By David Morgan, Associate Editor
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Elimination weekend is upon us.
The NASCAR Cup Series rolls into Bristol Motor Speedway for a Saturday night under the lights in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race which will see the current 16-driver Playoff field cut to 12 when the checkered flag falls on the night.
Racing at Bristol is always intense, but when the lights go down for the night race, the intensity gets cranked to 11. The aggressiveness that the drivers will show on the high-banked bullring that is called “The Last Great Colosseum” to take home the coveted Bristol trophy and the chance to wield the gladiator sword in Victory Lane illustrates why this race is on every fan’s bucket list, because it is a must-see event from start to finish.
Bristol is a track that makes it easy to get caught up in someone else’s mess and if that were to happen to any of the drivers on the bubble, their chances to continue on in the race for the championship could go right down the drain.
Courtesy of his win at Atlanta to start the Playoffs, Joey Logano is the only driver that is truly safe Saturday night, with 11 others hoping to be on the right side of the cut-off line when the checkered flag falls.
The first two races of the first round of the Playoffs have shaken up the standings, with some drivers that hoped to make a deep run in the postseason now teetering on the edge of elimination, including the winner of the last two races at Bristol – Denny Hamlin.
Former Cup champions Martin Truex, Jr. and Brad Keselowski also sit on the outside looking in coming into Saturday night as they look to keep their Playoff hopes alive.
By the Numbers
What: Bass Pro Shops Night Race, NASCAR Cup Series race No. 29 of 36
Where: Bristol Motor Speedway – Bristol, Tennessee (Opened: 1960)
When: Saturday, September 21
TV/Radio: USA Network, 7:30 pm ET/ PRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Channel 90
Track Size: 0.533-mile concrete oval
Banking: Turns: 30 to 34 degrees; Straights: 4 to 9 degrees
Race Length: 500 laps, 266.5 miles
Stage Lengths: First two stages – 125 laps each, Final stage – 250 laps
April 2024 Race Winner: Denny Hamlin – No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (Started third, 163 laps led)
September 2023 Race Winner: Denny Hamlin – No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (Started second, 142 laps led)
Track Qualifying Record: Chase Elliott – No. 9 Chevrolet (14.568 seconds, 131.713 mph – 4/5/2019)
Top-10 Highest Driver Ratings at Bristol Motor Speedway:
- Kyle Larson – No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – 103.9
- Christopher Bell – No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – 101.4
- Kyle Busch – No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet – 98.9
- Chase Elliott – No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – 96.8
- Denny Hamlin – No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – 95.1
- Josh Berry – No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford – 92.7
- Ty Gibbs – No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – 92.0
- Brad Keselowski – No. 6 RFK Racing Ford – 91.4
- Ryan Blaney – No. 12 Team Penske Ford – 87.3
- Joey Logano – No. 22 Team Penske Ford – 87.2
NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Standings (One Race Remaining in First Round):
- Joey Logano (Advanced to next round – Atlanta win)
- Christopher Bell (+46 points over cut-off)
- Austin Cindric (+43)
- Alex Bowman (+41)
- Daniel Suarez (+36)
- Tyler Reddick (+30)
- Chase Elliott (+30)
- Ryan Blaney (+29)
- Kyle Larson (+26)
- William Byron (+25)
- Chase Briscoe (+6)
- Ty Gibbs (+6)
———————————————————————————————
- Denny Hamlin (-6)
- Brad Keselowski (-12)
- Martin Truex, Jr. (-14)
- Harrison Burton (-20)
From the Driver’s Seat
“I have no idea how it will be. I don’t know if it is going to be the same as the first race or not. I don’t think it will be the same even if we are in the same situation because teams are going to learn and take camber out and be smarter with tire wear. I don’t know what to expect really,” said Ryan Blaney.
“I just hope I don’t blow a tire. It is going to be a little cooler, so I won’t sweat as much in the car, which I like. The race there in the spring, I am back and forth on. I thought it was really cool and great that you have these tires that wear out crazy, I just wish we would have known it ahead of time.
“As a driver and a part of the race team, that unknown of having no idea what is to be expected throws everybody for a loop. I would like a little bit more experience with that. Is that what NASCAR and people want? Probably not. The best moments are when it is unexpected.
“To some extent I would like to kind of half way know what is going on. I thought it was good and the tire fall-off was great but you’ve got to get more than 50 laps on it before you blow a tire. You have a fine line there. We will see what happens.”
Last Time at Bristol
As crew chief Harry Hogge once said in the movie Days of Thunder, “Tires is what wins races,” and that was never truer than in the Food City 500 in March at Bristol.
For the first time in three years, the spring date on the half-mile high banked oval in East Tennessee was back on its concrete surface and back to the Bristol we all know and love, but this time around the NASCAR Cup Series teams and drivers would have to go into gladiator mode to make it out of the race in one piece.
Always a battle, Bristol’s surface threw something new into the mix as the resin-treated concrete acted like a cheese grater on the Goodyear tires and instead of the track taking rubber, it became a ticking time bomb on when the tires would give up.
It wasn’t a matter of if, but when.
Like clockwork throughout the day, mostly near the end of a run, drivers would start dropping like flies when their tires gave way, either forcing them to pit road for a fresh set or in some cases, landing them into the wall.
For those drivers that could manage their tires the best, like winner Denny Hamlin and runner-up Martin Truex, Jr., they came out on the good end of the day, surviving the mayhem with great finishes to take back home, while others weren’t so lucky.
“It was challenging,” Hamlin said. “A different kind of challenge, for sure. Certainly not something we’ve had to do for a very long time in managing tires.
“Lesson learned early on. I kind of ran a certain pace, a certain line, wore my tires out. From that point on made some adjustments internally. He made some adjustments to the car that allowed me to just manage it from that point on.
“Once it got into that tire management type of race, certainly my history in late models where you had to do that big-time certainly paid off.”
Third-place finisher Brad Keselowski was another veteran driver at the top of the scoring pylon – one of only five to end the day on the lead lap – further illustrating that those who have been around the block and knew how to take care of their equipment were best suited to handle the mine field that was Bristol on Sunday.
“It was interesting,” said Keselowski. “Like a little short track race. You go to any of these local short tracks, that’s how you have to race. Have to take care of your stuff.
“It’s refreshing. It’s different. I like that, that it takes something different every week. That’s what makes Cup so hard. You go in every week, some weeks you drive ’em till you burn ’em down, this week you got to take care of ’em.”
Meanwhile, drivers like defending series champion Ryan Blaney were on the opposite side of the spectrum from the top finishers, only managing a 16th place finish after starting on pole.
“Did you enjoy the shit show?” the driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford jokingly asked the gathered media afterwards.
“I didn’t have fun. What’s fun about creeping around there? You can’t run 50 laps unless you blow a tire and you’ve got guys with blown stuff creeping around the race track. I can’t believe there wasn’t an accident when everybody blew a tire there before the last pit stop.
“You know what it reminded me of? It reminded me of the Daytona fuel saving. That’s what it was. We were two by two, creeping around there quarter throttle, saving your tires and you just don’t know if you want to go or not.”
Blaney continued on, lighting into Goodyear for the tire that was brought for Sunday’s race.
“They say they brought the same tire, but that is absolute BS. If you bring a new tire like this, they’re going to deny they brought a new tire, but obviously it’s different. You have to test it. You can’t just show up at the race track and run 500 laps with it. Like, you have to have a tire test. That’s why we do tire tests. If you don’t, this is what it ends up like.
“Yeah, we want wear and fall off, but you have to have an idea of how it’s going to wear off and that’s at a tire test. You can’t just unload something out of the blue and have what it was today. I bet it was entertaining for everybody to watch. I bet it was wild. Yeah, little bit of a wild race, but not in a good way.”
Weekend Schedule (All Times Eastern)
Friday, September 20
- NASCAR Cup Series Practice (4:00 pm – USA Network)
- NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying (5:05 pm – USA Network)
Saturday, September 21
- Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol (7:30 pm – 500 laps, 266.5 miles – USA Network)
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