Kyle Busch Compares Racing at Bristol Motor Speedway Akin to Playing Chess & Here’s Why

The NASCAR Cup Series is up for another tough challenge following the race at Darlington. This time, it is the Bristol Motor Speedway that will take the drivers on. The 0.533-mile short track is one of Kyle Busch’s favorite tracks. He spoke to the press ahead of the race on Sunday and explained what made the track so appealing to him.

The energetic atmosphere, the concrete surface, the banking, and all such factors pull him strongly. But there is something that he loves more than anything else: the strategic options that the track offers. He detailed how a driver can choose to run at the top line or the bottom and that his decisions will matter on a lap-to-lap basis.

He said, “The biggest thing is restarts. You’ve got to be ready to get down to the bottom. It seems like the bottom really fires off and takes off early. And then as the pace progresses and falls off, then you’ve got to get to the top.” A driver also needs to make sure that he is one of the first ones to get to the top, or he will risk getting stuck in traffic.

Busch added, “It’s just really a challenging race. It’s more of a chess game a lot of times, too, rather than just trying to figure out all raw speeds.” It is by mastering this game that he has conquered the track eight times in his career. Unfortunately, though, he has placed 20th or worse in the last five Bristol races.

The difference between racing in the day and the night at Bristol

The Bass Pro Shops Night Race is always one of the most anticipated races of the Cup Series season. It will come up later this year, long after the completion of this weekend’s Food City 500.

The track temperature, the grip, the atmosphere, and various such factors change between these two events. One could say that they are extremely different competitions. But Busch doesn’t see it that way. The difference is as small as adding a dark tint to his visor.

He said, “Honestly, it’s just whether you’re wearing a tinted visor or a clear visor, the racetrack being concrete surface, and the temperature of the surface doesn’t really change as much as asphalt does. So, it lends itself to being more similar.”

He has secured four top-10 finishes in 2025 and is awaiting a Victory Lane visit. Hopefully, the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing team will end its curse and go on to have a better year than the last.