Wednesday, April 15, 2015

2015 Week 8 Preview: Bristol

Food City 500

Bristol Motor Speedway


By Richard Tix

Last week NASCAR stopped at Texas to break up the short tracks of Martinsville and Bristol. So, this week NASCAR is back on track going to Bristol with Richmond one week away. It's a chance for some drivers to get back on track if they were struggling on the 1.5 mile and larger stops on the schedule.

Jimmie Johnson won at Texas after leading the most laps and Kevin Harvick followed suit finishing second while leading the second most. Both drivers have shown there 1.5 mile track dominance lately so this short track swing maybe just what others need to catch back up.

Going into Bristol those same two drivers (JJ and Harvick) are the only two drivers to officially be locked into the Chase with two wins. Will a guy like Joey Logano (won last fall), Brad Keselowski (two time Bristol winner), or Denny Hamlin (won in 2012) get there second win of 2015 at Bristol and lock themselves in the Chase for sure?

Maybe a first time winner in 2015 will get a victory at Bristol. Guys like Carl Edwards, Kyle Larson, Matt Kenseth, and Jeff Gordon could use a Bristol win to get going this season. Or maybe Kevin Harvick will continue his hot streak that started in 2014?



The Good
  • Matt Kenseth- Everyone has a bunch of mixed results here as one wrong move ends your day at the front. With Kyle Busch not running here this year, Ill add JGR teammate Kenseth to the "Good" list. He has 19 top 10's in 30 career starts here and won just three try's ago at Bristol.
  • Kasey Kahne- Kahen got in trouble in the second visit to Bristol last year, but before that he had four straight top 10s here. That streak included a win in 2013. At any moment a driver can run into bad luck and finish poor, but if he stays clean he has a good shot to finish up front.
  • Ricky Stenhouse Jr- Yes, you are reading this correctly. That is in fact Stenhouse in the "Good" category. That because last year he swept the top 10 at Bristol (2nd and 6th). Even though it is only four career starts he has the best active average finish at this track.
The Middle
  • Greg Biffle- One of the better average finishes of active drivers (11.9), yet the Biff has never won here at Bristol in 24 attempts. He will be super consistent though, as he only has 3 finishes outside the top 20 in those 24 try's and only 2 finishes outside the top 25. 
The Bad
  • Sam Hornish Jr- Hornish only has 7 starts at Bristol but he has an average finish of 31.9. The bad thing about that is, all 7 of those starts were with Penske, so it isn't like he didn't have an ok car. What makes it worse is he only has finished inside the top 30 2 of those 7 times.
  • Casey Mears- Sorry Mears Gang, Bristol isn't Casey's best stop during the season. In 24 starts he has one lone top 10. He has 11 total top 15's in that time though, so not all is lost. I would still like to see some more top 30's out of him, which is where he should be falling between more often (15 in 24 starts). Thats 9 finishes outside the top 30.
  • Aric Almirola- Aric has shown some promise here in the past (3rd place last year) but also seems to find too much bad luck to be trusted either. He has 6 finishes of 35th or higher in just 11 starts

Bristol Motor Speedway
Race
Date
Cars
Winner(s)
St
Car
1961-36
7/30/1961
42
Jack Smith
12
'61 Pontiac
1961-50
10/22/1961
38
Joe Weatherly
2
'61 Pontiac
1962-17
4/29/1962
36
Bobby Johns
6
'62 Pontiac
1962-36
7/29/1962
44
Jim Paschal
12
'62 Plymouth
1963-13
3/31/1963
35
Fireball Roberts
3
'63 Ford
1963-37
7/28/1963
36
Fred Lorenzen
1
'63 Ford
1964-10
3/22/1964
36
Fred Lorenzen
2
'64 Ford
1964-42
7/26/1964
36
Fred Lorenzen
8
'64 Ford
1965-14
5/2/1965
33
Junior Johnson
3
'65 Ford
1965-34
7/25/1965
36
Ned Jarrett
6
'65 Ford
1966-07
3/20/1966
32
Dick Hutcherson
6
'66 Ford
1966-34
7/24/1966
36
Paul Goldsmith
4
'66 Plymouth
1967-07
3/19/1967
36
David Pearson
14
'67 Dodge
1967-33
7/23/1967
36
Richard Petty
1
'67 Plymouth
1968-05
3/17/1968
36
David Pearson
2
'68 Ford
1968-30
7/21/1968
36
David Pearson
6
'68 Ford
1969-09
3/23/1969
30
Bobby Allison
4
'69 Dodge
1969-33
7/20/1969
32
David Pearson
3
'69 Ford
1970-09
4/5/1970
30
Donnie Allison
2
'70 Ford
1970-28
7/19/1970
30
Bobby Allison
10
'69 Dodge
1971-09
3/28/1971
30
David Pearson
1
'71 Ford
1971-28
7/11/1971
30
Charlie Glotzbach
2
'71 Chevrolet
1972-07
4/9/1972
30
Bobby Allison
1
'72 Chevrolet
1972-18
7/9/1972
30
Bobby Allison
1
'72 Chevrolet
1973-05
3/25/1973
30
Cale Yarborough
1
'73 Chevrolet
1973-18
7/8/1973
30
Benny Parsons
2
'73 Chevrolet
1974-05
3/17/1974
30
Cale Yarborough
3
'74 Chevrolet
1974-17
7/14/1974
30
Cale Yarborough
3
'74 Chevrolet
1975-05
3/16/1975
23
Richard Petty
2
'74 Dodge
1975-28
11/2/1975
30
Richard Petty
4
'74 Dodge
1976-05
3/14/1976
30
Cale Yarborough
3
Chevrolet
1976-21
8/29/1976
30
Cale Yarborough
2
Chevrolet
1977-08
4/17/1977
30
Cale Yarborough
1
Chevrolet
1977-21
8/28/1977
29
Cale Yarborough
1
Chevrolet
1978-06
4/2/1978
29
Darrell Waltrip
7
Chevrolet
1978-21
8/26/1978
30
Cale Yarborough
4
Oldsmobile
1979-07
4/1/1979
30
Dale Earnhardt
9
Chevrolet
1979-22
8/25/1979
30
Darrell Waltrip
5
Chevrolet
1980-06
3/30/1980
32
Dale Earnhardt
4
Chevrolet
1980-22
8/23/1980
30
Cale Yarborough
1
Chevrolet
1981-06
3/29/1981
31
Darrell Waltrip
1
Buick
1981-22
8/22/1981
30
Darrell Waltrip
1
Buick
1982-03
3/14/1982
30
Darrell Waltrip
1
Buick
1982-21
8/28/1982
30
Darrell Waltrip
8
Buick
1983-11
5/21/1983
28
Darrell Waltrip
13
Chevrolet
1983-21
8/27/1983
29
Darrell Waltrip
2
Chevrolet
1984-05
4/1/1984
30
Darrell Waltrip
3
Chevrolet
1984-21
8/25/1984
30
Terry Labonte
6
Chevrolet
1985-05
4/6/1985
30
Dale Earnhardt
12
Chevrolet
1985-19
8/24/1985
31
Dale Earnhardt
1
Chevrolet
1986-05
4/6/1986
32
Rusty Wallace
14
Pontiac
1986-20
8/23/1986
30
Darrell Waltrip
10
Chevrolet
1987-07
4/12/1987
30
Dale Earnhardt
3
Chevrolet
1987-20
8/22/1987
30
Dale Earnhardt
6
Chevrolet
1988-06
4/10/1988
32
Bill Elliott
13
Ford
1988-20
8/27/1988
32
Dale Earnhardt
5
Chevrolet
1989-06
4/9/1989
32
Rusty Wallace
8
Pontiac
1989-20
8/26/1989
32
Darrell Waltrip
9
Chevrolet
1990-06
4/8/1990
32
Davey Allison
19
Ford
1990-20
8/25/1990
32
Ernie Irvan
6
Chevrolet
1991-06
4/14/1991
33
Rusty Wallace
1
Pontiac
1991-20
8/24/1991
32
Alan Kulwicki
5
Ford
1992-06
4/5/1992
32
Alan Kulwicki
1
Ford
1992-20
8/29/1992
32
Darrell Waltrip
9
Chevrolet
1993-06
4/4/1993
35
Rusty Wallace
1
Pontiac
1993-21
8/28/1993
34
Mark Martin
1
Ford
1994-06
4/10/1994
37
Dale Earnhardt
24
Chevrolet
1994-22
8/27/1994
36
Rusty Wallace
4
Ford
1995-06
4/2/1995
36
Jeff Gordon
2
Chevrolet
1995-22
8/26/1995
36
Terry Labonte
2
Chevrolet
1996-06
3/31/1996
37
Jeff Gordon
8
Chevrolet
1996-22
8/24/1996
39
Rusty Wallace
5
Ford
1997-07
4/13/1997
43
Jeff Gordon
5
Chevrolet
1997-22
8/23/1997
42
Dale Jarrett
3
Ford
1998-06
3/29/1998
43
Jeff Gordon
2
Chevrolet
1998-22
8/22/1998
43
Mark Martin
4
Ford
1999-07
4/11/1999
43
Rusty Wallace
1
Ford
1999-23
8/28/1999
43
Dale Earnhardt
26
Chevrolet
2000-06
3/26/2000
43
Rusty Wallace
6
Ford
2000-23
8/26/2000
43
Rusty Wallace
1
Ford
2001-06
3/25/2001
43
Elliott Sadler
38
Ford
2001-24
8/25/2001
43
Tony Stewart
18
Pontiac
2002-06
3/24/2002
43
Kurt Busch
27
Ford
2002-24
8/24/2002
43
Jeff Gordon
1
Chevrolet
2003-06
3/23/2003
43
Kurt Busch
9
Ford
2003-24
8/23/2003
43
Kurt Busch
5
Ford
2004-06
3/28/2004
43
Kurt Busch
13
Ford
2004-24
8/28/2004
43
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
30
Chevrolet
2005-05
4/3/2005
43
Kevin Harvick
13
Chevrolet
2005-24
8/27/2005
43
Matt Kenseth
1
Ford
2006-05
3/26/2006
43
Kurt Busch
9
Dodge
2006-24
8/26/2006
43
Matt Kenseth
4
Ford
2007-05
3/25/2007
43
Kyle Busch
20
Chevrolet
2007-24
8/25/2007
43
Carl Edwards
6
Ford
2008-05
3/16/2008
43
Jeff Burton
8
Chevrolet
2008-24
8/23/2008
43
Carl Edwards
1
Ford
2009-05
3/22/2009
43
Kyle Busch
19
Toyota
2009-24
8/22/2009
43
Kyle Busch
15
Toyota
2010-05
3/21/2010
43
Jimmie Johnson
4
Chevrolet
2010-24
8/21/2010
43
Kyle Busch
19
Toyota
2011-04
3/20/2011
43
Kyle Busch
12
Toyota
2011-24
8/27/2011
43
Brad Keselowski
8
Dodge
2012-04
3/18/2012
43
Brad Keselowski
5
Dodge
2012-24
8/25/2012
43
Denny Hamlin
8
Toyota
2013-04
3/17/2013
43
Kasey Kahne
2
Chevrolet
2013-24
8/24/2013
43
Matt Kenseth
5
Toyota
2014-04
3/16/2014
43
Carl Edwards
12
Ford
2014-24
8/23/2014
43
Joey Logano
5
Ford


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