NASCAR: Five dark horse drivers who could win at Bristol

By Asher Fair | Aug 18, 2017

BRISTOL, TN - APRIL 24: Clint Bowyer, driver of the #14 Haas Automation Demo Days Ford, leads a pack of cars during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 24, 2017 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images) /

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BRISTOL, TN – APRIL 24: Clint Bowyer, driver of the #14 Haas Automation Demo Days Ford (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images) /

The favorites have been established for the second NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol in 2017. Which dark horse drivers could contend for the win?

In a recent article, we touched on which five drivers had the best chance to win the second Cup Series race of the season at the 0.533-mile Bristol Motor Speedway oval in Bristol, Tennessee. The winner of the first race at Bristol this season, Jimmie Johnson, is a seven-time Cup Series champion, so he wasn’t exactly a dark horse winner. Will we see a dark horse winner the second time around at the “Last Great Colosseum”?

This article also features five drivers capable of winning at Bristol. However, while going to Victory Lane is certainly a possibility for each of these five drivers, they are all more along the lines of dark horse picks, as none of them are favorites to actually take the checkered flag, and them actually doing so would be along the lines of a surprise.

Only one of these five drivers has actually been to Victory Lane so far this season. None of the other four are even currently in the playoff picture. In fact, none of these drivers are currently even in the top 15 in the championship standings.

Let’s have a look at these five dark horse drivers that could certainly be under-the-radar contenders to win this year’s Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race.

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