NASCAR Cup Series returns after a week of for the Easter break. Were any on the teams able to find some speed during the break? Will the teams that started off the season on a hot streak (Joe Gibbs Racing and 23XI Racing) be able to maintain their advantage over the field? These are the questions the will be answer in the Food City 500. Get ready for some aggressive driving and some hot tempers. It’s Bristol Baby!
BRISTOL SCHEDULE
The Cup Series, O’Reilly Series and the Truck Series will all be racing this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The Trucks Series in on the track first. They will practice and qualify for the Tennessee Army National Guard 250 Friday afternoon and then they will race Friday night.
The O’Reilly Series will practice and qualify Saturday afternoon for the Suburban Propane 300 and then the will race Saturday night.
The Cup Series will practice and qualify for the Food City 500 Saturday evening. Their cars will be impounded and then the Cup Series will race Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on FS1.
* I may not get all of the picks posted Saturday since the practice is so late and I want to pay attention to the O’Reilly Series race. I will make sure they are all posted Sunday morning.
FANTASY STATS FOR BRISTOL
Bristol is a .533-mile, high-banked, concrete track. It is often called “The Words Fastest Half-Mile.” There are other tracks on the schedule that are similar to Bristol. Darlington is a high-banked track but it is a bit larger. Dover is the most similar, but NASCAR removed the Monster Mile from the points schedule. The best way to handicap the races at Bristol is to look at the driver’s history at the track. Some drivers are very good at Bristol and others are just in the way. I used the stats from the last six races at Bristol to handicap the Food City 500 Sunday.
Here are the stats from the last six races at Bristol Motor Speedway, sorted by Driver Rating…
BRISTOL RACE REWIND (APRIL 2025)
Alex Bowman won the pole for the Food City 500 last year. He led the first 39 laps and then his engine blew up. The race then turned into “The Kyle Larson Show”, staring Kyle Larson. The No. 5 car led 411 laps, won both Stages and won the race. There really is not a lot to write about for the Food City 500 last year. The race went caution free until lap 180, when Shane van Gisbergen and Cody Ware wrecked each other. The rest of the race went caution free to the checkered flag.
The best drivers in the race were Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Ty Gibbs, Carson Hocevar, Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe and Justin Haley (Daniel Suarez is driving his car this year.)
You can watch the highlights of last year’s race here: 2025 Bristol 500 Race Rewind
EARLY WEEK DRIVER RANKINGS
Bristol Motor Speedway is a unique track. It is important to focus on the drivers results at this high-banked, short track, but I went a bit deeper. I looked at the Driver Ratings from the last six races at Bristol, with some extra weight to the two races last year. I also wanted some of the 2026 speed factored into the Driver Rankings so I looked at the driver’s average green flag speed and Driver Rating from the race at Darlington. That is the most similar track to Bristol so far on the schedule. I also factored in the drivers average pit stop speed and the driver’s average green flag speed on the ovals in 2026 (not including the Superspeedway tracks). I ran the model and here are the Driver Rankings for the Food City 500 Sunday….
* These rankings will be updated after all of the practice sessions are completed and the field is set for the race.
STRATEGY FOR BRISTOL
SEASON-LONG GAME STRATEGY: The strategy for Bristol is not too tough. Just stick to the drivers who always run well at this track. Kyle Larson “should” dominate the race if you look at his track history, but the Hendrick Motorsports cars have been a bit behind on speed in 2026, despite the win by Chase Elliott at Martinsville. Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Ty Gibbs should give Larson some competition Sunday. I will build my lineups around these four drivers this weekend.
DFS GAME STRATEGY: The strategy at Bristol Motor Speedway for your DFS Contest is easy… You need to pay up for the top-two dominators Sunday. This race has a history of one driver leading 300+ laps. You will not win any cash if that driver is not in your lineup. A second driver typically leads 80+ laps. That is 95 DraftKings Points just for leading laps from two drivers. You do not need much from the rest of your lineup as long as you have the two top dominators this weekend. We should have a good idea of who these drivers will be after practice and qualifying Saturday.
EARLY WEEK BEST BETS FOR BRISTOL
I like to look at the odds early in the week and see if there are any drivers who are mispriced. I like to bet on these drivers before they get on the track for practice or qualifying and then we lose these odds. I am not suggesting that these drivers are the best picks in the field, but they are worth some a few bucks to return a nice profit.
CHRISTOPHER BELL (7-1): Bristol ranks as the best track for Bell. He has never finished outside the top-10 in the Gen-7 car at Bristol, so we know the No. 20 car will be running up front. Bell won the last race at Bristol and he gets some extra seat time this weekend since he is racing in the Truck Series Friday. Bell is just too good to pass up at 7-1 odds.
TY GIBBS (11-1): Gibbs is having his best season in the Cup Series and now he gets to compete at his best track. Gibbs led 102 laps at Bristol in 2023, 137 laps in 2024 and 201 laps in the last race at Bristol. He continues to get better and better at The World’s Fastest Half-Mile. This is Gibbs best chance to win, so I will bet on the No. 54 car at 11-1 odds this week.
BRAD KESELOWSKI (25-1): Keselowski has been hit or miss at Bristol in the Gen-7 car. The track that is most similar to Bristol Motor Speedway is Darlington Raceway. Keselowski dominated that race and finished 2nd. He also finished 2nd in the last race at Bristol. There is no way Keselowski should be 25-1 based on what he did at Darlington and in the last race at Bristol.
* I will add a one or two drivers to the card that I think are Best Bets after qualifying Saturday.
Follow me on X (Twitter) @MrFantasyNASCAR
If you like Fantasy NASCAR, LIKE my Fantasy NASCAR Tips Page on Facebook