2025 Food City 500 Preview: NASCAR Takes On Bristol

A late race caution last week at Darlington saw Denny Hamlin’s pit crew put him at the front of the field. Hamlin did the rest and claimed the victory giving him two straight Cup Series wins as we head into Bristol for the 2025 Food City 500.

Can Ryan Blaney finally shake his run of bad luck at the Last Great Colosseum? Can Denny Hamlin match Christopher Bell’s effort from earlier this year and notch a third straight win?

As always at Bristol, we’re likely in for a physical race with lots of trading paint and hot tempers.

Let’s dive into the field.

2025 Food City 500 Entry List

We’ve got a trio of open entries in the field for this Sunday’s race, headlined by NASCAR Xfinity Series regular Jesse Love making his Cup Series debut in the #33 car for Richard Childress Racing.

Joining Love as an open entry in the field on Sunday is Corey LaJoie in the #01 for Rick Ware Racing. This marks LaJoie’s third appearance of the season after Daytona and Atlanta. Also in the field as an open entry, Josh Bilicki is behind the wheel of the #66 for Carl Long.

POV: You're driving around @ItsBristolBaby pic.twitter.com/ovOvFq9Yz3

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) April 10, 2025

While Bristol Motor Speedway is a half-mile short track like Martinsville, the two tracks are wildly different. Unlike the flat paperclip at Martinsville, Bristol’s corners feature some of the highest banking in the series with the corners ranging from 24 to 28 degrees. This results in extremely high speeds for a short track.

One thing that isn’t different from Martinsville is the use of the bumper in completing passes. We’re going to see a lot of contact on Sunday, especially with the difficulties involved in passing on short tracks in the NextGen car. Track position will be everything in Sunday’s race.

2025 Food City 500 Race Predictions

Getting to the front of the field and staying there will be the priority for the entirety of the field on Sunday. Keep an eye on qualifying efforts on Saturday as the drivers who qualify up at the front will hold a massive advantage over those deeper in the field.

Last year’s race featured wild tire falloff that made for an interesting storyline but I don’t see a repeat of that happening here this spring. Denny Hamlin won that race and should feature prominently at the front of the pack on Sunday.

He's looking for his third consecutive win. @dennyhamlin is pretty good at @ItsBristolBaby. 😏 pic.twitter.com/oHwpLy42OW

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) April 9, 2025

Chase Elliott’s runs at Bowman Gray and Martinsville show that the #9 team has dialed in the short tracks for the 2025 season. As mentioned above, Bristol has a different layout but I still expect the #9 team to have a lot of speed.

A driver I’m keeping an eye on for Sunday’s race as a potential first-time winner is Ryan Preece in the #60. Preece finished in the top fifteen in both races last year and has been running well for RFK so far this season.

However, for my race winner pick, I’m going with a guy who struggled mightily in both Bristol races last year but has a rich history here at this track. Kyle Busch hasn’t found his groove in the NextGen car at BMS, but he has won at the Last Great Colosseum eight times. It feels like a matter of time before the driver of the #8 figures it out on one of his best tracks and I’m calling him to do it this weekend.

Check out the schedule below so you don’t miss any on-track action this weekend.

Friday 04/11

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Qualifying – 3:40 p.m. CT on FS2

Weather Guard Truck Race (NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series) – 6:30 p.m. CT on FS1

Saturday 04/12

NASCAR Xfinity Series Qualifying – 11:35 a.m. CT on the CW App

NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying – 2:05 p.m. CT on Prime

SciApps 300 (NASCAR Xfinity Series) – 4:00 p.m. CT on the CW

Sunday 04/13

Food City 500 (NASCAR Cup Series) – 2:00 p.m. CT on FOX and Max

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