Thursday night was a very strong night for Brett Moffitt.  From the front row, Moffitt led 117 of 200 laps before teammate Sam Mayer passed him with 30 laps to go for the win.  Moffitt's second-place finish was more than enough for him to move up four places to take the points lead.  Moffitt's advantage is eight points over Sheldon Creed, who finished 11th Thursday night.  Zane Smith was in position for a good finish until his handling went straight in the toilet late.  He dropped from a top five position to 17th a lap down at the finish.  This only dropped him one place to third in points.  Grant Enfinger stays in fourth after finishing sixth.

Tyler Ankrum won stage two and finished seventh.  This moved him up from 10th to fifth in points.  Matt Crafton is up one place to sixth after finishing 10th.  Ben Rhodes is down one place to seventh after finishing 13th.  Austin Hill had his worst race of the season at a bad time.  Wall contact on lap 2 put him way behind and he never caught up.  A 25th-place finish dropped from a tie for second to eighth, the final spot in the Round of 8.

Hill is only two points ahead of Christian Eckes, who finished 12th Thursday night.  Todd Gilliland dropped back to 10th after getting lapped early and finishing 14th.

Outside of the playoffs, Derek Kraus is still the best of those drivers in 11th, more than a full race ahead of Raphael Lessard.  Tanner Gray is up to 13th after finishing in a strong third, supplanting Stewart Friesen.  Johnny Sauter finished ninth, but remains in 15th.  Ty Majeski remains in 16th despite missing his second straight race.

Round of 10 Point Standings: 1) Brett Moffitt 2068, 2) Sheldon Creed -8, 3) Zane Smith -11, 4) Grant Enfinger -12, 5) Tyler Ankrum -17, 6) Matt Crafton -23, 7) Ben Rhodes -30, 8) Austin Hill -34, 9) Christian Eckes -36, 10) Todd Gilliland -42.

Regular Season Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 657, 2) Brett Moffitt -1, 3) Zane Smith -36, 4) Ben Rhodes -46, 5) Sheldon Creed -84, 6) Matt Crafton -102, 7) Christian Eckes -105, 8) Grant Enfinger -107, 9) Tyler Ankrum -129, 10) Todd Gilliland -169, 11) Derek Kraus -193, 12) Raphael Lessard -257, 13) Stewart Friesen -268, 14) Tanner Gray -274, 15) Johnny Sauter -317, 16) Ty Majeski -346.

Note No. 1: Drivers in bold have locked into the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series playoffs.

Note No. 2: Drivers in italics in the point standing sections are not in the playoffs.

Best of the Rest (11-20): 11) Derek Kraus 482, 12) Raphael Lessard -75, 13) Tanner Gray -77, 14) Stewart Friesen -100, 15) Johnny Sauter -115, 16) Ty Majeski -183, 17) Austin Wayne Self -219, 18) Tate Fogelman -223, 19) Jordan Anderson -259, 20) Spencer Boyd -260.

Playoff Points: 1) Sheldon Creed 26, t-2) Zane Smith -4, t-2) Austin Hill -4, 4) Grant Enfinger -7, 5) Brett Moffitt -10, 6) Ben Rhodes -12, 7) Matt Crafton -17, 8) Christian Eckes -21, t-9) Todd Gilliland -23, t-9) Tyler Ankrum -23.

Stage Points: 1) Brett Moffitt 181, 2) Zane Smith -20, 3) Austin Hill -22, 4) Ben Rhodes -40, t-5) Christian Eckes -41, t-5) Sheldon Creed -41, 7) Tyler Ankrum -61, 8) Matt Crafton -65, 9) Todd Gilliland -83, 10) Grant Enfinger -92, 11) Derek Kraus -112, 12) Johnny Sauter -128, 13) Raphael Lessard -140, 14) Stewart Friesen -152, 15) Sam Mayer -155, 16) Tanner Gray -162.

Note: If everyone were eligible for stage points, Ross Chastain would be tied for 11th in points, while Kyle Busch would be 13th.

Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Austin Hill 440, 2) Brett Moffitt -19, 3) Ben Rhodes -20, 4) Zane Smith -37, 5) Grant Enfinger -44, 6) Matt Crafton -63, 7) Sheldon Creed -64, 8) Derek Kraus -83, 9) Christian Eckes -87, 10) Tyler Ankrum -98, 11) Todd Gilliland -111, 12) Tanner Gray -120, 13) Raphael Lessard -139, 14) Stewart Friesen -153, 15) Johnny Sauter -181, 16) Ty Majeski -217.

Race Winners: Grant Enfinger (Daytona-1, Atlanta, Richmond), Kyle Busch (Las Vegas, Homestead, Texas), Chase Elliott (Charlotte), Brandon Jones (Pocono), Sheldon Creed (Kentucky, Daytona-2, Gateway), Austin Hill (Kansas-1), Matt Crafton (Kansas-2), Zane Smith (Michigan, Dover), Ben Rhodes (Darlington), Sam Mayer (Bristol)

Note: Race wins in Italics do not count towards playoff eligibility.

This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series makes their second visit of the season to Bristol Motor Speedway in Eastern Tennessee.  Coverage of the Bass Pro Shops/NRA Night Race starts on NBCSN with NASCAR America Saturday at 6:30 p.m., followed by Countdown to Green.  The green flag is scheduled to drop around 7:45 p.m. Saturday night.  The race can also be heard on PRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).

Records and facts

Last year's Bass Pro Shops/NRA Night Race was an exciting affair that nearly ended up with a surprise winner.  Matt DiBenedetto, then driving for Leavine Family Racing, took the lead away from Erik Jones on lap 396 shortly after the final restart and pulled away.  

It looked like DiBenedetto was in line for his first career victory, but Denny Hamlin ran him down and passed him with 12 laps to go.  Hamlin then held on to take the victory.  DiBenedetto finished in a career-best second, followed by Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott.

Amongst active drivers, Kyle Busch has the most victories at Bristol with eight.  Older brother Kurt has six career victories on the high banks.  Brad Keselowski has three Bristol victories, while Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson and Joey Logano have two a piece.

All-time, Darrell Waltrip is the winningest driver in the history of Bristol Motor Speedway with 12 wins, including seven in a row at one point.  Cale Yarborough, Dale Earnhardt and Rusty Wallace have nine each.  Kyle Busch is next on the list with his eight, followed by Kurt Busch with his six victories, then Jeff Gordon and David Pearson with five each.

Track Facts
Track / Race Length: 0.533-mile oval, 500 laps (266.5 miles)
Banking: 24-30 degrees
Straights: 650 ft., banked 4-9 degrees
Grandstand Seating: 153,000
Pit Road Speed: 30 mph
Pace Car Speed: 35 mph
Opened: 1960 (first Cup race in 1961)

Website: http://www.bristolmotorspeedway.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bristolmotorspeedway

Twitter: http://twitter.com/BMSUpdates

Say What!

"Bristol is the ultimate test of physical stamina mixed with finesse of how you position your racecar. You’re on the edge of your seat every lap and the slightest mistake can set you back. It helps to be in great shape for races like Bristol when you get toward the end of the long, green-flag run. I stay busy with my workout regimen to prepare for races like this with heat training and cycling." - Aric Almirola

"I would like to get back to victory lane at Bristol, no doubt. We’ve had some decent runs there in the first race, and then the All-Star Race went even better for us. And we were close there at the end but we were just a little short on that last stage, being as short of a run as it was, it just didn’t give us enough time to give our car an opportunity to shine. We have not shown the short-run speed at Bristol, but we’ve always kind of been good after about 30 laps or so and our cars seems to really come in and run strong. It’s always a great racetrack to circle on the calendar and know it’s a time where we can shine. We also have Skittles on board again this weekend so, anytime we have the Skittles scheme on board, we’ve been hard to beat.

"Bristol Motor Speedway is one of the best racetracks on the circuit. All the fans love it because of the excitement, the run-ins and the close-quarter action with all the cars being packed on top of one another at a half-mile racetrack with us 40 lunatics running around in a tight circle. With the fans, the atmosphere there always makes for a good time, and sometimes a frustrating time when things don’t always go your way." - Kyle Busch

"Bristol is a great racetrack and we’ve had some pretty good finishes the last few times that we’ve been there. Obviously, Richmond didn’t go as well as we had hoped, but I’m really looking forward to seeing fans back in the stands on Saturday night and hopefully the energy of the crowd will help drive us to a strong finish. We’ve had a really good season, but with only eight races left, we need to finish it out strong; and I think we can get some really good momentum back this weekend and have a solid run for our Love’s Travel Stops team." - Michael McDowell

Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.  Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.