Here it is. The first elimination race of the 2022 season. Four drivers will see their title hopes come to an end at the “Last Great Colosseum,” one of the most iconic tracks in NASCAR’s history. Two champions of the sport, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick, find themselves below the cutline alongside Austin Dillon and Chase Briscoe. And coincidentally, Busch and Harvick are two of the most dominant active drivers at the 0.533-mile high-banked oval. On a night where 500 laps may as well feel like an eternity, it will likely come down to the final laps to determine which drivers move on to the Round of 12. The key is being there at the end. Easier said than done as the door-to-door battles ramp up near the finish. Don’t be the first one out.
Who’s hot? Who’s not?
When Kevin Harvick won at Michigan International Speedway, the pressure was off the entire No. 4 team. Now, the pressure is back on. The two opening Round of 16 races were not kind to Harvick, leaving him sunken to the bottom of the playoff standings. But here’s the deal. This is Bristol — where Harvick has been red hot over the last six seasons. Harvick has nine top 10s, including two wins, in his last 12 races at the Colosseum. He has led a total of 782 laps in his last 16. Not many have been better than ‘the Closer’ when it’s closing time. He needs a win and he should be among the favorites to get it done on Saturday night.
With how much success Chase Elliott has had at almost every track, he has been pretty tame at Bristol by his standards. Elliott’s best career finish at the Tennessee track is third (2018), and while he has had five finishes of seventh or better in 11 starts here, he also has six finishes of 11th or worse. The 2022 Regular Season Champion came into the playoffs with extra points but sputtering momentum. Since Watkins Glen International, he has two finishes outside the top 28. Points may not be an issue moving through the Round of 16, but maybe Bristol can be a positive turning point in the No. 9 team’s quest for a second championship.
Driving under the radar
Brad Keselowski might not be the most popular pick to win on Saturday, but he is a good one. Keselowski has three wins at the track, albeit with Team Penske, and three top sixes in his last four races here. He simply knows how to navigate around the race track. All eyes will be on the playoff drivers as expected, but as the first two races have shown, non-playoff drivers have just as much motivation to reach Victory Lane. A win for Keselowski in his first season with RFK Racing would be a huge statement. He has the talent and ability to do it, strongly shown by his 10th-place effort in qualifying.
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Race-day staples ✅
Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles.
• Bubble Watch, presented by Xfinity: Where drivers stand before Bristol | Latest driver standing
• Paint Scheme Preview: Colors for the Colosseum | Pick a favorite • Power Rankings: Alex Bowman, William Byron surging | Updated driver rankings • NASCAR betting: Odds for Saturday’s Bristol playoff race | Underdogs, value bets • Fantasy Fastlane: Kevin Harvick needs to win at Bristol | Top plays, sleepers • Backseat Drivers: Debating which driver will get eliminated on Saturday | Watch the segment
Catch the pack 💨
Read up on the top headlines from the week leading up to Saturday’s race.
• 2023 schedule: See the latest slate for all three national series | Read more
• Kyle Busch: Two-time champion leaving JGR to join RCR in ’23 |Read more
• Reactions: Toyota, JGR react to Busch’s announcement | Read more
• Contract: Kyle Larson signs with Hendrick Motorsports through 2026 | Read more
• Austin Dillon: Driver reveals contract extension for pit crew | Watch video
• Reddick chimes in: Not surprised Busch is getting 8 car | Read more
• Joey Logano: Reacts to Kyle Busch heading to RCR, tells similar story | Listen in
• Track history: NASCAR’s history of racing at unique tracks | Learn more
• Heading to Phoenix: Ty Majeski punches Championship 4 ticket with Thursday win | Race recap
Get in on the action 💰
Think you know NASCAR? Put your mettle to the test with gaming, fantasy.
• BetMGM: Breaking down the Bristol driver matchups | Read more
• The Action Network: Should you pick Kyle Busch at Bristol? | Matchup insight • Play it LIVE: Full guide to 2022 NASCAR Fantasy Live game | New rules for playoffs
• Going all the way: 2022 Cup Series championship odds | See them here
Chaos at the Colosseum ⚔️
It gets wild at Bristol, especially after dark. Relive some of the most memorable moments in track history.
• Do you remember? Back to some memorable moments at Bristol | Relive them
• At-track photos: Scenes from Bristol Night Race weekend | See them here
• Last year: Kyle Larson fends off Kevin Harvick for the win | 2021 recap
• Race Rewind: Bristol win for Larson, hot heads on pit road | Watch highlights
Fast facts ⏩
Hard-hitting, race-relevant statistics, brought to you by the experts at Racing Insights.
• There has never been a stretch of three straight playoff wins by non-playoff drivers (currently at two). • Christopher Bell is the only driver locked into the Round of 12 so far. • The last time Ford won a playoff race was 16 races ago at Kansas in 2020 (Joey Logano). • All four Hendrick Motorsports drivers won on a short track in the last nine races. • The driver leading the most laps won only one of the last nine races of 2022.
Say what? 🎙
Notable quotes from the stars of the sport heading into Saturday’s race.
• “It absolutely feels good. Man, what a ride to rip around here in less than 15 seconds. It’s pretty crazy how fast these cars are at this race track, but I’m just proud of my team, proud of everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing. They brought me a really fast BlueOval City Ford Mustang. We were good in race trim and obviously had a lot of speed in qualifying trim, so now we’ve got to go do it for 500 laps.” — Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford
• “We’re in a good spot and we definitely feel good about how we’ve started the playoffs from a speed standpoint. We still need to clean up a few things and execute better if we’re going to have a shot to continue advancing beyond this round, but I’m confident going to Bristol this weekend. It would be nice if we can qualify up front and stay there all night to give ourselves a chance to pick up some more playoff points.” — Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, who qualified fourth
• “The addition of Kyle Busch to the Richard Childress Racing lineup is significant, not only for our organization, but for the sport as a whole. Kyle is a proven contender at the highest levels of the sport, and I believe that his experience and dedication to motorsports will elevate our race program across the board. I’ve always admired Kyle’s driving style and his ability to win and race for championships ever since he entered the sport. Who wouldn’t want a proven NASCAR Cup Series champion driving their car?” — Richard Childress, owner of Richard Childress Racing
When it comes to Saturday’s NASCAR Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol (7:30 p.m. ET, USA, NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM), there’s a lot to pay attention to.
First, this is a cutoff race for the playoffs as the field gets narrowed from 16 down to 12 drivers.
Next, this is the first time the Next Gen car gets a run at Bristol on concrete.
Finally, track position has been key with very minimal tire wear across all three series.
However, when all is said and done, we can cut through the noise and find some simplicity in just betting a head-to-head driver matchup.
That’s where I’m looking at with my best post-qualifying bet for tonight’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Best friends Chase Elliott (-125) and Ryan Blaney (-105) are pitted against each other at DraftKings Sportsbook.
To me, Blaney should be the clear favorite, yet Elliott is being priced as a slight favorite in this matchup.
Blaney and Elliott both practiced in the first group on Friday, and Blaney was clearly faster in every metric.
Bristol is also a very unique track where track history is quite predictive of future performance. For all the track-specific stats I reference, I’ll just refer to the years since Blaney joined Team Penske in 2018.
In the fastest lap department, Blaney trumps Elliott 6.8% to 5.9%. The same holds true for laps led, where Blaney holds a 17.2% to 12.2% edge. Clearly Blaney has been the better dominator.
In raw finishes as well, Blaney holds the advantage.
Blaney’s average finish is 7.6 compared to Elliott’s 12.2 in major incident-free races. If we just look at lead-lap finishes, Blaney leads 5.0 to 10.3.
Finally, Blaney holds a safer spot in the playoff standings. While the edge isn’t huge, if Blaney is able to lock himself into the next round after Stage 1 it’s possible he’s able to play the track position game to his advantage.
Elliott may have to points race in Stage 2. That means if a caution comes out with 20 or so laps to go before the end of Stage 2, Blaney may pit while Elliott stays out for points.
When the Stage 2 caution flies, Elliott would then come in to pit, while Blaney stays out and cycles to the front.
These little things are the edges we can look for when betting matchups.
Every indication shows that Blaney should be favored here.
My model also makes Blaney the favorite, so I like getting him at -105 and would bet this down to -115.
Speeds were lightning quick in practice and qualifying for Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series Bristol Night Race, but nobody was faster than Aric Almirola. That’s a complete 180-degree turn from last week at Kansas Speedway, when the No. 10 car was the caboose, never making a qualifying run due to an engine issue. It’s the first pole for Ford at Bristol Motor Speedway since the spring of 2012 when Greg Biffle accomplished the feat.
Dustin Albino’s race-day lineup: Starter 1: Kevin Harvick
Starter 2: Christopher Bell
Starter 3: Kyle Larson
Starter 4: Ryan Blaney
Starter 5: Denny Hamlin
Garage pick: Kyle Busch
NEXT IN LINE: Chase Briscoe, Aric Almirola, Alex Bowman, Joey Logano.
RISING: The string of non-playoff drivers rising to the occasion during the 2022 postseason continued on Friday, with Almirola taking the pole. He’s not too shabby on concrete tracks, as he was strong last year at Nashville Superspeedway and multiple times at Dover Motor Speedway. He also has four top-10 finishes in 24 Bristol starts. On the long run, the No. 10 Ford also showed speed, ranking fifth on 10-lap averages.
Going into the weekend, I didn’t expect a whole lot out of Briscoe. The No. 14 team has had a mediocre opening two races of the playoffs but is within striking distance of the bubble. Briscoe silenced the critics on Friday, running the quickest lap in the opening round of qualifying and will take the green flag from second. It will be interesting to see if that converts to long-run speed, as he sat 18th in the 10-lap average category.
FALLING: Daniel Suárez’s struggles in the Next Gen car on short tracks continued Friday. The No. 99 Chevrolet has a best finish of 16th in three short-track races this year and will start the race from 29th. That’s precisely where he was on the 10-lap average and sat 32nd on one-lap speed. His six points on the cutline could evaporate rapidly on Saturday evening.
For the third straight week, Chase Elliott had a poor qualifying. At Darlington Raceway, that got him in trouble early and last week the No. 9 Chevrolet was a non-factor, hardly reaching the top 10 throughout the race. At Bristol, one of his better tracks in recent years despite not yet winning, he will start 23rd. Now three qualifying sessions into the postseason, he has an average starting position of 22.6.
FEATURED MATCHUPS:
Bubba Wallace vs. Christopher Bell
Both drivers are playing with house money at Bristol, being the only two drivers that are locked into the postseason – Bell in the driver standings, Wallace in the owner standings for the No. 45 Toyota. “Thunder Valley” is one of Bell’s favorite stops on the circuit, and he showed top-five speed throughout Friday. Don’t be surprised if he earns his second victory of 2022.
Kevin Harvick vs. Kyle Busch
Many times in the past when either Harvick or Busch’s backs have been against the wall, they’ve prevailed. Harvick is in a must-win situation on Saturday and looked solid on Friday, ranking seventh in qualifying, which is tied for his best effort of the season. On the other hand, Busch spun in practice and will start 21st. While I fully expect an eight-time Bristol winner to be a contender by the end of 500 laps, Harvick is my choice.
Chase Briscoe vs. Austin Dillon
Going into the weekend, Dillon was my clear choice here. However, Briscoe had strong practice and qualifying sessions while the No. 3 Chevrolet was comparatively slow and will start 28th (was just 33rd in practice). Briscoe seems to be the easy choice.
Ross Chastain vs. Tyler Reddick
Justin Marks, Trackhouse Racing co-owner, called qualifying a “stinger.” Chastain will take the green flag in 12th, ahead of Reddick’s 17th. But Chastain could have a few receipts coming his way from earlier season chaos — Bristol is a good track for drivers to give payback. Reddick is probably the smart choice.
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Entering Friday’s Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway, Ryan Sieg knew he was going to need a lot of luck if he hoped to make the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs.
He entered the race 19 points behind Kaulig Racing’s Landon Cassill for the final spot in the playoffs and, barring a small miracle, Sieg knew he would likely miss the playoffs.
Luckily for Sieg, he got the miracle he was looking for.
Cassill was forced to the garage during the second stage with a hub failure, which opened the door for Sieg to sneak into the playoffs by five points when the checkered flag waved Friday night.
“Pretty ecstatic,” Sieg said as he described his emotions after climbing from his No. 39 A-Game Ford Mustang. “We’re in the playoffs. That’s a step in the right direction. We came here and did our job and everybody executed well and did what we’re supposed to do and found ourselves on the right side of making into the playoffs.
“Pretty incredible for our small No. 39 CMR team.”
Cassill, on the other hand, was left devastated as he sat in his No. 10 Voyager Chevrolet while his crew frantically worked to replace the broken hub. He would eventually return to the race around Lap 220, but by then, he was more than 100 laps down.
He could only hope that something would happen to Sieg to take him out of contention, but instead, Sieg crossed the finish line in 10th to secure the final spot in the Xfinity Series Playoffs.
“My emotions are not the best at the moment,” Cassill said immediately after the race. “I’m pretty angry and disappointed. It’s been a long regular season up to this point and we’ve had a lot of opportunities to score points. Five points doesn’t seem like much right now.”
Sieg’s crew was keeping him aware of the points situation through the later stages of the race and during the final restart they even went so far as to ask him to slow down to keep his No. 39 Ford out of danger.
The racer that he is, Sieg wanted to finish inside the top 10.
“It went pretty quiet through the middle of the race and then towards the end, they were kind of like, ‘Just slow down. You’re good, you’re good,'” Sieg explained “Then on that last restart, ‘Just don’t get in any trouble.’ I wanted to try and get a top-10. I don’t think I’ve got one here.
“I was like, ‘If I’m in the top-10 I’ll slow down.’ So they were like, ‘You’re in the top-10, just slow down. You’re plus five.’”
Now Sieg’s attention turns to the first round of the playoffs, which begin next Saturday afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM). He said his team will need to be firing on all cylinders if they hope to make it to the second round of the playoffs.
“Just a great day for our RSS team to come out here and race with JR (Motorsports), Gibbs, RCR, these are all legendary car owners and for us to make it in yet again in the playoffs is pretty tremendous for our small team,” Sieg said.
“We’ll take it and move on and try to find ourselves moving on to the next round of the playoffs and have three good races in the first round.”
BRISTOL, Tenn.— Make it three in a row for Noah Gragson, who has built enormous momentum as the NASCAR Xfinity Series moves into its seven-race playoff.
On 90-lap older tires, Gragson held off Brandon Jones, the driver who will take his seat in the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet next year, in a 20-lap green-flag run to the finish of Friday night’s Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The victory was Gragson’s third straight in the series, his sixth of the season and the 11th of his career.
The race also settled the series playoff picture. Despite power-steering issues, Daniel Hemric clinched one of the two available spots in the 12-driver playoff field with a 20th-place finish. Ryan Sieg claimed the final berth, finishing 10th—his first top-10 run in 16 Bristol starts—after brake issues sent Landon Cassill to the garage for 112 laps and relegated him to 35th.
AJ Allmendinger clinched his second straight Regular Season Championship with a sixth-place result.
When J.J. Yeley slammed the inside wall after slight contact from race leader Justin Allgaier, on Lap 271, Gragson and crew chief Luke Lambert opted to stay on the track while all the other lead-lap cars pitted for fresh tires.
After the restart on Lap 281, Gragson pulled out to a one-second lead before Jones began to close the gap on new rubber. Jones got to Gragson’s bumper but couldn’t find a way past the No. 9 Chevrolet. Gragson crossed the finish line .145 seconds ahead of Jones’ No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
“That last caution came out, and I knew if I could ring the top, it was going to be hard for them to get there,” said Gragson, who will graduate to a full-time NASCAR Cup Series ride with Petty GMS in 2023. “I appreciate Brandon Jones racing us clean. He gave us the bumper with two (laps) to go, and I was hanging on, scrubbing the fence.
“We won here in Bristol in 2020 and there were no fans here (because of the coronavirus pandemic)… What a great opportunity to race here in front of fans and have the opportunity to win the race. Our car was fast all day. We got to the top and we were rolling. I had a blast.”
A rueful Jones provided a post-mortem of the event on pit road.
“This one hurt the most because this was our race to lose, I thought,” Jones said. “Fresher tires certainly paid off there at the end. I just caught him (Gragson) at the wrong time every time.”
Gragson’s stiffest competition—his JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier—wasn’t at the front of the field for the ending. Allgaier led the procession of lead-lap cars to pit road when Gragson stayed out, but a speeding penalty sent him to the rear of the field for the final restart.
“I know what happened; I didn’t really think I was speeding, but obviously I was,” said Allgaier, who has led 791 laps in his last seven Bristol races without winning. “I just hate it for everybody. It was cool for (Noah) to get the win. I cannot believe that they were able to stay out there and still run the speed they were.
“I love to hate this place. I’m close to 1,000 career laps led here (actually 1,004) and only one win, and that was over 10 years ago (2010). So, I’ve just got to do a better job next time.”
Allgaier led a race-high 148 laps on Friday, to 89 for Ty Gibbs, 34 for Sheldon Creed and 25 for Gragson.
Gragson also was instrumental in changing the complexion of the race in the middle of Stage 2. Pole winner Gibbs had won the first stage wire-to-wire, but on Lap 129, while Gibbs and Creed were battling for the lead, contact from Gragson’s Chevrolet sent Gibbs’ Toyota into Creed’s Camaro.
Both Gibbs and Creed crashed hard into the outside wall and were eliminated from the race.
Austin Hill finished third, followed by Sam Mayer and Riley Herbst. Allmendinger, Josh Berry, Stefan Parsons, Allgaier and Sieg completed the top 10.
The Xfinity Series Playoffs begin Saturday, Sept. 24 at Texas Motor Speedway (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) for the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300.
NOTE: Post-race inspection in the Xfinity Series garage is complete with no issues, confirming Gragson as the race winner and setting the Xfinity Series playoff field.
See where your favorite driver will pit for Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway (7:30 ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
AJ Allmendinger has secured the NASCAR Xfinity Series Regular Season Championship for the second straight year.
Allmendinger, a three-time winner this season in Kaulig Racing’s No. 16 Chevrolet, clinched the regular-season crown during Friday night’s action at Bristol Motor Speedway after Ty Gibbs wrecked out of the race. The 40-year-old veteran added a 15-point playoff point bonus that he’ll carry into the postseason, which begins Sept. 24 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Allmendinger has been crowned the regular-season champ in each of his two full-time campaigns in the Xfinity Series. He edged Austin Cindric for the honor last year, and ultimately placed fourth in the final standings.
Allmendinger’s three wins this year have all come on road courses — March 26 at Circuit of The Americas, June 4 at Portland International Raceway and July 30 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road-course layout. He took over the points lead after the series’ April 2 event at Richmond Raceway and has held it ever since.
BRISTOL, Tenn. — When Kyle Larson was in the midst of negotiating his new contract extension with Hendrick Motorsports, he said it didn’t feel like much of a negotiation.
The reason for that was because he was negotiating with Hendrick Motorsports Vice Chairman and four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve gone through anything like that I guess,” said Larson, who will remain with Hendrick Motorsports through the 2026 season. “It was a fun process and fun to kind of go through it with Jeff. He’s somebody that I’ve looked up to my whole life.
“It’s just neat to see me dealing with contracts with my childhood hero.”
Larson considers Gordon, who returned to Hendrick Motorsports this year following five years as an analyst for Fox Sports, more of a friend than a boss. He said that made the negotiation process much easier.
“Jeff is more of a friend I feel like than I view him as a boss or somebody like that,” Larson said. “I think it’s good to have that kind of relationship with him. I think it makes going through negotiations and stuff like that even easier.”
Larson joined Hendrick Motorsports for the 2021 season and stormed to the Cup Series championship thanks in large part to a career-best 10 victories.
He’s added two victories this season and enters Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway (7:30 ET on USA Network, NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) 27 points above the cutline as he looks to continue his run towards a second Cup Series title.
“I’m glad to have it done and glad to have it behind me and get focused on our racing and knowing that you’re going to be there for quite awhile,” Larson said.
