Bristol Preview | September 2022 | NASCAR Fall Night Races
By Pam Smith - 12:00 PM
This weekend all three of NASCAR's major series will be at the high banks of Bristol Motor Speedway. Bristol was dirt the last time NASCAR was at the track; however, for the fall night races all of the dirt has been removed and the concrete oval will host the night races for this weekend.
The first NASCAR series to hit the concrete oval of Bristol will be the NASCAR Truck Series for their practice session at 4:30 Eastern Time. This practice will be broken into two groups and immediately followed by qualifying. The qualifying session will be single vehicle with each truck getting two laps each. All trucks will be impounded after qualifying. There are currently 37 trucks entered for a 36 truck field, so one truck will be sent home after qualifying.
The last time the Truck Series was at Bristol Motor Speedway, Ben Rhodes took the checkered flag; however, I must note that this was the Spring race on the dirt. September 2021 saw Chandler Smith as the winner and this was on the concrete high banks like the race this evening.
(Truck Series Weekend Schedule)
The UNOH 200 will be held at 9 PM Eastern Time, tonight on FS1, MRN, and Sirius XM NASCAR. This is going to be a three stage race of 55 laps/ 55 laps/ and 90 laps. This is the first race of the Round of 8 for the Truck Series Playoffs.
Friday, September 16th, at the speedway will see both the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the Cup Series take the track. The first of the two series will be the Xfinity Series with their practice session beginning at 2:35 Eastern Time. This practice session will also be broken into groups and immediately followed by a qualifying session at 3:10 Eastern. This qualifying session will be single car runs with each car getting two laps each. All cars will be impounded until the race. There are currently 41 cars entered for the 38 car field, so 3 cars will be sent home following qualifying.
The last time the Xfinity Series was at Bristol Motor Speedway was September of 2021 where AJ Allmendinger took the checkered flag. This time the Xfinity Series will run the Food City 300 at 7:30 PM Eastern. The Food City 300 will be the last race before the playoffs for the Xfinity Series, and the last opportunity for drivers to lock themselves into the top 12 in the playoffs and their chance at a championship for the 2022 season. At this time there are four drivers in the top 12 in points that have not won a race this season, so if one of these drivers wins the Food City 300 they will be locked into the playoffs. If there is a new winner that is eligible for the playoffs, there will only be three spots available for the playoffs, unless the new winner is one of these four drivers.
(Xfinity Series Weekend Schedule)
The NASCAR Cup Series will see the track for the first time following the qualifying session for the Xfinity series. This practice session begins at 4:35 Eastern and will be divided into two groups. Qualifying will immediately follow practice and all cars will be impounded following qualifying. There are currently 36 cars entered for a 40 car field, so there will be no cars sent home for the Cup Series.
The last time the NASCAR Cup Series was at Bristol Motor Speedway was April of this year where the track was dirt, and Kyle Busch was declared the winner. Last September the high concrete banks saw Kyle Larson as the winner.
This is a cutoff race for the Cup Series and the top 12 drivers will advance to the next round. Currently the four drivers sitting below the cutoff line are Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Chase Briscoe, and Kevin Harvick.
The Bass Pro Shops Night Race 500 will air Saturday, September 16th, beginning at 7:30 PM on USA and can be listened to on PRN or Sirius XM NASCAR. This race will be a three stage race of 125 laps/ 125 laps/ 250 laps.
(All photos used in this article are not the property of Loose Lugs Racing/Pam, all photos are linked to the sources/articles/websites)
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