By Steve Sweitzer of the Lasco Press– Special to www.skyviewsports.net
Need a Reason to Make the Trip to Bristol this Year, Here’s a Dozen
Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol, TN — April 8, 2025
If you are a stock car racing fan and a regular reader of The Lasco Press you know how much respect we have for Bristol Motor Speedway. We have repeatedly recommended a trip to “The Last Great Colosseum” as a bucket list item for racing fanatics. Why not make it this year? Here is a list of storylines we will be watching. A visit to bristolmotorspeedway.com can get you in touch with the action.
Last month, we took you to Homestead-Miami Speedway for Kyle Larson’s quest for a triple header. Larson leads the list of stories for this weekend as he tries again to win in the Craftsman Truck Series, the Xfinity Series, and the Cup Series.
- This is the first time in NASCAR history that all three of NASCAR’s marquee series will compete at the spring Bristol race at the same time and Kyle Larson is entered in all three. He will attempt to match the feat Kyle Busch accomplished twice at Bristol (2010, 2017) during the fall weekend races.
- In a nod to the first ever Major League Baseball regular season game to be played in Tennessee (scheduled for August 2, 2025) Cincinnati Reds legend and Baseball Hall of Fame member Johnny Bench will serve as a co-Grand Marshal for the Food City 500 with “The Voice of the Vols,” Bob Kesling.
- Kyle Busch is the active driver with the most Cup Series wins at Bristol (9) and he will be chasing Darrel Waltrip’s record of 12 wins in the Cup Series at the track.
- Xfinity star Jesse Love will make his Cup Series debut in Sunday’s Food City 500, driving the No. 33 for Richard Childress Racing.
- Brandon Jones will race in both the Xfinity and Truck races, driving the No. 20 Xfinity car for JGR and No. 1 Truck for Trico.
- Film and Television actor Frankie Muniz of “Malcom in the Middle fame,” is scheduled to continue his run full-time in the Craftsman Truck Series driving the No. 33 Ford F-150. His only other appearance at BMS was in an ARCA car in 2023.
- The Wood Brothers, one of the oldest teams in NASCAR, will roll their 75th anniversary celebration into Bristol this weekend
- if Daniel Hemric wins the Weather Guard Truck Race on Friday, he will walk away with a $150,000 bonus, but if another “full-time” Craftsman Truck Series driver wins the race, he or she will collect a $50,000 bonus. Will Kyle Larson spoil the big payday.
- Saturday, April 12, the Xfinity Dash 4 Cash will reward the top finishing eligible driver in the SciAps 300 with a lucrative $100,000 payout. The highest finishing driver among – Justin Allgaier, Sheldon Creed, Austin Hill and Brennan Poole, regardless of where they finish overall, will collect the prize. Kyle Larson is not eligible and can’t stop the prize being awarded.
- Drivers will be gunning to put their names in the record book at “The World’s Fastest Half-Mile” replacing the current fastest qualifiers in each premier division. Cup Series – Ryan Blaney, 132.075 mph (14.528 seconds), Ford Mustang, April 2019, Xfinity Series – Kyle Larson, 127.988 mph (14.992 seconds), April 2017, Craftsman Truck Series – Kyle Busch, 129.413 mph (14.827 seconds), August 2017.
- Mark Martin; Joey Logano; Kyle Busch; Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, and Brad Keselowski are the only drivers to hold career tripleheader victories at Bristol Motor Speedway; (Ryan Blaney could join this elite list with a Cup victory during the Food City 500; Kyle Larson has wins in Cup and Xfinity at Bristol, but not Truck).
- Celebrate with grocery retailer Food City its 33rd year as the Cup entitlement sponsor which began with the Food City 500 at Bristol in 1992… Food City’s Cup entitlement at BMS is the second-longest in NASCAR history, following only Comcast’s sponsorship of the Xfinity Series.
Check out this week’s NASCAR Preview with Anthony Vestal from Bristol Motor Speedway, Roy Akers from Skyviewsports.net and Steve Sweitzer with The Lasco Press.
If you are at Bristol give us a shout! Can’t make it this year? Here is the weekend’s Television Schedule.
WEATHER GUARD Truck Race
(FS1, 7:30 p.m. ET Friday).
SciAps 300 Xfinity Series Race
(The CW, 5 p.m. ET Saturday)
Food City 500 NASCAR Cup Series Race
(FS1, 3 p.m. ET Sunday)
