NASCAR XFINITY Series

Next Race: Food City 300

The Place: Bristol Motor Speedway

The Date: Friday, Aug. 21

The Time: 7:30 p.m. (ET)

TV: NBCSN, 7 p.m. (ET)

Radio: PRN, SiriusXM Ch. 90

Distance: 159.9 miles (300 laps)

 

Dash 4 Cash Round 3: Smith’s Million Dollar Chance

The third round of the NASCAR XFINITY Series Dash 4 Cash program rolls into Bristol Motor Speedway for the Food City 300 on August 21. Regan Smith, Daniel Suarez, Elliott Sadler and Ryan Blaney will compete for a $100,000 cash bonus this weekend. Smith, the winner of the first two rounds of the 2015 Dash 4 Cash program, can still win an extra $600,000 bonus at the end of the season. Smith will need to win this third round at Bristol for $100,000 and then win the Darlington race outright to claim another $100,000, which will then award him an extra $600,000 – bringing his total cash bonus winnings to $1 million dollars.

Smith is the only driver to qualify for all three rounds this season, and has qualified for the Dash 4 Cash bonuses six times since 2013.

This is Ryan Blaney’s first Dash 4 Cash appearance this season, but he is the defending winner of this race (August, 2014). Blaney will be in Team Penske No. 22 Ford, which won at Bristol early this season with driver Joey Logano and will be looking to make it three-in-a-row. Blaney has made three starts at Bristol, posting one win, two top-fives, three top-tens and an average finish of 4.0 – his second-best series track average finish.

Suarez finished second at Bristol earlier this season, now leads the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings, and is making his second Dash 4 Cash appearance this season.

Sadler, a former XFINITY Series winner at Bristol (2012), is making his first Dash 4 Cash appearance this season. He has qualified for Dash 4 Cash bonuses seven-times since 2012, and has won the bonus twice.

The highest finishing driver of the four for round three will win the $100,000 bonus and qualify to compete in the fourth and last round at Darlington Raceway along with the three highest finishing XFINITY Series championship contenders.

12 To Go: Chris Buescher Still The Man To Beat

With just 12 races left on the XFINITY Series schedule this season, Roush Fenway Racing’s Chris Buescher’s consistent high-level performance has positioned him to hold the standings lead over second-place Ty Dillon (-24) and third-place Chase Elliott (-25).

Buescher’s unswerving season has seen zero DNFs and a series-leading ten top-five finishes in 21 starts. His average finish is 8.1 and his Driver Rating is 99.2.

Buescher has made four starts at Bristol posting one top-five, three top-tens and an average finish of 9.0. Buescher’s talents were on display earlier this season at Bristol; where he started 14th and drove up to a third-place finish.

Title Hunt: Dillon And Elliott Need To Keep Digging

This weekend at Bristol could be Richard Childress Racing driver Ty Dillon’s ticket to chop into Chris Buescher’s points lead. Dillon has made four starts at Bristol posting two top-fives, four top-tens and an average finish of 5.5 – almost four positions better than Buescher.

In Dillon’s 21 starts this season he has posted six top-fives, 15 top-tens and an average finish of 8.9 – second among championship contenders behind Buescher (8.1).   Dillon’s season-to-date Driver Rating is 97.0.

Chase Elliott is just one point behind Dillon, and 25 points back from standings leader Chris Buescher.

Elliott’s 2015 season has seen eight top-fives and a series leading 17 top-tens in 21 races.

Elliott has excelled at Bristol in his brief career; in three starts at the half-mile track, he has posted three top-tens and an average finish of 6.0.

Over the next four tracks (Bristol, Road America, Darlington and Richmond) both Elliott (3.5) and Dillon (11.8) have better average finishes than Chris Buescher (15.4).

Starting Upfront Puts the Odds in Your Favor to Win

When it comes to picking a winner this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway in the Food City 300, your best bet would be to pick the drivers starting from the front row, because six of the last eight XFINITY Series races at Bristol had winners starting in the first or second starting positions – a 75% winning percentage.

Team Penske’s No. 22 Ford has won the last two consecutive races at Bristol from the second starting position (August, 2014 and April, 2015), and are now looking to make it three wins in a row. The defending winner of this event, Ryan Blaney, is back in the No. 22 Ford this weekend, after winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on Wednesday night.

Prior to Team Penske’s last two wins, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch had dominated the XFINITY Series races at Bristol winning six of the last ten races (2010-2015) at Bristol – three of which were from front row starting positions.

Sunoco Rookie Update: Suarez Leads The Pack

Following the 21st race of the season, Daniel Suarez has opened up his Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings lead to 20 points over second-place Darrell Wallace Jr. as the series heads to Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend.

Suarez is having a solid rookie season, posting two Coors Light poles, four top-fives, nine top-tens and an average finish of 13.0. He has finished on the lead lap 13 times this season and his 2015 Driver Rating is 92.1.

Suarez finished runner-up to Joey Logano earlier this season at Bristol in his series track début.

“Bristol is a track that I had a good run at earlier this year,” said Suarez. “I think we’ve grown a lot since that race and I’m looking forward to getting another strong result on Friday.”

Sunoco Rookie Standings following Mid-Ohio: 1. Daniel Suarez (224); 2. Darrell Wallace Jr (204); 3. Ross Chastain (157); 4. Cale Conley (139); 5. Harrison Rhodes (123); 6. Peyton Sellers (97); 7. Josh Reaume (55).

Sprint Cup Drivers To Watch

Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson, and Denny Hamlin will all compete in this weekend’s Food City 300 at Bristol. Both Busch (seven, series-most) and Harvick (five, second-most) are former XFINITY Series Bristol winners.

Hermie Returns

Long-time veteran Hermie Sadler III will attempt to qualify and compete in the Food City 300 this weekend, his first race since last season at Richmond. Hermie, the brother of XFINITY Series championship contender Elliott Sadler, will be the No. 26 with crew chief Ken Evans for car owner James Whitener.

Milestone Watch

Kevin Harvick is making his 325th XFINITY Series start this weekend at Bristol. Harvick is 15th on the all-time XFINITY starts list, six starts behind 14th-place Todd Bodine (330). Kevin Harvick can also post his 175th XFINITY Series top-five finish this weekend at Bristol. Ranked second on the all-time XFINITY Series top-fives list, Harvick is just five top-fives behind Kyle Busch (179) in first.

Joey Gase is attempting to make his 100th XFINITY Series start this weekend at Bristol. Gase is 122nd on the all-time XFINITY starts list; four starts behind Martin Truex Jr. (103) in 121st.