The upside? Both Ryan Blaney and Matt DiBenedetto have shown excellent speed at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The downside? Neither driver has won a NASCAR Cup Series race at the .533-mile, high-banked concrete track, and that could be a problem with the first cutoff race in the Playoff set to run on Saturday night.
In all likelihood, Blaney and DiBenedetto will have to win the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race (7:30 p.m. ET Saturday on NBCSN, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) to advance to the Round of 12.
After self-inflicted wounds by the No. 12 team at both Darlington and Richmond, Blaney is 16th in the standings, 27 points behind Clint Bowyer in 12th.
The last driver to qualify for the Playoff, DiBenedetto is 15th, just two points ahead of Blaney, after running 21st at Darlington and 17th at Richmond.
The situation for both drivers, however, is not uniformly bleak. In his last five Bristol starts, Blaney has led a total of 439 laps, a testament to the speed in his Team Penske Ford. But Blaney will have to improve on his best finish of fourth at the track, a result he achieved in last year’s spring race after leading a race-high 158 laps.
The No. 12 team also will have to avoid the kinds of miscues that cost Blaney dearly in the first two Round of 16 races. At Darlington, Blaney’s car failed inspection and started from the rear after the team left extra ballast on the car. That issue was compounded later in the race when the pit crew inadvertently put right-side tires on the left side of the car and vice versa, requiring an extra pit stop to correct the problem.
At Richmond, Blaney also needed an unscheduled stop to tighten loose lug nuts on the left-front wheel. He never regained the track position he lost, as his 19th-place finish reflected.
Though it’s mathematically possible for both Blaney and DiBenedetto to earn a ticket into the Round of 12 on points, DiBenedetto already has adopted a must-win mind-set. In last year’s Night Race, DiBenedetto led a race-high 93 laps and finished second to Denny Hamlin by .502 seconds.
“If there is one track to be in a must-win situation that I would choose, it would definitely be Bristol,” DiBenedetto said. “I think we have a good shot at it. It’s one that I am excited about and have circled off in this round…
“And I have some unfinished business, I guess, after last year as well.”
After Saturday’s race, the Playoff field will be trimmed from 16 drivers to 12. Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski already have avoided elimination through their respective victories at Darlington and Richmond.
According to NASCAR’s loop data, Harvick has the fourth-highest average driver rating at the track behind Kyle Busch (winless so far this year), Matt Kenseth and Chase Elliott, who won the NASCAR All-Star Race at Bristol earlier this season. Elliott’s average finish of 12.7 is best among drivers who have multiple starts at the track.
Source: Reid Spencer | NASCAR Wire Service
