Three big questions ahead of the Bass Pro Shops Night Race

On a day packed with marquee college football matchups across the Southeast, NASCAR's best will also be descending on the region in front of a crowd of over 100,000 for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. 

Here are three big questions ahead of the third race of the NASCAR Cup Series Chase. 

Could Kyle Larson take the points lead?

Two races into the Chase, Denny Hamlin's 25-point advantage is down to only nine points. Kyle Larson's win at Gateway on Sunday shot him to second in the standings as he looks to defend his 2025 title. m

Larson didn't win at Bristol on April 12, but he did lead 284 of the race's 500 laps and finished third. He's also won twice at Bristol in the Next-Gen era, and while Hamlin has as well, he only finished ninth at 'Thunder Valley' in the spring. 

With the 20-point bonus drivers receive over second for winning a race, a Larson victory on Saturday could very well vault the defending Cup champ to the top of the standings.

Will Daniel Suarez bounce back?

Any chance Suarez, who is 16th in the standings and 119 points back of Hamlin, has of winning the championship hinges on Saturday's race. 

Finishes of 21st at Darlington and 29th at Gateway have put the Coke 600 winner in a deep hole, and while it's unlikely the No. 7 team was going to make a run at the title anyway, another sub-20th-place result at Bristol likely snuffs out their chances. 

Unfortunately for Suarez, Bristol hasn't been very kind to him. In 16 starts, he only has two top-10s, both of which came in 2019. He did, however, finish 12th at Bristol in April. 

Does Denny Hamlin gain momentum back?

Hamlin hasn't been bad over the first two races of the Chase. A slow pit stop late at Darlington and a subsequent run-in with Michael McDowell led to an 18th-place finish, while he finished a solid ninth at Gateway. 

Still, the 45-year-old championship favorite has seen his points lead be whittled down. He could certainly lose it at Bristol. 

But the Tennessee half-mile has been a great track for Hamlin. He won the 2023 Bristol night race and followed that up with a victory in the spring of 2024. As Hamlin chases an elusive Cup Series championship, Saturday's result could be seen as a turning point when the checkered flag flies at Homestead on Nov. 8.