The Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race will be under the lights on Saturday night, but the Big Three have been shining even in the daytime, and should do so again this weekend.
Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch have won 17 of the 22 Nascar Cup Series races this season. In fact there haven’t been two consecutive weeks when one of the three haven’t won. Truex has four cup victories and Busch has six.
Last week Harvick won his seventh Cup race at the Consumers Energy 400. He said after the victory that there is nothing to change this late in the year.
“We didn’t want to learn anything,” Harvick said. “We don’t want to do anything different. We just want to go out, and we want to win.”
Harvick, Busch Neck and Neck
While last year’s Monster Energy Cup winner Truex has had a quieter season than in 2017, Busch and Harvick have been trying to outdo the other every week. Busch has the edge this week, as he is the +250 favorite to win on the half-mile track.
Part of that is his record at Bristol Motor Speedway. He won the Food City 500 at the Bristol, Tennessee race track back in April, and has had success there with Infinity and Camping World Trucks series races.
“Obviously, we’re kind of on a hot streak with Bristol,” Busch said. “We love going there. I would like to think that we can go there, be fast and be able to respond, absolutely. So we’ll see what we can do getting there, and hopefully having a fast race car and doing what we normally do there, just try to stay out of trouble. It’s a tough place to stay out of trouble.”
Busch added that this is a race track built for fans, and is one of the most exciting events of the year.
“Bristol Motor Speedway is one of the best racetracks on the circuit,” Busch said. “All the fans love it because of the excitement, the run-ins and the close-quarter action with all the cars being packed on top of one another at a half-mile racetrack with us 40 lunatics running around in a tight circle. With the fans, the atmosphere there always makes for a good time.”
Surprising Contender
Harvick has also had success at this layout, winning the night race in 2016, but he is the third choice at + 600. The second pick is Kyle Larson. He led 200 of the laps at Bristol in April before settling for second behind Busch. He is a +350 choice this weekend.
Larson has not won a race this season, but does have three other second-place finishes in addition to the Food City 500. This could be the week he breaks into the winner’s circle. He certainly has an affinity for the facility.
“This is the best track we go to, most exciting place and I love coming here,” Larsen said.
One driver that surprisingly has not had any success at Bristol is Truex. In 25 races he has gone winless. He has had success at short tracks, but for some reason can’t seem to conquer this place. He is listed at 18/1, some of the worst odds he has had all season.
