All three of NASCAR’s top series divisions head to Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend under the lights of the famed .533-mile concrete oval. The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series kicks off the weekend on Thursday night in the UNOH 250 Presented by Ohio Logistics at 8:00 p.m. ET on FS1. Then on Friday night, the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Food City 300 begins at 7:30 p.m. ET on the CW Network. The NASCAR Cup Series concludes the weekend’s events on Saturday with the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at 7:30 p.m. ET on the USA Network.
The Academy Award-winning actor and producer Brad Pitt will serve as a Grand Marshal alongside Johnny Morris for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race. Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner and two-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Josef Newgarden is named celebrity pace car driver for America’s Night Race.
Bristol Motor Speedway will honor Dolly Parton throughout Bass Pro Shops Night Race week, Sept. 17-19, with a series of tributes featuring her signature pink butterfly. With approval from the Dollywood Foundation, BMS created a special tribute mark featuring a pink butterfly with “Dolly” across its center. The design will celebrate the late country music icon and proud East Tennessean during race week at “The World’s Fastest Half-Mile.”
The Dolly Parton tributes will include:
- Prominent Dolly butterfly signage on the track walls and throughout the BMS property.
- A race-ready Dolly butterfly decal made available to teams across NASCAR’s three national series to display on their race cars.
- A Dolly Parton tribute banner that is 15 wide x 7 tall in the BMS Fan Zone where fans can write messages and add their signatures.
- Dolly Parton’s music will be incorporated into the atmosphere throughout the BMS property during race weekend as another tribute to her unmistakable voice and extraordinary legacy
NASCAR Cup Series Notes for Bristol Motor Speedway:
This is the 129th Cup race at Bristol (not including the three races in 2021-2023), and it’s the seventh time Bristol has hosted a Chase race every year since 2020. Last September’s Bristol race had 137 caution laps, the most for any Cup Series race since July 1965 (167 laps).
Three drivers gained points on leader Denny Hamlin, with Kyle Larson gaining the most at 40 after WWTR. Larson is the only driver to gain points on the leader in both Chase races. Christopher Bell and Larson each scored 73 points in their wins in the first two Chase races, tied for the second most points scored by a driver in a single race in 2026. The points gap from first to second in the Chase standings is nine points, the fewest since Sonoma in June.
Hamlin is making his 750th Cup Series start this weekend, making him the 15th driver to reach 750 starts, and Joey Logano will pass Rusty Wallace for the most Cup Series starts with Team Penske this weekend (497).
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Notes for Bristol Motor Speedway:
This is the 85th NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway since the inaugural races in 1982.
Seven races remain in the Chase, and Sheldon Creed took the points lead at St. Louis, the first driver other than Justin Allgaier to lead the points since COTA. First through fourth in points are separated by 16 points, the season’s closest top-4 gap.
Eight different drivers won the last eight races, and four different teams won the last four races: Stewart-Haas Racing (09/2024), Hendrick Motorsports (04/2025), Joe Gibbs Racing (09/2025, and JR Motorsports (04/2026).
Only two of the last 16 stage winners went on to win the race: Justin Allgaier, Stage 2 in 09/2023, and Kyle Larson, Stage 2 in 04/2025.
The driver to lead the most laps went on to win the race 51% of the time, and Bristol has only featured two last-lap passes for the win: David Green passed Mark Martin in 04/1994, and AJ Allmendinger passed Austin Cindric in 09/2021.
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Notes for Bristol Motor Speedway:
This is the 32nd Truck race at Bristol, the second most among all short tracks in series history, behind Martinsville (50), and 2026 is the third season to have two Bristol races (2024, 2025).
Bristol has not gone to overtime since 2017 (11 races), tied with Miami for the longest streak among active tracks.
Both Ben Rhodes and Grant Enfinger are making their 8th Chase appearance, tying Matt Crafton for most all-time, and Gio Ruggiero is the only driver making his first Chase appearance this season.
The Weekend Schedule for Bristol Motor Speedway:
RELATED: The Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway Outlook and Picks
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17
1:00 PM – 1:45 PM: AMS PRACTICE (TIMED – 45 MINUTES)
2:00 PM – 2:20 PM: AMS QUALIFYING (IMPOUND) (TIMED – 20 MINUTES)
3:00 PM – 3:50 PM: NCTS PRACTICE
4:05 PM – 5:00 PM: NCTS QUALIFYING (IMPOUND)
5:20 PM: AMS DRIVER INTRODUCTIONS (DRIVERS STANDING BY CARS)
5:30 PM: AMS RACE (200 LAPS, 106.6 MILES)
7:40 PM: NCTS DRIVER INTRODUCTIONS
8:00 PM: NCTS RACE (STAGES 65/130/250 LAPS = 133.25 MILES) ON FS1
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18
2:00 PM – 2:50 PM: NOAPS PRACTICE
3:05 PM – 4:00 PM: NOAPS QUALIFYING (IMPOUND)
4:30 PM – 5:20 PM: NCS PRACTICE (IMPOUND) (ALL ENTRIES)
5:35 PM – 6:30 PM: NCS QUALIFYING (IMPOUND)
7:00 PM: NOAPS DRIVER INTRODUCTIONS
7:30 PM: NOAPS RACE (STAGES 85/170/300 LAPS = 159.9 MILES) ON THE CW NETWORK
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19
6:50 PM: NCS DRIVER INTRODUCTIONS
7:30 PM: NCS RACE (STAGES 125/250/500 LAPS = 266.5 MILES) ON THE USA NETWORK
*All times are Eastern. NASCAR Cup Series (NCS), NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series (NOAPS), NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS), ARCA Series (AMS)
