Nighttime is the right time in my old stomping grounds of East Tennessee. There are few better ways to eliminate four drivers from the playoffs than with one of the toughest tracks in NASCAR: Bristol Motor Speedway. And you know the 2022 Bristol Night Race is going crush some dreams. Are you ready? I sure as hell am! Let’s get down to business…

Playing the 2022 Bristol Night Race – Featured Handicaps

My positions locked in before Friday afternoon’s sessions range from a juicy Top 10 to a big matchup underdog in addition to our guy Paul’s play that looks even better at this point. Now we have a little extra information from practice and qualifying. Reflecting on my early action, Erik Jones could be in for a long night while the #45 might have just enough long run speed to stay relevant. Fortunately, better showings by Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski provide plenty of optimism in this household.

Tires appear not to be a critical resource for the field per Friday’s activities. Even pole sitter Aric Almirola said the track had too much grip after his pole-setting qualifying lap. If that’s the case, the bottom remains king despite multiple teams testing higher lines. As we all know, things get messy in a hurry with lap traffic on the long runs – and that’s where alternative lines come into play. While I wait for BetUS’ massive matchup list to post this morning, here’s the handicap behind one more wager on my Bristol Night Race card:

Playing the Top 10 Markets: Backing Joey

Joey Logano hasn’t felt quite at home in Bristol recently, though his current form demands attention. The #22 has been one of the fastest cars out there entering the playoffs despite little to show for it at Kansas last weekend. Part of that is due to rolling the dice with pit strategy – an approach that was somewhat forced because the team recognized it did not have the top-tier speed necessary to score a big finish. They rolled into Thunder Valley and laid down a really good practice session despite earning just a 15th place starting position. But any concern I have with the qualifying position gets washed away by his runs in practice: 3rd-fastest lap in the field, 4th-best 15-lap average, and so on.

I generally agree with where Ryan @ifantasyrace.com slotted the #22, though I’m a bit more cautious when gauging the low end of Logano’s range. Sure, Joey just missed Top 10 finishes with back-to-back P11s the last two years. But the reality is that he hasn’t cracked this plateau since April 2019. To me this becomes a matter of whether his recent misses are better indicators than the two whiffs prior. After all, the Cup Series veteran was a Top 10 ringer at Bristol heading into 2019 with seven such finishes in eight races. Plus the underlying numbers still reflect his skills to get the job done. Seven of the last twelve Bristol points races resulted in 100+ ratings for the #22 team. Combine that with what we saw in practice and I’m fine laying the -125.

WAGER: Logano Top 10 -125 (Bovada; available at BetRivers)

Joey’s strongest days at Bristol may be in the rearview mirror but there is plenty in the tank to back him in the Top 10 market. Recent speed and performance supports it. Plus the #22 team has been damn good on the one-mile and shorter tracks this season. After shopping this across five books this morning, I played the -125 at Bovada with BetRivers offering the same price. As a comparison, DraftKings posted -170 and FanDuel has -185. That’s a considerable gap well worth exploring. BOL and enjoy the race!!!

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