Kyle Larson and Brandon Jones, a pair of red-hot racers in their NASCAR divisions at the moment, will invade the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday night, April 11 to kick off a weekend of racing at the iconic high-banked short track in Northeast Tennessee.
Larson and Jones will compete against a slew of talented category regulars in the WEATHER GUARD Truck Race, a 250-lap race that is scheduled to take the green flag on Friday at 7:30 p.m. under the lights. The race will be televised live on FS1.
For Larson it will be the first of a trifecta weekend. He is going to attempt to do what only Kyle Busch has previously done in winning all three of NASCAR’s races in a single weekend. Busch, ironically, did it at BMS two times, in 2010 and 2017.
Larson will pilot the No. 07 Chevy Silverado from Spire Motorsports in the event. He will run the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy in the Xfinity Series SciAps 300 on Saturday and his popular No. 5 Chevy in the Sunday Food City 500 Cup race at 3 p.m.
Larson says winning any NASCAR race is a tall order but in order to get his weekend going in the right direction he’s going to need a good start and a win in the WEATHER GUARD Truck Race.
“Typically in a truck race, the groove is right around the bottom and it’s very, very, very difficult to pass,” Larson said. “If your truck’s not handling perfectly, or you don’t qualify great, you’re going to have a difficult chance to win with how short the race is. But it’ll be a fun challenge in all three races so I’m excited about that.”
Jones, fresh off a victory last Saturday in the Xfinity Series race at Darlington in his full-time No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, will try for the Bristol-double in his weekend. Jones will get behind the controls of the No. 1 TRICON Toyota in the WEATHER GUARD Truck Race before racing his No. 20 machine in Saturday’s SciAps 300.
The Georgia-based driver, who ended a 99-race drought from victory lane, is now in reset mode as he comes to Bristol looking to acquire two more trophies during the weekend.
“It’s nice to win again for my confidence, but it’s also to prove the haters and people that said I was incapable of doing it, wrong again,” Jones said after his win in South Carolina. “We are in a stretch of real good race tracks for us. Bristol is next and it’s going to be good. This is huge momentum. I knew we were getting closer and were on a high, but I just didn’t know when it was going to happen.”
Both drivers will have their hands full, however, an eager group of Craftsman Truck Series regulars are ready to strap in and go for a Bristol victory of their own.
The regulars all have an extra incentive to score a victory. Any Truck Series regular who wins will claim the Triple Truck Challenge Bonus of $50,000. Daniel Hemric recently won the first of the trio of bonus races in the series at Martinsville. Should he win in his No. 19 Chevy at Bristol he will pocket a cool $150,000 bonus for winning two in a row. The “Trip” ends at Rockingham in two weeks.
As mentioned, a truckload of regulars will be giving it all they’ve got in search of victory at hallowed Bristol. Those include recent Bristol winners Corey Heim, Layne Riggs, Ty Majeski, Ben Rhodes and Chandler Smith.
Others to keep an eye on include rising star Rajah Caruth in the No. 71 Chevy, and rookies Connor Mosack in the 81 Chevy and Gio Ruggiero in the No. 17 machine. Local favorite Parker Klingerman will pilot the No. 75 Abingdon, Va.-based Henderson Motorsports Chevy.
California kid Corey Day will make his second Truck start at Bristol driving the No. 7 HendrickCars.com Chevy Silverado. This will be Day’s first run in the WEATHER GUARD Truck Race. This past September Day made his Truck Series debutdani at Bristol’s UNOH 200 presented by Ohio Logistics and finished 18th after starting 22nd.
Hollywood actor Frankie Muniz is racing fulltime in the series this year at the controls of the No. 33 Ford. You may remember him from the highly popular and Emmy award winning “Malcom in the Middle” sitcom.
The highly-anticipated weekend opens with the WEATHER GUARD Truck Race, a 250-lap race in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series under the lights on Friday, April 11 (7:30 p.m., FS1 and PRN Radio), and continues Saturday afternoon on April 12 with the SciAps 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race (5 p.m., The CW, PRN Radio). Bush’s Beans Practice and Bush’s Beans Qualifying will be held for all three series both Friday and Saturday. The weekend culminates Sunday afternoon with the running of the historic Food City 500 NASCAR Cup Series race (April 13, 3 p.m., FS1 and PRN Radio).
In addition to cheering on their favorite drivers on the track, Bristol Motor Speedway fans will definitely want to take advantage of so many activities to make a complete weekend of family fun. There will be great video entertainment provided by Colossus TV, the world's largest center-hung video screen, premium VIP experiences, tailgating, on-site camping, concerts and other entertainment at the Food City Fan Zone Stage headlined by Trackside Live with Kenny Wallace and John Roberts, great food and beverages in the concession stands throughout the property, and so much more.
Single-day tickets for the Food City 500 weekend start as low as $69 for Sunday’s Food City 500 and $46 for Saturday’s SciAps 300 Xfinity Series race. To purchase tickets, please visit www.bristolmotorspeedway.com or call the BMS ticket sales center at (866) 415-4158.
