NASCAR at Bristol: Schedule, watch info, picks for Bass Pro Shops Night Race

It’s elimination time in the NASCAR playoffs.

The Round of 16 will conclude this weekend with the famed Bristol Night Race, where four drivers will be eliminated from championship contention and 12 will keep their title hopes alive.

Bristol Motor Speedway, a high-banked half-mile short track in Tennessee, has played host to a summer night race each year since 1978. It’s a race that every driver wants to win, and the playoff implications have only raised the stakes in recent seasons.

So, who is racing at Bristol? What’s the schedule for TV and streaming? And what drivers could contend for the win? Here’s everything you need to know for the 2024 Bass Pro Shops Night Race:

When is the NASCAR race in Bristol?

The Bass Pro Shops Night Race is set for Saturday, Sept. 21 at 7:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

Before the 500-lap race on Saturday, there will be practice and qualifying sessions. All 37 drivers will partake in a 45-minute practice before being split into two groups (found here) for two-round qualifying. Here’s how it works:

• Each driver will make two laps in the first round, with the five fastest drivers in each group advancing.
• In the final round, the remaining drivers each get two laps to set the top 10 starting order. The fastest driver overall will start on the pole, and the fastest driver in the other group will start second.
• Positions 3 through 10 are set on final round times – Group A filling the even-numbered positions (4th, 6th, 8th, 10th), Group B filling the odd-numbered positions (3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th).
• Positions 11 through 37 are set based on first round times – Group A filling the even-numbered positions, Group B filling the odd-numbered positions.

What is the NASCAR TV schedule this weekend?

Leigh Diffey (play-by-play), Jeff Burton (analyst) and Steve Letarte (analyst) will be on the call for NBC Sports all weekend. Here’s the full TV and streaming schedule:

Friday, Sept. 20 (USA Network and streaming)

• Practice: 4 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports app
• Qualifying: 5 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports app

Saturday, Sept. 21 (USA Network and streaming)

• Countdown to Green: 7 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports app
• Bass Pro Shops Night Race: 7:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports app
• NASCAR Cup Series Post Race: 10:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports app

NASCAR Bristol entry list, drivers

Thirty-seven drivers will race at Bristol – the 34 full-timers, plus three others.

A.J. Allmendinger and Kaz Grala will continue their part-time schedules for Kaulig Racing and Rick Ware Racing, respectively. Elsewhere, Josh Bilicki will make his second start of the season for MBM Motorsports after finishing 28th in the Chicago Street Race.

Here’s the full entry list for Bristol:

Car number	Driver	Team	Sponsor
1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing	Worldwide Express
2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Menards
3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Bass Pro Shops
4	Josh Berry	Stewart-Haas Racing	Bed Bath & Beyond
5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	HendrickCars.com
6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Castrol
7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Mattress Warehouse
8	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing	Cheddar's
9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	LLumar
10	Noah Gragson	Stewart-Haas Racing	Bass Pro Shops
11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	FedEx
12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Wurth
14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Rush Truck Centers
15	Kaz Grala	Rick Ware Racing	Meat N' Bone
16	A.J. Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Barger Precast
17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Fastenal
19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Bass Pro Shops
20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	DeWalt
21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Motorcraft
22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Shell/Pennzoil
23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota/Mobil 1
24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Z by HP
31	Daniel Hemric	Kaulig Racing	Doritos/Mtn Dew
34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Love's Travel Stops
38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Frontline Enterprises
41	Ryan Preece	Stewart-Haas Racing	Old Armor
42	John Hunter Nemechek	Legacy Motor Club	Pye-Barker
43	Erik Jones	Legacy Motor Club	Dollar Tree
45	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing	McDonald's
47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Kroger
48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Ally
51	Justin Haley	Rick Ware Racing	Pinnacle
54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing	He Gets Us
66	Josh Bilicki	MBM Motorsports	Arby's
71	Zane Smith	Spire Motorsports	Ambetter Health
77	Carson Hocevar	Spire Motorsports	Delaware Life
99	Daniel Suarez	Trackhouse Racing	Freeway Insurance

Bristol Night Race predictions, picks, favorites

Busch has the most wins among active drivers, but Hamlin is considered the man to beat heading into Saturday. The Joe Gibbs Racing veteran has won the last two races at Bristol, with over 140 laps led in each event.

Beyond Hamlin, many of the other playoff drivers are set up for success at Bristol. Larson leads all drivers with an 11.6 average finish in 16 Bristol starts, with five straight top-six finishes dating back to 2019. He’s finished in the top 10 in nine of his last 10 Bristol starts.

Elliott, Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, also has an 11.6 average finish in 14 Bristol starts, but he’s yet to win at the track. He was victorious in the exhibition All-Star Race at Bristol in 2020, though, and he has three straight top-10s.

Hamlin’s three teammates also expect to contend for the win on Saturday. Bell has a 13.8 average finish and three straight top-10s at Bristol, Truex was second behind Hamlin in the spring race and Gibbs has led over 100 laps in each of the last two Bristol races.

Aside from the powerhouse Hendrick and Gibbs drivers, last week’s winner Buescher is typically a contender in Tennessee. He has three straight top-10s, including a victory in the 2022 Night Race. Keselowski, his RFK Racing teammate, was third in the spring.

Some longshots to monitor are Jones and Stenhouse, who both have four career top-fives at Bristol.

NASCAR Bristol winners list, race history

Six of the 37 drivers in the field are past winners at Bristol, including four with multiple victories.

Busch is one of the best drivers that Bristol has ever seen, with eight victories in his 35 starts. Then there’s Hamlin with four wins, Keselowski with three wins and Logano with two wins. Larson (2021) and Buescher (2022) have each won once at Bristol.

NASCAR playoff standings, clinching scenarios for Bristol

With just one race left in the Round of 16, the playoff picture is becoming clearer. Joey Logano, by virtue of his win in Atlanta, is the only driver locked into the Round of 12. Many others are in ideal positions based on points, while some are facing an uphill climb.

Here’s the playoff standings entering Bristol, with the bottom four winless drivers set to be eliminated:

Rank	Driver	Points
1.	Christopher Bell	2,089
2.	Austin Cindric	2,086
3.	Joey Logano	2,084
4.	Alex Bowman	2,084
5.	Daniel Suarez	2,079
6.	Tyler Reddick	2,073
7.	Chase Elliott	2,073
8.	Ryan Blaney	2,072
9.	Kyle Larson	2,069
10.	William Byron	2,068
11.	Chase Briscoe	2,049
12.	Ty Gibbs	2,049
13.	Denny Hamlin	2,043
14.	Brad Keselowski	2,037
15.	Martin Truex Jr.	2,035
16.	Harrison Burton	2,029

No matter what anyone else does, these drivers can automatically clinch a spot in the Round of 12 with the following finishes or points:

• Bell: 23rd, or 14 points
• Cindric: 20th, or 17 points
• Bowman: 18th, or 19 points
• Suarez: 14th, or 23 points
• Reddick: 7th, or 30 points
• Elliott: 7th, or 30 points
• Blaney: 6th, or 31 points
• Larson: 3rd, or 34 points
• Byron: 2nd, or 35 points
• Briscoe: 54 points
• Gibbs: 54 points

You can find a full explanation of NASCAR’s playoff format right here.