NASCAR XFINITY Series Teams are racing the Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway today, Saturday, April 16th. Two 50-lap heat races at 26.65-miles each will decide the starting line up for the main event which is 200 laps for 106.6 miles. FOX Sports 1 starts their pre-race show at 12 pm ET with a green flag around 12:30 pm ET with radio coverage available on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.
Bring on the Heat(s):
XFINITY Series Dash 4 Cash Kicks Off at Bristol Motor Speedway
The wait is over.
This weekend’s Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway will kick off the first installment of this season’s XFINITY Series Dash 4 Cash program.
The XFINITY Series Dash 4 Cash will run two Heats and a Main at four tracks: Bristol Motor Speedway (April 16), Richmond International Raceway (April 23), Dover International Speedway (May 14) and Indianapolis Motor Speedway (July 23).
Qualifying for each Dash 4 Cash event will set the 40-car field and the starting positions for the two Heats, with the fastest qualifier awarded the Coors Light Pole Award. Odd-numbered qualifiers (first, third, fifth, etc.) will start in the first Heat in order, while even-numbered qualifiers (second, fourth, sixth, etc.) will start the second Heat in order.
The two Heats will set the starting positions for the Main with the top-two NASCAR XFINITY Series regulars in each Heat becoming eligible for the Dash 4 Cash bonus. The highest finishing driver in the Main among the four Dash 4 Cash-eligible competitors will receive an award for a $100,000 bonus. A driver who wins multiple Dash 4 Cash bonuses will earn a spot in the 2016 XFINITY Series Chase, provided he/she remains eligible per the NASCAR rule book. In short, two Dash 4 Cash bonuses are equal to one race win in the new XFINITY Series Chase format.
Drivers must have declared to earn XFINITY Series points for eligibility into the XFINITY Series Dash 4 Cash bonus.
Click here for an infographic detailing the NASCAR XFINITY Series Dash 4 Cash
Click here for a Bristol NASCAR XFINITY Series Dash 4 Cash bracket
Sadler Reeled in Suarez, One Point Separates the Duo
Following five straight races of super hero-like driving, Daniel Suarez finally looked human this past weekend at Texas when he spun off Turn 4 and wiped away his ten-point lead over second-place Elliott Sadler. Now, just one point separates the top two drivers in the XFINITY Series driver standings as the series heads to Bristol Motor Speedway for the Fitzgerald Glider Kit 300.
Suarez still holds the points lead after salvaging a 16th-place finish following his spin at Texas.
In six starts in 2016, Suarez has posted one pole, three top-fives, five top-tens and an average finish of 6.7.
Suarez should have Bristol circled this season. The 0.533-mile track could be where he gets his first win. In just two Bristol starts, he finished second last spring (his series track debut) and fifth in the summer race.
Sadler’s consistency has paid again, this time in points.
His 2016 season has been full of solid finishes. In six starts, he has six top-tens and an average finish of 6.8.
The No. 1 Chevrolet driver held the points lead for the first two weeks of the season. This weekend, he will look to regain the lead that Suarez has held since week three.
Sadler has made 18 starts at the famous Tennessee half mile, posting two wins, five top-fives and eight top-tens. He placed tenth at Bristol last spring.
Rookies Driving Like Vets
Three Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidates, Erik Jones, Brandon Jones and Brennan Poole, have raced their way into the top-ten in the XFINITY Series championship points standings just six races into the season. The average age of these drivers is 20.6.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Erik Jones, 19, from Byron, Michigan, has been quite impressive this season, posting four top-fives and an average finish of 9.3. Jones is fifth in the series championship standings, 15 points back from the standings lead. He also leads the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings by 21 points over second place Brandon Jones.
Erik Jones has made two starts at Bristol. He has logged one top-five and two top-tens there.
Richard Childress Racing’s Brandon Jones, 19, from Atlanta, Georgia, is fourth in the series championship standings, 14 points back from Daniel Suarez in the standings lead. He has made six starts this season posting four top-tens.
RCR’s Jones made his series track debut at Bristol last season. He finished 13th in the event.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Brennan Poole, 24, from The Woodlands, Texas, sits tenth in the series championship standings, 55 points back from the leader. Poole has posted one top-ten and an average finish of 15.7 in 2016.
Poole also made his series debut at Bristol last season, posting an 11th-place finish in this race. Both Poole and Suarez are searching for their first series career wins and Bristol might be the spot to do it. Six drivers have posted their first win at Bristol in the XFINITY Series – the two most recent are Justin Allgaier (2010) and Martin Truex Jr. (2004).
Chase Bubble: Ryan Sieg Bounces Four Spots into the Chase
When the XFINITY Chase bubble bounces, names on the series championship points standings can shuffle. This week’s big benefactor of the close points battle at the cutoff line in the XFINITY Series Chase is Ryan Sieg, who went to Texas in 15th and leapfrogged four spots in the series championship points to 11th, inside the cutoff line.
Below is a look at drivers the drivers on the bubble of being in or out of the 2016 XFINITY Series Chase:
In:
- Ryan Sieg, driver of the No. 39 Chevrolet, posted his first top-ten finish of the season this past weekend at Texas, and in the process, went from outside to inside the XFINITY Chase. Sieg will try to carry the momentum to Bristol this weekend, a track he has made four starts with a best finish of 12th.
- Blake Koch, pilots the No. 11 Chevrolet, and though he slipped one spot in the series championship standings after being caught in a mid-race accident with Jeb Burton, he still retains his XFINITY Chase entry status. Koch will look to rebound this weekend at Bristol. He finished 22nd in this event last season.
Out:
- Jeb Burton, driver of the Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 Ford, was also caught in the same accident as Blake Koch, relegating him to his first DNF of the season and ultimately knocking him to 13th in the points and outside the Chase cutoff line – two points back from 12th-place Blake Koch. Burton turns his attention to Bristol this week where he will be making his series track debut.
- Dakoda Armstrong, driver of the No. 28 Toyota, sits 14th in the points after finishing 22nd at Texas last weekend. Armstrong has posted an average finish of 20.5 in the first six races of the season. He has made four starts at Bristol posting a best finish of 23rd.
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