NASCAR Preview: Bristol Fall Race Weekend
- DIVEBOMB Motorsport
- Sep 11
- 6 min read
Written by Gabriel Tsui, Ashleigh McGregor & Sean McKean
All three series' in the midst of their respective playoffs travel to Bristol, Tennessee for some close-quarters short track racing.
The Cup Series looks to end their Round of 16 here, whilst the Xfinity Series begins their Round of 12 and the Truck Series reaches halfway into their Round of 10.
Bristol first opened in 1961 and has not left the calendar since. The Tennessee track was originally an asphalt oval until 1993, when a new repave put down concrete. This is the version of Bristol fans are accustomed to today.
Bristol is 0.533 miles (0.858 kilometres) long. It has four turns with progressive banking of 24-28 degrees.
Below are the start times for each race plus lap count:
Trucks: Thursday, 11 September, 20:00 local (01:00 UK) - 250 laps
Xfinity: Friday, 12 September, 19:30 local (00:30 UK) - 300 laps
Cup: Saturday, 13 September, 19:30 local (00:30 UK) - 500 laps
Below are the defending winners of each race:
Trucks: No. 38 - Layne Riggs (Front Row Motorsports)
Xfinity: No. 00 - Cole Custer (Stewart-Haas Racing)
Cup: No. 5 - Kyle Larson (Hendrick Motorsports)
Cup Series: Bass Pro Shops Night Race Preview
Written by Gabriel Tsui
Entering the third weekend of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, the field heads down to Bristol, Tennessee for a short track showdown. Will we see more Toyota dominance following a Denny Hamlin win at St. Louis, or would we see other drivers break the hot streak?
The drivers will be driving under the floodlights at Bristol for 500 laps, with 125 laps each in the initial stages, then closing off the race with a 250-lap marathon to the chequered flag, totalling a distance run of 266.5 miles (428.9 kilometres).
The weather report indicates that the race will not be affected by much precipitation, while temperatures will start from 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit), dropping to 18 degrees Celsius (67 degrees Fahrenheit) towards the end of the night. The race will commence on the Saturday of September 13th, at 19:30 Eastern (16:30 Pacific, 00:30 British).
Race Predictions
Since the switch to Gen-7 cars, Bristol has been split pretty even, at least when they were on concrete. Ford, Toyota and Chevrolet have each won the night race once since 2022. However, Toyota is riding on a hot streak, and their star drivers all have had decent performances around the short track.
There is one driver, though, that has dominated the short track scene for years, and we predict he will win the race this weekend. Having won Martinsville earlier in the 2025 season, this driver also has four wins around Bristol. He has a total of 15 wins out of 114 starts around short tracks, while also amassing 54 top-five finishes out of said 114 starts.
Of course, this driver is the veteran Toyota driver Hamlin. As the aforementioned stats suggest, Hamlin is one of the most clinical drivers around the short track scene. To make this a slightly bolder prediction, we predict Hamlin will complete a pole-to-win once again, sweeping the pole positions in the Round of 16 – which would make him only the second driver in NASCAR history to accomplish the feat – and taking his sixth win of the season.
Three things to look out for
Last chance for Austin Dillon
For what it’s worth, Austin Dillon is running a very good postseason, considering the quality of the Richard Childress Racing Camaro. However, his chances are running out, as he is 11 points below the cut line, facing Austin Cindric who has run well around the short tracks this season despite not having the finishes to show for it.
A win will most likely be his only way out of the elimination zone, so no holding back and a truck load of aggressiveness from the No. 3 team.
Pit crew changes for Bowman
On the morning of Tuesday, September 9th, Hendrick Motorsport announced drastic changes to Alex Bowman’s pit crew, swapping the front tire changer, rear tire changer, tire carrier and the jackman with the No. 77 team of Carson Hocevar. Alex Bowman suffered extraordinarily slow stops and crucial mistakes across Darlington and Gateway. With this move, Hendrick hopes they can get Bowman better stops and a fighting chance at Bristol.
Although it is a step in the right direction, this is probably far too little too late, but there’s no saying if a miracle might happen at the buzzer.
Christopher Bell turnaround incoming?
At the end of the race at Gateway, radio scanners probably heard a highly uncharacteristic heated message from Christopher Bell. In the short exchange, Bell stated his displeasure with pit stop decisions from Adam Stevens, and the fact that he finished seventh with the arguably best car on the grid.
Bell is probably justified in his anger, especially with his pit crew consistently producing sub-par performances that cost Bell wins and top finishes. With his message delivered, we might see the No. 20 team make a turn for the better, especially heading into short tracks – a particular strength of Bell.
Xfinity Series: Food City 300 Preview
Written by Ashleigh McGregor
Connor Zilisch not only won the race in Illinois last weekend but also the Regular Season Championship. At only 19 years old, he has dominated the field all season long despite having two serious injuries.
The Xfinity Series now kicks off the playoffs at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Race Weekend Guide
It all happens for the Xfinity Series on a Friday this race week. September 12th at 12:05 EST (17:05 UK) is practice, followed by qualifying at 15:10 EST (20:10 UK). The race will be at 19:30 EST (00:30 UK).
Drivers are racing 159.9 miles over 300 laps. Stages one and two will be 85 laps. The final stage will be 130 laps.
Playoff Picture
The race at Bristol is the first of three races in the Round of 12. The twelve drivers who made it to the playoffs will now compete to move forward to the Round of 8. The four drivers who score the least amount of points at the end of the Round of 12 will be eliminated.
There are four rookies who have made it to the playoffs: Taylor Gray, Carson Kvapil, Nick Sanchez and Connor Zilisch.
Zilisch will look to take both championships. This would be an impressive feat in his first full-time season in the series.
The remaining three rookies are all on a somewhat even playing field. Sanchez starts the playoffs with only one point ahead of Gray and Kvapil.
Sam Mayer, who starts the playoffs in third place, has great success at this short circuit in other series – most notably taking his sole Truck Series win here in 2020. We can expect a similar performance from him this weekend.
Justin Allgaier finished the regular season championship in second after losing momentum to Zilisch mid-season. He enters the playoffs as last year's champion with hopes of making it back-to-back championships.
Truck Series: UNOH 250 Preview
Written by Sean McKean
Two weeks separated from a dominant win by Corey Heim in Darlington, the Truck Series begins its second race of the playoffs in Bristol on Thursday night. With many drivers on the bubble looking for a great result ahead of the Round of 10 finale in New Hampshire, expect this race to provide action.
Race Predictions
Given his performance at the short tracks this season, I'm picking Layne Riggs to win in Bristol. The second-generation driver already has two wins this season, one of which coming at the short track of IRP. This track was where Riggs decisively won last year too, so I see him defending his crown.
Two storylines to look out for
No overtimes
If a driver is looking to gain good points, they'll have to do it without the aid of cautions. In the last seven fall races here, there have been zero overtimes - the only track on the Truck Series calendar to hold this distinction. Given this precedent, anyone looking to make up ground needs to be up front all night.
How about those below the cut?
The Round of 10 will only eliminate two drivers, but they are still heavy hitters.
Kaden Honeycutt is the first of these drivers. Sitting seven points below the cut-line after a disastrous day in Darlington, Honeycutt has expressed excitement ahead of this race, considering that he is a champion of the short-track-based CARS Pro Late Model Tour.
The other driver, Chandler Smith, left Darlington in a similar predicament, having finished 30th that afternoon. Smith has demonstrated his pace at these short ovals - notably winning at North Wilkesboro - so expect Smith to gain back his two-point deficit on Thursday evening.
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