What to note in tonight’s Nascar Cup Race at Nashville

Lebanon, Tenn. – The second half of the Nascar Cup regular season begins with tonight’s race at Nashville Superspeedway and there is a lot at stake for several drivers in the field.

Here are some things to watch in tonight’s race (19:19 et Green Flag on Prime):

Take advantage of the pole …

Chase Briscoe gets another chance to take advantage of winning the pole.

While finishing third in last weekend’s Coca-Cola 600 after starting on the pole, he only led one round, he did not score points in the first two phases and ended in the third phase with only two points. Briscoe was undone by a pocket for an uncontrolled tire at his first stop.

It shows how a problem can have an impact even early in a 600-mile race throughout the opportunity. Tonight’s race at Nashville is 399 miles.

“It’s frustrating,” Briscoe told NBC Sports about the performance of the past weekend. ‘It really just comes down to the way our season was all year round. We just couldn’t have a full day together, especially not a full weekend. This past weekend we talked about it all week, if we qualify well, we must really be able to maximize our stage points. ‘

Instead, he would not achieve as much as a pole liter. Briscoe was last among drivers in a play -off match in the stage points scored with 18 this year. Eight drivers outside a play -off match achieved more stage points than Briscoe this season.

Bubba’s refusal back?

Bubba Wallace is concise with the description of his last few races: “The last three weeks, four weeks, if you want to count all-Star, only (exploding).”

Wallace finished or finished 33rd in the last three points races, and dropped him from the seventh to 12th place in the season.

Last year, 14 of the 16 play -offs won in the ordinary season, but this season the victories are concentrated among a small group of drivers, which could mean that more play -off matches will be determined by points. With Wallace falling in the standings, he can get close to the area.

For all this, Wallace holds a better attitude. In recent years, he admits that he would focus too much on what has happened over the past few weeks, and not what his team has done all season to still be 38 points above the cutting line entering Nashville.

“You’re going to have bad races,” Wallace said. “I’ve seen so many guys have bad races, like Denny (Hamlin), right, so much bad races. His statistics the last three are not so good either. Bad happiness hit Charlotte. They appeared the next week like ‘What happened last week? “They don’t care.

“And that’s why I started watching it, and as much as it sucks, as much as it weighs you, you have to show up for your team and for your sponsors and enjoy it.”

It also helps Wallace start the 12th and in the first phase get the chance to score.

But another bad finish can drop him closer to the cutting line.

Deep in the pack

Kyle Larson has an average finish of 4.5 at Nashville and is the only driver placed in the top -10 in all four cups on Nashville.

He has work to do if he wants to expand the line. Larson qualified 28th – his worst starting point since Phoenix in March 2019.

How fast can he get to the front? Will he score points in the first phase?

Locked in …

The Top 32 drivers in points after tonight’s race will be locked in the in-season tournament, which will start in Atlanta later this month.

Brad Keselowski enters 32nd in points tonight’s race. Granted, Keselowski has other things to worry about last week’s fifth place in the Coca-Cola 600 was its first top 10 of the year-but if Keselowski has another poor finish, it may be at risk not to be part of the tournament. The winner gets $ 1 million.

Keselowski starts the best sixth season tonight.