The Cup Series will continue their playoffs this week with a trip to Thunder Valley to race at Bristol Motor Speedway. This is race number 29 on the schedule and that means we have used 28 drivers in the One & Done contests this year. So, how is your One & Done contest looking? I am in two leagues this year. My picks are in first place in one league and fourth-place in the other league. I am quickly running out of drivers, but I have the rest of the schedule mapped out. Hopefully the drivers will cooperate and finish up front like I have them scheduled to do. Here are my picks for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race…
ONE & DONE CONTESTS
This pick is for games where you can only use a driver once throughout the season.
CHRIS BUESCHER will be my pick in games where you can use a driver once throughout the season. Buescher won this race last year. Can he do it again? I would not bet against him. Buescher has won three of the last five oval track races (not including Daytona). He has finished in the top-three in four of the last five oval track races. The No. 17 team is 13 points above the playoff cut line. Buescher needs a good race Saturday night and I think he will get it.
ONE & DONE (REGULAR SEASON/PLAYOFF GAMES)
The picks for the Regular Season / Playoff Games are rest this week. Hopefully I was able to navigate your picks so that you were able to make the playoffs. I know some people play in games that reset their allocations for the playoffs (meaning you can use any driver you want) and others continue in the playoffs, but you still cannot use the drivers you used in the regular season. I will provide picks for both styles of games.
KEVIN HARVICK will be my pick in games that reset for the playoffs. This is the last race at Bristol for Harvick. It is one of his better tracks and I am sure he is going to be extra motivated to get back to Victory Lane in Thunder Valley. Harvick won the Bristol Night Race in 2020 and he finished second in 2021. Harvick has the third-best driver rating on the short tracks this year. I really think he will win a race before he retires (like Tony Stewart did at Sonoma and Jeff Gordon did at Martinsville). I would not be surprised if it happened Saturday night.
RYAN PREECE will be my pick in games that do not reset for the playoffs. Preece is a shot track specialist. He won the Xfinity Series race at Bristol in 2018 and he finished ninth in the Cup Series race at Bristol in 2020. Stewart-Haas Racing has not had a lot of speed this year, but they have been decent on the short tracks. This should be a good track to take a chance with Preece.
ONE & DONE (USE A DRIVER MORE THAN ONCE)
I play in a game where I can use a driver three times throughout the season. I know some of you have told me you can use your drivers twice. We will only need 18 drivers in these games, so we do not need to dig too deep with our picks. Here is my pick in games where you can use a driver more than once….
KYLE BUSCH will be my pick in games where you can use a driver more than once. The No. 8 team has had a lot of bad luck with flat tires and hitting the wall. Their bad luck cannot last forever, right? Maybe a trip to the best track for Rowdy will help him get back to Victory Lane. Busch has eight wins at Bristol in the Cup Series (and too many to count in the Truck and Xfinity Series). He “should” be one of the best picks in the field Saturday night.
Good luck Saturday night!
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