Some Chassis Selections by Teams for this race
#1-Jamie McMurray: Crew Chief Kevin "Bono" Manion and the #1 Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boat team will bring chassis #1006 to Bristol this weekend. This chassis was last used in the season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway last season resulting in a 21st place finish. McMurray has a victory (Charlotte, 2010), three poles (Kansas, Chicago, Darlington) a second and fifth, leading 143 laps with this chassis.
#2-Brad Keselowski: The #2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger team will use chassis PRS-747 during Sunday's Jeff Byrd 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway (BMS). This is a brand new chassis to the #2 team.
#6-David Ragan: Primary: RK-711, last ran Homestead finished 20th; Backup: RK-747 Brand new chassis.
#9-Marcos Ambrose: The #9 RPM team has prepared chassis No. 693 for the 500-lap race at Bristol Motor Speedway. This DEWALT Ford Fusion was previously run last season at Richmond.
#14-Tony Stewart: Chassis No. 14-530 was a brand new racecar for 2009 that, prior to its debut at Richmond in May, had only been tested in the wind tunnel, Stewart used Chassis No. 14-530 to qualify 16th and rally to score his second runner-up effort of the season. It saw action unexpectedly in June at New Hampshire when the team's primary car was crashed in the opening minutes of the weekend's first practice. Chassis No. 14-530 finished fifth after starting from the pole when qualifying was rained out. Rain cut the race 28 laps short of its scheduled 301-lap distance with Stewart finishing 5th. Chassis No. 14-530's third career start came at Richmond in the series' return visit in September. It was a subdued outing, with it qualifying 29th and finishing 17th. Its fourth career start and last of 2009 came at Martinsville in October. There, Stewart qualified 13th and was in contention for a top-five until a late-race caution thwarted his forward drive, forcing him to settle for ninth. The offseason brought about a complete rebuild for Chassis No. 14-530 in preparation for its first start of 2010 at Bristol, where it qualified 11th and finished second. Its sixth career start came in June at Dover. It started 16th and finished ninth. Chassis No. 14-530 returned to Bristol for the track's annual night race in August. It qualified fourth its best qualifying effort in six attempts and ran second to leader Johnson for the race's first 125 laps before the .533-mile bullring showed its horns to Stewart, with multiple on-track incidents conspiring for a 27th-place finish. It returned to the concrete at Dover in September, where it qualified 25th and proved quick, but a pit road speeding penalty dropped it to a 21st-place finish. With a new body, Chassis No. 14-530 returns for a third tour of duty in 2011 and a third outing at Bristol with Sunday's Jeff Byrd 500.
#17-Matt Kenseth: Primary: RK-704 last raced at Homestead in 2010, Kenseth will pilot the #17 Crown Royal Black Ford Fusion.
#18-Kyle Busch: Chassis No. 277 will make its fourth-ever start in Sunday's Jeff Byrd 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. No. 277 made its debut at Pocono in August 2010, where Busch started 21st and finished 23rd. Its next start came at Richmond in September 2010, when Busch qualified a distant 32nd but rallied to bring home a second-place finish behind teammate Denny Hamlin. In its most recent start at Martinsville last October, Busch started 26th but brought home a solid fourth-place finish.
#20-Joey Logano: and the #20 Home Depot Team is taking chassis #278 for Logano this weekend in an attempt to turn this 2011 season around. This is the chassis Logano drove to a fourth-place finish at Richmond last fall and to a 17th-place finish at Kansas Speedway. The back-up chassis is #275 that Logano most recently drove to a sixth-place finish at Martinsville Speedway in October.
#22-Kurt Busch and his Steve Addington-led Penske Racing "Double-Deuce" team will be racing their "PRS-739" Shell-Pennzoil Dodge Charger this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway. This chassis has been raced only one time prior; in the 2010 season-ending race last November at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Busch started 15th and finished 18th in that race. "We had a really fast car out there until we had the run-in with the #00 car," said crew chief Addington. "This car has been totally redone for this season and should be a great match for the Bristol track."
#27-Paul Menard will pilot Chassis No. 326 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. This #27 Chevy is a brand new addition to the RCR fleet, and will see its first laps on the race track during Friday's practice session at the 0.533-mile concrete oval
#29-Kevin Harvick: will pilot chassis No.304 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. He raced this Chevy four times in 2010 and collected three top-10 finishes, including third at Richmond in May, fifth at New Hampshire in June and ninth at Richmond in September.
#31-Jeff Burton will pilot chassis No. 317 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable in this weekend's Jeff Byrd 500. Built new for the 2010 season, Burton drove this Caterpillar Chevy to an eighth-place finish at Pocono in August before piloting this #31 racer to a 24th-place result at Michigan two weeks later. Before going through offseason modifications, this RCR entry last competed at Auto Club in October where Burton was credited with a 23rd-place finish.
#33-Clint Bowyer: will pilot chassis No. 310 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. This chassis was utilized during two races last season where Bowyer scored two top-10 finishes - the first at Indianapolis, where he finished fourth, and Atlanta, where he scored a seventh-place finish.
#36-Dave Blaney: will pilot chassis No. 802, which he drove at Phoenix and Vegas. The team also ran this chassis in the 2010 NSCS season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
#39-Ryan Newman Chassis No. 39-516 has been the only chassis to see action on either of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series' concrete racetracks Bristol and Dover during the past two seasons for the #39 Stewart-Haas Racing team. The chassis has also seen action at one other track on the circuit Darlington. In five races during the 2009 season, the chassis never finished outside of the top-10. The car finished seventh and sixth at Bristol, fourth at Darlington and eighth and 10th at Dover, respectively. After updates to the chassis following the 2009 season, the car returned to action at the concrete tracks again in 2010. The chassis saw action at Bristol last March and, although Newman flirted with a top-10 result, he finished a disappointing 16th following a late-race lug nut issue on a pit stop. In its most recent outing at Bristol during the night race last August, the chassis scored its first top-10 finish of the 2010 season as Newman started and finished sixth. The chassis also saw action at Dover in 2010, with finishes of 13 and eighth, respectively. During the offseason, the car was updated with a new front clip and a new body for its first outing in 2011.
#42-Juan Pablo Montoya: Brian Pattie and the #42 Target team are bringing chassis #1003 to Bristol this weekend. This chassis was last used in the second Texas race in 2010 where Montoya drove to a 28th-place finish. The #42 team has had success qualifying with this chassis, scoring three top-10 qualifying positions of fourth (Auto Club, Oct.), ninth (Atlanta, Sept.) and 10th (Chicago). Montoya has finishes of ninth (Atlanta), 14th (Auto Club) and 16th (Chicago) with this chassis.
#43-A.J. Allmendinger: The #43 RPM team has prepared chassis No. 710 for this weekend's event at Bristol Motor Speedway. This will be the first time this Best Buy Ford has been run in 2011.
#48-Jimmie Johnson: will pilot chassis No. 592 in Sunday's Sprint Cup Series event at Bristol. He last drove that car to a runner-up finish at Kansas Speedway in Oct. 2010. Backup chassis No. 553 crossed the finish line first at Auto Club Speedway in Feb. 2010.
#99-Carl Edwards: The #99 will have Scotts EZ Seed as the primary sponsor. The crew will unload RK-709 for the weekend. This car first raced at Charlotte in October, and then went on to win at Homestead in November.
