Bristol I Event Info:
Date: Sunday, March 17
Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
Series: NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Location: Bristol, Tennessee
Format: 500 Laps, 266.5 miles, Stages: 125-125-250
TV: FOX
Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90)
Weekend Schedule:
Saturday: 5 p.m. ET, Practice (FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Saturday: 5:50 p.m. ET, Qualifying (FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Sunday: 3:30 p.m. ET, Race (FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Pace Laps:
- Bristol on concrete returns to its historical spring slot on the schedule this weekend, as NASCAR visits ‘The Last Great Colosseum’ for its first of two race weekends this season. This marks the first return to the concrete in the spring since the 2020 season.
- Outside of Michigan International Speedway, Bristol is the site of the most wins for Jack Roush in the Cup Series – 12 of them – spanning from 1993 to most recently 2022 with Chris Buescher.
- RFK is coming off a strong showing at the (traditional) short tracks in 2023 where Buescher and Brad Keselowski combined for six top-10s at Bristol, Martinsville and Richmond.
6 Team Info:
Crew Chief: Matt McCall
Partner: King’s Hawaiian
17 Team Info:
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Partner: BuildSubmarines.com
Keselowski at Bristol
Starts: 25
Wins: 3 (2011, 2012, 2020)
Top-10s: 9
Poles: 2 (2020)
- Keselowski makes his 26th Cup start on the concrete at Bristol this weekend, a track where he has a 16.3 average finish with three wins and nine top-10 finishes.
- Most recently, Keselowski finished eighth in the 2023 fall race after starting sixth.
- Keselowski’s three wins at BMS came back in 2011-12, and most recently in 2020. He’s finished 13th or better in five of the last six races overall at Bristol, including a sixth-place finish in the 2021 fall race, a third-place result in 2019, and last fall’s eighth-place run.
- Keselowski has led laps in 14 different Bristol races totaling 1,013 laps, his best total of any track on the circuit outside Richmond (1,280).
- Keselowski has started top-10 in five-straight Bristol races, including a pair of poles in 2020. Overall he has a 9.4 average starting position – his best of any track outside of Homestead (8.9). He has 16 starts inside the top-10 in 25 Bristol events.
- Keselowski also made 14 Xfinity starts at Bristol with one win and eight top-10s, and seven Truck starts with one win and three top-10s.
Buescher at Bristol
Starts: 14
Wins: 1 (2022)
Top-10s: 4
Poles: —
- Buescher enters the weekend with a load of momentum at ‘The Last Great Colosseum,’ coming off a fourth-place run there last fall. In the prior race there on concrete he earned the victory after leading 169 laps.
- Overall, Buescher has four Cup top-10s at Bristol, with an eighth-place finish in the 2020 fall race, and a fifth-place run back in 2016.
- Buescher has an average starting position of 23.1 with a career-best starting position of 12th (2016).
- Buescher made five Xfinity Series starts at Bristol with three top-10s and a best finish of third (2015).
RFK Historically at Bristol
Cup Wins: 12 (Mark Martin, 1993, 1998; Kurt Busch, 2002, 2003, 2003, 2004; Matt Kenseth, 2005, 2006; Carl Edwards, 2007, 2008, 2014; Chris Buescher, 2022)
- Runner Up: RFK’s storied history at Bristol began on April 10, 1988 with the No. 6 NCS car earning a second-place finish. Since that time, in addition to the organization’s 11 NCS wins at the track, RFK Fords have finished second at Bristol on 15 occasions (7 NCS, 4 NXS, 4 NCTS).
- History and Hot Streaks at “Thunder Valley”: RFK’s history at Bristol has been one of hot streaks, including trips to victory lane in 10 of the last 21 seasons at the famed short track. RFK swept the track in 2003 and put a NCS car in victory lane at least once in every season from 2002-2008.
- Tale of the Tape: RFK has started 221 NCS races at Bristol, recording 12 total wins with 52 top-five and 91 top-10 finishes. RFK Fords have an average finish of 15.7 with 3675 laps led all-time.
RFK Bristol Wins
1993-2 Martin Cup
1996-1 Martin NXS
1997-1 Burton NXS
1998-2 Martin Cup
2002-1 Busch Cup
2003-1 Busch Cup
2003-2 Busch Cup
2004-1 Busch Cup
2004 Edwards Truck
2005-2 Kenseth Cup
2006-2 Kenseth Cup
2006 Martin Truck
2006-2 Kenseth NXS
2007-1 Edwards NXS
2007-2 Edwards Cup
2008-2 Edwards Cup
2009-2 Ragan NXS
2014 -1 Edwards Cup
2022-2 Buescher Cup
Last Time Out & Where They Stand
Phoenix: Buescher earned his second-straight top five at Phoenix with a P2 finish Sunday at Phoenix, while Keselowski rounded out the RFK top five party with a P4 result.
Points Standings (17: 16th, 6: 22nd): Buescher is up seven spots to 16th in points, while Keselowski advanced six positions to 22nd.
