BRISTOL 1Friday, April 10 — NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, 7:30 p.m. ET (FS1)Saturday, April 11 – NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, 7:30 p.m. ET (CW)Sunday, April 12– NASCAR Cup Series, 3 p.m. ET (FS1)A NASCAR tripleheader is on tap this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway as all three top touring series compete at the same venue for the fourth time this season. The Front Row Motorsports duo of Chandler Smith and Layne Riggs have combined to win the last three NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races with each of them going to Victory Lane in 2025.    CONSISTENT BLANEY LOOKING FOR FIRST BRISTOL WINRyan Blaney’s trademark consistency has been on display all season and it continued two weeks ago with a sixth-place finish at Martinsville Speedway. That marked Blaney’s fifth top-10 finish in the last six races, which includes a win at Phoenix Raceway. As a result, he’s second in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings, trailing leader Tyler Reddick by 82 points. Blaney heads into this weekend’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway still looking for his first win, but he’s finished sixth or better in each of the last three races.  SITTING ON 749The next Ford win will be its 750th all-time in NASCAR’s top series. Ned Jarrett is Ford’s win leader with 43 while Bill Elliott is second with 40. Shirtless Jimmy Florian scored the Blue Oval’s first series victory when he upset the likes of Lee Petty, Curtis Turner and Joe Weatherly at Dayton Speedway on June 25, 1950. Florian earned his nickname after getting out of his 1950 flathead Ford without a shirt. Overall, 91 drivers have won at least one series race with Ford, including notable drivers Mario Andretti, Dan Gurney, Parnelli Jones, A.J. Foyt, Richard Petty, and Dale Earnhardt. ACTIVE BRISTOL WINNERS Three current Ford drivers have at least one NASCAR Cup Series victory on the concrete of Bristol Motor Speedway. Brad Keselowski has three wins, including one with Ford in 2020, while Joey Logano owns a pair (2014-15) and Chris Buescher has one (2022). Rusty Wallace and Kurt Busch each had five victories to lead Ford all-time while David Pearson is next with four.  FORD’S BRISTOL TRIFECTA Two drivers have won at least one race in all three of NASCAR’s top touring series at Bristol Motor Speedway with Ford. Mark Martin was the first to do it as he got Ford’s first NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series win at the track in 1989, and then followed that up with a Cup Series win in 1993 and Truck triumph in 2006. He did all of those while driving for Jack Roush, who also produced the other name on the list – Carl Edwards. The NASCAR Hall of Famer did it in order, winning in the Truck Series in 2004 and then the O’Reilly Series in 2006 before completing the trifecta in 2007 at the Cup level. Ryan Blaney could join that list this weekend if he can win Sunday’s Food City 500. |
PLANO, Texas (April 8, 2026) – It’s a busy weekend ahead for Team Toyota in stock car competition. NASCAR’s three national series head to Bristol Motor Speedway for three days of short track racing, culminating with a 500-lap Cup Series race on Sunday afternoon. The ARCA Menards Series West heads to Tucson Speedway in Tucson, Arizona, for their third race of the 2026 season.
NASCAR National Series – NCS/NOAPS/NCTS
Toyota leads the way in Cup Series … Through seven races of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, Toyota has captured five victories but has also dominated the series in terms of laps led. In total, Toyota Camry XSEs have led 1,051 laps, which is 57% of the laps run in the Cup Series so far this season. Toyota’s lap leaders this season include: Denny Hamlin (444), Christopher Bell (225), Tyler Reddick (189), Bubba Wallace (86), Chase Briscoe(62), John Hunter Nemechek (19), Ty Gibbs (18) and Corey Heim (8).
Hamlin reaches 650 starts with Toyota … Sunday’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway will be the 650th start for Hamlin in a Toyota Camry. The 45-year-old made his first start with Toyota in the 2008 Daytona 500 and has since become Toyota’s all-time Cup Series leader in wins (58) and pole positions (44). Hamlin also captured Toyota’s 200th Cup Series win last season at World Wide Technology Raceway (Gateway). This weekend, he looks for his fifth win at Bristol to join his 2012, 2019, 2023 and 2024 victories.
Bell seeks Bristol back-to-back … In last fall’s Bristol night race, Bell captured his fourth win of the 2025 season and the 13th of his Cup Series career. The driver of the No. 20 Toyota Camry XSE for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) returns to Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend in hopes of a second consecutive victory on the 0.533-mile concrete oval, and to get his first win of 2026. Bell has been consistently strong at Bristol, scoring seven top-10s in his nine career starts on the Bristol concrete surface. He also has a victory in the former Bristol dirt race during the 2023 event. Bell will also pilot the No. 62 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro for Halmar-Friesen Racing in Friday’s Truck Series race, marking his second start of the season after finishing sixth at Darlington Raceway last month.
Gibbs looks to continue strong 2026 start … After a fourth-place result last time out at Martinsville Speedway, Ty Gibbs has recorded five consecutive top-10 finishes entering this weekend. Gibbs has earned three fourth-place finishes (Circuit of the Americas, Phoenix Raceway and Martinsville Speedway), a fifth (Las Vegas Motor Speedway) and a sixth-place finish (Darlington Raceway) in that span. Gibbs has also traditionally run well at Bristol, with four top-10s in six career starts.
