RADIO
Kyle Busch Wins For Eighth Time In Thunder Valley
2 weeks agoJoe Gibbs Racing driver Kyle Busch picked up his eighth career checkered flag at Bristol Motor Speedway after winning Sunday's Food City 500. Over the past 35 Cup races at BMS, Kyle and his brother Kurt Busch have combined for 14 victories. Rowdy ended up leading 71 of the 500 laps, rolling up from the 17th starting position for a ton of place-differential points for DFS players, too. Next up is a trip to Richmond, and haters might not want to watch. Busch has six wins in 27 career starts at RIR to lead all active drivers, and he is tops with a 6.9 average-finish position, too. He has led 1,181 laps while failing to land inside the top 10 on just seven occasions.Source: NASCAR.com
Don't Sleep On Ryan Newman At Bristol
3 weeks agoRoush Fenway Racing driver Ryan Newman will go off 11th for Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway after turning in a best speed of 129.640 mph. He has 34 career starts at Thunder Valley with two top-five finishes, 18 top-10 showings and 123 laps led. That equates to 52.9 percent of his Bristol starts that have resulted in a 10th-place finish or better. Newman is a pretty strong mid-tier DFS play for Sunday's short-track race, finishing 14th or better in each of his past four starts, including a sixth-place showing in the night race in 2017.Source: NASCAR.com
Paul Menard Goes Off Ninth In Food City 500
3 weeks agoWood Brothers Racing driver Paul Menard turned in a best speed of 130.026 mph in qualifying at Bristol Motor Speedway and he will go off ninth in Sunday's Food City 500. He has 23 career Cup starts at Bristol, posting just one top-five finish, six top-10s and 104 laps led with only one did not finish. Menard might have qualified well, but he is a risky fantasy play this weekend. He hasn't posted a top-10 finish at Bristol since the night race back in 2014. Last season he was 13th and 36th at the short track. Start him at your own peril in DFS.Source: NASCAR.com
Erik Jones Ready To Go At Food City 500
3 weeks agoJoe Gibbs Racing driver Erik Jones recorded a best speed of 131.057 mph to qualify fourth for Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. He has enjoyed himself in his brief Cup experience in Thunder Valley, posting two top-five finishes, three top-20 showings and 260 laps led with an average-finish position of 12.5. He also posted two wins in an Xfinity car in five starts on that circuit, registering four top-10 finishes and 120 laps while posting a 9.4 AFP. Jones might be overlooked on the JGR roster with drivers like Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin, but Jones could make some real noise this weekend.Source: NASCAR.com
Ryan Blaney Is The Top Ford In Sunday's Field
3 weeks agoPenske Racing's Ryan Blaney will start from the third position in Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Blaney will be making his eighth career Cup start at the track. He has never finished in the top five, but he has a couple of top-10 finishes with 221 laps led and one did not finish. Blaney did a good job in qualifying, posting a best speed of 131.182 mph to secure a spot on the inside of Row 2. His teammates Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski will go off seventh and 12th. Ford has been to victory lane in four of the past 10 races at Bristol.Source: NASCAR.com
William Byron On Outside Of Row 1 At Bristol
3 weeks agoHendrick Motorsports driver William Byron posted a best speed of 131.371 mph in qualifying on Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway and he will go off second in Sunday's Food City 500. Byron will be right next to his teammate Chase Elliott, who won the pole. Byron has long odds (100/1), according to most Vegas shops, but he has the chance to do some damage for DFS players at a moderate price. Expect Byron to tick off some laps led and perhaps post a career-best finish at the short track. He made his Cup debut at Bristol last season, finishing 18th and 23rd.Source: NASCAR.com
Chase Elliott Starts On The Pole At Bristol
3 weeks agoHendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott is on the pole for Sunday's Food City 500 from Bristol Motor Speedway, the second short-track race of the 2019 MENCS season. He has six Cup races under his belt, and he has had some decent success. He has finished in the top 10 on three occasions, with five finishes of 20th or better while leading 128 laps. He also has a 12.7 average-finish position, which is second-best among active drivers by those with at least five Bristol starts under their belts. He will start alongside teammate William Byron on the front row, and he has the benefit of top pit stall selection, grabbing a spot on the end with no traffic in front of him.Source: NASCAR.com
Brad Keselowski Limps To 36th-Place Texas Finish
3 weeks agoPenske Racing's Brad Keselowski completed just 279 of the 334 laps at the O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, limping home to a disappointing 36th-place finish. He suffered an apparent transmission issue on a restart. "I've got no gears," Keselowski was heard saying over the radio. "Just something broke out of nowhere. Something in the back of the car broke and it won't go. It's one of those really important parts, as Kenny Schrader would say," he joked. He'll look to rebound at Bristol Motor Speedway next weekend. Kes has made 18 starts with two victories at Bristol, and he has 11 top-10 finishes with an 18.1 Average-Finish Position.Source: PRNLive on Twitter
Kyle Larson Finishes Dead Last At O'Reilly Auto Parts 500
3 weeks agoGanassi Racing's Kyle Larson was involved in a wreck that ended his day early at the O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday. He was OK after a hard hit, and he never saw it coming. "I had no warning at all. My car felt really balanced that run, I didn't feel like I was putting that much load on the right front compared to the last run," Larson said. The Ganassi driver ended up in last place (39th) for a disappointing day. He'll look to bounce back at Bristol next week. He has two top-five finishes and six top-10 showings in 10 career Cup starts at BMS, posting a 14.8 average-finish position.Source: PRNLive on Twitter
Kevin Harvick Fails To Lead Lap For Fourth Straight Race
3 weeks agoStewart-Haas Racing's Kevin Harvick turned in another top-10 finish at the O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday. It was his sixth consecutive top-10 since a disappointing 26th at the Daytona 500. However, he failed to lead a lap for the fourth consecutive race, his longest stretch since failing to lead a lap in a seven-race stretch from July 8 to Aug. 19, 2017. He'll look for better results at Bristol Motor Speedway next Sunday. Happy has won twice in 36 starts at BMS, posting 12 top-five finishes with 884 laps led and a 13.2 average-finish position.Source: NASCAR.com
Aric Almirola Fights To Top-10 Finish Despite Illness
3 weeks agoStewart-Haas Racing's Aric Almirola (illness) was battling illness overnight at Texas Motor Speedway, but he was able to start the O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 on Sunday and he ended up finishing in seventh place after starting 21st. He said after the race that he received treatment at the infield care center before the race, but the team did not have a backup driver on standby. He'll look to keep up the good work at Bristol Motor Speedway. While he said it is one of his favorite tracks, he has just one top-five finish and three top-10s in 19 career starts with a 23.95 average-finish position.Source: NBC Sports - Dustin Long
William Byron Winds Up Sixth At O'Reilly Auto Parts 500
3 weeks agoHendrick Motorsports driver William Byron, who started second in Sunday's race, finished in sixth place at the O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. He was able to tick off 15 laps led for his best finish of the season. He'll look to build upon the momentum heading into Bristol Motor Speedway next weekend. Byron has been rather mediocre in his first two tries in a Cup car at Thunder Valley, finishing 10th last spring and 16th in the fall race.Source: NASCAR.com
Jimmie Johnson Posts First Top-Five Of The Season
3 weeks agoHendrick Motorsports driver Jimmie Johnson was on the pole at the O'Reilly Auto Parts 500, and he led a season-high 61 laps in Sunday's race at Texas Motor Speedway. However, he had to settle for a fifth-place finish, as his race-win drought is now at 66 and counting. He'll look to snap that ugly skid when he arrives at Bristol Motor Speedway next Sunday. In 34 career starts at Bristol, he has two victories, 12 top-five finishes, 20 top-10s and 914 laps led with an average-finish position of 13.2.Source: NASCAR.com
Erik Jones Brings Home Fourth Place At Texas
3 weeks agoJoe Gibbs Racing driver Erik Jones recorded a fourth-place finish at the O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday. He ended up leading 30 laps, and the JGR stable of Toyotas ended up running out front for a total of 151 of the 334 laps. It was a nice bounce-back performance for Jones, who struggled with a 30th-place finish at Martinsville last weekend on the short track. The laps led were his first of the season, too. He'll look to carry over the momentum to another short track at Bristol. In four career starts in Thunder Valley, he has two top-fives, 260 laps led and a 12.5 average-finish position.Source: NASCAR.com
Daniel Suarez Ends Up Third At Texas Motor Speedway
3 weeks agoStewart-Haas Racing's Daniel Suarez rolled to a third-place finish at the O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, and he turned in the best speed of any Ford in the field at 187.565 mph. Suarez ended up leading nine laps, doing a good job in front of family and friends who made the trip up from Mexico to watch him perform. It was easily his best finish in five stops at Texas, as he entered with an Average-Finish Position (AFP) of 22.5. He'll try to carry over the momentum into Bristol next week. He has never finished lower than 18th in four career Cup starts at BMS, although he has also never finished higher than 11th, either.Source: NASCAR.com
