3. Ryan Newman. Newman has six top 10s in 12 races. His 8.6 average start is second only to Jeff Gordon's 5.5 among active drivers. His average finish, though, is a mediocre 20.2. His driver rating, 83.0, ranks 14th.

4. Kevin Harvick. Bristol is a very good track for Harvick. In 14 races he has one win, seven top fives and nine top 10s. His average finish of 10.5 is second to Biffle. That said, Harvick is working on an odd trend at the track. Since 2004, his finishes in the spring race are 3, 1, 2, 4, while his finishes in the fall races are 24, 37, 11 and 16. It's spring, so I guess Harvick is looking at a fifth-place finish. His driver rating is fourth best, 99.2.

5. Jeff Burton. Burton finished second to Busch last spring. He is winless at Bristol with 11 top 10s in 28 races. He has the 10th-best driver rating at 90.5.

Five to watch:

Dale Earnhardt Jr., 6th. Could this be the week Junior breaks through? (Did I ask that question last week, too?) He has excellent numbers at Bristol. His nine top 10s, including his only win, have come in his past 12 races. His average finish in those races is 6.9, which is remarkable considering his average start in that stretch is 21.4. Junior seems to have mastered moving up through the field at Bristol. In fact, he has had the most green-flag passes the past six races (234).

Kasey Kahne, 7th. Kahne's lone shining moment - and only top five - of 2007 came at Bristol, when he led 305 laps and finished second to Carl Edwards last August. That was by far his best effort at Bristol in eight Cup races. Interestingly, Kahne qualifies well at the track -- 10.5 average start, including starting second and first last year. His driver raring is 94.2, seventh best.

Matt Kenseth, 12th. Kenseth didn't do well last year, finishing 11th and 39th (crash with eight laps to go). But in the 10 races before 2007, he posted all of his top 10s (nine), including two wins and seven top fives. Kenseth has the top driver rating at 111.4 and also is tops in percentage of quality passes (75.6), number of fastest laps (212) and laps led (706) among others. One other category in which he has no peer: In the past six races, 91.8 percent of his laps have been in the top 15. Jeff Gordon is second at 81.7 percent.

Jeff Gordon, 15th. Gordon has the second-best driver rating at 103.1, and his career record is stellar: Five wins, five poles and 18 top 10s in 30 races. He hasn't won since August 2002, but he qualifies very well (5.5 average), and if he starts near the top Sunday, expect him to finish there.

Carl Edwards, 17th. It's hard to write about Bristol and not include Kurt Busch (five wins in 14 races), but if not for a blown transmission last week, Edwards might have won his third race in a row. Instead Kyle Busch won -- "Karma," he said on his radio, when he took the lead. Edwards' driver rating is 13th best, 85.3, but he won at Bristol last August. One last nugget of interest: Since 2002, Roush Fords have won seven of the 12 races.

NOTE: I'm a one man show, not supported by anyone. If you wish to donate to help offset expense, it would be appreciated:

toolbar powered by Conduit