. Pitting the No. 48 this weekend will be: Daniel Bach (front changer), Rod Cox (rear changer), Jarius Morehead (tire carrier), Cody French (jack) and Jacob Conley (fueler).
Pitting the No. 77 Chevrolet this weekend will be: Donnie Tasser (front changer), Andrew Bridgeforth (rear changer), Brandon Grier (tire carrier), Allen Holman (jack) and Zico Pasut (fueler).
Five thousand NASCAR-themed Teddy Bears will be delivered to hospitals across the United States, Mexico and Canada.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The NASCAR Foundation and Kaulig Giving are once again teaming up for National Teddy Bear Day, delivering 5,000 NASCAR-themed teddy bears to children in 135 hospitals across all 50 states, as well as Mexico and Canada, for the ninth annual “Speedy Bear Brigade.”
In addition to delivering Speedy Bears to multiple different hospitals, The NASCAR Foundation will be giving $10,000 grants to select hospitals participating in Speedy Bear Brigade. These donations are made possible through the Foundation’s Speediatrics Children’s Fund, which supports needs expressed by hospitals, specialty clinics, camps, and others providing children’s medical and health care services.
“Each year, Speedy Bear Brigade continues to grow and expand, allowing us to create more memories and craft special moments for children in hospitals across North America, and we truly couldn’t do it without the support of our friends at Kaulig Giving,” said Nichole Krieger, executive director and vice president, The NASCAR Foundation. “Seeing the joy and smiles that these NASCAR-themed Teddy Bears bring to a child’s face is what this program is all about.”
This year’s efforts mark the biggest to date with 135 hospitals participating across North America, topping last year’s number that previously held the highest sum. The Speedy Bear Brigade initiative honors National Teddy Bear Day, celebrated on Sept. 9, with hospital visits taking place in multiple race markets and communities surrounding NASCAR tracks.
The Brigade kicks off in Akron, Ohio, with the first Speedy Bear delivery of the year taking place in the home of Kaulig headquarters. This will be the fifth year Kaulig Giving has partnered with The NASCAR Foundation for Speedy Bear Brigade.
“It’s always special to kick off the Speedy Bear Brigade right here in our backyard at Akron Children’s,” said Matt Kaulig, executive chairman and founder of Kaulig Giving. “Our partnership with The NASCAR Foundation is a perfect fit, as Kaulig Giving shares the same mission of helping children live happier and healthier lives. A stay here is never easy for kids, and these bears are a simple way to deliver comfort, positivity and cheer to children across the country.”
NASCAR fans can join the Speedy Bear Brigade by making a $25 donation to sponsor a Speedy Bear and have that bear delivered to a child in participating hospitals. Fans can visit NASCARfoundation.org/speedybear to donate.
NASCAR Cup Series teams will race with a new, softer right-side tire from Goodyear this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, a shift that brings a new wrinkle to the first elimination race of the 2025 playoffs.
The move to a slightly softer right-side rubber compound in Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race (7:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) marks the first change after four Bristol events with the same tire setup. Goodyear joined the track in announcing the decision last Friday, indicating that the new right-sides should promote greater wear — providing an extra opportunity for tire management to factor into the strategy for both teams and drivers.
The annual 500-lap night race on the 0.533-mile track is the last of three races in the postseason’s opening Round of 16. The outcome will determine the 12 drivers who advance to the playoffs’ next round and the four drivers who will be bumped from championship eligibility.
Goodyear officials noted weather changes as a prime reason for selecting the weekend’s tire setup. The Cup Series last raced at Bristol during the daytime on April 13, when high temperatures in the Tennessee hills only topped out in the mid-60s. Though the postseason’s Round of 16 finale this weekend will be an evening start as the sun sets, the green flag will wave after an afternoon with temps forecast to reach the low 80s.
Mark Keto, Goodyear Senior Project Manager for NASCAR, said that with cars putting down more rubber in warmer conditions on the high-banked concrete surface, a pivot toward more tread wear was the preference.
“The big thing is the track temperature difference between the spring races and the fall race,” Keto said. “We know concrete, particularly Bristol, is very finicky when it comes to track temp on this Next Gen car and the entire setup we’ve been running. As we saw in the spring of last year, we had significant higher wear, probably a little too heavy. Then, in the fall, kind of flipped the script because the warmer track temp. So we wanted to make a change. Drivers have asked us to be aggressive.”
An aggressive stance toward softer Goodyear rubber and advanced wear has been a trend in recent years, especially on NASCAR’s shorter ovals. A springtime meet on Bristol’s bullring last season provided a crossroads moment toward that direction, with Denny Hamlin prevailing in a wild 500-lapper with a record 54 lead changes and significant tire wear — “a drastic departure from what we expected,” Goodyear reps said at the time.
Goodyear officials and NASCAR have collaborated to find a happy medium ever since, and this weekend’s adjustment is part of that plan.
“I don’t think they want tire drama like we had a couple years ago,” said Trackhouse’s Ross Chastain, one of 16 drivers aiming to stave off elimination Saturday night. “At the end of the day, it all has to go through the tire to get to the track. I trust the folks at Goodyear to do what they do best. This is their wheelhouse, pun intended. I trust them to bring a good tire that’s going to work for me and be reliable, and also pay a penalty if I abuse it and it’s going to slow down later in the run. Whatever it is, we will learn from it. That’s why we have practice.”
Said Keto: “It’s softer, but not softer in the sense that we’re trying to add a bunch of grip. It’s softer in the sense of we’re trying to get more tread wear when we know the track takes rubber and is rubbered in, obviously tire wear and entire fall-off get reduced when the track takes rubber. So we’re trying to get more tread wear when the track does have rubber on it.”
The amount of rubber that will be worked in could be excessive. Four series will be in action at Bristol during a three-day span, with the Xfinity Series, Craftsman Truck Series and ARCA Menards Series scheduled as preliminaries to the Cup Series main event.
Cup Series director Brad Moran said Tuesday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that competition officials plan to treat the track’s bottom lane — four feet off the apron — with a traction compound, with the potential to reapply the product each day depending on how the rubber reacts.
Goodyear officials indicated that the left-side tire will remain unchanged from the Cup Series’ most recent Bristol stop in April. The new right-side Bristol rubber will be making its only scheduled appearance this season. Cup Series teams will have 11 sets of tires available — nine fresh for the race, one for practice and another set that carries over from qualifying to the race.
Keto said that Goodyear tire tests have been held at Bristol in the summertime months the last two years. This summer, Goodyear was unable to schedule a test session at Bristol because of the major transformation that the venue underwent for last month’s Major League Baseball Speedway Classic.
Denny Hamlin showed out once again, collecting his series-best fifth win of 2025 and locking himself into the Round of 12 with Sunday’s World Wide Technology Raceway victory. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver maintains his perennial Championship 4 aspirations, but if he were to reach it this year, could he be joined by one of his 23XI Racing drivers alongside him for the first time?
Analysis: The veteran delivered yet another signature performance Sunday at Gateway, leading 75 laps to claim his fifth win of 2025 and punch his ticket to the Round of 12 alongside teammate Chase Briscoe. With four career Bristol wins and a proven track record of playoff prowess, Hamlin enters the elimination race with utmost confidence and the luxury of focusing purely on accumulating playoff points for future rounds.
Analysis: The now two-time defending Southern 500 champion rebounded from a mid-race mishap to finish a strong second at Gateway behind teammate Denny Hamlin, earning valuable stage points and maintaining his playoff points advantage from his Darlington victory and stage wins. Already locked into the Round of 12, Briscoe can attack Bristol with maximum aggression, using his short-track skills and proven ability to rise in big moments to potentially add another playoff point tally before the elimination race cuts his competition by a quarter.
Analysis: Larson bounced back from his Darlington struggles with a 41-point, 12th-place Gateway finish, enjoying a comfortable 60-point cushion above the cutline heading into Bristol. His dominant Bristol history — including leading a track-record 462 laps to a win in 2024’s night race — makes him the favorite to control Saturday’s elimination contest and potentially lock up his Round of 12 spot with another signature Bristol performance as this team looks to regain its early-season footing.
Analysis: The Team Penske driver grabbed a crucial fourth-place Gateway finish to strengthen his playoff position and leave with a 42-point margin above elimination. While Team Penske hasn’t translated much recent success into wins at Bristol (no current driver for the team has won there in a decade), Blaney’s consistent short-track skill and ability to stay clean under pressure make him a solid contender to advance through the cutoff race by accumulating necessary stage points and avoiding wrecks.
Analysis: An eighth-place Gateway performance moved Wallace into fourth in points with an astounding 50-point cushion, as he goes from a late-clinching playoff driver to sudden potential championship heavyweight. While Bristol hasn’t been his strongest venue historically, he’s clearly riding a hot streak and could actually back up his first Bristol top five, collected in this race last year. Either way, he appears destined for the Round of 12. And then some.
Analysis: The Regular Season Champion managed an 11th-place Gateway result to maintain his 39-point cushion, but his Hendrick Motorsports team still appears to be searching for the speed that helped it dominate earlier in the season. His improving Bristol record in recent years and Hendrick’s historical ability to peak during playoff pressure should provide the foundation needed to safely advance, but he’s not out of the woods just yet.
Analysis: Bell salvaged a seventh-place Gateway result — despite having a car extremely capable of winning — to maintain his 32-point advantage above elimination, rebounding from his Darlington disaster to reinvigorate his championship hopes. His ability to run up front at Bristol makes him a winning threat and a solid bet to advance, provided the mechanical gremlins and pit-road issues that have been cropping up stay away.
Analysis: The past champion delivered his best Gateway performance with a third-place finish, extending his playoff margin to 28 points and showcasing the speed that’s been missing for much of the season. His recent Bristol improvements and ability to rise in elimination scenarios position him well to secure Round of 12 advancement and potentially build momentum for deeper playoff runs, though he’s yet to win at the “Last Great Colosseum” through 16 starts.
Analysis: Reddick slipped to 16th at Gateway, which trimmed his playoff points cushion to 37 but kept him safely above the cutline for now. Despite the less-than-ideal result, his gritty driving style and recent resilience bode well for Bristol’s physical, short-track racing. He’ll need to stay out of trouble and score stage points to avoid last-minute elimination risk, but his form suggests he can handle the pressure and advance with a solid outing, even though his Bristol results are lacking (one top 10 in eight starts).
Analysis: The three-time champion clawed to fifth at Gateway, improving his cutline margin to 21 points and buying himself just a bit of breathing room for Bristol’s elimination battle. He’s arguably the most dangerous driver currently sitting near the bubble, so his competitors would love to see him run into trouble Saturday night and halt his quest for a third title in four years.
Analysis: Cindric managed to stay in 12th with an 11-point buffer above the cutline after Gateway, clinging to the final advancement spot by the thinnest of margins despite rolling into the track as the defending winner. He’s in position to advance for now, but Cindric likely must leverage both strategy and clean, aggressive driving at Bristol to survive the elimination race — which may be a tall task with a 22.6 average finish there.
Analysis: Chastain struggled to 24th at Gateway, dropping his playoff buffer to just 19 points and putting him dangerously close to elimination territory heading into Bristol. His historically aggressive style could either vault him to safety or create the chaos that ends his championship hopes, as he’s kind of caught in between needing to go for the win or play it safe, making him one of the most unpredictable wildcards in Saturday’s cutoff race.
Analysis: The No. 3 driver sits 11 points below the other Austin under the cutline after Gateway but has a legitimate reason for optimism heading to Bristol, where he scored a top 10 earlier this year. Dillon’s Bristol history is also remarkably clean given the track’s volatile nature, so he could theoretically capitalize on chaos to climb above the elimination line by the time the checkered flag falls.
Analysis: SVG likely could have survived a 25th at Gateway if Darlington had produced the top 10 he was hoping for there, but instead, he now drops 15 points below the cutline and deeper into elimination territory. With limited NASCAR short-track experience and no standout Bristol performances to lean on, van Gisbergen faces a steep climb requiring either a miracle drive or significant chaos ahead to extend his playoff run.
Analysis: Bowman’s 26th-place Gateway finish left him 35 points below the cutline, putting him in an essential must-win scenario for Bristol’s elimination race without a lot of help. While he’s delivered clutch victories before, his inconsistent Bristol record, the steep points deficit and struggling pit crew make his advancement chances slim without a dramatic Saturday night performance.
Analysis: The sophomore’s playoff nightmare continued with a 36th-place Gateway finish and early exit that left him 45 points below the cutline and virtually eliminated barring a long-shot Bristol victory. He’s a short-track racer at heart, and there’s no reason to say this won’t happen, but it’s quite unlikely.
With Corey Heim now locked into the Round of 8, time is dwindling for the rest of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs field to join him. This Thursday, the circuit heads to the “World’s Fastest Half-Mile” for its second playoff contest (8 p.m. ET, FS1, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
After Bristol, only New Hampshire Motor Speedway remains in the opening round and two drivers will be eliminated following the conclusion of the Round of 10.
Brent Crews returns to the No. 1 Tricon Garage Toyota for his fifth start with the team. Corey Day will also be back behind the wheel of the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. Parker Kligerman will make his sixth start driving the No. 75 Henderson Motorsports Chevrolet.
Thirty-seven trucks are entered for the event, but only 36 can qualify for the race, meaning one team will miss the show.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs begin under the lights at Bristol Motor Speedway in the Food City 300 on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Regular Season Champion Connor Zilisch enters the postseason with a 59-point buffer over the cutline. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Taylor Gray currently holds the final provisional spot above the elimination line but is tied with JR Motorsports’ Carson Kvapil on the bubble. Sheldon Creed (minus-2), Harrison Burton (minus-3) and Austin Hill (minus-5) have three races to avoid elimination.
Brenden Queen, the 2024 CARS Late Model Stock Tour champion, will make his Xfinity debut driving the No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet. Jeffrey Earnhardt, grandson of seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt, returns to the No. 24 Sam Hunt Racing Toyota for his third start of the season. Josh Williams, who began the year driving the No. 11 Kaulig Chevrolet, will drive the No. 45 Alpha Prime Racing Chevrolet.
The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series will trim the playoff field from 16 drivers to 12 in the first elimination race of the season, Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
Thirty-nine cars were initially entered into the 65th annual race, including Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs driver Corey Heim in the No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota, Xfinity Series Playoffs driver Austin Hill in the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet and Chad Finchum in the No. 66 Garage 66 Ford.
