NASCAR Fantasy Fusion: Bristol's Winless, Restless, and Heir Apparent

Kyle Larson silenced his daughter Andrey's smack-talk with his win last weekend at Wide World Technology Raceway. Well, at least for a little while anyway. The victory was Larson's 33rd NASCAR Cup Series win and his first at Wide World Technology Center. More importantly, the victory ended his 51-race winless streak. 

The two-time Cup Series Champ won the Enjoy Illinois 300 in two overtimes. He had to hold off   

pole winner Joey Logano who had the strongest car most of the race. Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman finished in second and pushed Larson's No. 5 car just enough to help him clear the hard-charging Logano, who finished third. Rounding out the top five were William Byron and Ross Chastain.

Larson moved up five spots in the Chase standings to the second position, a mere nine points behind leader and heir apparent Denny Hamlin. Bristol is a good track for the No. 5. Let's see if he can keep the pressure on Hamlin this week. Since 2023, Hamlin has earned an 8.0 average finish at Bristol, just shy of Larson's 7.3 average finish, so this could get interesting. 

This Week's Pick Strategy: This week, I think the winner will come from the top five on the starting grid regardless if they're a Chase driver or not. Bristol elites are bound to shine this weekend, so I'm weighing heavy on drivers with a history of great average finishes. I will also add in one or two sleeper picks and drivers who can earn me some qualifying bonus points. Bonus points are really important this week since you never know if your driver will get caught up in someone else's mess. Good luck!

Active NASCAR Cup Series Drivers with Most Top 10s
By Race 2022-2025 (4 Races):
Christopher Bell - 4
All with 3 - Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott

All with 2 - Chris Buescher, William Byron, Alex Bowman, Brad Keselowski, Ty Gibbs, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe and Ross Chastain.

By Track (7 races 2022-2026):
All with 6- Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin 
Ty Gibbs - 5
All with 4 - Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe and Chase Elliott 
All with 3 - Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher, William Byron, Alex Bowman and Ross Chastain.

Active NASCAR Cup Series Drivers with Most Top 5s

By Race 2022-2026 (4 Races):
Christopher Bell - 4
Kyle Larson - 3
All with 2 - Denny Hamlin, Chris Buescher and Chase Elliott

 

By Track (7 races 2022-2026):
Kyle Larson - 6
Both with 4 - Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin
Both with 3 - Ty Gibbs and Ryan Blaney

 

Last Year's Pole Winner: AJ Allmendinger

Last Year's Race Winner: Christopher Bell

The Likely Suspects: Look for these drivers to run well on race day: Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, Ty Gibbs, Chase Elliott, Chase Briscoe, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, Alex Bowman, Brad Keselowski and Ross Chastain. 

My 2 Cents: My no-brainer pick is Ty Gibbs. My next choices are Kyle Larson, Chase Briscoe, Brad Keselowski, Alex Bowman and Ryan Preece. I'm completing my roster with Carson Hocevar and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

My Final Four: Kyle Larson, Ty Gibbs, Brad Keselowski and Carson Hocevar.

Second-Look Driver: This week's second-look driver is Carson Hocevar. While he is super aggressive and still needs to refine his race-craft, risky moves can pay off at Bristol. Hocevar immediately took to Bristol since his debut here in 2023. In four of his six starts in Thunder Valley, Carson has finished 11th or better, including two Top 10s, earning him a 14.0 average finish. Of course, Bristol would be a great place for drivers who have an ax to grind to get a bit of revenge. Stay tuned.

 

Points to Ponder:

• Denny Hamlin leads all active NASCAR Cup Series drivers in poles at Bristol Motor Speedway with four (2013, 2014, 2015, 2019). 
• Hendrick Motorsports leads the NASCAR Cup Series in poles at Bristol Motor Speedway with 14 poles. Alex Bowman has won two (2024, 2025). 
• Denny Hamlin leads the NASCAR Cup Series among active drivers in wins at Bristol with four victories in 38 starts (2012, 2019, 2023, 2024). Other multi-race winners include Kyle Larson (2025, 2024, 2021) and Brad Keselowski (2020, 2012, 2011) with three each; and Joey Logano (2015, 2014) with two.
• Joe Gibbs Racing leads all active NASCAR Cup Series organizations in wins at Bristol Motor Speedway with 17 victories.
• Kyle Larson leads all active NASCAR Cup Series drivers in runner-up finishes at Bristol with three. 
• Denny Hamlin leads all active NASCAR Cup Series drivers in Top-5 finishes at Bristol Motor Speedway with 13, followed by Kyle Larson with 9. Hamlin also leads all active NASCAR Cup Series drivers in Top-10 finishes at Bristol with 21. Again, Larson is second best in this category with 14 Top 10s.
• Ty Gibbs leads the Cup Series among active drivers in average finishing position at Bristol with an 11.1 in seven starts. Gibbs edges out Kyle Larson with an 11.150 average finish and Chase Briscoe with an 11.625 average finish.
• Kyle Larson leads all active drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series in laps led at Bristol with 2,046 in 20 starts.
• There are a number of active NASCAR Cup Series drivers with one or more DNFs at Bristol since 2023. Those with one DNF include Chase Elliott, Bubba Wallace, Joey Logano, Zane Smith, AJ Allmendinger, Josh Berry, Daniel Suarez, Ty Dillon, Shane van Gisbergen and Josh Bilicki. Alex Bowman has two. 

Remember, if you're playing Driver Group Game, make your initial picks by 4:30 p.m. ET on Friday, September 18th, and your final picks by 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, September 19th. 

 

Enjoy the race!

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Carol D'Agostino has been playing Fantasy NASCAR for 19 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 volunteering in or around Queen Anne's County, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.