NASCAR Fantasy Fusion: Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol

Denny Hamlin is inching closer to his goal of 60 Cup Series wins with his 59th win last weekend at WWTR, which also earned Toyota its 200th Cup victory. It was Hamlin's fifth win of the season and his first at WWTR. And he isn't too shabby at Bristol. Hmm.

This Week's Pick Strategy: This week, I think the winner will come from the top five on the starting grid, but I wouldn't count out Chase Briscoe who had a bad qualifying session and will be starting from 31st. I'm focusing my fantasy picks on tried-and-true Bristol elites, but I don't think the winner will necessarily be a Playoff driver. This should be a fun one!

Drivers with Most Top 10s
By Race In Gen 7 Car (3 races 2022-2024):
All with 3 - Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, and Chase Elliott

All with 2 - Chris Buescher, William Byron, and Ross Chastain

By Track In Gen 7 Car (5 races 2022-2025):
All with 5- Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, and Christopher Bell
Chase Elliott - 4
All with 3 - Chris Buescher, Ty Gibbs, William Byron, and Ross Chastain

Last Year's Race Winner: Kyle Larson

The Likely Suspects:  Look for these drivers to run well on raceday: Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, William Byron, Brad Keselowski, Ty Gibbs, Chase Briscoe, and Chris Buescher.

My 2 Cents: My no-brainer pick is a tie between Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin. My next choices are Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell, Ty Gibbs, and Chris Buescher. I'm completing my roster with Chase Briscoe and Bubba Wallace.

My Fabulous 5 (Drivers most likely to finish in the Top 5):
Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, Ty Gibbs, and Kyle Larson

NASCAR Fantasy Live Line-up:
Ty Gibbs, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, AJ Allmendinger, and Christopher Bell with Denny Hamlin in the garage. Featured Match-ups: Austin Cindric over Shane van Gisbergen, Ross Chastain over Alex Bowman, Elliott over Joey Logano, and Austin Dillon over Josh Berry.

Second-Look Driver: This week's second-look driver is Ty Gibbs as Bristol Motor Speedway is one of his strongest tracks. In the last five races here, Gibbs has earned two Top fives and three Top 10s, and has led 239 laps for an average finish of 13.4. Back in the spring, Gibbs finished third, scored stage points, and led 137 laps. Tonight he starts fourth on the grid.

 

Points to Ponder:

• In total, the winner of the third race in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs has gone on to win the championship four times (2008, 2012, 2013, 2021). Of those, it has only happened once since the elimination-style format was instituted in 2014 (2021). 
• More than half (74 wins, 58.73%) of the NASCAR Cup Series winners at Bristol Motor Speedway have started in the Top five.
  
• Joe Gibbs Racing leads all active NASCAR Cup Series organizations in wins at Bristol Motor Speedway with 15 victories, followed by Hendrick Motorsports with 14, Team Penske with 13 and RFK Racing with 12.
• Kyle Busch leads the NASCAR Cup Series among active drivers in wins at Bristol with eight in 37 starts (Spring 2007, 2009 sweep, Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019). Busch also leads active drivers in runner-up finishes at Bristol with four, in Top-five finishes with 14, and in laps led with 2,598. 
• Denny Hamlin leads the NASCAR Cup Series among active drivers in Top-10 finishes at Bristol with 20 Top 10s.
• Kyle Larson leads the Cup Series among active drivers in average finishing position at Bristol with a 10.4 in 18 starts.
  

Remember, if you're playing NASCAR Fantasy Live, make your final picks by 7:25 p.m. EST tonight. Don't forget to select your bonus match-ups.

 

Enjoy the race!

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Carol D'Agostino has been playing Fantasy NASCAR for 18 years. She launched NASCAR Fantasy Fusion for Skirts & Scuffs in October 2011. Each week, Carol pores through statistics and combs through her personal notebooks to arm fans with analysis and picking strategies that will leave their friends wondering how they got so smart. Carol also does race coverage for Skirts & Scuffs at Richmond Raceway and occasionally at her home track, Dover International Speedway. She is also part of the distinguished NASCAR Expert Picks panel at frcs.pro. formerly called Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet. When she isn’t wielding her fantasy-racing superpowers, you’ll find Carol hammering out a news release or creating a marketing strategy at a small niche public relations firm she founded called Purple Cat, or she may be executing downtown revitalization projects for a small town on Maryland's Eastern shore.