1 month agoJoe Gibbs Racing driver Martin Truex Jr. obtained a starting position of 11th for the Food City 500 on Sunday. In 33 starts at Bristol Motor Speedway, Truex has four top-10 finishes, while he only nabbed one top-10 finish in the past 10 Cup events at the site.
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1 month agoThe No. 12 Team Penske Ford unloaded super fast this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, and Ryan Blaney didn't hold back. In practice on Saturday, Blaney not only laid down the fastest single lap of the session, but he also had the fastest five-, 10-, 15-, 20-, and 25-lap average. In qualifying, it was more of the same, as Blaney won the pole for Sunday afternoon's Food City 500. Despite having just two top-five finishes in 14 career starts, Blaney has the sixth-most laps led (493) at Bristol among active driver in the Cup Series, which shows that he has the potential to run really well here. With the speed shown in practice and with Blaney starting on the pole, the upside is there for him to put down a dominating effort in the Food City 500 this weekend. He is a strong DFS pick, especially on DraftKings, where his driver salary is only $10,500.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: Win The Race
1 month agoWhen the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Bristol Motor Speedway, you have to keep Kyle Larson on your radar. This weekend is no exception. In practice on Saturday, Larson never really made a long run, but his five-lap average was the fastest among drivers in his Group. He ended up qualifying 10th for this weekend's Food City 500. In the two NextGen races here in Thunder Valley, Larson has a pair of top-five finishes, and in seven of his last nine starts at this race track, he has ended up in sixth-place or better when the checkered flag waved. With the combination of decent place differential upside as well as dominator potential, Kyle Larson is a very solid DFS pick once again at Bristol this weekend.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: ifantasyrace
1 month agoLast week's winner, Christopher Bell, just might make it two wins in a row on the season. NASCAR rolls into Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend, where Bell has led a combined 330 laps over the two races at this track in the NextGen car, walking away with three Stage wins and two top-five finishes overall as well. Having a fast car at Bristol makes a world of difference, and it doesn't hurt that Bell loves racing at this half-mile track, either. During his media availability earlier this week, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver said, "I love racing at Bristol, it's literally my favorite race on the schedule... It's been a track we have excelled at the last couple of times we have been there, we've been close." In practice on Saturday, Bell's No. 20 Toyota was third-fastest in 15-lap average, and he will roll off the starting grid from 12th when the Food City 500 goes green. Bell is +650 to win at several sportsbooks, putting him as one of the favorites yet again this weekend.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: Speedway Digest
1 month agoStarting further back in the field is something that Chris Buescher is accustomed to at Bristol Motor Speedway. In the last two races at this track, he has rolled off from the starting grid in 20th-place, but Buescher has been very strong at Bristol in the NextGen car when it came to actually racing. In addition to getting the win in the 2022 race here, he also walked away with a top-five finish in last year's fall race in Thunder Valley. Over those two races, Buescher has the second-best average running position (6.93) and the best average finish (2.5). This weekend, Buescher will start from back in 34th but he looked much stronger than that in practice, ranking eighth-fastest in 20-lap average. This No. 17 Roush-Fenway Keselowski Racing team is coming off of a second-place finish at Phoenix last weekend and looking to build some momentum early on in the season. They have a good opportunity to do that at Bristol this weekend. With his deep starting position, Buescher has very high place differential upside for DFS contests.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: Win The Race
1 month agoRoss Chastain qualified dead last for this weekend's Food City 500, and while starting deep in the field at a half-mile race track is typically seen as a major disadvantage, this is actually a huge opportunity in DFS contests for the Trackhouse Racing driver. Due to his place differential potential and his modest $8,500 salary on DraftKings, Chastain is now one of the premiere picks on the slate. In practice on Saturday, the No. 1 Chevrolet was top-five in terms of 10-, 20-, 25-, and 30-lap average, showing that Chastain has a strong race car to work with this weekend. He finished sixth in the first NextGen Bristol race back in 2022, and we saw Kyle Larson finish 2nd last season despite starting back in 36th as well.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: ifantasyrace
1 month agoKyle Busch used to be the master at Bristol Motor Speedway. He won four of the five races here between 2009 and 2011 and is an eight-time winner at the race track. It has been a few years since Rowdy has been in contention to win in Thunder Valley, though. Over the last three Bristol races, Busch's best finish has been 20th and his driver rating has ranged from 64.7 to 87.2. There's hope for at least a small turnaround this weekend, though. In practice Busch posted the second-fastest single lap and ranked fifth-fastest when it came to five-lap average. He likely won't garner much ownership in DraftKings DFS contests this weekend, especially because of his $10,200 salary, so Rowdy could be an against-the-grain type of pick. However, it'll take a surprise performance from the Richard Childress Racing driver to be worth that high salary.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: DriverAverages
1 month agoErik Jones could surprise some people at Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend. The Legacy Motor Club driver was a legitimate top-10 contender here last fall but finished in 24th-place after a loose wheel ruined his race. This season, Jones should have a little more speed in the race car, as Legacy Motor Club is now part of the Toyota camp. Jones has actually been pretty good at Bristol during his young career, with top-10 finishes in five of his 12 career starts. At his $7,200 salary on DraftKings, Jones is definitely a tournament pick this weekend, but should not be relied on heavily to build your DFS lineups.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: ifantasyrace
1 month agoKeep an eye on Stewart-Haas Racing driver, Ryan Preece, this weekend. He ran the fall race here at Bristol for SHR last season in their No. 41 Ford and qualified 17th before finishing ninth in Stage 2 and coming home 12th when the checkered flag flew on the race. For this weekend's Food City 500, Preece qualified in 25th-place after posting the 25th-fastest lap in practice. Although he didn't show a ton of speed pre-race, this Stewart-Haas Racing driver is a relatively safe low-dollar option on DraftKings at just $5,900 in salary. Overall, Preece has a pretty strong track record at Bristol Motor Speedway in the Cup Series, with a career average finish of 15.5 over six starts. Statistically, that makes Bristol the best track on the schedule for Preece. During his media availability earlier this week, he stated, "[Bristol is] one of the stronger race tracks that we go to, so the confidence is pretty high."
--Jordan McAbeeSource: Speedway Digest
1 month agoTodd Gilliland isn't a name you immediately think of when it comes to Bristol Motor Speedway, but he's actually been quite solid in Thunder Valley over the course of his young career. In two starts at this race track, Gilliland has posted finishes of 18th- and 16th-place despite starting back in the 30s for both of those races. Bristol rewards drivers that are able to keep their car damage-free and that has been what Gilliland has been able to do. This weekend, the No. 38 Ford was 18th-fastest in practice and ranked 13th-best when it came to 10-lap average. Gilliland qualified 24th for this weekend's Food City 500, making him a riskier low-dollar option on DraftKings, but if he can earn another mid-teens finish on Sunday, that would be good value for a $5,700 driver on DraftKings.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: ifantasyrace
1 month agoDespite earning a top-10 finish at Daytona, John Hunter Nemechek's return to the Cup Series has been a surprisingly disappointing one, as he has zero laps led and no other top-20 race finishes despite retaining Ben Beshore as crew chief, who he dominated the Xfinity Series with last year. Nemechek's speed percentile of 26.77 lags his teammate, Erik Jones', 45.55 to an even greater degree than Noah Gragson lagged Jones the year before. Even at Phoenix where the other Toyotas dominated, Nemechek was largely nowhere to be seen and he qualified 26th for this weekend's Bristol event. There's no disputing Nemechek's talent based on his minor league results, but it seems like the team isn't gelling yet, perhaps because of his inexperience in the NextGen car. Nemechek will probably gain speed as the season progresses, but it's hard to envision a good run at Bristol, a track where he's never won.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
1 month agoCorey LaJoie has had a very topsy-turvy 2024 to date. With increased Chevrolet investment into the Spire operation, LaJoie has never had more speed; he has ranked in the top half of speed in all three races he finished. However, he was mistake-prone the last two race weekends as he crashed at Las Vegas and then overdrove the corner and had a miserable qualifying run at Phoenix before getting wrecked during the race. Although he's never had a good finish at Bristol (largely because he's never had a fast enough car to do so), Lajoie did lead 48 laps in the Night Race last year on pit strategy. The fact that both he and teammate, Zane Smith, qualified in the top 20 seems to indicate LaJoie's trend of having slightly above-average speed will likely continue, making him a dark horse for a top ten run. The No. 7 Chevrolet ranked 10th-fastest in 15-lap average during practice.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
1 month agoKaz Grala makes his Cup Series short track debut at Bristol this afternoon, which makes speculating about his performance something of a question mark. Grala got much hype early in his career because he had two top-10s in his first three starts, but those came on a road course and a superspeedway race. Rick Ware Racing seemed to be grasping for credibility by hiring Grala and Justin Haley to drive this year, who were both better regarded than many of RWR's previous hires, but despite these moves, it doesn't seem to have helped them much, as Haley has the second-worst speed percentile in the Cup Series among full-timers at 21.16 and Grala's 10.36 is even worse. Grala did get his first top ten at Bristol in the Xfinity night race last year (a 10th), but it's hard to imagine him carrying his weak car to a strong finish there in the Cup Series. A top-20 result this weekend would likely be due to attrition, not speed. Grala's No. 15 Ford was the slowest car in practice on Saturday.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
1 month agoAustin Dillon starts 31st for this weekend's Bristol race, which is the worst Bristol qualifying run in his NASCAR Cup Series career and his worst starting position on any short track since 2017. While Dillon was a revelation in last year's spring event where he qualified second, finished third, and posted the fastest average race speed, that's definitely an outlier for his recent career and that came on the dirt Bristol track, which isn't what the Cup Series is racing on this weekend. On the paved Bristol track, Dillon was weak even in his heyday, with only one top-five, three top-10s, and zero laps led in his career. In the years since his crew chief Justin Alexander's departure, Dillon has been significantly slower. His speed percentile this year sits at 22.17, which is third-worst among Cup full-timers. Considering all these factors, even a top twenty might be a surprise. Bettors should stay far away, although Dillon makes a a decent DFS option at just $6,300 with high place differentil potential.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
1 month agoHarrison Burton qualified 13th for this weekend's Food City 500, giving him his best starting position on a short track in his Cup career. But while he seems to have slightly improved since 2023 (if only because the Penske cars seem to be a little faster), his short track performance has not been up to snuff. Short tracks are the only track type where Burton has never posted a top-10 finish nor led a lap amongst track types where he has ten or more starts. Additionally, his speed percentile on short tracks last year was only 14.69, which was significantly worse than his already weak overall speed percentile of 22.89. His best Bristol finish was a mere 15th and that came on the dirt track, not the paved surface that the Cup Series will be racing on this weekend. There's little reason to expect a good run from him in this race.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
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