NASCAR Cup Series

Stenhouse on Bristol: “Bristol lap times are almost the same in both Nationwide and Cup series. We’ve run decent there in the Nationwide series so I feel confident going into this weekend. We will focus on qualifying well because you want to start up near the front."

Some things never change, a pattern that dates to NASCAR's iron-fisted rule since its beginnings. As the sport attempted to present a family friendly imagine Bill France Sr. had to keep its whiskey-running early days hushed. It should come as no surprise that over sixty years later NASCAR endeavors to hush its drivers.

March is filters month at NAPA AUTO PARTS, and to celebrate the month-long promotion, Clint Bowyer’s Toyota will carry NAPA’s iconic blue and yellow colors this weekend when the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series visits Bristol Motor Speedway.

RCR in Thunder Valley ... In 137 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) starts at Bristol Motor Speedway, Richard Childress Racing boasts nine wins - seven with Dale Earnhardt, one with Kevin Harvick and one with Jeff Burton - three pole awards, 32 top-five and 59 top-10 finishes.

Harvick earned a ninth-place finish Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and moved up 11 spots to 19th in the 2013 driver point standings.

After a successful outing with the No. 51 team at Phoenix International Raceway, A.J. Allmendinger will pair with Phoenix Racing again this week at Bristol Motor Speedway for the Food City 500. Allmendinger will pilot the Guy Roofing Chevrolet in his second Sprint Cup Series event of 2013.

Biffle has 20 Sprint Cup Series starts at Bristol, earning six top-five and 11 top-10 finishes. He has an average starting position of 12.9 and finishing position of 12.2 at the short track.

Like most drivers, David Ragan circles the Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway race on the calendar as one to look forward to. But this year, he also put a question mark next to it. Without any Sprint Cup Series testing at the .533-mile oval in the new Gen-6 car, the driver says the short track will be the first "wild card" on the 2013 schedule.

David Gilliland always brings some extra speed to Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. This week, he's also bringing a new paint scheme. The No. 38 Ford will feature the brown and orange scheme of A&W Restaurants for this weekend's Food City 500 at the .533-mile oval.

Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 43 Farmland Ford Fusion, is currently 10th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings heading into this weekend’s annual Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Almirola was a guest on this week’s NASCAR teleconference and spoke about the start to his 2013 season.