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NASCAR is in Nashville this weekend, and it is one of four races this weekend that will be contested on a fully concrete race track. Bristol and Dover are the other two tracks with a concrete racing surface, and some drivers tend to really take to the concrete. Who are the best drivers on concrete race tracks?
By the Numbers: 4 Wins; 11 Top 5s; 19 Top-10s; 1,424 Laps Led; 50 Races
Breakdown: Brad Keselowski got his first career National Touring Series win on concrete at Nashville in 2008, and that success has generally carried over to the Cup Series. Appropriately, two of his concrete wins came during his championship campaign of 2012. One came in the spring race at Bristol, and the other came in a fuel mileage race at Dover in the Playoffs.
By the Numbers: 6 Wins; 25 Top-5s; 47 Top-10s; 2,840 Laps Led; 87 Races
Breakdown: Of course, the grizzly veteran Kevin Harvick has found tremendous success on concrete. He has won three times each at Bristol and Dover. Not only that, but he has found a way to lead almost 3,000 laps on concrete throughout his incredible career. As for Nashville, Harvick is a two-time winner there in the Xfinity Series, winning in 2006 and 2010.
By the Numbers: 3 Wins; 14 Top-5s; 16 Top-10s; 888 Laps Led; 27 Races
Breakdown: Chase Elliott has finished in the top-5 in over half of his races on concrete. That is an impressive feat aside from the three wins he has on the surface. Last season, Elliott took home his third career win on concrete at the Nashville Superspeedway in a rain-delayed race under the lights.
By the Numbers: 3 Wins; 13 Top-5s; 22 Top-10s; 2,013 Laps Led; 31 Races
Breakdown: In terms of average finish, Kyle Larson is in the top-2 at every concrete track on the schedule, and he has won at all three. He also has led over 2,000 laps at the tracks in only 31 races, averaging 65 laps led per race. As for Nashville, Larson stunk up the show in the inaugural Cup Series race, leading 264 laps enroute to a win.
By the Numbers: 11 Wins; 27 Top-5s; 40 Top-10s; 3,997 laps led; 70 Races
Breakdown: Kyle Busch has made pretty much every track on the circuit his personal playground, but the other concrete track in Bristol, Tennessee just may be his favorite. An eight time winner there, plus three more at Dover, means Busch has won 11 career races on concrete in the Cup Series. While he has failed to see that success at Nashville in the Cup Series, he does have four wins at the track in the lower divisions. Most famously he smashed the guitar after winning the Xfinity Series race in 2009.
Nashville still has a very small sample size in the Cup Series, and there is really no other track on the circuit quite like it. However, the concrete surface is one value that it shares with some others, and some drivers have taken to that quite well. Overall, many drivers are in contention to win this weekend.
