It’s Bristol Baby! Round three of the 2026 NASCAR Chase heads under the lights at The Last Great Colosseum for some Saturday night short track action. Don’t forget to get those bets in and fantasy lineups set on Saturday. 500 grueling laps around the half-mile, high-banked oval always deliver exciting racing. Let’s dive in and take a look at the NASCAR picks, odds, and best bets for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Kyle Larson finally snapped his 51-race winless streak last week at World Wide Technology Raceway in a week when chaos ensued and caught up a lot of drivers in the Chase. That win vaulted Larson to second place in the standings, just nine points behind Denny Hamlin. Christoper Bell, the Southern 500 winner, sits third, 18 points behind Hamlin. Ryan Blaney, whose day turned for the worse when he blew a brake rotor last week, drops to fourth place, 33 points back. Tyler Reddick rounds out the top five heading into Bristol. Reddick is 42 points behind his team owner Denny Hamlin.
Odds to Win Bass Pro Shops Bristol Night Race
Kyle Larson +400
Ryan Blaney +500
Denny Hamlin +600
Ty Gibbs +600
Christopher Bell +650
Chase Briscoe +1000
Joey Logano +1800
William Byron +2500
Tyler Reddick +2500
Alex Bowman +2500
Carson Hocevar +2500
Chase Elliott +2700
Bubba Wallace +3000
Chris Buescher +3500
Brad Keselowski +3500
Josh Berry +3500
Ryan Preece +5000
Ross Chastain +5000
Austin Cindric +5000
Shane van Gisbergen +10000
Erik Jones +10000
Daniel Suarez +10000
Connor Zilisch +15000
Michael McDowell +15000
Zane Smith +15000
John Hunter Nemechek +15000
AJ Allmendinger +15000
Austin Dillon +20000
Riley Herbst +20000
Noah Gragson +25000
Todd Gilliland +25000
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. +30000
Cole Custer +50000
Cody Ware +50000
Austin Hill +50000
Ty Dillon +50000
Josh Bilicki +50000
Bass Pro Shops Bristol Night Race Best Bets
Kyle Larson Top Finishing Chevrolet (+105)
Is Hendrick and Chevy fixed now and on the same level as everyone else? I’m not completely convinced after the crap show that was last week’s race. But momentum definitely counts for something. Add in that this is Larson’s best track, by a long shot. And it’s the perfect bet. Overall, Chevrolet is fairly weak after Larson, and as long as he doesn’t step on it, he’s the best Chevy week in and week out.
At Bristol in the Next Gen minus last summer where he was thrown for a loop with the high wear variable, Kyle Larson is a 2-time winner, has a 2.8 average finish, a 2.5 average Speed Ranking and he’s had a result in the top 5 every race.
Standout performer this spring. Won the two opening Stages, led 284 laps, had a 1.7 average running position and then finished 3rd.
— Ryan (@ifantasyrace) September 14, 2026
Outside of that crazy fall race here last season, which I don’t expect a repeat of, Larson has been lights out here. His finishes in the NextGen era starting this spring and working backwards are third, 32nd, win, win, fifth, second, fifth. He has a top-six finish in eight of the last nine races here, and top-10 in 12 of the last 14. Larson is just great here.
Joey Logano Top 10 (-125)
Joey Logano struggled to adjust to the NextGen car at Bristol. 22nd place was his best finish in the first five NextGen races here. Then, he figured it out. It all clicked for the three-time champion. Last fall, a fifth-place finish, which he backed up in the spring with a seventh-place run. You look at how Logano has been running down the stretch with six top-10s in the last nine races, and very fast cars even in the three races he didn’t finish in the top 10, and that makes me want to bet him even more.
Logano is a driver you can trust at tracks he’s been really good at. Bristol wasn’t on that list, but we’re adding it now after the last two runs here. Current form: the championship is still in reach for him. Along with being the second-to-last car going out in qualifying this week, which will give him great track position at a race where track position matters a lot. I love Logano to finish top 10 this week.
Ty Gibbs Win (+600)
There is only one active driver who has a better average finish than Kyle Larson over the last six races at Bristol Motor Speedway. That’s Ty Gibbs with a 7.3 average finish. Gibbs picked up his first career win here earlier this year, cashing the “car lift” bets for us on the NASCAR Gambling Podcast. Gibbs is once again the car lift this week at Bristol.
As we prepare to head to Bristol for a special weekend honoring Kyle Busch, we wanted to give those closest to him the first opportunity to see the M&M’S tribute car up close. The scheme contains a mosaic of photos that capture Kyle’s life as husband, father, championship-winning NASCAR driver, and friend.
— Joe Gibbs Racing (@JoeGibbsRacing) September 15, 2026
Since Gibbs first started here with Joe Gibbs Racing, Gibbs has led 465 laps over six races, with three top-five runs and five top-10 finishes. Most of that work came when Gibbs was struggling everywhere else. Now, Gibbs has figured it out and become a weekly threat to win the race. Bring him back to his favorite track, with a tribute scheme to one of the best to ever race at this track, and it all lines up. Gibbs is too good to not bet on this week.
I was watching @SamanthaBusch’s Instagram story about coming to Bristol this weekend, and in it she talks about how @TyGibbs has been like a big brother to Brexton, has picked him up to take him to lunch and breakfast and has gone out karting with him. She says Brexton came home one day and told her “We talked about our dads.” Powerful stuff, but good on Ty for playing such an important role for Brexton and makes it even more fitting that he’ll be driving the M&M’s scheme on Saturday night.
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) September 16, 2026
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