Bristol Motor Speedway Produces Fireworks as Recent Addition to the Series

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One of the most unpredictable events of the season awaits NASCAR K&N Pro Series East teams when they return to Tennessee’s Bristol Motor Speedway for the Zombie Auto 125 on Saturday, April 22.

There have been only five previous K&N Pro Series races at Bristol, a longtime fixture for NASCAR’s top national series, but the track has already produced its share of stories. Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet Jr. won the inaugural K&N Pro Series East event at the track in 2012; local favorite Chad Finchum won in his season debut last spring. Dylan Kwasniewski won during his championship season in 2013, while series veteran Eddie MacDonald won a year later, driving for a single car team competing in a partial schedule.

Predicting success at Bristol is not easy. Just ask Jesse Little, who won the pole in 2015 but was forced out of the race at the halfway mark and finished 25th. Last year’s pole winner, Harrison Burton, was out of the race before the quarter pole, sidelined by engine woes on Lap 26.

Adding to the drama this weekend is the fact that none of the top five drivers in the current K&N Pro Series East standings have a strong history at Bristol. Current point leader Ronnie Bassett Jr. hasn’t finished worse than second in two races thus far this season, but he’s never finished higher than 15th in his three career starts on the high-banked concrete oval. The four drivers behind him — Burton, Todd Gilliland, Hunter Baize and Reid Wilson — have combined for just one top 10 finish at the “World’s Fastest Half-Mile”, a ninth-place effort from Gilliland a year ago.

A strong run this weekend could create some separation at the top of the standings, where the five drivers are separated by only 20 points.

NASCAR PR

Speedway Digest Staff
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