Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Kyle Larson’s season has included six top-five finishes, four of which have resulted in runner-up efforts, including Saturday night at Bristol, as he came up short of passing Kurt Busch to score his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season in the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race. His result also clinched him a spot in the playoffs via points. Also clinching playoff berths Saturday were Busch, who snapped a 58-race winless streak, Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski. He currently holds theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – “Old guys rule!” screamed 40-year-old Kurt Busch after he took the checkered flag in an action-filled Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race on Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway. Busch’s first victory since the 2017 Daytona 500 overshadowed a miraculous drive by brother Kyle Busch, whose car came back to life after a Lap 2 wreck like a relentless horror movie villain. Starting on the inside lane, Busch grabbed the lead from Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Clint Bowyer on a Lap 478 restart,Read More

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer BRISTOL, Tenn. – The inside lane kept Trevor Bayne from earning his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series top-10 finish this season. The Roush Fenway Racing driver ran what was arguably his best race since being pulled out of the car for a handful of races. Over the last half of the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race, Bayne’s No. 6 AdvoCare Rehydrate Ford Fusion battled with Austin Dillon, Chris Buescher, and Jimmie Johnson, for seventh and eighth. When Johnson pitted under the final caution,Read More

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer BRISTOL, Tenn. – Restarts and late race contact hindered Jimmie Johnson at Bristol Motor Speedway. The seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Champion ran up front throughout the entire Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race. In the mad dash to the finish, Johnson battled with Kyle Busch and Chris Buescher. The tight racing led to contact between the two drivers. Both Buescher and Busch ended up with flat tires, Busch spinning to bring out the final caution of the night. Under that caution, crew chiefRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor BRISTOL, Tenn. – Martin Truex Jr’s impressive resume has one glaring omission: a short track win. After a late race crash in Saturday night’s Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol, the drought continues for the 2017 Monster Energy Cup Series champion. Truex found himself in position to finally break through, running in second-place with less than 100 laps to go, but contact from Kyle Busch off of Turn 4 sent Truex’s Toyota spinning into the inside wall on the frontstretch. He then bounced backRead More

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer BRISTOL, Tenn. – The carnage started early in Saturday night’s Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. It all started when Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series points leader Kyle Busch broke loose while battling Ryan Blaney on lap 2, and by the time all was said and done, 12 more cars slid and spun into the multi-car incident. When the dust settled, the damage for AJ Allmendinger, Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace, Jr., Gray Gaulding, Michael McDowell was terminal. For Busch, the damage costRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – Kyle Larson, a close second to Kyle Busch in the 2018 spring race at Bristol Motor Speedway, took the first step toward avenging that loss—and a handful of others—with a pole-winning effort in Friday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series knockout qualifying session at the .533-mile short track. In the final round, Larson covered the distance in 15.015 seconds (127.792 mph) to complete a sweep of the three rounds in the session. In winning his first Busch Pole Award at Thunder Valley, hisRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor BRISTOL, Tenn. – The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series finally got their chance to take to the Bristol Motor Speedway high banks on Friday with a pair of practice sessions for the drivers and teams to get everything sorted out ahead of Saturday night’s Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race. In the first session Friday morning, Chase Elliott led a trio of Chevrolets to the top of the board, posting a fast lap of 15.151 seconds, 126.645 mph. He would be followed by Kyle Larson andRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor BRISTOL, Tenn. – The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to Thunder Valley this weekend for the annual Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, a showdown under the lights on the “World’s Fastest Half-Mile” that is sure to leave sheet metal twisted and tempers flaring once these drivers get done battling for 500 laps. Racing at Bristol is always intense, but when the lights go down for the night race each August, the intensity gets cranked to 11. The aggressiveness that theRead More

By Reid Spencer. NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – In a race fraught with tension, and with a pack of drivers with desperate agendas chasing him to the finish line, Kyle Busch held off Erik Jones to complete a sweep of all-three NASCAR touring series with Saturday night’s keystone victory in the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. In winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series main event at the .533-mile concrete track, Busch capped a long weekend that saw him win Wednesday’s NASCAR Camping WorldRead More