NASCAR Bristol Night Race: Start time, lineup, TV/radio schedule
BRISTOL, Tenn. — It's NASCAR race night at Bristol Motor Speedway, and we've got some essential information you need to get ready for Saturday night's Irwin Tools Night Race.
START TIME: Famed ring announcer Michael Buffer will instruct drivers to start their engines at 7:40 p.m. ET tonight, followed by the green flag at 7:45 p.m. So if you want to skip the pre-race show and just tune in for the race, turn on your TV at 7:40 p.m.
RACE DISTANCE: The Irwin Tools Night Race is 500 laps around the 0.533-mile Bristol Motor Speedway for a total of 266.5 miles. Distance-wise, it's one of the shortest NASCAR races of the year.
NATIONAL ANTHEM: As per Bristol tradition, the children of the drivers will sing the anthem tonight through the Motor Racing Outreach program.
TV/RADIO SCHEDULE: ABC will broadcast tonight's race in most areas and has a pre-race show beginning at 7 p.m. ET. In 15 markets which are choosing to show preseason football, the race will either be on alternate channels or will not be shown. You can find more information on the programming changes here. The Performance Racing Network (PRN) will call the race on the radio.
WEATHER: The National Weather Service is calling for iffy weather. There's a 40% chance of thunderstorms throughout the evening and temperatures will be in the 70s.
LAST TIME: In March, Carl Edwards was in the lead when the skies opened up after a caution light malfunction, giving him a win and a Chase for the Sprint Cup berth. And one year ago in the night race, Matt Kenseth held off Kasey Kahne for one of his series-high seven victories.
STARTING LINEUP: Kevin Harvick won his series-leading fifth pole position of the season, a remarkable turnaround for a driver who was never very good at qualifying. Prior to this season, Harvick only had six career poles.
Here's the starting lineup for tonight's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Bristol:
1. (4) Kevin Harvick
2. (24) Jeff Gordon.
3. (99) Carl Edwards
4. (18) Kyle Busch
5. (22) Joey Logano
6. (48) Jimmie Johnson
7. (41) Kurt Busch
8. (16) Greg Biffle
9. (2) Brad Keselowski
10. (9) Marcos Amose
11. (31) Ryan Newman
12. (5) Kasey Kahne
13. (11) Denny Hamlin
14. (15) Clint Bowyer
15. (55) Brian Vickers
16. (20) Matt Kenseth
17. (27) Paul Menard
18. (1) Jamie McMurray
19. (51) Justin Allgaier
20. (88) Dale Earnhardt Jr.
21. (17) Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
22. (47) AJ Allmendinger
23. (78) Martin Truex Jr.
24. (10) Danica Patrick
25. (14) Jeff Burton
26. (3) Austin Dillon
27. (23) Alex Bowman
28. (95) Michael McDowell
29. (34) David Ragan
30. (98) Josh Wise
31. (66) Brett Moffitt
32. (38) David Gilliland
33. (83) Ryan Truex
34. (26) Cole Whitt
35. (37) Dave Blaney
36. (36) Reed Sorenson
37. (32) J.J. Yeley
38. (7) Michael Annett
39. (40) Landon Cassill
40. (42) Kyle Larson
41. (33) David Stremme
42. (43) Aric Almirola
43. (13) Casey Mears
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