By Joseph Wolkin The No. 3 car has not won a race at NASCAR’s premier division since 2000. However, Austin Dillon is inching in on changing that. The Richard Childress Racing driver is having a career-best year, with three top 5s and nine top 10s thus far, aiming for a Chase spot for the first time in his third full Sprint Cup season. With the positive results, how much more confidence do you have when you unload off the truck? “It makes it a lot more comfortable when you get there. You know you’re going to have speed and if not, you’re…

By Jared Turner 5 favorites A five-time Bristol winner at the Sprint Cup Series level, Kyle Busch almost always brings his “A” game to Thunder Valley. The only concern: He last won here in 2011. Looking for the ultimate favorite to win on Saturday night? There’s not a better one anywhere than Team Penske’s Joey Logano, a winner of Bristol’s past two August night races. Carl Edwards has won at Bristol with both his current team at Joe Gibbs Racing and his former team at Roush Fenway Racing. He’s the track’s most recent winner, too. Brad Keselowski has triumphed in both the…

By Keith Waltz Throughout the history of NASCAR, there have been milestone moments that define a specific era of racing. The last 10 laps of the Goody’s Headache Powder 500 on Aug. 28, 1999, at Bristol Motor Speedway was one such moment. The final 200 laps of NASCAR’s annual late-summer visit to the hills of Eastern Tennessee came down to a two-car battle between champions Dale Earnhardt and Terry Labonte. The pair traded the lead five times before a late-race caution flag set up a dramatic five-lap dash. Earnhardt restarted from the pole, while Labonte lined up fifth after pitting for four…

By Jared Turner The 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season has been a campaign dominated in large part by Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske. That dominance could begin to erode in Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Then again, there’s reason to believe it may just continue. Gibbs and Penske cars have combined to win 12 of the past 15 races in Thunder Valley, with Gibbs drivers leading the way with eight victories. Four of JGR’s eight Bristol wins are courtesy of reigning Sprint Cup Series champion Kyle Busch, who has to be considered one of…

By Jared Turner A Gordon Win Would Boost Junior Nation While Dale Earnhardt Jr. has sat out with concussion-like symptoms, Jeff Gordon has not surprisingly delivered solid performances in Junior’s place. But Gordon, a four-time Sprint Cup Series champ who retired from full-time driving at the end of last year, hasn't been stellar. Gordon’s best finish in three races as Earnhardt’s sub is 13th. Although he’s completed every lap of competition run during his time in Earnhardt’s No. 88 Chevy, Gordon has not led a lap. So is it puzzling that one of NASCAR’s greatest drivers of all time has been so…