Posted on September 20, 2024September 21, 2024 by Zack Albert

Bass Pro Shops Night Race

(⏰ Saturday, 7 ET | USA Network | NBC Sports App | PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

Weekend schedule | TV schedule | Weather tracker | NASCAR 101

Location: Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol, TN.
Track length: 0.533 miles
Race purse: $9,222,417
Race distance: 500 laps | 266.5 miles
Stages: 125 | 250 | 500
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Starting lineup: Alex Bowman powers to pole position
Pit stall assignments: See where drivers will pit
Defending winner: Denny Hamlin, September 2023

Key things to watch

Friday sessions

Drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs swept the top five in an extended 45-minute practice session at Bristol Motor Speedway, with Ty Gibbs topping the chart at 124.719 mph in the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. The whole field took advantage of the extra track time, with 13 of the 37 entrants posting 100 or more laps in the session.

Hendrick Motorsports made it a 1-2-3 sweep in Busch Pole Qualifying, with Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson and William Byron securing the top three starting spots. The pole was Bowman’s first of the season, fifth of his Cup Series career and his first on the 0.533-mile Bristol track. Playoff drivers sealed eight of the top 10 slots on the grid, but five of the 16 postseason-eligible pros were outside the top 20 — Ryan Blaney (22nd), Brad Keselowski (23rd), Austin Cindric (27th), Harrison Burton (34th) and Daniel Suárez (35th). | Full Friday recap

Big story line

Where the rubber meets the road … to the Round of 12

The last time the Cup Series visited Bristol’s concrete-covered high banks in March, tire management emerged as a surprise strategy element. Added attention to tire wear and dramatic fall-off produced a series of curveballs, a track-record 54 lead changes, and ultimately a familiar winner in Denny Hamlin.

Goodyear officials are bringing back the same tire setup for this weekend’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race, and the prospects for a rubber-match repeat add an intriguing spin to the Round of 16 elimination event. Four drivers will be knocked from championship eligibility after Saturday’s 500-lapper, and the remaining dozen will advance to the postseason’s next phase.

A handful of outside factors may sway the tire performance metrics at Bristol between March and September, but Goodyear reps believe they’ve zeroed in on some of the recipe’s prime ingredients. The same tire configuration was also used here last fall but did not have such a pronounced amount of wear. The key difference: The track was prepared with a resin in March as opposed to the PJ1 traction compound that was applied last September, and Goodyear held a tire test with six teams at Bristol on July 16-17 to get a better grasp on the reasons for higher wear.

After a longer Friday practice session with the same tire configuration and the same track prep, the prospects for a Saturday night re-run are … well, mixed.

“I have no idea,” said Brad Keselowski, who finished third here in March. “We’ll see if Jekyll or Hyde shows up.”

“I mean, it’s so hard to predict,” Keselowski added. “We’re all over the place. We came and tested here in March, saw super-high tire wear, didn’t believe it. Went and ran the race and wore the tires right out. Then we came back here in August with the 17 car. Tires couldn’t go 20 laps again. Thought, oh, that’s what we’re gonna have when we come back. And now we’re showing no tire wear, so we have no idea what to expect.”

Teams and drivers alike came to the Tennessee mountains bracing for significant wear, but Friday’s preliminaries didn’t bear out out those predictions. After a Saturday morning discussion that gathered feedback from Goodyear reps, drivers and track management, NASCAR competition officials cleaned the top groove of excess rubber and applied PJ1 two feet off the bottom of the racing surface in the afternoon hours before the race.

Ethan Smith | NASCAR Digital Media

“Spring seems to be an asterisk,” said Ross Chastain, who qualified 12th. “I haven’t seen anything or felt anything that felt like the spring so far. As we ran through that first run, and we all got to Lap 20, 30, I’m like waiting on it to slip, or waiting on them to say caution, someone blew a tire. But we ran over 50, almost 60 laps. Old Bristol.”

How those tires will react in the Saturday nighttime hours versus the Friday late-afternoon sunshine, plus after a 300-lap Xfinity Series race’s rubbering-in, is still a toss-up.

“It’s so hard to tell,” Cliff Daniels, crew chief for Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 5 Chevrolet and second-starting Kyle Larson, told NASCAR.com. “I mean, I think the track conditions (Friday) were much more normal. There’s a lot more heat in the track, and the more heat you get into the track, really, the better it is for the tire, to get the tire to come in. So I think a lot of that’s what we saw today, which is great. It’s great to see not a lot of marbles, and come practice, the tires stayed together really well. Our stuff looked really good after practice. We ran a lot of hard laps up top, and the top had speed, which was good. To be honest, from our end, we’re really hoping for kind of an old-fashioned Bristol night race type feel, where you’ve got all the lanes and can move around a lot.

“The X factor for tomorrow night that’s a little different than today, is just going to be the track temp coming down a bit for the nighttime. But I still think there’s going to be enough rubber on track from today, from the Xfinity race tonight, that hopefully it’s a really racy track, and we don’t have all the chaos — which, even if the tire was coming apart, I don’t know that we would have all the chaos again because we all know what to expect, right? You know, the X factor back then was the element of surprise that you just don’t have. Now, if it were to start coming apart, I think we all know how to react pretty quick. So, yeah, we’re just hopeful for a really good, old-fashioned Bristol night race.”

Watching the Goodyear rubber will be one factor, but many eyeballs will also be on the running tally of the playoff picture. There’s separation for the top 10 drivers, but the last two drivers provisionally set to advance — Chase Briscoe and Ty Gibbs — are just six points above the elimination line. Denny Hamlin, a three-time winner this year, sits six points below, with Keselowski (minus-12), Martin Truex Jr. (minus-14) and Harrison Burton (minus-20) in order behind him and on the brink of seeing their playoff eligibility fade.

History tells us…

Qualifying quickness makes a difference. It’s not an absolute, but solid starting spots have often been an indicator of success at Bristol. In six of the last seven races, the winning driver has come from the top five on the starting grid. The pole winner has been the race winner 27 times at Bristol. Conversely, only twice has a driver won from 30th or worse — Dale Earnhardt Jr. from 30th in 2004 and Elliott Sadler from 38th in 2001.

History also hints that season sweeps at Bristol aren’t a major rarity. It’s happened 15 times since the track opened for business in 1961, and three drivers have done it more than once — Cale Yarborough (1974, ’76-’77), Darrell Waltrip (1981-83) and Dale Earnhardt (1985, ’87). If Denny Hamlin seals this season’s sweep of Bristol, he’ll be the first to achieve that feat since former teammate Kyle Busch in 2009.

He may not be the betting favorite to win, but watch out for…

KYLE BUSCH. Rowdy hasn’t had the same level of success during the Next Gen era as with previous generations of Cup Series race cars, but it’s still surprising to find an eight-time Bristol winner down the board as a 17-1 shot. Factor in a combined 14 more victories in other NASCAR national series, and it’s evident that Busch has a history of concrete results.

Busch’s frustrations this season have been well-documented, but recent weeks have shown signs of a turnaround. The No. 8 Chevrolet driver was 30th last week after a rough run at Watkins Glen but had registered a stretch of four consecutive top-10 finishes before last weekend — positives that could bode well for playing a Saturday night playoff spoiler, even when starting 29th on the grid. | Bristol odds

Speed reads

Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles.

• Inside Hamlin’s hopes: Simulations reveal razor’s edge for No. 11 | Read article
• Analysis: It’s time for Martin Truex to have get-off-my-lawn moment | Read article
• Dale Jr.’s determination: Earnhardt stops short of retirement, won’t run in ’25 | Read article
• Trade talk: Spire, Rick Ware Racing swap LaJoie, Haley for rest of 2024 | Read article
• On the move: Harrison Burton to team with AM Racing in Xfinity next year | Read article
• Cindric’s strength: Team Penske driver off to solid playoff start | Read article
• Back for more: Bubba Wallace signs multiyear extension with 23XI | Read article
• Bubble Watch: Turmoil swirls for title contenders at Bristol | Photo gallery
• Power Rankings: Few are safe in recent roll of playoff chaos | Photo gallery
• Turning Point: Hamlin’s trifecta try and a roundup of potential playoff spoilers | Read article
• Racing Insights: Full finishing order projections for Saturday’s Round of 16 finale | Read article
• 36 for 36: Check out this week’s survivor pool picks | Read article
• Fantasy Fastlane: Hamlin, Keselowski in need of rebounds | Photo gallery
• Fantasy Update: Hendrick aces show some muscle in qualifying | Read article
• Memorable moments: Relive history from the Last Great Colosseum | Photo gallery
• Walk-off winners: Playoff performances that converted in the clutch | Photo gallery
• NASCAR Classics: Rewind with Bristol full-race replays from the vault | Read article
• Paint Scheme Preview: Fresh designs for under the lights at Bristol | Pick your favorite

Fast facts ⏩

Race-relevant statistics, brought to you by the experts at Racing Insights.

• The four drivers currently below the elimination line — Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr. and Harrison Burton — collectively have 125 Cup Series wins. The 12 drivers above the divider have 135.
• The top three in the Cup Series’ most recent Bristol race in March: Hamlin, Truex, Keselowski — all below the elimination threshold here in September.
• Ford has won the last four Cup Series races with four different drivers: Chris Buescher (Watkins Glen), Joey Logano (Atlanta), Chase Briscoe (Darlington) and Harrison Burton (Daytona).

Posted on September 20, 2024 by Staff Report

See where your favorite NASCAR Cup Series driver will pit for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday (7 p.m. ET, USA, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

Posted on September 20, 2024September 20, 2024 by Dustin Albino

The expected tire wear that was on full display in a wild spring race at Bristol Motor Speedway didn’t occur in practice on Friday. That doesn’t mean tire wear should be forgotten about as lap times still fell off, just not as drastic as in March. Hendrick Motorsports beamed in qualifying, claiming the top three spots overall. Joe Gibbs Racing had a solid day at the office, with three of its four drivers making the final round of qualifying. Spire Motorsports even got a pair of its entries into the top 10.

RELATED: Set your Fantasy Live lineups

Dustin Albino’s race-day lineup:

Starter 1: Kyle Larson

Starter 2: Denny Hamlin

Starter 3: Christopher Bell

Starter 4: Ty Gibbs

Starter 5: Chris Buescher

Garage pick: Chase Elliott

NEXT IN LINE: Alex Bowman, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe

RISING: The Round of 16 has gone as planned for Bowman and the No. 48 team. His 79 points scored is tied with Austin Cindric for the most in the round of all playoff drivers. Bowman won’t have traffic out his windshield when he takes the green flag on Saturday, scoring his first pole award since last year’s Daytona 500 (he started first last spring at Richmond by the metric). It’s his first pole award on a non-superspeedway since the penultimate race of the 2016 season, filling in for Dale Earnhardt Jr. The No. 48 Chevrolet cracked the top 10 in practice on single-lap speed but was middle-of-the-road over the long run.

Scoring a monster points day compared to the rest of the playoff field at Watkins Glen, Chase Briscoe experienced a 27-point swing to the elimination line, one of the bigger swings in recent memory. His biggest hurdle in hanging on to one of the final spots, he thought, would be qualifying. The No. 14 team delivered on Friday, as Briscoe will start fifth. We’ve seen this story in past Bristol races (Briscoe has yet to score a top 10 after two top-10 starting spots in four starts), so I’m not moving the No. 14 car into my lineup.

FALLING: With subpar performances to open the Round of 16 at Atlanta and Watkins Glen, Brad Keselowski’s bid for a second Cup championship could come to a screeching halt this weekend. Keselowski, a three-time Bristol winner, lacked speed in qualifying and will take the green flag on Saturday night from 23rd position. It’s not over for Keselowski, though, as his RFK Racing teammate Chris Buescher won the Bristol night race in 2022 after starting 20^th – and 500 laps is a long time at the half-mile bullring. However, it might be a stretch to score quality stage points.

After Daniel Suarez reflected on his recent track record at Bristol last weekend, he joked that he wanted a 75-point cushion over the elimination line entering Bristol. Instead, he is 36 points to the good, and while that is comfortable, the No. 99 team might be stressing about its speed – or lack thereof. Suarez was listed as someone to stay away from in Fastlane earlier this week, but it’s even worse than anticipated. Suarez was 35th on 10-lap averages in practice and matched that in qualifying.

FEATURED MATCHUPS:

Denny Hamlin vs. Kyle Larson: This highly competitive matchup is about as tough to decide now as it was projected earlier this week. Larson appeared to have a tick more speed, leading the way on 25- and 30-lap averages. Hamlin had solid pace, but not as lights out as Larson, who might have the best car in the field entering Saturday evening.

Brad Keselowski vs. Martin Truex Jr.: At some point, Truex’s racing luck has to flip, right? The only problem is, historically, Bristol is among his worst tracks on the schedule. Meanwhile, it was the No. 19 Toyota that was superior to Keselowski in qualifying. Truex did fall off heavier on the long run and, because this is a heads-up matchup, I’ll keep Keselowski. RFK Racing has been stellar at Bristol, so all hope shouldn’t be lost on the No. 6 car this weekend.

Chase Briscoe vs. Ty Gibbs: In one of Briscoe’s most impressive qualifying efforts of the year, this matchup got more challenging to decide. Gibbs nearly wiped out in qualifying and still managed to barely miss the cut and will line up 13th. I’ll stay with the No. 54 car, which has led more than 100 laps in the last two Bristol events.

Chase Elliott vs. Ryan Blaney: On first glance, I almost placed Blaney into the “falling” category. It was a mediocre day for Team Penske, with all three of its entries starting 20th or worse. But the No. 12 car showed great speed during longer runs, leading the way on 10-, 15- and 20-lap averages in practice. But history leans in the favor of Elliott. He was the lowest of the HMS drivers in qualifying, but still had a respectable showing in 10th.

Posted on September 20, 2024September 20, 2024 by Reid Spencer

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Alex Bowman continued his solid effort in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs on Friday, securing the pole position for Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway (7 p.m. ET, USA, NBC Sports App, PRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

In the final round of times trials at the 0.533-mile high-banked concrete track, Bowman sped around the “World’s Fastest Half Mile” in 15.142 seconds (126.720 mph) — the fastest lap of the day — to earn his first Busch Light Pole Award of the season by 0.003 seconds over Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron (126.695 mph).

Because Bowman and Byron both qualified in Group B, Byron will start third, with fellow Hendrick driver Kyle Larson (fastest from Group A at 126.378 mph) on the front row beside Bowman.

RELATED: Starting lineup | At-track photos

After finishing fifth at Atlanta and 18th at Watkins Glen, Bowman enters the elimination race fourth in the playoff standings, 41 points above the current cut line for the Round of 12. After Saturday’s race, the bottom four of the 16 playoff drivers will be eliminated from title eligibility.

“In qualifying, I had a lot of grip,” said Bowman, who won his first pole at Bristol and the fifth of his career. “I was a little bit too tight. It was one of those situations where you run a lap, and it’s either going to be really good or really slow. When you’re tight, you slow down so you can turn.

“Obviously, after the first round (where he tied Chase Briscoe for the fastest lap), I felt really good about it. Thankful to start up front and qualify well. Obviously, qualifying has been not our strongest suit over the years, so being the cutoff race and everything, starting up front is really important.”

With Chase Elliott claiming the 10th spot on the grid, all four Hendrick drivers advanced to the final round.

Martin Truex Jr., who starts the night race 15th in the standings and 14 points below the cut line, helped his chances with a qualifying effort that earned the fourth starting spot.

Likewise, teammate Denny Hamlin — six points on the wrong side of the bubble — hopes to make good use of his eighth-place qualifying effort. Hamlin has won the last two races at Thunder Valley.

Briscoe will start fifth, one position ahead of points leader Christopher Bell. Non-playoff drivers Carson Hocevar and Corey LaJoie, both of Spire Motorsports, will take the green flag from the seventh and ninth positions, respectively.

Other playoff drivers qualified as follows: Ty Gibbs 13th, Tyler Reddick 15th, Joey Logano (already locked into the Round of 12 with a victory at Atlanta) 20th, defending series champion Ryan Blaney 22nd, Austin Cindric 27th, Harrison Burton 34th and Daniel Suárez 35th.

Burton has the highest mountain to climb. He’s 16th in the Playoff standings, 20 points below the cutoff with elimination looming.

Gibbs fastest in practice

The No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing driver put down the quickest lap of 124.719 mph during Friday afternoon’s 45-minute practice session. Blaney (124.018 mph), Larson (123.987 mph), Byron (123.987 mph) and Elliott (123.833 mph) put down the five fastest circuits.

MORE: Practice results

Blaney was fastest in 10, 15 and 20 consecutive lap averages, while Larson bested the field in 25 and 30 consecutive lap averages.

Contributing: Staff report

Posted on September 20, 2024September 20, 2024 by Zack Albert

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Spire Motorsports and Rick Ware Racing announced Friday that the two organizations will swap drivers Justin Haley and Corey LaJoie, starting with next weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway on Sept. 29 (3 p.m. ET, USA, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

LaJoie will take over the RWR No. 51 Ford, and Haley will slide into the No. 7 Spire Chevrolet for the final seven races of the season in what team representatives termed “an old-fashioned player trade.” The news was announced Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway in a joint news conference with Rick Ware Racing president Robby Benton, Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson, and both drivers.

Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race (7 ET, USA, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) will be the last event for each driver in their current rides. Dickerson said that Haley will be the No. 7 team’s driver in 2025, pairing with incoming crew chief Rodney Childers; Benton indicated that the Ware group will reassess its plans for next season after the final seven races.

Haley joined the Rick Ware-owned team this season after the organization announced signing him to a multiyear deal in July 2023. The 25-year-old driver’s partnership with Spire marks a return to the organization that gave him his Cup Series debut in 2019 when he landed his first premier-series victory in just his third career start at Daytona International Speedway.

Spire has made big moves in the last 12 months, purchasing Kyle Busch Motorsports, signing veteran Michael McDowell for 2025 and bringing in a championship-winning crew chief in Childers next season. Haley said those conversations about a potential shift started in earnest near the two-week midsummer break in the Cup Series schedule.

“Monday’s a new page for me, kind of back to where I started my first Cup Series career races and spent a lot of time there while I was racing Xfinity, doing both,” said Haley, who sits 32nd in the Cup Series points with a pair of top 10s in 2024. “So yeah, when Jeff Dickerson called me with this opportunity, presented it, I knew it was something that gave me a little bit more long-term stability and a good path for the future.”

LaJoie, 32, has been with Spire since the start of the 2021 campaign. He signed a multiyear extension in August 2023 but announced in late July he would not return to the No. 7 Chevy next season. LaJoie called the pending departure “bittersweet,” considering the bonds he’s built during the last three-plus years.

“It’s a band of brothers because you are forged just in the trenches of Sunday racing,” said LaJoie, 28th in the Cup Series standings entering Bristol. “Those guys have inspired and provided for me an incredible platform, and I’m excited for some clarity over what my future might look like to finish the rest of the year with Robbie and Rick and the entire group over there. It’s unprecedented. It’s going to be interesting to just change over seats, but at the end of the day, I can’t see what the number on the side of the car is, so I’m going to drive that thing just like I stole it each and every week and try to keep the wheels pointing in same direction and see where it all shakes out from there.”

MORE: Cup Series standings | Cup Series schedule

Benton did not shed greater light on how RWR’s two-car roster might take shape for next season, except to say that both the Nos. 15 and 51 entries will be on the Cup Series grid in 2025. Haley has driven the No. 51 Ford in all 28 races so far, and the No. 15 Mustang has been split among Kaz Grala, Cody Ware and Riley Herbst.

Benton said that the final seven-race stretch will be telling.

“We still think the world of Justin. He’s helped us tremendously this year to build RWR to what it is, and to make it attractive enough for someone like Corey to want to come here and get a shot,” Benton said. “So what we’re trying to do is take advantage of an opportunity that I think helps everyone. For us, it gives us the last part of the season to evaluate how well we work together. I think we would be foolish not to lean into the opportunity to work with somebody like Corey, but we need to make sure that we can do what we need to do together, right? And that’s the unique opportunity we can take in these last seven races.”

Posted on September 20, 2024September 21, 2024 by Zach Sturniolo

BRISTOL, Tenn. — The last time Dale Earnhardt Jr. climbed from his NASCAR Xfinity Series car at Bristol Motor Speedway, flames were nipping at his ankles as a mechanical failure parked him late in the race.

Earnhardt Jr. returns to the 0.533-mile bullring Friday night to drive the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet in what he said may be his final start in a NASCAR national series race as he has no plans to compete in the Xfinity Series in 2025.

“Well, I’m not planning on racing next year,” Earnhardt said Friday in the Bristol media center. “I’ll be foolish to say I’m never going to run again because I don’t know well enough to stay away from it, and I’ll probably miss it next year and be absolutely willing to sign up because of anything that might be beneficial to JR Motorsports. I have to remind fans and people that follow us that I run this race and have ran this race over the last several years because of the big benefit that it is to JR Motorsports. It’s a package deal where Hellmann’s and Unilever has put their logos on Justin’s [Allgaier] car and it’s helped fill out that car. And I don’t have a requirement to run next year, so I may just not do it. And I will miss it terribly, regret that I didn’t race and probably in 2026 find me somewhere that I can go compete in the Xfinity Series again. But right now, I don’t have any plans.”

Earnhardt is a two-time series champion with 24 wins, 71 top fives and 95 top 10s through 146 starts and was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2021. The 49-year-old made two starts in 2023 and has competed in at least one Xfinity race every year since 2001, winning titles in 1998 and 1999 with 13 victories combined across both seasons. He is also a 26-time winner in the NASCAR Cup Series and the sport’s 15-time most popular driver.

Earnhardt’s starts last year were memorable, with one each at Bristol and Homestead-Miami Speedway. The veteran driver especially shined on the Bristol high banks, leading 47 laps and averaging an 8.3 running position — with significant time inside the top five — before a mechanical issue cut his night short. He followed that effort with a fifth-place finish at the 1.5-mile Homestead oval.

Even better news for Dale Jr. fans is that the No. 88 Chevrolet visited Victory Lane just one week ago with Connor Zilisch’s stellar showing in a debut win at Watkins Glen International.

“Had a great car last year. Really, really great car,” Earnhardt said. “And no surprise the 88 has been fast every time they take it to the race track, no matter who’s driving it this year. So I feel pretty good about the car being good again. It’s the same car ran last year. They took it home, tore it apart, put it back together, and nobody’s drove it since then. So hoping it’ll drive as good as it did last year.

“And no pressure in qualifying. Last year we came here, we were one of the eight or so drivers that could miss the race if something were to go wrong in qualifying. So we don’t have to worry about that and can just get in the car and practice and see where we need to be on the race track and try to get through qualifying and be ready for the race.”

His one-off appearances, however, may be ending following Friday’s 300-lap contest, perhaps capping a career that dates back to 1996. He has not appeared to lose a step, nabbing four top-five finishes in his last seven Xfinity starts.

“I’m just going to see how badly I miss it and see,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I mean I figure I’ve only got a handful of these years left to be relatively somewhat competitive, but I’m gonna be fine.”

Earnhardt has found his way back to the cockpit of a race car more frequently in 2024, however, making multiple starts in the No. 3 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports in Pro Stock Late Model races this year.

“I found what I love, to be honest with you, driving that Late Model stock car,” Earnhardt said. “I mean, the things that I’ll enjoy (Friday) are there as well, and I can go to some grassroots race track and have a good time and enjoy what I love about driving cars just the same. So I’m gonna continue to do that next year as well.”

Earnhardt was 17th on single-lap speeds in Friday’s Xfinity Series practice, but was third-fastest in 20-lap averages of the 16 drivers who made runs of at least 20 consecutive laps.

Posted on September 20, 2024September 27, 2024 by Steve Luvender

NASCAR.com’s 36 for 36 continues at Bristol Motor Speedway.

With 36 races and 36 full-time Charter cars, our players select one car per race, but there’s a simple twist: once they’ve made the pick, they can’t choose that car again for the rest of the 36-race season. Yes, that means every car will be selected exactly once … a survivor pool, by another name.

Follow along weekly as our panel of pickers — Dustin Albino from Jayski, along with Steve Luvender and Cameron Richardson from NASCAR.com — embarks on a season-long journey to think like strategists and prove their picking prowess.

We’ll also feature a fourth “community” 36 for 36 pick each week, as decided by fan vote on the r/NASCAR subreddit. Can the collective vote topple our trio of full-timers?

Current Standings:

Steve Luvender: 711
Dustin Albino: -60
r/NASCAR Community: -67
Cameron Richardson: -114

Race 29 of 36: Bristol

Our pickers had a solid outing last week at Watkins Glen. A 22-point day from Ty Gibbs, picked by points leader Steve Luvender, tightened the race slightly, as second-place Dustin Albino’s selection of Austin Cindric netted 33 points. Cameron Richardson shaved a point off his deficit to the r/NASCAR community in third place; Richardson went with Daniel Suárez (31 points) while the NASCAR subreddit picked Michael McDowell (30 points).

The Bristol Night Race challenges our four pickers next, closing out the Round of 16 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. In a race known for tempers, bumpers and helmet tosses, how will they approach this one — with only eight drivers left on the board?

Jayski’s Dustin Albino: No. 54, Ty Gibbs

Dustin’s pick last week: No. 2, Austin Cindric (33 points)

Total season points: 651 (second place)

Dustin: While his NASCAR career is still in its infancy, Ty Gibbs’ best track might be Bristol. Last September, he led 102 laps en route to a fifth-place finish. The No. 54 team backed up that performance in March by sweeping the first two stages and leading a career-high 137 laps. Entering the Round of 16 elimination race on the elimination line, Gibbs needs to be at his best in order to advance. Joe Gibbs Racing has a stellar track record in Thunder Valley with Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch, during his time there, leading the way. Gibbs is due for his first victory — it could come as early as Saturday night.

NASCAR.com’s Steve Luvender: No. 24, William Byron

Steve’s pick last week: No. 54, Ty Gibbs (22 points)

Total season points: 711 (first place)

Steve: This one’s a gamble. William Byron has never led a lap at Bristol — the only oval where he’s made multiple starts (10, and 13 if you include dirt races) and never led a lap — but I think it’s a very William Byron thing to identify a weak area and conquer it. Even though Martinsville in April was the site of Byron’s last win, I’m not convinced he’s done making noise this year. I think, despite his underwhelming track record at Bristol, he’s going to close out the Round of 16 with a bang. (As long as that’s not the bang of a fender into the wall.)

NASCAR.com’s Cameron Richardson: No. 42, John Hunter Nemechek

Cameron’s pick last week: No. 99, Daniel Suárez (31 points)

Total season points: 597 (fourth place)

Cameron: Sure, I’m banking on a similar race to the spring at Bristol where Nemechek finished sixth, but the overall numbers for him in all three national series are pretty stellar. He’s completed all but seven laps in 2,700 laps turned combined in his Xfinity and Cup Series starts at the Tennessee short track, with all those finishes coming inside the top 20. While the whole playoff field, minus Joey Logano, needs to tread lightly around the track, Nemechek can come out swinging and go for another top-10 result in his first Bristol Night Race since 2020.

r/NASCAR Community: No. 42, John Hunter Nemechek

Total season points: 644 (third place)

The NASCAR subreddit picked John Hunter Nemechek in this week’s community voting thread. Here’s what Redditors had to say:

u/Extreme-Bite-9123: “We have to use JHN here. He was great in the spring, and we don’t really have anywhere else to use him”

u/michigan_matt: “He finished 6th at Bristol in the spring and was in the top 5 in both stages. His two starts with FRM were top 20s. I think we absolutely have to go with JHN this week.”

u/Dont_hate_the_8: “My gut said Gibbs this week, but stats say JHN. Great run there in the spring.”

u/Sea_Moment_9405: “Nemechek has 3 top 10s this year, and Spring Bristol was one of them. It was his best finish of the year, a 6th place where he scored 13 of his 23 total stage points this season. This is easily his best remaining track so I say we fire him up. There are other options like Ty Gibbs, but I think we could use him at an intermediate or the Roval and still get a good points haul from him.”

Check back next week to see how our pickers fared as the season-long 36 for 36 journey continues.

And, if you’ve got a competitive itch beyond meticulously managing your Fantasy Live lineup each week, feel free to save or print your own 36 for 36 sheet and see if you can beat our pickers and the Reddit community!

Posted on September 20, 2024September 20, 2024 by Zach Sturniolo

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Corey Day’s foray into the stock-car world dropped the sprint-car sensation into Thunder Valley on Thursday.

After making his ARCA Menards Series debut on July 27 at Salem Speedway, the 18-year-old stormed into Bristol Motor Speedway for a doubleheader, competing in the ARCA race before making his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut all in one night.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

A seventh-place finish in the 205-lap ARCA race and 18th in the truck race may not leap off the page, but completing a combined 405 laps at the 0.533-mile bullring of Bristol ultimately provided Day with a full day of learning.

“I’m satisfied. To finish all 400 laps in a day for I guess my second real pavement race is something to be proud of I think for sure,” Day said after the truck race. “So yeah, just happy to get all 400 and learn a lot. We worked on our truck there throughout the race, got way better as the race went on. And as a driver, that’s all you really ask for.”

With support from Hendrick Motorsports and HendrickCars.com, Day had all the right people around him throughout the in-depth training day. There to greet Day after he climbed from the No. 82 Pinnacle Racing Group Chevrolet were Hendrick Motorsports president and general manager Jeff Andrews and crew chief Greg Ives, who was a critical part of Jimmie Johnson’s reign over the NASCAR Cup Series with the famed No. 48 team before crew chiefing Dale Earnhardt Jr. from 2015-2017 and Alex Bowman from 2018-2022.

Ives, working as Day’s ARCA crew chief Thursday, was happy to see Day simply get on track and be able to learn how to attack inside a stock car around one of the sport’s most thrilling tracks.

“It’s just conditioning,” Ives told NASCAR.com. “It’s reps, it’s restarts. There’s no restarts in the world like these guys do in the ARCA series. That’s where you’re shifting gears. You’re trying to manage the outside, manage the inside, all that stuff. So I feel like he did good job.”

Brittney Wilbur | NASCAR Digital Media

That experience prepared him for a full night of Truck Series racing. The No. 81 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet never lost a lap in the 200-lap affair and its driver gained confidence throughout the event,

“As the race went on, I got more and more comfortable with my truck and what it was doing center of the corner, entering the corner and exiting the corner,” Day said. “And once you figure that out, you know the comfortable factor is up there. So, yeah, felt good there at the end, and in that run in the middle of the race. Just tough guys even back there in mid-pack.”

The No. 81 truck also came home clean after what typically becomes a full-contact contest around the high banks of Bristol.

“Our nose stayed pretty clean so I got to thank my spotter Tyler (Monn) for that,” Day said. “Just thanks to the whole Bill McAnally Racing team for giving me a truck to come do this. This is a dream come true to be able to come run a truck race at Bristol. You always see these on YouTube or highlights of them because usually the truck race is one of the better races of the week here. So to be able to come do that is a dream come true for sure.”

Day will have three additional starts in with McAnally-Hilgemann Racing to build his stock-car resume, Sept. 27 at Kansas Speedway, Oct. 26 at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Nov. 1 at Martinsville Speedway.

Posted on September 20, 2024September 20, 2024 by Neil Paine

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin is used to facing twists and turns along what was once a promising championship path.

In 2010, he blew a 33-point lead over four-time defending champ Jimmie Johnson going into the final two races of the season. In 2014, he was passed by Kevin Harvick for the lead with eight laps to go in the first championship race of the elimination era. In 2019, he again led the title race with around 100 laps to go, but roughly 50 laps later his car overheated and he ended up finishing a distant 10th. In both 2020 and 2021, he made the Championship 4, only to be beaten by the faster cars of Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson. And, of course, in 2022 he missed the final four because of Ross Chastain’s “Hail Melon” move.

Now, in 2024, he finds himself yet again on the razor’s edge — this time to even escape the first round of the Cup Series playoffs. According to my forecast model, which simulates the rest of the playoffs 10,000 times, Hamlin has just a 54 percent chance of advancing into the Round of 12 despite probably being a top-five driver in the sport this year. So this could be yet another disappointment for NASCAR’s greatest to never win a title — but there is also hope for Denny yet.

Before we get into that, let’s set the stage with the model’s odds going into the final race of the Round of 16 at Bristol.

After last Sunday’s overtime race at Watkins Glen, eight drivers are in a good spot to advance into the next round, with greater than 97 percent odds: Joey Logano (who won in Atlanta), Christopher Bell, Austin Cindric, Alex Bowman, Daniel Suárez, Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick and Ryan Blaney. Blaney’s high odds come in spite of a near-immediate wreck to begin the race Sunday. He still has a 29-point cushion in the playoff standings, plus a 60 percent chance of finishing ahead of at least four of the eight drivers below him in the standings at Bristol.

Two more drivers have at least a 92 percent chance to move on — Kyle Larson and William Byron — despite their own troubles early in the playoffs. (Larson finished 37th at Atlanta, while Byron was 34th at The Glen after nearly launching over the fence). Both are at least 25 points on the good side of the cutline right now and should be able to move forward as long as they avoid catastrophic finishes at Bristol.

This means we have at least a pretty decent idea about who 10 of the 12 advancing drivers will be after the transfer race Saturday night. We also have a decent sense that Harrison Burton probably won’t advance — the model gives him less than a 5 percent chance, as he needs just his second podium finish of the season to even have a 50-50 shot at advancement.

That leaves five drivers between 25 and 54 percent odds to advance, fighting over what is likely just two open spots.

Among those, the best odds belong to Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Hamlin and Ty Gibbs at 54 percent apiece, followed by Chase Briscoe (52 percent after potentially saving his season with a sixth-place finish Sunday), Brad Keselowski (32 percent) and another JGR driver, Martin Truex Jr. (25 percent in his swan song as a Cup Series regular).

Needless to say, the fight between that quintet under the lights at Bristol is going to be compelling (teammates or not). But what makes Hamlin the most intriguing driver in that crucible is not just his status as NASCAR’s forever-bridesmaid. It’s that his odds of winning the championship, conditional on advancing, remain as strong as just about anyone’s.

It’s just that whole advancing part that still weighs heavily on his overall chances. But the good news for Hamlin is that Bristol is just about the best place for him to stage his last stand.

He has four wins at the track in his career, including each of the past two races held there, and he has the third-best average finish at Bristol of any active driver with at least two career races there. Furthermore, Denny has been the best short-track driver in the Cup Series overall this season, with an Adjusted Points+ Index of 252 — i.e., 152 percent better than average — beating out Elliott (223), Larson (207) and Byron (202) by a wide margin.

This is why Hamlin shows up as by far the best projected driver at Bristol in my track-scouting ratings ahead of Saturday night’s race. He is set up as well as he possibly could be to deliver a strong performance. And he will need to do just that.

Here’s a breakdown of Hamlin’s odds to advance, conditional on different types of finishes at Bristol:

It’s not exactly a “must-win” for Hamlin (though a win would obviously clinch his spot in the next round). But it is something of a must-top-10. In simulations where Hamlin finishes that high, he makes the second round 93.7 percent of the time. In all other simulations, he advances just 16.2 percent of the time.

In other words, all of the potential of this season — all of the expectations that this would finally be The Year for Hamlin to shed his “Best To Never Win A Championship” label — come down to needing a high finish in a single race at the Last Great Colosseum. If he does that, he’s back among the favorites; if not, it’s another case of wait ’til next year.

Neil Paine is a freelance writer whose work also appears at ESPN.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Sherwood News and Substack. He is the former Sports Editor at FiveThirtyEight, and was also a consultant for the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks.

Posted on September 20, 2024December 3, 2024 by Zack Albert

BRISTOL, Tenn. — AM Racing announced Friday that Harrison Burton will join the organization next season, driving its flagship Ford in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Burton will return to the Xfinity circuit after three seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series with Wood Brothers Racing. That stint yielded his first premier series victory last month at Daytona International Speedway and the 23-year-old driver’s first playoff berth.

Burton said AM Racing contacted him shortly after he landed on the free-agent market this summer.

“As soon as really my announcement came out that I wouldn’t return to the Wood Brothers, they expressed interest, and then have kind of shown me the will and want to improve and get better and do things the right way,” Burton said Friday afternoon at Bristol Motor Speedway. “And as time went along, I felt like that was the best opportunity for me to help them build their program, and in doing that, help rebuild myself and my confidence and try and win races in the Xfinity Series.”

AM Racing entered its second season of Xfinity Series competition with Hailie Deegan behind the wheel of the No. 15 entry on a multiyear deal, but the driver and team parted ways in early July. Since then, the organization has rotated a host of fill-in drivers through the seat – including Cup Series regulars Joey Logano and Josh Berry.

The team indicated that it has renewed two partnerships for 2025 — its technical alliance with the rebranded Haas Factory Team and its engine supplier agreement with Roush Yates Engines.

Burton accumulated four wins during his previous Xfinity Series tenure (2019-2021), reaching the postseason in both of his full-time seasons with Joe Gibbs Racing. His arrival with the famed Wood Brothers No. 21 team brought him to the Cup Series in 2022, shifting his manufacturer alliances from Toyota to Ford.

Burton finished 27th and 31st in the standings in his first two Cup Series seasons, and the Wood Brothers announced in July that Berry would replace him in 2025. Burton gave the organization a proper send-off at Daytona with its 100th premier-series victory, clinching his first appearance in the Cup Series Playoffs.

After his breakthrough win, Burton described his status for next season as “fluid,” not knowing which series he might call home in 2025. He said he aspires to return to the Cup Series but demurred at the notion that the move back to the Xfinity circuit was a demotion.

MORE: Cup Series standings | Cup Series schedule

“I mean, it’s a privilege to drive a race car in NASCAR, in any of the top three series,” Burton said. “So obviously, it’s not what I wanted to happen. I didn’t want to lose my job, right? But what I did do is learned a lot from this experience. I feel like I’m a better race car driver than when I was in Xfinity. and AM Racing has confidence in me that I can help them turn their program around and get it where it needs to be as well. They have shared and have shown the want to do that, the want to get better, and are willing to put the work in to do that, and I think with both of us with that same mindset, I don’t see why there’s any reason we can’t.”

Burton is currently 16th in the Cup Series Playoffs standings, 20 points below the provisional elimination line. He’ll aim to keep his postseason eligibility intact in Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race (7 ET, USA, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App), the Round of 16 finale at Bristol Motor Speedway.