Nationwide Series teams are racing 159.9 miles for 300 laps in the Drive to Stop Diabetes 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday, March 15th. Television coverage begins at 1:30 pm ET on ESPN2 with a Green Flag at 2 pm ET. Radio coverage is available on PRN and Sirius XM, channel 90.
What a difference one year can make. After the first three races of 2013, Trevor Bayne sat eighth in the standings, 32 points behind leader Sam Hornish Jr. The Tennesee driver had a respectable pair of fourth-place finishes to ease the burn of a disappointing 31st in the season-opening race at Daytona.
Fast forward to 2014 and Saturday’s Nationwide Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Bayne returns to his home state and track in a better place. – second in the point standings, three points behind leader Regan Smith. Bayne arrives at his home track with a streak of five consecutive top-ten finishes dating back to last season, with finishes of third, seventh and eighth to start this year.
In ten series starts at the .533-mile short track, Bayne has three top-tens, including a sixth-place finish in his most recent visit. In the 2013 March event, he finished 12th after pacing the field for 13 laps.
If there is one thing evident after the first three races, it is that the points battle is closer than it was last year, especially at the very top. The three-point gap between Regan Smith and Bayne is small in comparison to the 19 points last year that separated Hornish from Justin Allgaier, Elliott Sadler and Brian Scott, who were all tied.
Sadler (-9), Ty Dillon (-12) and Chase Elliott (-14) round out the top-five
Of the five drivers, now in the top-five, only Sadler has won in Bristol. In March 2012, he beat Sprint Cup veteran Kasey Kahne by 1.159 seconds. He also won there in 1998 and a Sprint Cup Series event in 2001. Sadler’s team, Joe Gibbs Racing has fielded six of the last seven Bristol winners.
Kyle Larson, driver of the #42, stands in the garage area during practice for the Nationwide Series at Bristol Motor Speedway on March 14, 2014
Photo – Jerry Markland/Getty Images
Last year, two Kyles put on a show that turned into an epic battle between veteran and young gun.
A year later, the Nationwide Series contingent returns to the short track with hopes of replicating that thrilling end-of-the-race action.
Former series’ champion, Kyle Busch paced the field for 156 laps, including the last 64 trips around the track. The win, however, didn’t come that easy as he had to contest with eventual Rookie of the Year, Kyle Larson. The two battled back and forth and side-by-side over the last couple of laps with Busch ultimately taking the victory by 0.023 seconds.
The obvious question is who should fans expect to see give this type of late-race drama this year? Both Busch and Larson, who is still looking for his first series victory, are slated to be in Saturday’s starting field. So, it is feasible the two could stage another classic showdown that fans will still be talking about a year from now.
Starting position is always important to consider when deciding a driver’s chances at winning. At some tracks where a driver starts on the grid is key to how his or her day will unfold. Bristol Motor Speedway is one of those tracks.
Over the last nine series’ races at Bristol, eight of the winners have started 13th or better. In the fall 2013, Kyle Busch started on the pole, led 228 of 250 laps and won by 0.831 seconds over Brad Keselowski.
In 63 series races at Bristol, nine of them have been started by drivers on the pole. Thirty times the race winner has come from the first two rows. Only six race winners have come from a starting spot of 21st or further back in the field.
The new qualifying format introduced before this season places an even higher premium on the starting grid’s number one spot. This weekend marks the first time the new format is implemented on a short track.
Cale Conley is attempting to make his first national series start Saturday in the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing entry. The 21-year-old becomes the 37th driver to make his NNS debut at Bristol, joining notables David Pearson, Brett Bodine and Trevor Bayne.
Canadian, Kelly Admiraal, with RAB Racing is attempting to make his first series’ start at Bristol in the No. 29 entry.
Ryan Blaney returns to the No. 22 Team Penske entry for the first time since winning at Kentucky. He has run one race since the win, driving the No. 48 at Phoenix. Blaney has never finished outside the top-ten at Bristol in any series.
Josh Reaume is attempting to make his first Nationwide start this weekend.
Qualifying for the Nationwide Series is on ESPN2 at 10 am ET, Saturday, March 15th.