2017 NASCAR Week 8: Bristol

Food City 500

Bristol Motor Speedway

By Richard Tix

This week the Behind the Wall preview will be short and sweet. On one hand you don't have to hear me babble about something that has been bugging me all week, on the other hand you don't get to hear me babble about something that has been bugging me all week.

You know what, I don't have anything anyways because we were on a bye week! This past weekend was filled with friends and family on a nice Easter weekend. This week will be full of double duty at my actual job so this preview will cover the weekly basics and we will move on.

With that said, lets take a peak at the "Good, Middle, and Bad" portion of this preview.

**This section is just a quick look at some of Cup drivers latest finishes. This is not a tool for fantasy purposes and NBTW only is looking at end results. No deep statistic's are involved, but rather it is just a quick way to get ready for the race and get caught up on who has finished well at each track**

The Good

• Ricky Stenhouse Jr- Yes, that is the same Ricky that is dating Danica Patrick and runs the No. 17 for RFR. Seriously though, he has four top ten's in his last six starts here and has never finished worse then 21st. In fact, seven of his eight career starts ended in 18th or better and last year he competed for the win.
• Joey Logano- Three straight top ten's which includes a win and four of five with two wins isn't too shabby here. The lone poor finish was when the 2 and 22 got together early after a rain delay was "possibly" started too early. 
• Kevin Harvick- The last Bristol winner, Harvick has three straight top ten's. Before that he was on a cold streak, so which one do we get?

The Middle

• Jamie McMurray- Five straight top 15's which includes two top ten's for JMac at Bristol. He probably won't compete for a win, but he has been pretty good at staying clean here.

The Bad

• Kyle Busch- Don't put money down against Kyle, please don't.. He has been on a tough streak here -- four finishes of 29th or worse in his last five -- but he also knows how to win here -- five career wins.
• Kasey Kahne- Kahne does have a win here at Bristol (2013), but his last five starts haven't included a top ten and only includes one top 15. Maybe it's just a bad stretch and he shakes it off this weekend?
• AJ Allmendinger- Ironically his best finish here was just last fall, 9th. However, the rest of his career hasn't gone as well here -- 16 other starts and zero top ten's. 

About the Track: Bristol

Track Stats

• Cup has run 112 total races at Bristol since 1961.
• Richard Petty ran the most career races at Bristol: 60.
• Darrell Waltrip has the most career Bristol wins: 12. Rusty Wallace, Dale Earnhardt, and Cale Yarborough follow with 9 each.
• Richard Petty and Darrell Waltrip are tied for the most career top 5's with 26.
• Richard Petty has the most career top 10's with 37.
• Mark Martin and Cale Yarborough are tied for the most career Poles with 9.
• Of current drivers. The Busch Brothers, Kyle Busch, and Kurt Busch have the most wins with 5 each.

Track Info

• Surface - Concrete
• Length
• 0.533 miles
• Banking
• Turns: 26-30 degrees
• Straights: 6-10 degrees

2017 NASCAR Schedule: Bristol

Food City 500

By Richard Tix

All Times are Eastern Timezone (ET)

Friday April 21, 2017

• 11:30 a.m.-12:55 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice- FS1 
• 1-1:55 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series practice- FS1 
• 3:30-4:25 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series final practice- FS1 
• 4:45 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying- FS1

Saturday April 22, 2017

• 8:30-9:25 a.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice- FS1 
• 9:35 a.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying- FS1 
• 11-11:55 a.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice- FS1 
• 1 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 (200 laps)- FOX

Sunday April 23, 2017

• 2 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Food City 500 (500 laps)- FOX 

2016 NASCAR Pit Road Week 8: Bristol

Weekly Review and Power Rankings

Food City 500

Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images

By Richard Tix

Attendance? Does that affect your viewing pleasure whether you're at the track or at home? Does it change the race? The answer is no. I understand fans are interested in it for the fact of keeping tabs on how well the track is doing. However, I think something like attendance is hard to fully equate to how well the sport in general is doing.

We're at an age in sports that attendance has been hard to come by. Twitter accounts like @EmptySeatsPics are around and have 20.2K followers. It's an age where everyone is struggling at times to bring fans to an event. Some sports are worse off than others, but that means they just need to start doing other things better to bring in viewership. The market crashed, HD TV's became a thing and then they became less expensive, and social media options became more relevant. Everything in a few short years and you can start to realize it isn't easy for track's to keep attendance up.

Eventually if the product is good enough fans will come back to the tracks. Tracks are coming up with better and less expensive ticket packages and some tracks give A+ experiences on race day.

All in all, do not decide whether the race was good based on who was at it, because if you do you will be dead wrong.

Sunday at Bristol we had a fantastic race from start to finish (full disclosure I did miss some of it). The racing action was great and guys got to beat and bang around and still have a shot at the end of the day.

On top of the racing action plenty of other storylines came from Bristol that you can't beat. Bristol might be even more unpredictable than Talladega when it comes to where drivers finish. Chase Elliott went back to back top 5 finish's. Trevor Bayne finished in the top 5 which is only his second top 5 ever (the other was the 2011 Daytona 500 win). Matt DiBenedetto took the No. 83 BK Racing car and finished 6th. You could actually see the emotion pouring out of him post race which was a great moment. Clint Bowyer also finally had a moment of light in a dark season when he finished 8th on Sunday.

Just a ton of storylines to go along with some fun on track racing. After two rain hurt races last year, Bristol should have shown fans why it's worth coming to the track later this season for some night racing.

Pit Road Power Rankings Week 8 (Week 7)

1. Kyle Busch (LW-1)- Consider this a one week pass. Between Kyle and Kenseth I am confident they would have pushed Carl for the win if they hadn't had issues on the day. Kyle still has 6 top 5's in 8 races. Finish: 38th
2. Carl Edwards (LW-4)- In NASCAR many times the best car on the day doesn't win, well on Sunday that wasn't true because Carl absolutely dominated. Big win for the No. 19 this week. Finish: 1st
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr (LW-2)- What a day. From issues early all the way to the back and then to the front, it was amazing Junior was even in the conversation late. That's a quality day that will be forgotten later in the season. Finish: 2nd
4. Kevin Harvick (LW-6)- Harvick started 7th and finished 7th. It was a huge improvement from last week at Texas. He ran on average in the third position and never was outside the top 15. Finish: 7th
5. Joey Logano (LW-5)- Sunday was not a good day overall for JoLo, but they fought through once again. This continues to be a weekly trend that is stopping them from winning. Finish: 10th
6. Jimmie Johnson (LW-2)- It's not easy coming back after going a lap down (just don't ask Junior because he is making it look easy). Bristol was a bit of a slip up on a otherwise great run for JJ lately. Finish: 23rd
7. Kurt Busch (LW-7)- Kurt looked like he had a shot down the stretch, but Carl Edwards was just too good on Sunday. Finish: 3rd
8. Chase Elliott (LW-12)- It's starting to look more and more like Chase won't even need a win this year to get into the Chase. On Sunday he notched his second top 5 which is also back to back top 5's. A few more top 10's and he will sky rocket up this list. Finish: 4th
9. Martin Truex Jr (LW-9)- Only one top 10 in his last six races. It hasn't been pretty overall lately, but the team still has some speed from time to time to compete. Finish: 14th 
10. Brad Keselowski (LW-8)- Penalty after penalty. Its a bad trend to have, but the plus side is they're happening now. They can smooth these over before the Chase and be competitive down the stretch. Finish: 18th
11. Jamie McMurray (LW-NR)- McMurray hasn't really been that great or that bad all year. After 2014, Ganassi just hasn't found "it" since. Six of his eight finishes have been 17th or better but he only has one top 10. Finish: 13th
12. Denny Hamlin (LW-11)- For how many wins JGR has already this season, Hamlin and Kenseth have really struggled. Consistency has been a key with both as has penalties. JGR as a whole had tire issues and really only Carl overcame. Finish: 20th

Dropped Out: Austin Dillon (LW-10)

Just Missed: Ryan Newman and Trevor Bayne

2016 March Madness NASCAR Style: Championship

Behind the Wall Championship Game

By Richard Tix

Racing under the lights with the bright light shinning off of 40 Cup cars can not be topped. Nothing beats watching a night race at the highest level or on a Saturday night at your local track. The visual aesthetics were great all night long, but part of the race lacked the "it" factor. 

However, the finish of the race was fantastic and if you have been following along with the Final Four on Behind the Wall you had some extra drama. All four drivers were decent contenders Saturday night which made it fun to watch.

Rules and Bracket Breakdown

• Brackets were decided by current standings after the race at Las Vegas. Four Divisions, top 4 in the standings got the #1 seeds, 5-8 in the standings got the #2 seeds, 9-12 #3 seeds and so on.
• From the standings the rankings were given out serpentine style. Meaning: The driver ranked 5th (first #2 seed) started in the lowest #1 seed's bracket. That continues until the three seeds where it then goes from top back down.
• Here is how the rounds break down by race (first race we have two eliminations to speed it up).
• Phoenix: Round 32 
• Auto Club: Sweet 16
• Martinsville: Elite 8
• Texas: Final Four
• Bristol: Championship
• The driver that finishes Highest in the race moves on, no bonus points included (Think the last Chase Race)

Round by Round Articles:

• Opening Round: Round of 32
• Sweet 16
• Elite Eight
• Final Four

2016: 4th Annual NBTW NASCAR March Madness
1	Kyle Busch		1	Kyle Busch		1	Denny Hamlin
2	Kevin Harvick		2	Joey Logano		2	Joey Logano

This past week at Texas all four drivers finished in the top twelve (three of the four in the top 10) giving Behind the Wall an exciting Final Four for anyone following along. Denny Hamlin was the lone driver outside the top 10 but most of the night Joey was having a better day anyways. In the end Kevin Harvick was stuck in a race where they were trying something new and Kyle Busch ran away with the win late in the race.

Championship Match-Up

1. Kyle Busch v. 2. Joey Logano

• This is actually a dream match-up at Bristol. Both drivers are not only starting to really hit their stride in their careers but they also have a nice track record at Bristol Motor Speedway. Kyle Busch has five total BMS wins in his career which ties for the most of any current driver (tied with Kurt Busch). Lately he hasn't run as well here, but he is on fire right now so I would assume he will snap out of that. Menawhile, Joey Logano has two career wins in 14 starts, but they have both come in the last three races. JoLo has proven to be a legit threat to win anytime NASCAR stops at Bristol, so this week should be a great Championship match-up. 

For more, don't forget to check out this weeks Bristol Motor Speedway race preview and also the current driver BMS stats and averages all on Behind the Wall.

2016 NASCAR Week 8 Preview: Bristol

Food City 500

Bristol Motor Speedway

By Richard Tix

Considering last week NASCAR had it's first Saturday Night race of 2016, we are not entering Bristol after a night of fireworks. In fact, for the most part I got the feeling that many fan's were slightly disappointed last weekend with the racing action.

Now, every week you can find someone unhappy with how the race went, but this time it felt different. It seemed like the pulse of social media was a bit underwhelmed at Saturday Night other then the last 75 or so laps.

I was as well. However, any given week a certain fan will not full enjoy or think the racing was entertaining. That happens in sports. NASCAR can not shape the race to always be exciting (though some people on twitter think they're another form of WWE)... So, I am not complaining about Texas per say, but to me from start to finish it was one of the least thrilling races of 2016.

To rebound from that NASCAR heads to Bristol where drivers get up close and personal again like they did at Martinsville. Bristol has been getting a bad wrap now for a few years with it's new surface, but maybe the new aero package can start to turn that around. For the most part the racing has been alright the past few years, but the stigma still follows it around (similar to Auto Club that has been fantastic as of late).

Only time will tell if this package can help turn around the perception of Bristol, but this weekend is a good time to start!

**This section is just a quick look at some of Cup drivers latest finishes. This is not a tool for fantasy purposes and NBTW only is looking at end results. No deep statistic's are involved, but rather it is just a quick way to get ready for the race and get caught up on who has finished well at each track**

The Good

• Joey Logano- Are his career numbers at BMS very good? No. However, when you have won two of the last three at a track it is time to start thinking that driver may have started to figure it out. He is on a strange trend where the Spring race does not go as well as the second stop in a season.
• Matt Kenseth- Kenseth had engine issues the last time NASCAR stopped at Bristol, but this race in 2015 was one he did win. It was his 4th career wins at BMS and 13th top 5 in 32 starts. 
• Jimmie Johnson- JJ has three straight top 5's and ten top 10's in the last 14 stops here. That is one of the better streaks right now, but it comes without a win in that time. JJ actually only has one Bristol win so I wouldn't count this as one of his best tracks.

The Middle

• Carl Edwards- Trying to figure out how Carl will finish at Bristol is like throwing darts at a dart board, blindfolded. You can get lucky, and if you're good enough hit the target, but at some point you will still miss. He has 11 finishes 15th or higher (seven outside the top 20), but he also has three career wins and ten top 10's, That's just the nature of Bristol.

The Bad

• A.J. Allmendinger- Dinger fans may want to look away as AJ's stats aren't too pretty at BMS. In 15 tries he has yet to finish in the top 10 and only has three top 15's. More concerning is that he only has six top 20's and seven top 25's. 
• Denny Hamlin- Would you count out Denny of this race before it started? No way, he has three pole awards in the last five races he has run here. In those five he has two top 10's, but also three finishes of 26th or worse. He is a capable driver, but he has eight finishes of 19th or worse in his last 12 starts here. 
• Casey Mears- The last and only time Mears finished in the top 10? 2007 when he finished exactly 10th. That's not the concerning part, what hurts is that he only has two top 20's since that top 10 (17 races). He only has 12 top 25's in 26 career BMS races. 

About the Track

Track Stats

• Cup has run 110 total races at Bristol since 1961.
• Richard Petty ran the most career races at Bristol: 60.
• Darrell Waltrip has the most career Bristol wins: 12. Rusty Wallace, Dale Earnhardt, and Cale Yarborough follow with 9 each.
• Richard Petty and Darrell Waltrip are tied for the most career top 5's with 26.
• Richard Petty has the most career top 10's with 37.
• Mark Martin and Cale Yarborough are tied for the most career Poles with 9.
• Of current drivers. The Busch Brothers, Kyle Busch, and Kurt Busch have the most wins with 5.

Track Info

• Surface
• Concrete
• Length
• 0.533 miles
• Banking
• Turns: 26-30 degrees
• Straights: 6-10 degrees

Texas Motor Speedway
Race	Date	Cars	Winner(s)	St	Make / Model
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
2015-08	4/19/2015	43	Matt Kenseth	1	Toyota
2015-24	8/22/2015	43	Joey Logano	5	Ford

Weekend Articles:

• Power Rankings
• Entry List
• TV Schedule
• Driver Stats