NASCAR Preview: Bristol Spring Race Weekend
- DIVEBOMB Motorsport
- Apr 11
- 6 min read
Written by Gabriel Tsui, Ashleigh McGregor & Sean McKean
From the egg-shaped Darlington Speedway, we travel a little further west to the Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee. This will be the first of two races the NASCAR circuit travels to at this track.
Since its opening in 1961, Bristol has always hosted Cup action. This race in particular has seen many memorable moments, such as Elliott v. Logano in 2020, Kyle Busch’s thriller against Jeff Burton in 2007 and Elliott Sadler’s shock victory in 2001.
Below are the start times for each race plus lap count:
Trucks: Friday, 11 April, 19:30 local (00:30 UK) – 250 laps
Xfinity: Saturday, 12 April, 17:00 local (22:00 UK) – 300 laps
Cup: Sunday, 13 April, 15:00 local (20:00 UK) – 500 laps
Below are the defending winners of each race:
Trucks: No. 19 - Christian Eckes (McAnally-Hilgemann Racing)
Xfinity: not held
Cup: No. 11 - Denny Hamlin (Joe Gibbs Racing)
Cup Series: Food City 500 Preview
Written by Gabriel Tsui
As we enter the final race weekend before the break, the field heads down to Bristol, Tennessee for another short track race. Following two consecutive wins by Denny Hamlin, is it the veteran’s turn to win three straight, or will someone else find a breakthrough before heading into the Easter break?
The Bristol Motor Speedway is one of the shortest tracks on the calendar, yet has a progressive banking up to 28 degrees. The drivers will be driving around the half mile track for 500 laps, with 125 laps each in stages one and two, ending the race with a 250 lap grinder for the final stage, totalling a distance run of 266.5 miles (428.89 kilometres) around the track.
The weather report shows that there are prospects of precipitation heading into Sunday, but race day will mostly be cloudy with temperatures around 15 degrees Celsius (60 degrees Fahrenheit). The race will commence on Sunday, 13th of April, at 15:00 Eastern Time (12:00 Pacific Time, 20:00 British Time).
Race Predictions
Who would’ve seen that coming? Denny Hamlin hasn’t achieved a back-to-back win since the year of 2012, and the No.11 is looking for his third in a row heading into Bristol, a track where he won twice across the last two seasons, on a concrete surface layout.
And all in honesty, there is no point in beating around the bush, as Hamlin is the pick to win the race yet again, making it his third win in a row. In his 111 starts in short tracks, 53 of those starts resulted in a top-five finish, while 25 of those resulted in a top-two finish, and 15 wins.
Hamlin is skilled around the short track, and mixed with his fearless attitude and an aggressive driving style makes him one of the best in short track racing. Not to mention, the Toyotas have an amazing record in Bristol, winning four out of five races in the past three seasons.
If there is a car and a driver built for the Bristol Motor Speedway, that would be Hamlin in the Camry.
Three things to look out for
Jesse Love’s Cup Series debut
Jesse Love, a junior driver in the Richard Childress Racing system, will be making his Cup Series debut heading into the Bristol weekend. The 20-year-old has a lot on the line — as a strong performance could mean an accelerated path to promotion with poor performances from Austin Dillon in the No.3 for RCR and Ty Dillon in the No.10 for Kaulig Racing, a team with technical alliance with RCR.
Love will make his debut in the No.33, and with all the pieces in plane, this is not a cup of coffee for the young driver, but a chance to prove his worth to the bosses in RCR.
So close yet so far for William Byron
After leading 243 laps out of the 297 laps in the race, while also winning both stages one and two, Byron was simply out-dueled by a charging Denny Hamlin, who overtook Byron in the No.24, before the No.11 pit crew nailed the money stop and won Hamlin the race.
This has been a consistent theme for the 27-year-old since last season’s playoffs, finishing awfully close to the top but unable to finish the job. Though not diminishing his consistent performances that did put him in the championship lead, Byron must search for a killer instinct veteran drivers such as Kyle Larson or Joey Logano possesses, as points will not carry him far in the playoffs.
AJ Allmendinger’s consistent start
AJ Allmendinger was called back up to the Cup Series following a strong season in the Xfinity, and so far Allmendinger has performed consistently, Though he hasn’t secured any top-five finishes, his consistent performances has earned him a 16th place in the championship, despite being in a weaker Kaulig Racing Chevy.
The 43-year-old has mixed performances in short track, but Bristol will be an opportunity for the veteran to dig deep into the championship standings, and possibly make a breakthrough into the top-ten.
Xfinity Series: SciAps 300 Preview
Written by Ashleigh McGregor
So far this season we’ve seen a great variety of winners. Most recently Brandon Jones claimed a shocking second victory of his career at Darlington. Justin Allgaier and Austin Hill are both holding two wins each this season. This week we move to the beloved Bristol Motor Speedway.
Race Weekend Guide
This year the Xfinity series is racing in Bristol much earlier in the year. Drivers will cover 300 laps going a distance of 159.9 miles for this Spring race. Stage 1 and 2 are 85laps each and the final stage will round out with 171 laps.
Practice starts at 11:35am ET on Saturday and will run for one hour followed immediately by qualifying at 12:40am ET.
Race day will be cloudy with a possibility of rain. A chilly 52 degrees should be perfect conditions for racing as long as the rain stays away.
Drivers to watch
Championship leader; Justin Allgaier will be strong this weekend as he has proven race after race. This track is also one of his favorites and it’s somewhere he really meshes well with. Teammates Jesse Love and Austin Hill, have shown they are not going to just let Allgaier by easily.
Notably, Kyle Larson; a successful cup driver, is running in the Xfinity series in Bristol. He’s not just racing the Xfinity series but the truck and cup series as well. He will be looking to try and perform an extraordinary hat trick by winning all three races.
Rookie superstar; Connor Zillisch is in contention to claim the top step here in Bristol. He has good history with this track in other series and will want to put it all together to make it count this weekend.
Sam Mayer, who is currently second in the championship standings will be looking to try and push ahead. He holds a win in the Truck Series at Bristol and multiple top-10 finishes. This weekend he will want to finally secure that win here.
Dash 4 Cash
Round three of the Dash 4 Cash will be run this weekend in Bristol. Justin Allgaier claimed the first $100,000 bonus prize and Austin Hill took the second. Only two more races remain with the opportunity for drivers to get the bonus. This weekend the drivers who have the opportunity to race for the cash prize are Austin Hill, Justin Allgaier, Sheldon Creed and Brennan Poole.
Truck Series: Weather Guard Truck Race Preview
Written by Sean McKean
From one short track to the other, the Truck Series returns this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway. It will be the first of two times trucks race here this season.
In this race last year, McAnally-Hilgemann’s Christian Eckes absolutely dominated, having held off a late charge from Kyle Busch. With Eckes gone and Busch not racing, expect different contenders up front this year.
Race Predictions
Corey Heim and Daniel Hemric have historically performed very well here, which bodes well – considering each driver has begun the season with at least one victory. However, I’m picking Kyle Larson to take victory on Friday night.
Two storylines to look out for
Larson going for the triple… again
Kyle Larson returns to Trucks for the first time since Homestead, when he won despite spinning out with 30 to go. Larson will race all three series this weekend and will look to secure the “triple” (winning all three series) after barely missing out in Xfinity at Homestead.
Hemric with momentum
Despite entering this season with only one national series win, Daniel Hemric has started the flagship McAnally-Hilgemann Racing truck on strong footing – winning his first Truck race at Martinsville with three further top tens. Given his previously strong short track pace, expect to see Hemric contending up front.
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