Posted on by Dustin Albino

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.

MORE: Full fantasy preview for Bristol | Starting lineup

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.

Posted on by Adam Fenwick

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.

RELATED: Race results | Noah Gragson wins Food City 300

“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.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

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.

RELATED: Race results | Allmendinger wins regular season championship

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.

RELATED: Gibbs, Creed wreck

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. 

Posted on by Staff Report

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.

RELATED: Race results | Photos from Bristol

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.

Posted on by Adam Fenwick

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.”

ICYMI: Larson inks new deal with Hendrick

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.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

BRISTOL, Tenn. — A Ford driver hadn’t won a pole position at Bristol Motor Speedway in more than 10 years, but that changed radically on Friday afternoon when Aric Almirola snagged the top starting position for Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race (7:30 ET on USA Network, NBC Sports App, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

In the final round of time trials, Almirola covered the 0.533-mile distance in 14.946 seconds (128.382 mph) to become the first NASCAR Cup Series pole winner at “Thunder Valley” since Greg Biffle claimed the top starting spot in March 2012.

“We had a really good (car) in practice,” Almirola said. “We ran, I think, 55 laps straight, and I felt really good about it. We swapped over to (qualifying trim), and it still had a lot of speed.

“I’m really proud of the effort on this team. We were bummed out we didn’t make the playoffs, but we’re showing what we’re capable of. We can race with these guys. Yeah, we’re going to try and do it for 500 laps (Saturday) night.”

In fact, Ford drivers locked out the front row for the cutoff race for the Round of 16 in the Cup Playoffs, with Chase Briscoe running second to Almirola with a lap in 14.968 seconds (128.193 mph). Alex Bowman (128.176 mph) qualified third in the tightly bunched field, with Denny Hamlin (127.911 mph) taking the fourth starting position.

Playoff drivers will occupy positions two through nine on the grid. Brad Keselowski in the 10th position joined Almirola as the only other non-playoff driver to qualify for the final round, as six Ford drivers made the final 10.

Kevin Harvick, who realistically is in a must-win position after suffering calamities in the first two playoff races, will start seventh.

Among playoff drivers who failed to qualify for the final round, Austin Dillon and Daniel Suárez have the most ground to make up. Dillon, three points below the cut line, qualified 28th, one position better than Suárez, who is six points ahead of Kyle Busch in 13th.

RELATED: Starting lineup | Schedule for Bristol

PRACTICE

Hamlin led the charge in Friday’s split practice session, setting the best lap time of 15.247 at 125.848 mph in his 31-lap run. Team Penske teammates Austin Cindric (15.347 seconds) and Joey Logano (15.355 seconds) set the pace for the Blue Oval, finishing second and third in the session. Busch, who spun while on track, still bounced back to finish fourth.

Part-time Cup Series driver AJ Allmendinger put together a surprisingly sharp run in the No. 16 for Kaulig Racing, finishing just 0.13 seconds behind Hamlin in fifth. Allmendinger won last summer’s Xfinity Series race at Bristol to clinch the 2021 regular season championship.

Overall, Ford showed up and dominated, claiming nine of the top 15 positions on the board. See the full practice leaderboard.

Contributing Staff reports.

Posted on by Adam Fenwick

BRISTOL, Tenn. — A lot has changed for Tyler Reddick in the last few months.

On July 12 it was announced that Reddick would depart Richard Childress Racing when his contract expires at the end of the 2023 season to join 23XI Racing.

Then, earlier this week, it was announced by Richard Childress Racing that Kyle Busch would join the team in 2023 to pilot the No. 8 Chevrolet — currently wheeled by Reddick.

That leaves Reddick, who has earned his first two NASCAR Cup Series victories this year, in the unique position of not knowing exactly what his 2023 season will look like. Right now, all he knows is that he’ll presumably be back at Richard Childress Racing as part of a new, third charter team.

MORE: Follow 2022-23 Silly Season

“None of it surprised me honestly,” Reddick admitted Friday afternoon prior to practice and qualifying at Bristol Motor Speedway. “I’m going to be moving on in 2024 to a new group of people and new team. It’s a unique challenge to be able to kind of go through that next year with a new group of people.

“If anything, I think it’ll help me when I move on to the next place (23XI Racing), kind of getting used to moving with different people and going through that process.”

As of Friday afternoon, Reddick said that team owner Richard Childress had not given him any details regarding what his program in 2023 would look like.

“We’ve talked about that stuff. We’ve discussed, like OK, what’s going to happen?” Reddick said. “He said he’s going to have details for me soon. When? I don’t know. Maybe after the race because he said he wanted to discuss that here at Bristol, but we both agreed it’s most important for me to focus on this race and talk about it after.”

As far as Reddick is concerned, his move to 23XI Racing and Richard Childress Racing signing Busch are strictly business decisions done in the best interest of both parties. He says he holds no ill will towards Childress for putting Busch in the No. 8 next season.

“I looked at it from the business point of view and I feel like they are approaching with Kyle coming in and being with the 8 team, they’re looking ahead to the future and what’s going to be best in the long term,” Reddick said. “I’m sure I could understand how people could think it is personal, but I’m not looking at it that way.

“There were enough rumors about it, right? I kind of had an idea he was coming. For the long term of RCR, it makes sense to put him in the 8 car.”

Reddick enters Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway (USA Network, NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) 11th in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff standings, two points above the cutoff line to make the Round of 8 as he pursues his first NASCAR Cup Series championship.

Posted on by Staff Report

Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson will race for Hendrick Motorsports for years to come, the powerhouse organization announced Friday.

The 30-year-old California native is set to pilot the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for the next several years with fresh, multi-year extensions for Larson and sponsor HendrickCars.com that now run concurrently through 2026.

“When Kyle joined our team, the expectations were sky high from both inside and outside the organization. To say he’s exceeded them would be an understatement,” said Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports and chairman and CEO of Hendrick Automotive Group in a team release. “Not only has Kyle proven himself as a champion driver, he’s performed at a championship level outside of the race car. We’re proud to continue our relationship and to see him represent our team and our brands in such positive ways. The years to come are very bright.”

MORE: Kyle Larson through the years | All of his Cup wins

The extension comes after the driver and team came to terms in July 2021 on a deal that lengthened his contract through the end of 2023. He’ll now operate out of the Concord, North Carolina, headquarters for the foreseeable future.

“I can’t explain how much this opportunity means,” Larson said in the release. “The chance to compete for the top team and best sponsors in racing is something every driver dreams about. I’m humbled to have incredible people in my corner and amazing support from so many fans. Thanks to everyone at Hendrick Motorsports and Hendrick Automotive Group for believing in me, Cliff (Daniels, crew chief) and our team. Even though we’ve done some great things so far, I truly believe our best is ahead of us.”

Larson claimed a series-best 10 victories en route to the 2021 championship in his first season running the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick last year. He’s enjoyed success in his 2022 title defense as well, winning two races thus far and in position to advance to the Round of 12 after Saturday’s Bristol Night Race (7:30 p.m. ET, USA, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Hendrick’s other drivers are all under contract for next year and beyond, as well, with Alex Bowman (signed through ’23), William Byron (signed through ’25) and Chase Elliott (signed through ’27) all slated to be back in their respective rides for NASCAR’s 75th anniversary season.

Posted on by Adam Fenwick

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Zane Smith fell one position short of winning Thursday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway, but considering how his day started it may as well have been a victory.

Smith, a winner of three Truck Series events so far this year, was forced to miss qualifying earlier Thursday when a rear-end axle seal failed on his No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford F-150.

As a result, he was forced to start at the rear of the field for the UNOH 200. He was joined there by John Hunter Nemechek, who crashed in practice and also missed qualifying.

RELATED: Race results

“We started out today really rough with our axle seal busting open and not being able to qualify,” Smith said. “This is probably the worst place that could happen. If it was a mile-and-a-half, you just go where they’re not. The PJ1 is just so dominant, you can’t do that.”

With passing so difficult, Smith’s team strategically kept him on track at the conclusion of the second stage. That moved him into the race lead alongside eventual winner Ty Majeski.

Smith would eventually lose the lead to Majeski during a restart. Despite having additional restarts to attempt to take the lead back, Smith was unable to pass Majeski and crossed the finish line second.

“All of those restarts, even when I was the leader, it probably looked dumb because I took the bottom,” said Smith. “I was so bad outside of the PJ1. I knew he would have a better launch, but all I was hoping for was to be door-to-door with him. Towards the end there, I don’t know how many laps we had on tires, it was really hard not to spin them so much.”

Smith’s attention now turns to the next two races, on Oct. 1 at Talladega Superspeedway and on Oct. 22 at Homestead-Miami Speedway as he looks to lock himself into the championship race on Nov. 4 at Phoenix Raceway.

“Focus forward and hopefully win Talladega or Homestead,” Smith said. “Looking forward to those two. I’m happy we’re still above the cutline, but you’re never safe in this round.”