2012 Bristol Food City 500 Picks
BRISTOL, TN (The Spread) – The Sprint Cup Series heads to Bristol Motor Speedway for Sunday’s Food City 500. The event is the first of two Cup races there this season.
Bristol is among the most popular tracks on the schedule due to its distinct features, that include extraordinarily steep banking, an all concrete surface, two pit roads and stadium-like seating. Kyle Busch has won five Sprint Cup races at Bristol, with three in the spring in consecutive seasons. Seven drivers over the year have posted back-to-back titles eight times there. Busch will try to do the same on Sunday.
Busch had a rough weekend at Las Vegas, crashing his Nationwide car and spinning his Sprint Cup car, taking out a cone. Three years ago at Bristol, Busch became the first person to win all three NASCAR major series at the same track on the same weekend. He has 10 top 10s in 14 career Cup races at the bullring. In 2009, Busch defeated Denny Hamlin by less than a second for his 14th career Sprint Cup win. In four of his last seven races at Bristol, Busch has led at least 150 laps.
JJ won in Bristol in 2010 for his 50th career title. He now stands tied for 8th with 55 titles. He has six top-five and 11 top-10 finishes in 20 starts at Bristol. His average starts is 14.5 and average finish is 14.8. He has the sixth-highest driver rating and is ranked second in laps run in the top-15 and fourth in laps led.
Live Longshot
Kurt Busch has won at BMS four times, including 2006, 2004, 2003 and 2002. He dominated from 2002-04 and was the last drive to repeat as champion. Kurt Busch struggled last Sunday, following the conclusion of the Kobalt Tools 400 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The Las Vegas native was hoping for a win in front of the home town fans but wound up with a disappointing 35th place finish due to a late race accident.
Kurt Busch could be due as his bright spot so far has been a 15th place finish at Phoenix where they completed all 312 laps.
2012 Food City 500 Information
Race Date: Sun., March 18, 2012
Location: Bristol Motor Speedway (Tn.)
Green Flag: 1:13 p.m. EDT
TV Coverage: FOX
On Radio: Performance Racing Network (PRN)/SIRIUS NASCAR Radio
Track Type: Ovaal (267 miles)
No. of laps: 500
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