NASCAR Cup Series

Will Kyle Larson upset at Bristol Motor Speedway?

Published Nov. 15, 2016 3:22 p.m. ET

Jeff Hammond

Many people probably don’t realize that in the last 13 Bristol races, where we’ll be Saturday night, we’ve only had eight different winners. So the question becomes do we really have a chance to see a new winner Saturday night?

I think the answer is yes we do. I think we should keep our eye on Kyle Larson. He should have won there before. He’s hanging on to make the Chase by his fingernails. He runs well at Bristol Motor Speedway so he would be my pick.

Kyle Larson and Chip Ganassi Racing need to make a statement Saturday night. The only way to do that is to go up there and hit the competitors square in the mouth and let them know that Kyle is for real. They just have to go make it happen.

He was so good two weeks ago at Watkins Glen. He was right there set up to come home with a top 5 finish but got taken out late in the race. To me, he is probably the most charged up driver at the moment that absolutely needs to win.

His back is against the wall, not only for making the 2016 Chase, but also the pressure of everyone asking, myself included, when is he finally going to break through and get that first NASCAR Sprint Cup series win?

Tell me, what better place for it to happen than at Bristol Motor Speedway? I’ve been blessed to be on teams that won a ton of races there and it’s simply something special.

With the reconfiguration and improvements that Bristol has made to the track, I can visualize this kid going in low, letting it drift high and then cutting it hard left coming hard off these corners.

So I’m going to go out on a limb and say I think it could be Kyle Larson that goes out there and upsets everyone. Just imagine what it would do to the Chase picture too. He’d upset some other teams apple carts if he were to win.