StatChat 2025 - Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol

By Adam Carabine

Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday (on a Friday!). This weekend NASCAR travels to Bristol, Tennessee for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Bristol is a 0.533-mile oval with heavy banking in the corners, and two pit roads to make room for all of the teams.  The track opened in 1961, and Jack Smith won the first NASCAR race there that same year.  Kyle Larson has won the last two races in a row here.

Tomorrow’s race will be 500 laps long (for a total of 266.50 miles), with stage breaks occurring at 125 – 250 – 500.  Pit road speed is 30 mph, and the caution vehicle runs at 35 mph.  The fuel window is between 165-180 laps.

This year, the NASCAR Cup Series has run 7,118 laps, for 10,116.67 miles so far this season.  No driver has completed every single lap - Tyler Reddick is closest, running 14 laps down.

Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Bristol:

Chase Elliott	11.00 over 18 races
Kyle Larson	12.19 over 21 races (3 wins)
Christopher Bell	12.55 over 11 races (1 win)
Ty Gibbs	12.83 over 6 races
Denny Hamlin	13.51 over 39 races (4 wins)

Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Bristol:

SVG	38.00 over 1 race
Riley Herbst	28.00 over 1 race
Cody Ware	27.75 over 4 races
Zane Smith	26.33 over 3 races
Noah Gragson	25.80 over 3 races

Bristol is a Short Track.

Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Shorts:

Joey Logano	11.33 over 192 races (13 wins)
Chase Elliott	11.50 over 105 races (4 wins)
Ryan Blaney	12.35 over 109 races (3 wins)
Christopher Bell	12.48 over 61 races (6 wins)
Denny Hamlin	12.62 over 227 races (24 wins)

Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Shorts:

Michael McDowell	26.57 over 169 races
Zane Smith	25.48 over 22 races
Ty Dillon	25.34 over 81 races
Noah Gragson	24.69 over 30 races
JH Nemechek	22.81 over 30 races

Darrell Waltrip is the winningest driver at Bristol, with 12 wins at the track.  There’s a four-way tie after that, with Cale Yarborough, Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, and Kyle Busch each having 9 wins.

Drivers who ran their first Cup Series race at Bristol:

AJ Allmendinger

2007 – P40

Notable drivers who have not won at Bristol:

Chase Elliott	(has won at 15 other tracks)
William Byron	(has won at 11 other tracks)
Ryan Blaney	(has won at 10 other tracks)
Tyler Reddick	(has won at 8 other tracks)
Alex Bowman	(has won at 8 other tracks)

Based on average finish, no drivers list Bristol as their BEST track, but SVG lists it as his WORST.

Based on their point pace, let’s have a look at how this season is comparing to last season for drivers:

Drivers Faring Better than in 2024

Chase Briscoe	+310 pts
JH Nemechek	+274 pts
Ryan Preece	+239 pts
Erik Jones	+201 pts
Zane Smith	+113 pts

Drivers Faring Worse than in 2024

Brad Keselowski	-210 pts
Noah Gragson	-210 pts
Daniel Suarez	-141 pts
Ty Gibbs	-112 pts
Christopher Bell	-82 pts

Next, let’s look at who’s having their best and worst career year by Average Finish:

Best Career Year

Chase Briscoe	12.82
Ryan Preece	16.39
JH Nemechek	18.93

Worst Career Year

Cole Custer	24.11
Carson Hocevar	21.57
Zane Smith	20.96

Rookie of the Year Battle

SVG	2,039 (4 wins)
Riley Herbst	309

The Manufacturer Standings are calculated by awarding points to the highest finisher for each manufacturer according to their finishing position.  (40 for 1^st, 35 for 2^nd, 34 for 3^rd, etc.)  No stage points or playoff points count.

Manufacturer Standings

Chevrolet	1,026
Toyota	993
Ford	939

Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:

Chartered Team Standings

Joe Gibbs	967
Hendrick	961
Penske	808
RFK	791
Trackhouse	774
23XI	744
Spire	693
Legacy MC	663
RCR	647
Front Row	618
Kaulig	591
Wood Bros	429
Hyak	412
Haas Factory	361
Rick Ware	200

At each stage break, the Top 10 drivers are awarded points based on their finishing positions.  Here are the leaders this year:

Stage Point Leaders

William Byron	246
Ryan Blaney	234
Kyle Larson	207
Denny Hamlin	189
Tyler Reddick	179
Bubba Wallace	177
Alex Bowman	149
Christopher Bell	146
Chase Elliott	142
Chase Briscoe	138

Milestone Watch

Denny Hamlin	Looking for his 60th Career Cup Series Win
Chris Buescher	Looking for his 30th Career Top 5
SVG	Looking for his 10th Career Top 10

Scorigami Update

There were no new finishes for any drivers at WWT Gateway.

Here are the top 10 longest active winless streaks:

Winless Streaks

Justin Haley	169 races
Cole Custer	125 races
Erik Jones	107 races
Kyle Busch	85 races
Michael McDowell	76 races
Daniel Suarez	62 races
Brad Keselowski	51 races
AJ Allmendinger	48 races
Alex Bowman	44 races
Chris Buescher	36 races

The race begins Saturday, September 13^th  at 7:30 pm EST (4:30 pm PST) – Enjoy the race everyone!

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Is there an error? Is there a stat missing that you’d like to see? Let us know!