NASCAR Xfinity Series
Next Race: Drive To Stop Diabetes 300
The Place: Bristol Motor Speedway
The Date: Saturday, April 18
The Time: 1:30 p.m. (ET)
TV: FOX Sports 1, 1 p.m. (ET)
Radio: PRN, Sirius XM Ch. 90
Distance: 159.9 miles (300 laps)
Bristol’s Victory Lane Just Might See A Fresh Face
With the defending winner of the 2014 fall race (Ryan Blaney) not entered this weekend and Kyle Busch sidelined due to injury (won prior three Xfinity Series events at Bristol; spring 2014 and 2013 sweep), the field has four previous Bristol winners entered this weekend.
The most recent active winner at Bristol is Joey Logano, who won the fall race at the 0.533-mile track in 2012. Joining Logano are three other former winners – Kevin Harvick with five Bristol wins (fall of 2000, fall of ’01, spring of ’03, spring of ’05 and spring of ’09), Elliott Sadler with two (spring of 1998 and spring of 2012) and 2000 series champ Jeff Green with one (spring 2002).
Team Penske Sits Atop Owner Points Standings … Of Course
For the third week in a row, Team Penske‘s No. 22 Ford team has been the team to beat in the Xfinity Series car owner standings. Following Texas, Team Penske’s lead has extended to nine points over second-place JR Motorsport’s No. 88 team.
Car owner Roger Penske is looking for his third consecutive Xfinity Series owner title this season and his formula of multiple drivers has him on course for just that. This weekend, Joey Logano will climb behind the wheel of the No. 22 Ford at Bristol, but it has been the collaborative effort of Logano, Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney that has cemented the points lead.
Logano has made eight series starts at Bristol posting one win (fall of 2012), four top-fives, six top-tens and an average finish of 7.6.
Big Names Bound For Bristol
This weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway in the Xfinity Series several popular NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers will be pulling double duty: Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Austin Dillon and Denny Hamlin.
Bristol Xfinity Series Quick Stats:
Harvick (No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet) – has made 26 series starts at Bristol posting two poles, five wins, 15 top-fives, 21 top-tens and an average finish of 7.5.
Logano (No. 22 Team Penske Ford) – has made eight series starts at Bristol posting one win (fall of 2012), four top-fives, six ten-tens and an average finish of 7.6.
Dillon (No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet) – has made four series starts at Bristol posting two top-fives and an average finish of 7.5.
Hamlin (No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) – has made six series starts at Bristol posting one top five, two ten-tens and an average finish of 18.3.
Sunoco Rookie Update: Wallace Still The Man To Beat
Darrell Wallace Jr.’s sixth-place finish at Texas last weekend has opened up his lead in the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings by 14 points over second-place Daniel Suarez and 18 points over third-place Ross Chastain.
Wallace is starting to distance himself from the other rookie candidates; in six starts he has posted two ten-tens and an average finish of 10.5.
Full Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings heading into Bristol: Wallace (73 rookie points), Suarez (59), Chastain (55), Conley (48), Rhodes (39) and Reaume (16).
Milestones Watch: Kevin Harvick (174) will attempt to tie Kyle Busch this weekend for the most all-time Xfinity Series top-five finishes at 175.
Brian Scott will attempt to post his 175th consecutive Xfinity Series career start this weekend.
Back In The Booth: After what many are calling a successful first-go at the broadcast side of a NASCAR event, Jeff Gordon will be back in the FOX Sports booth for the Xfinity Series race this weekend in Bristol. Following this weekend Gordon is on the schedule for one more appearance as a race analyst with FOX at Talladega (May 2).