From the Gateway to the West to the gateway to Thunder Valley, the stars of the NASCAR Cup Series look ahead to 500 laps around the roughest and toughest track on the NASCAR calendar, Bristol Motor Speedway.
This half-mile bullring made its debut on the NASCAR schedule in 1961 when Jack Smith and Johnny Allen claimed the inaugural victory. Since then, it’s developed a reputation for chewing up and spitting out drivers of all ages and skill levels.
Nearly two decades later, the short track added lighting, allowing for night racing that brought about a tonal shift for a track that already struck fear in its competitors.
Bristol helped create the titans of the sport. Dale Earnhardt and Ernie Irvan earned their first Cup victories here while Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, and Kyle Busch enhanced their legacies as all-time greats by stacking wins year after year.
All of this makes Bristol Motor Speedway the perfect venue for an elimination race as the championship fates of 14 racers hang in the balance.
Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin staked their claims to the Bill France Cup with wins at Darlington and Gateway while champions like Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, and Kyle Larson must fight to keep their title hopes alive.
Four drivers currently sit below the cutline: Austin Dillon, Shane van Gisbergen, Alex Bowman, and Josh Berry will be doing everything in their power to scrape and claw their way into the next round, by any means necessary or unnecessary.
It will be a 500-lap brawl where 39 of the best stock car racers on the planet put everything on the line. Welcome to the Bass Pro Shops Night Race.
Last Week at Gateway…
Denny Hamlin took the pole for the Enjoy Illinois 300 but was quickly overtaken by Kyle Larson, who dominated the early portions of the event.
As the race wore on, playoff drivers suffered tremendous issues: Alex Bowman endured a speeding penalty as well as multiple pit stops, Shane van Gisbergen went for a spin, Ross Chastain fell to the back at the end, and Josh Berry crashed in stage one for the second straight race.
In the end, Hamlin and crew chief Chris Gayle put together a solid strategy that put them in the front when the final caution fell with 32 laps to go after Ty Dillon’s brake failure and held on over the final run to the finish to claim his series-leading fifth win of 2025.
This Week in NASCAR
After two disastrous weeks in the pits, Hendrick Motorsports made a change on the No. 48 team for driver Alex Bowman, granting him the pit crew from Carson Hocevar’s No. 77 Spire Motorsports team for the first round finale at Bristol this week.
Here is the latest from Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass in regards to the 23XI/FRM v. NASCAR antitrust lawsuit:
In the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Heim Time was interrupted by Cole Butcher on the final restart, allowing Layne Riggs to capitalize on his competitor’s misfortune.
Riggs bounced back from a lap 1 spin that saw him start shotgun on the field and climb all the way back to the top of the pylon, scoring his third win of the season and punching his ticket to the Round of 8.
As for the Xfinity Series, Connor Zilisch got buried in the pack late in the going, allowing for a fight to the finish between Aric Almirola, Sam Mayer, and Sheldon Creed.
Mayer and Almirola spent much of the night in the mix while Creed needed to rebound from two pit road penalties that put him at the back of the line. In the end, Almirola’s veteran patience paid off with a victory in the Last Great Coliseum, nipping Creed at the line.
In yesterday’s qualifying session, AJ Allmendinger landed on pole for the first time in a decade with 2023 Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney flanking him on the front row. For a full lineup, click here.
The Race
Tonight’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway will air on USA Network starting at 7:30pm Eastern time with Leigh Diffey, Steve Letarte, and Jeff Burton in the booth.
The Night Race features a 500-lap distance, which will be split among three stages ending on the following laps: 125-250-500.
If you want a taste of what we might see tonight, here are some of the average stats over the last 10 Bristol Night Races, dating back to 2015: 8 cautions for 63 caution laps, 16 lead changes, an average duration of 2 hours and 54 minutes, no instances of overtime, and the final caution falling around lap 408 or 93 laps to go.
Writer’s Pick
Last week’s writer’s pick was Ryan Blaney, who fought back to the front after a spin in stage 2 to claim a strong top-5 finish in the end.
This week, I’m going back to my Southern 500 pick: Bubba Wallace.
While the stats certainly don’t back up this pick, I’m going to go with some selected, circumstantial pieces of evidence to justify this pick.
Bubba seemed to be one of the few cars that was actually able to pass in last year’s edition of this event, climbing from 11th to third by the time the checkered flag waved.
It seemed the 23XI cars of Wallace and Reddick set their cars up for a massive tire wear race in the spring, and when that race never came, they were middling at best.
After yesterday’s practice session, I’m inclined to believe we’ll get a race similar to last year’s Night Race, and in that event, Bubba Wallace thrived.
Tonight, I expect the 23 team to plant their flag as true title contenders with a breakout win at a track that has routinely been a playground for his boss, Denny Hamlin.
(Top Photo Credit: Icon Sportswire/Getty Images)
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