NASCAR’s heading to Thunder Valley for legendary Bristol night racin’ this weekend!

There’s just 3 more races until the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup begins.

Photo credit: NASCARMedia

Points leader Tony Stewart has already clinched his spot in the Chase as of last week at Michigan. To break it down, any driver with a 391 point lead over 13th place leaving Bristol will make it into the Chase.

2nd in points, Jeff Gordon has a mathematical chance to make it in. He needs to finish sixth or better without leading a lap, seventh leading at least one lap or eighth leading the most laps, regardless of where any other driver finishes. Gordon is tied with Kurt Busch for the most wins at Bristol among active drivers. They have 5 wins each.

Gordon’s Hendrick teammate, Jimmie Johnson, who’s currently 3rd in the standings, can clinch leaving Bristol if he finishes second or better, third leading at least one lap or fourth leading the most laps. Bristol is one of six tracks on the current cup schedule that Johnson has yet to win yet.

Stewart, Gordon and Johnson are all past series champions. Combined, they can account for 9 championships.

2009 Top 12 Drivers/Current Point Standings
Driver                                Points
1 Tony Stewart                   3,500
2 Jeff Gordon                      3,216
3 Jimmie Johnson            3,197
4 Carl Edwards                   2,995
5 Denny Hamlin                 2,986
6 Kurt Busch                        2,957
7 Juan Pablo Montoya    2,887
8 Kasey Kahne                    2,884
9 Ryan Newman                 2,845
10 Greg Biffle                       2,821
11 Matt Kenseth                 2,811
12 Mark Martin                  2,791

There’s sure to be a lot of talk about the drivers ‘on the bubble’. Mark Martin is currently 12th, only 12 points ahead of 13th place, Brian Vickers; 58 points ahead of 14th place, Clint Bowyer and 70 points ahead of 15th place, Kyle Busch. Martin has posted 4 wins this season, the most in the series so far this season. He would be seeded first when the Chase starts. Martin will reach a milestone Saturday night. He’ll make his 1000th NASCAR start. He’s a two time winner at Bristol, although his last race win was the night race in ’98. “That’s a lot of races,” Martin said. “I didn’t realize that I was even close to that many. To me, personally, 1,000 starts is not that big of a deal. How many wins I have in those 1,000 starts would be a stat I would be more interested in. Don’t get me wrong, I think this is great, but I don’t view starting races as a huge accomplishment. I would say, the wins, poles, top-five and top-10 finishes in those 1,000 starts is a bigger deal.” That’s 745 Sprint Cup Series, 231 Nationwide Series and 23 Camping World Truck Series starts over his 27-year career.

Carl Edwards is the defending race winner. He won from the pole last year. He’s won the last 2 Bristol night races. Edwards has yet to win a race this season. “From where I sit, I think I’ve done as good or better job this season than I had last season,” Edwards said. “We don’t have the results to show for it, but I feel I’ve done a really good job.” Edwards is currently 4th in the point standings.

TV coverage of the Sharpie 500 starts at 6:30 this Saturday night on ESPN.

The Nationwide Series’ Food City 250 begins at 7:30 this Friday night on ESPN2.

Saturday’s Sharpie 500 will be the 55th consecutive Sprint Cup Series sell-out at Bristol Motor Speedway.