09/12/2023
RFK Advance | Bristol II
Bristol II Event Info:
Track Info: Bristol Motor Speedway, .5-mile concrete short track
Date: Saturday, Sept. 16
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
Series: NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Location: Bristol, Tennessee
Format: 500 laps, 266.5 miles, Stages: 125-125-250
TV: USA
Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90)
Weekend Schedule:
Friday: 4:35 p.m. ET, Practice (USA, NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Friday: 5:20 p.m. ET, Qualifying (USA, NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Saturday: 7:30 p.m. ET, Race (USA, NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Pace Laps:
- Bristol Motor Speedway hosts its annual night race, and third race in the Round of 16 in the NASCAR Playoffs.
- Chris Buescher enters as the defending race winner, as RFK in total led 278 laps in this race a season ago.
- Brad Keselowski is coming off three-straight top-10 results dating back to Daytona, and is also coming off his 500th consecutive start in the Cup Series. He’s the seventh driver to pilot a Ford for Jack Roush to have accomplished the feat.
- In support of The Dale Jr. Foundation (TDJF) and Nationwide Children’s, both Keselowski and Buescher will participate in the Driven to Give Glove campaign and wear the skeleton gloves made famous by Jr. Signed by each respective driver and Jr., the gloves will be available for auction from Sept. 14-18, with all proceeds benefitting TDJF and Nationwide Children’s.
6 Team Info:
Crew Chief: Matt McCall
Partner: Castrol Edge
17 Team Info:
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Partner: BuildSubmarines.com
Keselowski at Bristol
Starts: 24
Wins: 3 (2011, 2012, 2020)
Top-10s: 8
Poles: 2 (2020 x2)
- Keselowski makes his 25th Cup start on the concrete at Bristol this weekend, a track where he has a 16.7 average finish with three wins and eight top-10 finishes.
- Last season, Keselowski led 109 laps, won the opening stage, and was leading with 86 laps remaining when his right-front tire went down, pushing him to put road with no caution. He went on to finish 13th as teammate Chris Buescher earned the victory.
- Keselowski’s three wins at BMS came back in 2011-12, and most recently in 2020. He’s finished 13th or better in four of the last five races overall at Bristol, including a sixth-place finish in the 2021 fall race, and a third-place result in 2019.
- Keselowski has led laps in 14 different Bristol races totaling 1,013 laps, his best total of any track on the circuit outside Richmond (1,280).
- Keselowski has started top-10 in four-straight Bristol races, including a pair of poles in 2020. Overall he has a 9.6 average starting position – his best of any track outside of Homestead (9.2). He has 15 starts inside the top-10 in 24 Bristol events.
- Keselowski also made 14 Xfinity starts at Bristol with one win and eight top-10s, and seven Truck starts with one win and three top-10s.
Buescher at Bristol
Starts: 13
Wins: 1 (2022)
Top-10s: 3
Poles: —
- Buescher enters the weekend as the defending race winner of the Bristol Night Race, as he earned his second Cup victory (at the time) last September. The victory snapped a then 223-race winless streak, as he led 169 laps in total.
- Overall, Buescher has three Cup top-10s at Bristol, with an eighth-place finish in the 2020 fall race, and a fifth-place run back in 2016.
- Buescher has an average starting position of 23.4 with a career-best starting position of 12th (2016).
- Buescher made five Xfinity Series starts at Bristol with three top-10s and a best finish of third (2015).
RFK Historically at Bristol
Cup Wins: 12 (Mark Martin, 1993, 1998; Kurt Busch, 2002, 2003, 2003, 2004; Matt Kenseth, 2005, 2006; Carl Edwards, 2007, 2008, 2014; Chris Buescher, 2022)
- Runner Up: RFK’s storied history at Bristol began on April 10, 1988 with the No. 6 NCS car earning a second-place finish. Since that time, in addition to the organization’s 11 NCS wins at the track, RFK Fords have finished second at Bristol on 15 occasions (7 NCS, 4 NXS, 4 NCTS).
- History and Hot Streaks at “Thunder Valley”: RFK’s history at Bristol has been one of hot streaks, including trips to victory lane in 10 of the last 21 seasons at the famed short track. RFK swept the track in 2003 and put a NCS car in victory lane at least once in every season from 2002-2008.
- Tale of the Tape: RFK has started 219 NCS races at Bristol, recording 12 total wins with 51 top-five and 89 top-10 finishes. RFK Fords have an average finish of 15.9 with 3674 laps led all-time.
RFK Bristol Wins
1993-2 Martin Cup
1996-1 Martin NXS
1997-1 Burton NXS
1998-2 Martin Cup
2002-1 Busch Cup
2003-1 Busch Cup
2003-2 Busch Cup
2004-1 Busch Cup
2004 Edwards Truck
2005-2 Kenseth Cup
2006-2 Kenseth Cup
2006 Martin Truck
2006-2 Kenseth NXS
2007-1 Edwards NXS
2007-2 Edwards Cup
2008-2 Edwards Cup
2009-2 Ragan NXS
2014 -1 Edwards Cup
2022-2 Buescher Cup
Last Time Out & Where They Stand
Kansas: RFK again had a strong showing in Kansas last weekend, until a blown tire with seven laps to go ruined Buescher’s day. He was 11th at the time, and earned stage points along the way, but was credited with a 27th-place finish. Keselowski finished ninth after winning stage two, and leading laps en route to his 13th top-10.
Points Standings (6: 5th, 17: 9th): Keselowski enters the weekend with a 33-point advantage to the cut line in 12th. Buescher sits tied for ninth with a 13-point advantage.
By the Numbers at Bristol
Race Win T5 T10 Pole Laps Led AvSt AvFn Miles
219 12 51 89 11 103681 3674 18.2 15.9 51840.5
98 5 23 37 4 24218 1653 13.2 15.8 12109
23 2 4 9 3 4097 318 12.6 14.5 2048.5
340 19 78 135 18 131996 5645 16.4 15.8 65998
