Bristol Motor Speedway Preview
Double duty this weekend for Joey Logano at the Bristol Motor Speedway located in Bristol, Tennessee.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
In three starts at the Bristol Motor Speedway Joey Logano has an average start of 10.67, an average finish of 33, and his first NASCAR Sprint Cup pole.
Friday, August 20, 2010 Sessions
- Irwin Tools Night Race practice on SPEED at Noon
- Irwin Tools Night Race final practice on SPEED at 2:30 pm
- Irwin Tools Night Race qualifying on ESPN at 5:30 pm
Saturday, August 21, 2010 Session
- Irwin Tools Night Race on ABC at 7 pm
Previous results at Bristol Motor Speedway
| Date | Race Title | Qualified | Finished |
| March 21, 2010 | Food City 500 | 1 | 27 |
| August 22, 2009 | Sharpie 500 | 8 | 34 |
| March 22, 2009 | Food City 500 | 23 | 38 |
NASCAR Nationwide Series
Joey Logano will drive the No. 20 GameStop Toyota this weekend with thoughts of redeeming himself at Bristol Motor Speedway. Back in March, in the NASCAR Nationwide Series’ first stop at the half-mile, Logano qualified second and was running fifth on the last lap when he got spun by another competitor and eventually finished 14th. The following day, Logano picked up his first-career Sprint Cup Series pole but finished 27th after cutting down a tire under green. So needless to say, Logano’s weekend in Bristol will be about redemption.
While Bristol Motor Speedway is known for its lightening quick action on the track, the action off the track is also equally as fast and hectic. The NASCAR Nationwide Series will run a full one-day program on Friday at Bristol, with practice, qualifying and race all coming Friday morning, afternoon and evening. In addition, Logano will spend plenty of time running back and forth between the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series garages, also competing in two practice sessions and qualifying for the Sprint Cup on Friday. If he takes advantage of all of his practice time and finishes all 250 laps of the Nationwide Series event, Logano could spend as much as eight hours and 15 minutes behind the wheel of his racecars on Friday.
Kevin Kidd, Crew Chief of the No. 20 GameStop Toyota, considers Motor Mile Speedway and South Boston Speedway in Virginia his “home tracks,” but Bristol Motor Speedway will be the closest on the NASCAR Nationwide Series he gets to home. Bristol, Tennessee and Kidd’s hometown of Tazewell, Virginia are separated by just 70 miles. Kidd has been involved with racing since his early teens. Kidd’s father is still a part-time car owner in and around the short tracks of Virginia, while his brother still races on a semi-regular basis as well.
Stat of the Week: 4.9. Logano’s average finish in the 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series season has been 4.9. That average is the fifth best of any driver this year and the best among driver who have competed in at least three events or more. Comparative, points leader Brad Keselowski has an average finish of 5.1, while Logano’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch has an average finish of 5.5 in 2010.
Previous results at Bristol Motor Speedway
| Date | Race Title | Qualified | Finished |
| March 20, 2010 | Scotts Turf Builder 300 | 2 | 14 |
| March 21, 2009 | Scotts Turf Builder 300 | 23 | 9 |
| August 22, 2008 | Food City 250 | 38 | 16 |
Friday, August 20, 2010 Sessions
- Food City 250 final practice on SPEED (TV at 10:30 am)
- Food City 250 qualifying on SPEED at 4 pm
- Food City 250 on ESPN at 7 pm
Joey Logano Quotes:
“Even though the stats don’t show much, I love Bristol. I mean, there aren’t many guys out there that don’t love that place. Almost all of us grew up racing on the short tracks around the country, so when we go back to Bristol, it just feels like you are going back to what you did all of your racing career to get to this point. And short track racing keeps you on your toes behind the wheel. Sometimes on bigger mile-and-a-half tracks you kind find yourself taking a break down the straights and such. But at Bristol, you have to always stay on top of your game. Things happen so fast there and the closing rate is so quick, you just can’t take a break anytime except during the cautions.”
“I’m pumped too because we’ve been good at Bristol the last few times we’ve been there. We were good in both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup car there back in the spring. We really should have had a top-five finish, but we got into an incident with Kevin Harvick racing for fifth-place late in the event. That was really frustrating and still makes me mad, which is good, because it just gives me added fuel to go out there and run even better then the fifth-place we could have had. I really think with the added experience me and (Kevin) Kidd have now, we should be a threat to win the race for sure. Winning at Bristol would be one of the highlights of my career, I can tell you that.”
Kevin Kidd Quotes:
“I told Joey earlier this week that Bristol is all about going back out there and getting the job done that we left on the table back in March. We had a great car and Joey was running a good race, but circumstances kept us from getting the finish we deserved. I think that this time around, we’ll be even better and we’ll be able to challenge for the win. That is what we expect every time we go out there, and I know that is what Joey is looking for.”
“Ever since they changed Bristol, the racing here has been a little bit different and you have to change your strategy. Gone are the days of cautions every 15 laps or so. Now, you can get green flag runs of 30, 40 or even 50 laps, which makes the race go faster, but also can change the way you call a race. So, as a Crew Chief, you need to have all kinds of strategies worked out for any situation that can come up here. So it’s a challenging race to call, that’s for sure. But it’s a race that we all enjoy because we all grew up on the short tracks, so it hits close to home for us. That is why Bristol is still one of the crown jewels of this sport.”
Results from today’s sessions at the Michigan International Speedway are posted below for each respective NASCAR series.
Double duty this weekend at the Michigan International Speedway for Joey Logano, preview for each series below.
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