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Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Next Race: Food City 500
The Place: Bristol Motor Speedway
The Date: Sunday, April 7
The Time: 2 p.m. ET
TV: FS1, 1:30 p.m. ET
Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 266.5 miles (500 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 125),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 250), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 500)
2018 Winner: Kyle Busch
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Next Race: Alsco 300
The Place: Bristol Motor Speedway
The Date: Saturday, April 6
The Time: 1 p.m. ET
TV: FS1, 12:30 p.m. ET
Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 159.9 miles (300 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 85),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 170), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 300)
2018 Winner: Ryan Preece
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Hamlin-Gabehart pairing proving to be positive
In just seven races at the helm of Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Chris Gabehart has helped deliver two wins, four top-five and six top-10 finishes. That’s already two wins more than Hamlin posted last year – and is nearly half the top-five finishes he recorded in 2018 (10).
To say the duo has clicked immediately is an understatement after taking the checkered in the season-opening Daytona 500 and then again just a few days ago at Texas Motor Speedway.
The two wins in the opening seven races of the season marks the earliest in Hamlin’s career he has won his second race of the season, besting 2012 in which he won the second race at Phoenix and then the eighth race at Kansas.
And now Hamlin will be attempting to do something he’s only done twice before – win back-to-back races. (Fall 2012 – Bristol and Atlanta; Summer 2010 – Pocono and Michigan). In 26 starts at Bristol Motor Speedway, Hamlin has one win (Fall 2012), seven top fives and 12 top 10s.
Although Gabehart doesn’t have any Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series experience atop the pit box at Bristol, he does know how to win there. He has served as crew chief at the half-mile track six times in the NASCAR Xfinity Series – recording a pair of wins with Hamlin’s current Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Erik Jones (sweeping the 2016 races). His Xfinity drivers have three top-five and four top-10 finishes at Bristol.
Kyle Busch still king of the court
Kyle Busch started off last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway by winning the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series races – but then recorded his worst finish of the season in the Monster Energy Series on Sunday.
But what was Busch’s worst finish was a placement 29 other drivers envied as the driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota continued his top-10 streak in 2019…by finishing 10th.
The current points leader (by a slim eight-point margin over teammate Denny Hamlin) remains the only driver to have finished in the top 10 in each Monster Energy Series race this season. And the streak is actually nine races long – going back to the final two races of 2018, when he won at ISM Raceway and finished fourth at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Entering this weekend’s clash at “The Last Great Colosseum,” Busch looks to be a favorite to not only continue that top-10 run, but to also record his third win of the year. He leads all active drivers with seven wins – including two of the last three (Fall 2017, Spring 2018). He’s tallied 10 top-five and 15 top-10 finishes in 27 starts at the track.
Jimmie Johnson riding high after Texas
Texas Motor Speedway could have been the kick in the pants the cowboy who saddles up the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet needs to get him back into Victory Lane.
After winning the Busch pole for the Monster Energy Series race…which was his first pole since New Hampshire in July, 2016…Johnson went on to finish fifth. And that was his first top five since Charlotte in May of last year.
Johnson started off 2018 with an average finish of 21.43 through the opening seven races – and finished without a win for the first time in his full-time career.
But it seems as though the tides are turning for the seven-time champion, who has posted an average finish of 15.1 so far with three top 10s in addition to the top five from last weekend. He also has an average starting position this year of 10.7 – as opposed to 21.14 a year ago through seven races.
He has also led 64 laps this season (60 of them this past weekend at Texas), which eclipses his 2018 total of 40 laps led.
Johnson won three races in 2017 – and one of them was this spring race at Bristol in which he led 81 laps. In total, through 34 starts on the high banks of the half-mile circuit, Johnson has two wins, 12 top fives and 20 top 10s – and only one DNF.
His crew chief, Kevin Meendering, is a Monster Energy Series rookie at Bristol – but has six races under his belt with Elliott Sadler in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, recording four top-five and five top-10 finishes atop the box.
Ryan Blaney hoping to join Team Penske teammates in Victory Lane
Perhaps the driver most hungry for a win at Bristol is Ryan Blaney. The 25-year-old driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford is the only one of his team to have not won this season – or at Bristol.
But it’s not for lack of effort – or speed. He led a race-high 121 laps last fall before finishing seventh, and before that led an impressive 100 laps last spring before misfortune struck him and he was collected in a multi-car crash while leading late in the opening stage.
Overall, Blaney has a pair of top-10s in seven starts at Bristol and he has strong teammates to lean on for advice this weekend.
Brad Keselowski (two wins – Atlanta and Martinsville) and Joey Logano (one win – Las Vegas) have combined to win three of the seven races this season (Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch paired up for the other four wins). And each driver has a pair of wins at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Keselowski is the most recent driver to win consecutive races at the track (Fall 2011 – Spring 2012), while Logano won twice in three races (Fall 2014, Fall 2015).
Overall, Logano has 20 starts at Bristol, recording two wins, five top fives and nine top 10s. He has an average start of 8.3 and an average finish of 15.6. Keselowski has 18 starts with two wins, four top fives and five top 10s.
Spring forward to a championship?
Just three times in the last 20 years a winner at Bristol has gone on to win that season’s Monster Energy Series Championship.
All three times the Bristol Victory Lane visit came in the spring race. And all three of those drivers are entered this weekend in the Food City 500 (Sunday, April 7, 2 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Brad Keselowski did it in 2012. Jimmie Johnson in 2010. And Kurt Busch in 2004.
Of note, just prior to that time frame, Jeff Gordon won the spring Bristol race in 1995, 1997 and 1998 – and ended the season with the title.
Kurt Busch looking to go sword-to-sword with Kyle to even up win total
With top-10 finishes in all but two races to start his 2019 campaign in the No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet, Kurt Busch is attempting to make the most of his new ride entering Sunday’s Food City 500 (Sunday, April 7, 2 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Two of those finishes were actually top-five results (third at Atlanta, fifth at Las Vegas) – and Busch hopes the success continues as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series moves on to a track where he is second only to his little brother Kyle in wins among active drivers.
His six wins are just one behind Kyle’s, and he would love to even the score this weekend by winning back-to-back races (he took home the checkered in the fall race last season). In fact, that’s how Kyle, himself, pulled ahead of Kurt in the Bristol wins total when they were knotted at five apiece – by winning back-to-back races in the fall of 2017 and spring of 2018.
Busch’s win last fall was his first at Bristol since the spring of 2006…but he had quite the run before that. Busch was victorious in four of five races from 2002-04, including a trio of wins in a row while sweeping the races in 2003 and then carrying that over to the spring of 2004.
During the 18-year Bristol win drought, he did put together five top-five and nine top-10 finishes – twice finishing third in that stretch.
Overall at Bristol, Busch has six wins in 36 starts with 11 top fives and 18 top 10s. He’s recorded just three DNFs while putting together an average finish of 14.7.
Almirola still on a roll
Through 36 races in 2018, Aric Almirola put together 17 top-10 finishes. Through seven races in 2019, he has six top 10s (misfortune at Daytona in the season-opener landed him a 32nd place finish in that race).
The driver of the No. 10 Stewart Haas Racing Ford is level with Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick in top 10s thus far in the season. Only Kyle Busch is better than the trio with top 10s in all seven races this season.
And Almirola is in fifth place in the points standings, riding the best start to a season in his career because of that.
Last year, he had only yielded two top-10 finishes through seven races, which matched his previous best tally through seven races set in 2014.
He’s going to have to reverse his history at Bristol Motor Speedway in Sunday’s Food City 500 (2 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) to keep his top-10 streak alive. He only has two top 10s (Spring 2018 and Spring 2014) in his previous 10 starts at the track. And just three top-10 finishes overall in 19 starts.
Harvick looking to be happy in Victory Lane
Through the opening seven races in 2018, Kevin Harvick had three wins.
Through the opening seven races in 2019, the driver of the No. 4 Stewart Haas Racing Ford is winless.
But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t contended. He’s one of four drivers with six or more top-10 finishes to start the season (Harvick, Denny Hamlin and Aric Almirola have six; Kyle Busch has seven).
What’s odd for the 2014 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion is he’s only led 133 laps through these seven races – and he’s only led laps in two races. Starting with his championship season, he’s averaged just under 494 laps led through the opening septuplet of races over the past five years – with a high of 766 in 2015 and a low of 277 in 2014.
And he’s had an up and down relationship with the front of the field at Bristol over the years. He’s led just 22 laps there over the past four races (Spring 2017 – 14 laps, Fall 2017 – 0, Spring 2018 – 0, Fall 2018 – 8). But he has led a total of 884 laps in his 36 starts at “The Last Great Colosseum,” including 128 laps in his most recent win there in the fall of 2016.
He has two wins, 12 top fives and 19 top 10s at Bristol in those 36 starts.
Sunoco Rookie Watch
JTG Daugherty Racing driver Ryan Preece maintains a 25-point hold on the Sunoco Rookie of the Year points standings through the opening seven races of the season. His average finish of 23.3 has given him the advantage over Daniel Hemric, who has posted an average finish of 26.9.
Sunday’s Food City 500 (Sunday, April 7, 2 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) will mark both Preece and Hemric’s Monster Energy Series debuts at Bristol Motor Speedway. But they have both made NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at the track.
Preece won the race – and the associated Dash 4 Cash bonus – in the spring race at Bristol last year. He also raced in both races in 2016, posting an average finish of 17 in those two starts.
Hemric has four starts at Bristol, posting finishes of seventh of better in the first three outings before a crash marred his final Xfinity Series race there last fall.
Parade Laps: Insights ahead of this week’s driver media breakouts
Six drivers from the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series will be participating in this week’s media rotations at Bristol Motor Speedway leading into this Sunday’s Food City 500 at 2 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Matt DiBenedetto – The driver of the No. 99 Leavine Family Racing Toyota Camry with crew chief Mike Wheeler is currently 24th in the Monster Energy Series driver standings. The 27-year old from Grass Valley, California, is having one of the best starts to his series career this season, leading the most laps in the Daytona 500 and posting an average start of 21.6 and an average finish of 23.9. Bristol Motor Speedway is DiBenedetto’s best track; having posted his series career-best finish (sixth) at the .533-mile raceway. His average starting position at Bristol is 28.9 and his average finish is 20.6 (best among tracks he has more than one start at).
Michael McDowell – The driver of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang with crew chief Drew Blickensderfer is currently 26th in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver points standings. The 34-year old from Glendale, Arizona, kicked the 2019 season off with a fifth-place finish in the Daytona 500. His average starting position this season is 22.3 and his average finish is 25.4. McDowell has made 17 series starts at Bristol, posting three top-20 finishes and an average finish of 31.7.
Bubba Wallace – The driver of the historic No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro with crew chief Derek Stamets put his name in the record books last season with his runner-up finish in the Daytona 500 – the highest finish by an African American in the prestigious event. Wallace is currently 28th in Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver championship standings following Texas. In seven starts this season, the 25-year-old from Mobile, Alabama, has posted one top-20 finish and an average finish of 26.1. He made his series track debut at Bristol last season, finishing 16th in this event and 38th in the night race in August.
Ryan Newman – The driver of the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford Mustang with crew chief Scott Graves leads all active drivers in Busch Pole Awards with 51. The 41-year old veteran from South Bend, Indiana, moved to Roush Fenway Racing in the offseason and with seven races in the books he is 20th in the driver points standings. In 2019, Newman has posted four top-15 finishes. His average starting position this season is 17.7 and his average finish is 17.0. He has made 34 series starts at Bristol, posting two top fives, 18 top 10s and an average finish of 15.7.
Alex Bowman – The driver of the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro with crew chief Greg Ives is currently 19th in Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series points. In just his second season with Hendrick Motorsports, Bowman is coming off his best year of his career, making the Playoffs and finishing 16th in the championship standings. This season, the 25-year-old from Tucson, Arizona, has posted four top-15 finishes and an average finish of 17.9. Bowman has made six starts at Bristol, recording one top five and two top 10s. His average starting position at Bristol is 27.7 and his average finish is 21.5.
Ryan Preece – The rookie driver of the No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet Camaro with crew chief Tristan Smith is happy to return to Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend, as it was his big win at this track last season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series that caught the eye of Cup teams. Preece currently leads the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings over second-place Daniel Hemric by 25 points. Preece is also ranked 25th in the Monster Energy Series driver points standings this season, after capturing one top 10 (Daytona 500) and an average finish of 23.3. This weekend will be Preece’s series track debut at Bristol.
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