The NASCAR XFINITY Series travels to Bristol Motor Speedway for Saturday’s Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 at the 0.533-mile oval in Tennessee. The event marks race seven on the series calendar in 2017. Erik Jones, who will pilot the No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing on Saturday, enters the weekend as the defending race winner.
Entry List:
The weekend entry list features 40 drivers and teams. That means nobody will DNQ after qualifying on Saturday. Qualifying, which will feature a multi-car / three round format, will take place at 9:35 A.M. Et. live on FOX Sports 1.
Story Lines:
Elliott Sadler enters the weekend leading the NASCAR XFINITY Series points by six points over JR Motorsports teammate William Byron. Sadler holds two victories in 20 starts at Bristol and comes into the weekend looking to build onto that lead.
Sadler refers to Bristol Motor Speedway as one of his favorite tracks on the series schedule.
“Bristol Motor Speedway is my favorite track. It’s such an amazing facility and a unique experience for fans,” said Sadler. “The track offers drivers a lot of options as far as being able to run the low, middle or high groove. Our team knows this is a track we have a good chance at getting our Armour Vienna Sausage 150 Years Chevrolet to Victory Lane. With the Dash 4 Cash, it makes it that much more exciting.”
Byron is also looking forward to this weekend’s race at the short track.
“I’m really looking forward to heading to Bristol,” said Byron. “It’s good for us to get back on a short track and I’ve been there before, so I’m just excited to get there and see what we can do with our Liberty University Chevrolet. Hopefully we’ll have a good result.”
Ryan Reed, Darrell Wallace Jr., and Justin Allgaier round out the top five in points.
Bristol Motor Speedway will be the second Dash4Cash event of the season. Allgaier took home a grand prize of $100,000 at Phoenix International Raceway earlier this season. If he can hold on and win the next three at Bristol, Richmond and Dover, he’ll take home $400,000 and a $600,000 bonus – earning him a total of one million dollars.
“Bristol has just been one of those places where the very first time I turned laps around the race track I felt comfortable,” said Allgaier. “Last year we he had great finishes, so I’m ready to head back there and hopefully pick back up where we left off with our Cheney Brothers Chevrolet. Plus it’s a Dash 4 Cash race. How great would it be to get another $100,000 for JR Motorsports? We’ve won one already this year, so I’d like nothing more than to go out there and grab another one for this team.”
In 12 XFINITY Series starts there, Allgaier holds one victory, five top five and seven top 10 finishes. His one and only victory there came in March of 2010 while driving for Team Penske.
The first six events of 2017 have all produced a different race winner. Erik Jones, Justin Allgaier, Kyle Larson and Ryan Reed will all try to change that this weekend. The others, who aren’t eligible because of the Dash4Cash event, include Kyle Busch and Joey Logano.
Where to Watch:
The Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 will air live on FOX Sports 1 at 12:30 P.M. ET. on Saturday afternoon. Radio coverage will be provided by the Performance Racing Network and can be heard on SiriusXM Channel 90.
About Me: Brett has been following the sport of NASCAR since the beginning of the 2006 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Since Brett was 13, he has had a passion of chasing a job in sports that not many get the opportunity of doing. He has been in the NASCAR media since the middle of the 2010 season. Since then, he has been a part of many racing podcast shows to improve his talents. He has written for racingonfuel.com and theracingwheel.com. Currently, Brett writes for motorsportsnat.com and TracksideChatter.com. You can find him on twitter @NASCAR_Brett.
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