NASCAR Cup Series

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).

Ford won its first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway on March 31, 1963 when Fireball Roberts won the Southeastern 500. What made the win so noteworthy is that it marked the debut of Roberts with Ford as a teammate of Fred Lorenzen’s at Holman-Moody. 

In 164 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series 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, 34 top-five and 67 top-10 finishes. 

1. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex won Stage 2, his 15th stage win of the season, and finished second at Michigan, passed on the final restart by a bold move from Kyle Larson. Truex leads the Monster Energy Cup points standings, and also leads with 35 playoff points.

Michigan, where winning was everything. Okay, points might have mattered for the likes of Chase Elliott, Jamie McMurray, Matt Kenseth, and Clint Bowyer, but for everyone else winning was the goal.