Following Denny Hamlin's second straight win this season at Darlington, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Bristol Motor Speedway for the running of the Food City 500 on Sunday. This will be the first of two stops at Thunder Valley in 2025 as the series will make its return in September for the cutoff race in the Round of 16 of the playoffs.
Hamlin heads to The Last Great Coliseum looking join Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell as a three-race winner this season. 2018 was the last time multiple drivers won three straight races in the same season when Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski accomplished the feat. Despite falling short of the win after leading a dominant 243 laps in the Darlington race, Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron holds a 49-point lead over Hamlin through eight races.
As the series prepares for its first stop of the season at Bristol - and only the second spring race on the concrete surface since 2020 - these three drivers are in search of a rebound performance following Darlington.
3 drivers who need to rebound in Food City 500 at Bristol
3. Chase Briscoe, No. 19 (Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota)
It has certainly been a rocky start to Briscoe's first season at JGR. He opened the season with a fourth-place finish in the Daytona 500, only to place outside the top 10 the next four weeks. After a pair of solid top 10s at Homestead Miami (fourth) and Martinsville (ninth), Briscoe plummeted to 28th at Darlington from a fourth-place starting position. The handling appeared to be a factor as he fell down the running order and was never able to recover once he lost the track position.
If Briscoe's five previous starts at the half-mile bullring in Tennessee offer any insight, he may not have the best shot at a rebound this weekend. He only has one top 10 at the track, but it came the last time the series raced there in the fall. That was with Stewart Haas Racing, which has since closed its doors, but that should give Briscoe something to work with, not to mention he is teammates with four-time Bristol Cup Series winner Denny Hamlin, so that alone should present some confidence.
2. Alex Bowman, No. 48 (Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet)
Until the last two weeks, Bowman had as good a start to the 2025 season as any driver in the Cup Series. Aside from a 26th-place finish at Atlanta, Bowman had five top-10s in the first six races, including a runner-up at Homestead. Finishes of 27th (Martinsville) and 35th (Darlington) have left plenty to be desired the last two weekends, dropping Bowman from top-five in the points all the way down to 10th.
The pole-sitter for last fall's Bristol Night Race has had mixed results on the high banks. In Bowman's last six races at the track, he has two top fives and three top 10s. He clearly had speed in the fall, but was unable to take advantage of it during the race. If the No. 48 Chevrolet has that kind of pace once again, a much-needed bounce back could be in store.
1. Brad Keselowski, No. 6 (Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford)
The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season has not gone well at all for the 2012 champion. He has yet to finish in the top 10 with an 11th-place result at Las Vegas serving as his best finish this season. Keselowski appeared to have a top 10 car at Darlington as his Stage 1 finish of sixth would indicate. The right rear lug nut coming off and forcing him to spin in Stage 2 derailed a promising run, ultimately finishing 33rd.
Keselowski is a three-time winner at Bristol and has three top fives in his last five starts. The only downside is he has only led one lap in each of the last three. That will need to improve on Sunday, but Bristol has been a track Keselowski has found success at and a place that could give him his first top 10 of the season.