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NASCAR Food City 500 preview: Favorite, underdog, top storylines
On Sunday, NASCAR Cup Series stars will take to Bristol Motor Speedway's high banks for the ninth race of the 2025 season.
Here's what you need to know ahead of Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol.
Favorite: Kyle Larson (+450, per DraftKings)
Larson and Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin are tied atop the oddsboard going into Sunday's race, but Larson gets the nod coming off a near-perfect performance in last season's playoff race. Larson led 462 of the 500 laps in that race. Since joining Hendrick Motorsports ahead of the 2021 season, Larson has finished inside the top five in all five of his starts at "Thunder Valley."
After a disastrous weekend at Darlington with a pair of spins, Larson should have an excellent shot at arguably his best track.
Underdog: Ty Gibbs (+2200, per DraftKings)
After putting together only one top-20 finish through the season's first six races, Gibbs ran in the top 10 for much of the Martinsville race before settling for 13th and scoring his first top 10 with a ninth-place result at Darlington.
Gibbs has two top 10s in four Bristol starts, led 137 laps and swept the stages in the 2024 spring race. Don't be surprised to see Gibbs in contention on Sunday, especially if he can keep his nose clean at "The Last Great Coliseum."
Denny Hamlin looking to put Joe Gibbs Racing on a list of its own
It would not be a Bristol race weekend without mentioning Hamlin. He has been one of Larson's fiercest competitors, and Sunday should be no different, given the success both of them have experienced there.
Should Hamlin, a four-time Bristol Cup Series winner, find victory lane on Sunday, it would be his third consecutive win this season. He would join teammate Christopher Bell on that list and make JGR the first team in series history to have multiple drivers win three straight races in one season. If momentum and track history are any indication, Hamlin could put his organization in the history books on Sunday.
How does William Byron respond after disappointing runner-up at Darlington?
For the first 243 laps of the Goodyear 400 at Darlington, Byron was the race's leader for all of them and appeared to be on his way to leading every lap in the race. Byron's dominant day fell short after staying on track longer during the final green-flag pit cycle and coming off pit road third for the overtime restart.
Surprisingly, Bristol is the only track Byron has made over three starts without leading a lap. In 11 starts, he only has four top 10s and an average finish of 17.4. You can never count Byron and the No. 24 team out but don't be shocked if he is not among the front-runners on Sunday.
How will the racing look on Sunday?
The 2024 Bristol races were opposites of one another. The spring race, which returned to the concrete surface for the first time since 2020, featured dramatic tire fall-off throughout the event. There were nine cautions for 98 laps and a short track record of 54 lead changes among 16 drivers.
The fall race only had five cautions — tied for the fewest in the last 78 races at Bristol — and was completely dominated by Larson. It will be interesting to see how Sunday's race plays out and whether passing becomes an issue.
More must-reads:
- With so much youth in NASCAR, Denny Hamlin proving age is just a number
- Ross Chastain is quietly having a solid start to the 2025 NASCAR season
- The 'NASCAR Cup Series winners' quiz
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TODAY'S BEST
Dale Earnhardt Jr. sends warning to Carson Hocevar: ‘It’s building to something and it’s going to be worth watching’
After another weekend where Carson Hocevar ruffled some feathers on the racetrack, Dale Earnhardt Jr. senses that driver frustration with the 22-year-old is “building to something.” To this point in the season, Hocevar has upset drivers such as Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Brad Keselowski and Zane Smith. Then in Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen International, he got sent spinning by Spire Motorsports teammate Michael McDowell. Hocevar responded by dooring him after crossing the start-finish line on the final lap. Notably, Hocevar hasn’t yet been involved in a major incident with a driver from Hendrick Motorsports. If that happens, you could see Hocevar’s decision making behind the wheel change, Earnhardt said on the “Dale Jr. Download.” “We said this months and months ago — everything’s fine until he runs into one of Rick’s cars or something like that and he has to go into the office and talk to Rick Hendrick. It might not be Rick, but it’ll be a person like Rick that when he has to go in and have that conversation, that will have an effect. That might not fix it all, but that will have an effect on the decision making behind the wheel,” Earnhardt said. “I’m entertained by Hocevar until it becomes my problem. I think it’s all fine until he does something that irks Hendrick. Or somebody that’s directly above his chain of command. In the Cup race, him and McDowell racing each other to the finish — that might get some conversations going. You don’t know if they’re gonna pin that on McDowell and let Carson off the hook. “… If he goes out there and impedes a lap for [Kyle] Larson and the big man gets upset, because the big man has some influence over Spire and has influence over most things Chevrolet. When you start messing with what his program is doing or what he’s trying to accomplish, that’s when the vice gets a little tight and Carson will feel that. Until that happens, until his crew chief or owners outright go ‘Carson, stop it,’ he’s not gonna make the adjustments because he doesn’t have to or need to — doesn’t feel like he needs to, not gonna change or alter his style. … It’s building to something and it’s gonna be worth watching. I’m entertained wondering how this is gonna play out.” Carson Hocevar is still causing problems Hendrick has done this before. Before Hocevar, it was Ross Chastain. And in 2023, Chastain often caused chaos on the racetrack. After Chastain wrecked Larson three times in a four-race span due to Chastain’s actions, Hendrick called him out publicly. “He doesn’t have to be that aggressive,” Hendrick said of Chastain. “I guess at this point in the race maybe you’re super aggressive. But you just don’t run people up in the fence. He’s going to make a lot of enemies. It’s hard to win a championship when you’ve got a lot of paybacks out there.” From time to time, Chastain still causes problems, but it’s less frequent than what we saw in 2022 and 2023. Many point to Hendrick’s public criticism as the turning point. Perhaps it could be the same for Hocevar, though he already seems to be looking to make amends with some. Late in the race at Watkins Glen, Hocevar pulled to the side on the exit of Turn 5 and allowed Smith to go by him for 17th. Hocevar approached Smith’s car on pit road after the race. He leaned into his car and said, “Hey, I know that doesn’t make up for it, but you can expect that in the next couple weeks, OK?” Hocevar is trying to pay back favors on the racetrack. We’ll see if this works for him throughout the rest of the season.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Admits He Could Have Done One Thing Differently During Infamous Kyle Busch Run-In
Celtics' ownership move should concern Lakers governor Jeanie Buss
Lakers governor Jeanie Buss is supposed to remain in charge of the team for years even after the sale. Given what just happened with the Boston Celtics, it might only be months. When the Grousbeck family sold the Celtics for $6.1B in March, ESPN reported that Wyc Grousbeck would stay on as the Celtics CEO and governor through the 2027-28 season. Now, new owner Bill Chisholm will take over once the sale is final. That should concern current Lakers team governor Jeanie Buss, whose family sold a majority interest in the Los Angeles Lakers to investor Mark Walter. Buss is supposed to stay on as team governor for "at least a number of years," according to ESPN's Ramona Shelburne, but new NBA owners haven't been keen on waiting to take control of teams recently. Mark Cuban thought he would continue running the Dallas Mavericks when he sold a controlling interest to the Adelson family in November 2023. Before the end of that season, when Dallas advanced to the NBA Finals, new team governor Patrick Dumont, the son-in-law of Miriam Adelson, was firmly in charge. General manager Nico Harrison reported directly to Dumont, which is how Luka Doncic ended up traded to the Lakers despite Cuban's objections. It might be different with the Lakers. Walter has owned a minority share in the Lakers since 2021, so he's had a working relationship with Buss. Her role as team governor may be a condition of the sale itself. With the team preparing for a long-term future with Doncic, Walter and his fellow owners might opt for continuity in the team governor role. But in general, people do not spend billions of dollars on a professional sports team so that someone else can be in charge. Buss is in charge of the Lakers now. Recent history says she won't be for long.
Dolphins Get Worrisome Chop Robinson Injury News on Wednesday
The Miami Dolphins may have sustained another major injury. Just days after RB Alexander Mattison fell with a season-ending neck injury, all eyes are set on Chop Robinson now. According to a report by Ari Meirov, the second-year linebacker sustained an apparent injury, and while the team has yet to disclose more information, he had to be carted off the field: Chop Robinson was carted off the field "Dolphins EDGE Chop Robinson was carted off at practice today after suffering an apparent injury during a scrimmage period," Meirov reported. Robinson, who was taken out of Penn State with the No. 21 pick of the 2024 NFL Draft, turned plenty of heads in his first year in the league: “I enjoyed it (his rookie season) a little bit,” Robinson told the Miami Herald, “but it’s Year 2, so whatever happened in the past, that doesn’t really matter anymore. I’m just focused on this year.” Robinson ranked second among rookies with six sacks and 14 quarterback hits, and he entered the season with an 11.0 sacks projection and +15000 odds of winning Defensive Player of the Year. Chop Robinson is excited about the Dolphins' defensive front He's also expected to make a big impact next to Jaelan Phillips and Bradley Chubb, both of whom will be returning from major injuries of their own: “I’m super excited,” Robinson said. “Just imagining the three of us on the field at the same time, or just me and JP or JP and Chubb at the same time, it’s kind of hard for tackles to [say], ‘All right, you’ve got to study JP, you’ve got to study Chubb, you’ve got to study me.’ And if we’re all on the field at the same time, it [can] kind of mess up the offense’s mind because they wouldn’t know what to do.” Hopefully, this won't be too serious, and while the team may err on the side of caution and hold him out for the remainder of the preseason, he'll be back out there and ready to go in Week 1.
Browns HC sends message to Myles Garrett after latest speeding incident
Cleveland Browns All-Pro pass-rusher Myles Garrett became the subject of headlines when it was learned that he was cited for driving 100 mph in a 60 mph zone on an interstate in a Cleveland suburb several hours after the Browns opened the preseason with a 30-10 win at the Carolina Panthers on Friday night. While speaking with reporters ahead of the club's joint practice with the Philadelphia Eagles on Wednesday morning, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski sent a clear message regarding his feelings about Garrett's latest speeding incident. "Coming from a team leader, extremely disappointing," Stefanski said about Garrett, per Daniel Oyefusi of ESPN. "It's been addressed with Myles -- with the football team. He needs to slow down for his safety and the safety of others." Browns insider Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer mentioned that Garrett has had at least eight speeding citations in Northeast Ohio since Cleveland made him the first overall pick of the 2017 NFL Draft. Back in the fall of 2022, Garrett missed a game after he was involved in a single-car accident following a team practice. The Ohio State Highway Patrol ultimately issued Garrett a citation following that crash after it was determined he was using an "unsafe speed for the type of roadway being traveled." Cabot added that Stefanski declined to say if Garrett will be disciplined this summer. Earlier in the week, Cabot wrote that Garrett could "be fined for conduct detrimental to the team." Back in early February, Garrett requested a trade from the Browns coming off the club's 3-14 season. However, he later accepted a four-year, $160M contract extension that included $123.5M guaranteed to stay with the organization. Browns owner Jimmy Haslam revealed during the NFL owners meetings in the spring that he had "challenged" Garrett "to become a real leader of the team." Haslam made that comment after a March report shared that it's "well known within the Browns that Garrett is frequently late to the facility" and "has skipped mandatory team activities on multiple occasions." It remains to be seen how the 29-year-old will respond to Stefanski's comments about an incident that occurred after Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders was cited for speeding twice in June.
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