Bristol Fantasy Racing Preview

Driver Averages | Laps Led Leaders | Driver Ratings | Past Winners

Detailed driver notes and statistics to help set your fantasy racing lineup for Saturday night’s Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Who’s HOT at Bristol Motor Speedway

• Kyle Busch is coming off his second consecutive win (seventh overall) and has combined to lead 721 laps in his last six starts.
• Kevin Harvick has posted a 4.7 average finish in his last six starts, including a win in the 2016 August race.
• Kyle Larson has posted a 5.7 average finish and has combined to lead 472 laps in the last three races.
• Joey Logano has finished in the top 10 in six of his last eight starts, including wins in the August race in 2014 and 2015.
• Denny Hamlin has finished in the top 10 in four of the last six races, including three consecutive third-place finishes in the August race.
• Jimmie Johnson has the best average finish (6.9) in the last eight races, which includes a win in the 2017 spring race. His third-place finish in the spring is his best in 2018.

Keep an Eye On at Bristol Motor Speedway

• Clint Bowyer, who finished eighth at Bristol in the spring, has posted a 6.0 average finish in the three short-track races this season.
• Erik Jones led 260 laps en route to a second-place finish in this event last season.
• Martin Truex Jr. and Chase Elliott each have a top 10 Driver Rating in the last five races at Bristol.
• Ryan Blaney finished 10th last August at Bristol and led 100 laps in the spring before getting swept up in an accident.
• Bristol is Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s and Trevor Bayne’s best track on the schedule based their respective average finishes of 10.2 and 17.0.
• Brad Keselowski swept both stages and led 67 laps in the spring before a left-front tire went down. Kasey Kahne also had a good run going before a power steering issue.
• Jamie McMurray (12.8) and Ryan Newman (14.5) each rank in the top 10 in average finish in the last four races at Bristol.
• Kurt Busch finished fifth in this event last year. He qualified second in the spring but was forced to start at the rear after going to a back-up car in practice.
• The tire combination that will be used this weekend is the same that teams competed with in the spring at Bristol. Alex Bowman (fifth) and Aric Almirola (sixth) finished in the top 10 in that race.

*Best Average Finish at Bristol

* – The best average finish is based off a driver entered in the race who has competed in every race during that time span.

Laps Led Leaders at Bristol

Click Here to view all laps led leaders at Bristol Motor Speedway over the past 10 races.

Bristol Loop Data Stat Leaders (2005-2018, 27 Races)

*Top 10 Stage 1 &2 Points Earned at Bristol (Spring and Fall Race)
Three Races

2018 Spring Bristol Stage Finishes

Rookie Report
Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidates Bubba Wallace and William Byron each will be made their first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start at Bristol Motor Speedway in the spring finishing 16th and 18th, respectively. Wallace led six laps and posted a 12.8 average running position in the race. Prior to this year, both drivers made starts in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series, Camping World Truck Series and Xfinity Series at “Thunder Valley.” Wallace, who trails Byron in the rookie standings by 83 points, has the best finish with a second-place run in the 2014 truck race. Wallace also won the Super Late Model feature event last year during the Short Track Nationals. Byron’s best finishes came in the K&N Series (second in 2015) and the Truck Series (fourth in 2016).

MRN.com Staff Picks

Jeff Wackerlin: Kyle Larson
Pete Pistone: Kyle Busch
Tyler Burnett: Kyle Larson

Driver Notes – Ordered by Average Finish (Top 15) in the Last Five Races at Bristol

Alex Bowman finished fifth in the spring, which marked his first Bristol start with Hendrick Motorsports. His previous start at the track was in this event in 2015 and his previous best finish was 20th with Tommy Baldwin racing in the 2015 spring race. This season, Bowman has posted a 10.0 average finish in the three short-track races.

Kevin Harvick is the only driver that has finished in the top 10 in each of the last six races at Bristol that includes a win in the 2016 August race. He ranks ninth in stage points earned at Bristol, scoring points in the second stage in each of the last three races. Harvick has the second-best average finish (5.7) this season at short tracks.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.‘s best track on the schedule based on average finish (10.2) is Bristol. He’s finished in the top 10 in the six of the last nine races, including two runner-up finishes. Stenhouse has yet to lead a lap in his 11 Bristol starts.

Jimmie Johnson won the 2017 spring race for his second win in 33 starts at Bristol. He led 81 laps in that event for his first laps led in the last eight races there. A 23rd-place finish in the 2016 spring race is Johnson’s only finish outside the top 11 in the last eight races. However, Johnson was running third when he made an unscheduled stop on lap 302 in that race. His third-place finish in the spring is his best finish in 2018. Johnson is one of two drivers that have scored stage points in each of the six stages (1 and 2) at Bristol dating back to the 2017 spring race. He ranks second in stage points earned at Bristol with 36.

Joey Logano finished 13th last August to snap a streak of four consecutive top 10s at Bristol that includes a win in the 2015 August race. He is a two-time winner at the track with both coming in the night race. Logano finished ninth in the spring race for his eighth top 10 in 19 overall starts. He ranks eighth in stage points earned (19) at Bristol, but has not recorded any points in the last three stages dating back to Stage 2 in this event last year.

Denny Hamlin has finished third in each of the last three night races at Bristol. He won the 2012 night race after leading 117 laps. Hamlin, who finished 14th in the spring, ranks fifth in stage points earned at Bristol with 22.

Trevor Bayne‘s best track on the schedule based on average finish (17.0) is Bristol. He finished 24th in the spring to snap a streak of five consecutive finishes of 15th or better, which includes two top 10s.

Jamie McMurray finished 19th in the spring to snap a streak of seven consecutive finishes of 14th or better at Bristol, which includes two eighth-place finishes in the night race. McMurray’s only stage points at Bristol came in both Stage 1 and 2 in the 2017 spring race.

Ryan Newman has finished in the top 10 in the last two races at Bristol. Newman is tied for 10th in stage points earned at Bristol with 16.

Clint Bowyer has finished in the top 10 in the last three spring races at Bristol with the last two coming with Stewart-Haas Racing. He finished 19th in this event last year. Bowyer has the third-best average finish (6.0) this season at short tracks.

Chase Elliott has finished 18th or worse in his last two starts at Bristol. Elliott’s two top 10s in five overall starts came in his first two spring races. His only stage points (12 overall) at Bristol came last season in the first stage in the spring and night race. Elliott finished second in the last short-track race of the season at Richmond.

Daniel Suarez has posted a 14.7 average finish in his three starts at Bristol. His best finish came in the spring, eighth.

Kyle Larson has combined to lead 472 laps and has posted an average finish of 5.7 in his last three starts at Bristol. He finished second in the spring after leading 200 laps. Larson has scored points in every stage at Bristol dating back to the 2017 spring race and leads all drivers with 39 stage points at the half-mile track.

Bubba Wallace led six laps and finished 16th in his first Bristol Monster Energy Cup Series start in the spring.