NASCAR Cup Series

Ryan Blaney and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane team head to Bristol Motor Speedway looking for a strong run to build momentum as Blaney prepares himself to battle for his first championship in NASCAR’s elite division while his Wood Brothers team is seeking its second car owner title.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, XFINITY Series and Camping World Truck Series travel to Bristol Motor Speedway this week. All series will race under the lights beginning with the Truck Series Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. The XFINITY Series hits the track Friday at 7:30 p.m. and the Cup Series closes out the weekend Saturday at 7:30 p.m. with the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race.

“When I was a kid, the night race at Bristol was the one I got really excited about. They parked the vans over the corner and literally it felt like we were 20 feet from the cars sitting on top of the vans there. You just could see the drivers working in the cars and you could see the action. There was no better experience in my book than getting that close to stock car racing in those days at Bristol. Me and the other kids would run around and beg everybody to let us wax their cars or whatever we could do. It was such a small place. It was fun to get involved in anything and everything in the infield. During the race, we’d probably watch from 50 different vantage points. We’d be climbing all over trucks and going down pit road and getting on this truck and that truck. We’d just be everywhere. So, I loved going there."

With only three races remaining until the 16 playoff drivers are decided, Chevrolet already has five drivers locking into the playoffs by virtue of their victories in 2017.  Chevrolet SS drivers Kyle Larson, Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne and Austin Dillon make up Chevrolet’s series leading nine wins this season.  Chevrolet is on track to place two more drivers into the playoffs, Chase Elliott and Jamie McMurray, are currently the highest drivers in the point standings that do not have wins yet this year.

Erik Jones ran in the top five for the majority of his first NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway and has every reason to believe Saturday night’s Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race is his best shot for taking the No. 77 5-hour ENERGY Extra Strength Toyota to victory and making the playoffs.

Fresh off of a top-five run in Michigan, Trevor Bayne returns to his home track of Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend looking to use the famed half-mile short track as the catalyst for a playoff push.

Bayne makes his seventh career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) start at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night. Bayne earned his best finish of fifth in the spring 2016 event at the half-mile oval after starting from the 10th position.

Stenhouse has nine Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) starts at Bristol Motor Speedway, with an average starting position of 22.9 and average finishing position of 10.4.

Kyle Busch has the most laps led in the MENCS at Bristol among active drivers –and the ninth most in Cup history - with 1,960 circuits led. The next closest active competitor is Matt Kenseth with 1,572 laps.  Busch and his brother Kurt Busch are tied for the most Cup wins at Bristol among active drivers with five.

Heading into Bristol Truex leads the NASCAR Cup Series in the following categories: race wins (4), top-10 finishes (16), driver points (933), playoff bonus points (35), stage wins (15), stage points (312), laps led (1372), miles led (1970), fastest laps (825), average starting position (7.3), average finishing position (10.7), average running position (7.8) and driver ranking (114.4).