Several legitimate long shot candidates to win at Bristol

Kyle Larson led the most laps in the April Bristol race.

There are only three more regular season races remaining in the NASCAR Cup Series before the green flag of the Playoffs drops Sept. 16 in Las Vegas, the first time our beloved Las Vegas Motor Speedway will have two Cup races in a year.

While I can’t wait for that new experience, I’m also getting a little antsy waiting for Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops/NRA Night Race at Bristol. It’s the fastest half-mile track in the world where drivers are crammed together like packed sardines, bumper-to-bumper and fender-to-fender, and tempers always flare.

The first 23 races have seen three drivers combined to win 17 of the races led by Kevin Harvick’s career-high seven wins following his Michigan victory Sunday. Las Vegan Kyle Busch has six wins, which includes a win in the first Bristol race this season in April. It was his second straight win at Bristol, giving him seven overall in Thunder Valley making him the active leader.

Martin Truex Jr. has the third-most wins this season with four and he’s never won at Bristol in 25 starts. In fact, he’s only had two top-fives in a career there, the last coming in 2012. He was 21st in this race last season and then was 30th there in April after an accident, which raised his average finish at Bristol to 20.7. It’s just not his track, which is good news because I can simply scratch his name off as a candidate to win and concentrate on the rest of the field.

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