The NASCAR Cup Series will be joined by the Truck Series and the Xfinity Series for three playoff races at Bristol Motor Speedway. The racing starts a day earlier this week, with the trucks racing Thursday night, the Xfinity Series racing Friday night and the Cup Series will be on the track for some Saturday Night short track racing. If there were a fifth crown jewel race on the schedule; the Bristol Night Race would be it.
Here is the schedule the on-track activity at Bristol this week…
RACE RECAP AT BRISTOL
Alex Bowman won the pole for the race in April at Bristol. He led the first 39 laps and then the race became “The Kyle Larson Show.” The No. 5 car led 411 of the 500 laps. Kyle Larson also won both Stages and won the race. This should not have surprised anyone. Larson led 277 of the 300 laps in the Xfinity Series that weekend and he led 462 of the 500 laps in the Bristol Night Race last year. Larson clearly has an advantage on this high-banked, short track.
Bristol has become a one-groove race track. The drivers had to ride the bottom of the track or they will fall back through the field. The race in April looked a lot like a race at Martinsville. The combination of one-groove and the Gen-7 car making it impossible to pass the leader made the race pretty boring. Hopefully racing under the lights will make the race more exciting this week.
The best drivers in the April race at Bristol included 1. Kyle Larson, 2. Denny Hamlin, 3. Ryan Blaney, 4. Carson Hocevar, 5. Ty Gibbs, 6. Christopher Bell, 7. Chase Briscoe, Alex Bowman, 8. Tyler Reddick 9. William Byron, 10. Justin Haley
STAGE 1 RESULTS: 1. Kyle Larson, 2. Denny Hamlin, 3. Justin Haley, 4. Alex Bowman, 5. Carson Hocevar, 6. Christopher Bell, 7. Ryan Blaney, 8. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 9. Ty Gibbs, 10. AJ Allmendinger
STAGE 2 RESULTS: 1.Kyle Larson, 2. Alex Bowman, 3. Christopher Bell, 4. Carson Hocevar, 5. Denny Hamlin, 6. Justin Haley, 7. Ty Gibbs, 8. Ryan Blaney, 9. Chase Briscoe, 10. Tyler Reddick
Click here for highlights of the race in April at Bristol Motor Speedway: BRISTOL RACE REWIND APRIL (2025)
FANTASY STATS FOR BRISTOL
Bristol is a .533-mile, high-banked, concrete track. Dover is somewhat similar to Bristol since both tracks are high-banked and have concrete surfaces. I will use the stats from the last four races at Bristol and combine them with the stats from Dover in July. That should give us a good idea of which drivers are good on the high-banked, concrete, short tracks.
Here are the stats in the last four races at Bristol and the races this summer at Dover, sorted by Driver Rating…
BRISTOL STRATEGY
FANTASY LIVE: Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin will need to be in all lineups this week. They have dominated the races at Bristol in the Gen-7 car and I see no reason why that trend will not continue Saturday night. The other spots in your Fantasy Live lineup can get interesting. I plan to watch the Joe Gibbs cars of Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe and Ty Gibbs in practice. JGR has been really good at Bristol. We can also watch the two Hendrick Motorsports cars of Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman. They have not been as good as their teammate (Kyle Larson), but they have finished up front in many races at Bristol. The final driver I will be watching is Ryan Blaney. He looked good in the April race at Bristol and he finished sixth in the Bristol Night Race last year. I am not saving allocations this weekend. I will likely build my lineup from the drivers listed above.
FANTRAX / SPEEDWAY COLLECTIVE: Group A is pretty easy this week. Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin are locks for my lineup. There may be another driver from Group A who has a good race Saturday night, but it is tougher to tell who that might be. I will play it safe and use the two top drivers in the Bristol Night Race.
Group B is not too tough as well. I am running low with my allocations with Alex Bowman, Ty Gibbs and Chase Briscoe, but they are the best drivers at Bristol from this group. I will use them Saturday night and figure out the other seven races later in the playoffs. Carson Hocevar had a great race at Bristol in April. He is likely to get my last spot in Group B.
Group C has a driver who should be a lock too. Justin Haley qualified 10th, finished 3rd in Stage 1, 6th in Stage 2 and he finished 13th in the race. I at least need to have Haley on my team this weekend. Josh Berry will likely be my backup plan for Haley. Berry has finished 12th in two of his three races at Bristol. He is a short track specialist, so Berry should be good Saturday night.
I will have my full lineup for FanTrax and the Speedway Collective games posted Wednesday.
EARLY WEEK PICKS FOR BRISTOL
ONE & DONE PICK: KYLE LARSON
FANTASY LIVE PICKS
FANTRAX PICKS
SPEEDWAY COLLECTIVE
EARLY WEEK BEST BETS FOR BRISTOL
I am not making too many early bets this week. Kyle Larson should win the race Saturday night, but his odds are too short to bet right now. I doubt they will go down much more after practice and qualifying, so I will wait until Saturday to bet Larson. There are a few long-shots that I am interested in this week.
CHASE ELLIOTT (+1100): We know Kyle Larson will be fast this weekend and we know Hendrick Motorsports will share the information from the No. 5 team with the other Hendrick Motorsports cars. Elliott has been really close to winning the Bristol Night Race in the Gen-7 car. He finished second in the Bristol Night Race in 2022 and then he finished second again last year. I only need Elliott to improve by one spot. He is a good bet at 11-1 odds.
TY GIBBS (+1800): Gibbs is still looking for his first win in the Cup Series. Could it happen Saturday night in the Bristol Night Race? I think so. Gibbs led 102 laps at Bristol in 2023, he led 137 laps last year and he finished third last April at Bristol. He keeps knocking on the door and sooner or later it is going to open for him. I will take a chance with Gibbs at a track that Joe Gibbs Racing has had a lot of success at.
CHRIS BUESCHER (+2500): Could Buescher win the Bristol Night Race in the Gen-7 car? Absolutely! He has done it before. Buescher won the Bristol Night Race in 2022 and then he came back in 2023 and finished fourth. Buescher has led the fifth-most laps and he has the fifth-best driver rating in the Gen-7 car at Bristol. 25-1 seems like a good price for a driver who has been fifth-best in the field at Bristol.
* I will update these picks after qualifying this weekend.
Follow me on X (Twitter) @MrFantasyNASCAR
If you like Fantasy NASCAR, LIKE my Fantasy NASCAR Tips Page on Facebook