bristol

500 dizzying laps are on tap for Saturday night.  That means 250 fastest lap and 125 laps led points are out there on DK.  We'll need one Dominator at least to make our lineup work this week.  Here's my initial target list heading into practice and qualifying on Friday:

• Kyle Busch -- He's won the last two races here and led 273 of the 1000 laps run in those races.  BUT, in the five races before that, he finished 35th, 39th, 38th, 8th and 36th.  So he has finished 35th or worse in 4 of the last 7 races here.
• Kyle Larson -- In April, he started 6th, finished 2nd and led 200 laps.  He's finished in the Top 10 in the last 3 races here and led a total of 472 of the 1500 laps run in those races.
• Kevin Harvick -- He has 6 straight Top 10 finishes here, including one win.  In those 6 races, he's led 155 of 3000+ laps run.
• Ryan Blaney -- In the April race, Blaney started 5th and led 100 of the first 117 laps in very dominating fashion.  He got caught up in a wreck that he had no role in creating ending his day early.  He looked great early in April, but doesn't otherwise have a great record here.
• Eric Jones -- In April, Jones had a pretty rough day and finished 26th.  But, in the night race last August, he started from pole, finished 2nd and led 260 of 500 laps.  He got tangled up in a few incidents last week, but has otherwise been running very well of late.
• Alex Bowman -- He started 8th and finished 5th here in April -- in his only race here with Team Hendrick.  $7,200 DK.
• Jimmie Johnson -- Staying with Team Hendrick, Jimmie started 17th and finished 3rd in April.  He continues to be very strong here, finishing in the Top 10 in 6 of the last 8 races.
• Clint Bowyer -- Started 14th, finished 8th in April.  In his three races here with SHR, he has two Top 10 finishes.
• Joey Logano -- Started 10th, finished 9th in April.  He's finished in the Top 10 in 5 of the last 6 races here and won the night races in both 2014 and 2015.  I am concerned, however, that crew chief Todd Gordon seems to continually make mistakes to slow down this team on a near weekly basis.
• Ryan Newman -- Started 30th, finished 10th in April.  He's finished in the Top 15 in 7 of the last 8 races here -- including 5 Top 10 finishes in that time.  Mispriced at $6,600 DK.
• Rickey Stenhouse -- Started and finished 4th in April.  He's finished in the Top 10 in 3 of the last 4 races here.  In 11 career Cup series races here, he has 6 Top 10 finishes and has only one finish (a 21st place finish) outside the Top 20.  Mispriced at $7,800 DK.
• Trevor Bayne -- It wasn't pretty, but he started 33rd and finished 24th in April.  In 2017, he finished 7th and 11th here and in 2016 he finished 12th and 5th.  So it is still a solid record of late.  Only $5,900 DK.
• Austin Dillon -- Finished in the Top 15 in 3 of the last 4 races here.  He's been showing improved speed overall of late.  $7,000 DK.
• Aric Almirola -- Started 19th, finished 6th in April in his first race here with SHR.
• David Ragan -- In three starts here with the Front Row team, he's finished 12th, 17th and 23rd with a collective +21 position difference.  Only $5,500 DK.
• Matt DiBennedetto -- In three starts here with the 32 team, he's finished 21st, 26th and 19th with a collective +24 position difference.  Only $5,300 DK.

And now two big names that have struggled here and look like large tournament options only:

• Martin Truex -- Only one Top 10 finish in the last 12 races here.  In the last 10 races here, he has only one finish better than 20th.  And in those 10 races, he's led a total of only 118 of 5000+ laps run.
• Brad Keselowski -- In the last 5 races here, he's finished 23rd, 29th, 34th, 33rd and 18th.  In 17 career Cup series races here, he has only 5 Top 10 finishes with 2 wins -- the most recent of which was in 2012.