The NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs continue tonight with the 2021 Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Read on below to see my prediction for who will win the race, as well as my top 10, dark horse, and driver to fade predictions.
Winner: Joey Logano- Logano has quietly put together a solid season, with 1 win, 9 top 5’s, and 15 top 10’s. Logano has also done quite well at Bristol in his career, with 2 wins, 6 top 5’s, and 766 laps led in 24 career starts. Logano is also finding his form of late, with back to back top 8 finishes to open up the playoffs. Logano won at Bristol on the dirt in the spring and I predict he will win on the pavement tonight!
Top 10: Chase Elliott- Elliott has done well in his young career at Bristol, with 3 top 5’s, 5 top 10’s, and 310 laps led in 10 career starts. Elliott has also raced well on short tracks this season, finishing 2nd at Martinsville, 3rd at Dover, and 4th last weekend at Richmond. If Elliott can stay mistake free, he will be a threat to win, but he is without a doubt a lock to finish in the top 10 tonight.
Dark Horse: Ryan Preece- A bit of a long shot, Preece has improved in each Bristol start, going from 28th to 18th to 12th to 9th in 4 career starts. Preece has had past success here in the Xfinity Series, winning at Bristol in April 2018. He’s also had some solid runs of late too, finishing 4th in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 and 12th at the Cook Out Southern 500. A win is improbable, but I predict that Preece will bring home a strong top 15 run tonight.
Driver to Fade: Cole Custer- Bristol has not fared well for Custer in his career, with finishes of 23rd and 35th in 2 starts. With the season Custer has had, I expect those struggles to continue and for Custer to finish outside the top 20 tonight.