2011 NASCAR Jeff Byrd 500 Preview and Odds

Courtesy of Bristol Motor Speedway

After a week off and ratings up, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will head to Bristol Motor Speedway this Sunday to take part in the Jeff Byrd 500 – also previously known as the Food City 500. The race will be held on March 20, 2011 and will start just after 1:00 p.m. ET. Heading into Sunday’s race, Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart are tied for first in the point standings and both of these drivers will look to give themselves a boost over the rest of the field.

Topping the series with a driving rating of 106.0, Kyle Busch’s average finish at this track is 9.3 and has four wins at Bristol for his career. He also has recorded six top 5’s and nine top 10 finishes at Bristol. Kyle currently sits outside of the top 12^th in points in 14^th position, 27 points behind leaders Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch.

Ranking ninth in the series with a driving rating of 89.4, Carl Edwards currently sits third in the point standings, a mere 7 points behind the two leaders, and is at the top of the list of drivers who could win Sunday’s race. His average finish at this track is 13.3 and he has two wins at the track. Edwards has three total top five finishes, five top 10 finishes as well as a single pole.

Denny Hamlin is currently 18 points behind Stewart and Busch in eighth and has never won at Bristol Motor Speedway, but has three top five finishes and five top 10 finishes. His driver rating is 91.8, which is seventh in the series, and has an average 14.6 finish at Bristol.

Jimmie Johnson, reigning 2010 Sprint Cup Champion and the winner for the past five seasons, is just outside the top 12 in points in 13^th position, 26 points behind the leaders. He will look to defend his win from this event from last year.

Kurt Busch has an average driver rating of 95.9, which is ninth in the series, as well as an average finish of 13.0. He has secured one pole and has won at this track five times. He has six total top 5 finishes and 12 top 10 finishes. He’ll look to get a lead on Tony Stewart in points this week.

Tony Stewart  has a single win at Bristol Motor Speedway along with a single pole win, six top five finishes and eight top 10 finishes. His average finish at Bristol is 16.9 with a sixth best in the series driver rating of 93.8. Smoke will look to climb the points ladder and gain a significant lead over Kurt Busch and the rest of the drivers – he may just do that with a good day.

Jeff Gordon has won five times at Bristol and has gotten five pole wins. He has finished in the top five 14 times and 20 times in the top 10. His average finish 11.7 and has a third best in the series driver rating of 98.7.

Ryan Newman holds the track qualifying record at Bristol at 128.709 in 14.908 seconds back in March of 2003. Newman has an average track finish of 17.6 with a driver rating of 87.9, which ranks 11^th in the series. He has a single top five finish, 10 total top 10 finishes and has secured two poles.

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