By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service
Kyle Larson made an emphatic statement with his victory in Saturday night’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
That doesn’t mean, however, that there aren’t formidable hurdles Larson still has to cross if he hopes to claim a second NASCAR Cup Series championship.
RWR Acquires Corey LaJoie From Spire, Spire Procures Justin Haley From RWR
BRISTOL, Tenn. (Sept. 20, 2024) – With eight races left on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series calendar, two teams are making changes for the remainder of the season.
Rick Ware Racing (RWR) has acquired driver Corey LaJoie from Spire Motorsports, and Spire Motorsports has procured driver Justin Haley from RWR. Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway will be the last race for each driver with their current organizations. Beginning with next weekend’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, LaJoie will take over the No. 51 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for RWR, and Haley will drive the No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Spire Motorsports.
Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series at Bristol Motor Speedway… In 187 NASCAR Cup Series starts on the pavement configuration at Bristol Motor Speedway, RCR has scored nine wins, seven by Dale Earnhardt: both races in 1985 and 1987, plus victories in 1988 (fall), 1994 (spring), and 1999 (spring). Kevin Harvick won the 2005 spring event while Jeff Burton won the spring race in 2008. The Welcome, North Carolina based organization has racked up 35 top-five and 71 top-10 finishes.
25th Anniversary of “Rattle His Cage”… Saturday night’s Cup Series race at the World’s Fastest Half Mile marks the 25th anniversary of one of the most memorable finishes in Bristol Motor Speedway history featuring legendary RCR driver Dale Earnhardt. Earnhardt, who started 26th, won the 1999 night race following a last-lap bump to Terry Labonte. Earnhardt said in Victory Lane that he didn’t mean to spin out Labonte – just to “rattle his cage.” Earnhardt and Labonte swapped the lead seven times over the last 200 laps in one NASCAR’s classic races.
Tensions are high, the point standings are tight, and once the stadium lights illuminate the ‘World’s Fastest Half-Mile’ expect nothing less than a spectacular showdown amongst the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs’ 16 in Saturday night’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway (Sept. 21 at 7:30 p.m. ET on USA, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
With this weekend’s highly anticipated event serving as the elimination race for the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 16, a lot is on the line for the postseason contenders. Team Penske’s Joey Logano is the only driver that has locked himself into the Round of 12 by virtue of his Atlanta win leaving 11 spots still up for grabs on Saturday.
Harrison Burton and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane team are headed to the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway needing a stellar run to advance to the Round of 12 in the Cup Series Playoffs.
Burton is 16th in the standings, 20 points below the cutoff for advancement to the next round. After Saturday night’s 500-lapper on the high-banked half-mile, the bottom four drivers in the Playoff standings will be eliminated from championship contention. (more…)
Justin Haley, driver of the No. 51 Pinnacle Home Improvements Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Rick Ware Racing (RWR), will make his fifth NASCAR Cup Series start at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race. When the series last visited Bristol on March 17, it was a race full of attrition due to unusual tire wear. Haley used pit strategy and tire conservation to work his way into the top-15 within the first 100 laps of the 500-lap race. Without a caution in the final 121 laps, Haley was forced to pit from 10th place under green for his final stop for fresh tires. He finished the race 17th, his second of 11 top-20 finishes this year.
Kaz Grala, driver of the No. 15 Meat N’ Bone Ford Mustang Dark Horse for RWR, will make his second Cup Series start at Bristol in Saturday night’s race. In March, Grala started 33rd and drove to a 19th-place finish at The Last Great Colosseum. (more…)
● The Bass Pro Shops Night Race Saturday at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway brings Ryan Preece back to the high-banked, half-mile concrete oval where he has a solid resume across multiple racing disciplines, highlighted by NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victories. The driver of the No. 41 Old Armor Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Stewart-Haas Racing will make his eighth career NASCAR Cup Series start Saturday night and his 19th overall. Best among his previous seven Cup Series starts was a ninth-place finish in September 2020. It was one of four career top-15s for Preece at the East Tennessee short track where he has an average Cup Series finish of 15.3. Preece finished 14th in his prior visit to Bristol last March. (more…)
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (September 18, 2024) – The Bristol Night Race is next on the NASCAR Cup Series calendar with Todd Gilliland and the No. 38 team making their second visit of the season to the Last Great Colosseum.
Coming off of a Top-20 finish at Watkins Glens International, Gilliland and the No. 38 team look to bounce back with a strong result at the 0.5-mile track. Frontline Enterprises will debut a new, all-white scheme for the No. 38 Ford Mustang Dark Horse. (more…)
