NASCAR has completed the first two races in the Round of 16 and now they will head to Bristol Motor Speedway for the night race. This is an elimination race for the first round of the playoffs. Four drivers will see their chances of winning the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Championship eliminated. We typically see more wrecks in the night race than we do in the spring at Bristol. That is going to make it tougher to pick the best Fantasy NASCAR lineups. We will need some fast cars and a bit of luck in order to score well this weekend. The Bass Pro Shops Night Race can be seen Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.
PRACTICE SPEEDS FOR BRISTOL
NASCAR broke the teams down into two groups for practice and qualifying Friday evening. The first group was made up of the non-playoff drivers and the second group included the 16 drivers racing for a championship. Bristol is a .533-mile track, so the drivers had no problem making a long run in practice.
The practice speeds have not meant much in the Bristol Night Race. That has a lot to do with the fact that the teams practice during the day and race at night. The concrete at Bristol is heat sensitive, so the track has more grip once the sun goes down. Kyle Larson posted the eighth-fastest long-run speed last year and he destroyed the field. Chase Elliott posted the 24th-fastest long-run speed last year and he finished second in the race. Starting positions are more important than practice speed for the Bristol Night Race.
Here are the speeds from Friday’s practice at Bristol Motor Speedway…
STRATEGY FOR BRISTOL
The Bristol Night Race is an elimination race. We typically see the playoff drivers run up front in this race. Each driver will have their own agenda, depending on where they are in the Playoff Standings. Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe have already advanced to the Round of 12. They will be focused on winning the playoff points for the Stage win or the race win Saturday night. Kyle Larson (+60), Bubba Wallace (+50), Ryan Blaney (+42), William Byron (+39), Tyler Reddick (+37), Christopher Bell (+32), Chase Elliott (+28) Joey Logano (+21) can secure their spot in the Round of 12 by scoring Stage Points and finishing inside the top-20. These are the drivers I will be focusing my picks on this week, because they are from the teams who will likely use an aggressive pit strategy to score as many Stage Points as possible and finish up front in the Bristol Night Race.
Here are the picks for the race at Bristol…
FANTASY LIVE LINEUP FOR BRISTOL
KYLE LARSON (3): Larson needs to be in all lineups this week. He has dominated the races at Bristol like no other driver has dominated any track in the Gen-7 car. Larson led 462 laps, won both Stages and won the Bristol Night Race last year. He came back in April and led 411 laps, won both Stages and won the Food City 500. If that is not enough; Larson also led 277 of the 300 laps, won both Stages and won the Xfinity Series race last April. Larson is clearly the class of the field this week.
DENNY HAMLIN (3): Hamlin is nearly a lock for all lineups Saturday night. He has some momentum after his win last week at Gateway. The pressure is off the No. 11 team, so now they can be aggressive with their pit strategy and go for the Stage win and the checkered-flag. Hamlin has finished 2nd, 4th, 1st and 1st in his last four races at Bristol. He would be the class of the field if Larson wasn’t entered into the race.
RYAN BLANEY (4): Blaney has been up and down all season and it is about time the No. 12 team gets their shit together and starts stacking top-five finishes. Blaney finished fourth last week at Gateway. Now he gets to compete at Bristol. Blaney finished fifth at Bristol in April and sixth in the Bristol Night Race last year. The No. 12 car has a good chance to score a lot of Stage Points and finish in the top-five again Saturday night.
TY GIBBS (5): Gibbs is not a playoff driver, but he still has a lot to race for. Gibbs is still looking for his first win in the Cup Series. Bristol has been one of his better tracks. Gibbs finished third at Bristol in April. He also finished ninth last year and fifth in 2023. I will take a chance with Gibbs at one of his best tracks on the schedule.
CHRISTOPHER BELL (4): Bell started off the season red hot and he has not been able to get his mojo back this summer. Maybe a trip to Bristol Motor Speedway will kick-start the No. 20 team. Bell finished 8th, 5th, 10th, 3rd and 4th in his five races in the Gen-7 car at Bristol. That is an average finishing position of sixth. Bell should run up front, score a lot of Stage Points and be a good pick for your Fantasy Live lineup.
(GARAGE PICK) CHASE ELLIOTT (5): Elliott will have some momentum after his third-place finish last week at Gateway. Elliott sits 28 points above the cut-line for the Round of 12, so the No. 9 car needs to stack Stage Points and finish in the top-10. That is exactly what I think Elliott will do at Bristol. He finished second in the Bristol Night Race in 2022, seventh in the Bristol Night Race in 2023 and second again last year in the Night Race at Bristol. This is a good race to take a chance with the No. 9 car.
Good luck and be sure to follow me on X (Twitter) @MrFantasyNASCAR. I will send out a Tweet during the race to let you know if I plan to swap out one of my drivers for my Garage pick.