NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

Next Race: Food City 500 in Support of Steve Byrnes

The Place: Bristol Motor Speedway

The Date: Sunday, April 19

The Time: 1 p.m. (ET)

TV: FOX, 12:30 p.m. (ET)

Radio: PRN, Sirius XM Ch. 90

Distance: 266.5 miles (500 laps)

 

Perfect 10: Three Drivers Look To Continue Top-Ten Streaks At Bristol

No driver has opened a season with seven consecutive top-tens since Jimmie Johnson in 2005.

Until now. 

Three different drivers – Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr. – have each opened the year with seven straight top-ten finishes. Unsurprisingly, they rank 1-3 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver points standings.

The wheelmen put their streaks on the line in Sunday’s Food City 500 in Support of Steve Byrnes at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Logano won the last race at Bristol in the fall, while Harvick hasn’t had a top-ten showing there since 2011 – seven races ago. Truex has only produced two top-ten finishes in 18 Bristol starts, a runner-up result in fall 2011 and a third-place showing in spring 2012.

A Giant Awakens: Johnson Shows Sprint Cup Series Title Chase

Might Be Heavyweight Clash

Move over Mayweather and Pacquiao, a heavyweight bout looks likely to take place in the Sprint Cup Series.

With all the talk about defending Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick’s dominance and Joey Logano’s rise to stardom, six-time Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson has made it clear that anyone who wants a Sprint Cup Series title will have to go through him. Johnson led a race-high 128 laps and out-dueled Harvick on the closing circuits to capture his second win of the season in Sunday’s Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

It’s still early in the season, but at the moment, all indications point to the last three series champions – Harvick (2014), Johnson (2013) and Keselowski (2012) – being in the mix for this year’s crown.

Johnson will attempt to continue his momentum this Sunday on one of his “average” tracks – Bristol Motor Speedway. The No. 48 Chevrolet driver has one win, eight top-fives, 14 top-tens, one pole and a 91.9 driver rating at Bristol.

Harvick Begins New Top-Two Run

One race after snapping his nine-event streak of top-two finishes with a “so-so” eighth-place finish at Martinsville, Kevin Harvick started a new one with a second-place showing at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday night.

Despite ten straight top-ten finishes dating back to 2014, track president Eddie Gossage will still get to cajole Harvick about being winless at his venue.

The No. 4 Chevrolet driver has a commanding 26-point lead over Joey Logano in the standings and ranks first or tied for first in many categories, including wins (2), top-fives (6), top-tens (7), average finish (2.6) and average running position (3.790). Additionally, Harvick’s 766 laps led and 413 fastest laps more than double the next-highest drivers’ outputs (Logano, 324 laps led; Jimmy Johnson 145 fastest laps). Also, his series-high 132.8 driver rating is almost 20 points higher than second-place Logano’s 114.7 driver rating.

Harvick heads to Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend where he has only won in spring of 2005.

Back(flip) To Bristol: Edwards Attempts High-Banked Repeat

Defending Bristol Motor Speedway spring race winner Carl Edwards will go for his fourth victory at the half-mile track in Sunday’s Food City 500 in Support of Steve Byrnes. Fresh off his first top-ten finish of the year (10th) at Texas, it looks like the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing driver is starting to gel with his new team and championship-winning crew chief Darian Grubb. Two races ago at Martinsville, Edwards ran up front most of the race, even leading 13 laps before a late spin caused him to finish 17th.

In 21 career starts at Bristol, Edwards claims three wins (14.3%), five top-fives (23.8%), nine top-tens (42.9%) and two Coors Light Pole Awards.

Unpredictable Outcome Expected At Bristol

Similar to Texas Motor Speedway last week where there had been nine different winners in the past nine spring races, Bristol Motor Speedway has had six different winners in its last six races.

Expect another party of parity in Sunday’s Food City 500 in Support of Steve Byrnes.

The last driver to log consecutive victories at Bristol was Brad Keselowski (fall 2011, spring 2012).

Since Keselowski’s 2012 victory, other Bristol winners include, Denny Hamlin (fall 2012), Kasey Kahne (spring 2013), Matt Kenseth (fall 2013), Carl Edwards (spring 2014) and Joey Logano (fall 2014).

Thirteen active drivers have won at Bristol: Kurt Busch (5), Kyle Busch (5), Jeff Gordon (5), Edwards (3), Kenseth (3), Keselowski (2), Earnhardt Jr. (1), Denny Hamlin (1), Jimmie Johnson (1), Kevin Harvick (1), Kahne (1), Logano (1), Tony Stewart (1).

Roush Attempts To Turn Back The Clock At Bristol

Roush Fenway Racing has struggled so far this year. In 21 total races, its three-driver stable has recorded just one top 10 – Greg Biffle’s 10th-place finish at the Daytona 500.

Bristol Motor Speedway may give a needed shot in the arm for Roush Fenway Racing, which ranks tied for the second-most victories in track history (11). None of its current drivers have won at Bristol, but Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has had strong finishes at the half-mile track, including a career-best runner-up showing in last year’s spring race and a sixth-place effort in the fall.  Roush Fenway Racing veteran Greg Biffle claims the fifth-best active driver rating at Bristol (93.5) in addition to the sixth-best average running position (13.0). Trevor Bayne produced a 34th-place finish in his lone Bristol start in 2011 with Wood Brothers Racing.

Roush Fenway Racing swept the top-two positions at Bristol last spring with former driver Carl Edwards and Stenhouse. m

Can Gordon Reclaim Bristol Magic?

A quick glance at the Bristol Motor Speedway record books shows that Jeff Gordon is tied for the wins lead among active drivers with five first-place finishes.

He’s certainly a favorite to win this weekend’s race at Thunder Valley then, right?

Think again…

A closer look at the numbers shows Gordon has not won at Bristol since fall 2002 – almost 13 years ago when he won the Sharpie 500 from the pole. He has had three third-place finishes since.

Currently 13th in the series standings, quietly riding a streak of four consecutive top-tens, Gordon will attempt to further ascend NASCAR’s leaderboard this weekend on the track where he also has 16 top-fives (36.4%), 24 top-tens (54.5%) and the series’ third-best driver rating (99.9).

McLovin’ It: Big McMurray off to whopper of a start

No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet driver Jamie McMurray’s start hasn’t been “Superbad” as the kids would say, but Chip Ganassi is certainly McLovin’ his driver’s strong performance to open up the season.

McMurray sits 11th in the Sprint Cup Series standings following his sixth-place showing at Texas this weekend and a finish of 10th at Martinsville. McMurray’s best result this year was a runner-up finish at Phoenix to track-legend Kevin Harvick. Known for his ability to win big races, the 38-year-old is still searching for his first Chase for the Sprint Cup berth.

Furious 7: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season off to action-packed start

The first seven races of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season have been so fast and so furious even Vin Diesel would be jealous.

Since NASCAR began tracking green flag passes in 2005, drivers have produced the most green flag passes (29,383) and fourth-most green flag passes for the lead (205) through the first seven races. The season has seen five different race-winners, including Brad Keselowski who led a single lap to take the checkered flag at Auto Club.