Alex Weaver looks at the drivers closest to the elimination line as the Cup Series gets ready to race at Bristol to set the Round of 12.
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00:00 Time to clock in and narrow the field from 16 to 12.
00:05 I'm Alex Weaver here at Bristol Motor Speedway for America's Night Race and the first elimination race in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
00:12 Let's take a look at the standings.
00:14 Entering tonight's race below the elimination line, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Michael McDowell are in must-win situations to advance.
00:22 Then it's Bubba Wallace. And shockingly, our regular season champion Martin Truex Jr. needs a huge rebound following his early exit at Kansas.
00:32 I've got a great team. I know what they're capable of. And for me, you can't change what happened last week or the week before.
00:40 You just learn from it and move on and look forward to the challenge. It's going to be what it's going to be.
00:45 We've just got to go do our best and hopefully it shakes out and we can start round two in a good spot again.
00:50 Right now, Kevin Harvick is the first driver above the elimination line.
00:54 And for Happy's final race at Bristol, he's hoping to continue his quest for another NASCAR Cup Series championship.
01:01 It's really just about each moment, each lap, trying to do everything that you can do to put yourself in position to be in the best position possible.
01:10 There's just a lot of scenarios that have to come together and play out.
01:14 You just never know where those are going to go and really it's hard for me to.
01:19 I tend not to predict anything because it's so unpredictable.
01:23 Chris Buescher may be good on points.
01:25 They have all the momentum over there at RFK right now in the garage, but only 13 points above the elimination line.
01:31 Chris Buescher is hoping to have a mistake free day here at Bristol, but also keep tabs on the rest of the playoff field.
01:38 There's a lot riding on this race and quite a few unknowns.
01:42 We need to race up front, grab stage points early.
01:45 Hopefully that just comes to us, that we're not having to do anything tricky to try and do that or outplay anybody.
01:53 Hopefully we're just up front, build a cushion back up to where we don't have to have those conversations.
01:59 Christopher Bell is your Bushlight pole sitter for the third race in a row.
02:03 He likes Bristol and especially the night race.
02:06 He's hoping to lead the field to green and end up in victory lane.
02:10 I mean, this one's a hard one because there is very little tire fall off.
02:15 The strategy's all over the board.
02:17 And you have to pit for fuel at some point, so the guys in the back are going to do opposite of you.
02:22 And at some point, it's going to get flipped where guys stay out and you have to pit.
02:25 Some people are going to take two tires.
02:27 So it's going to be a long race for sure.
02:30 We just got to do as good of a job as we can at controlling what we can control.
02:34 And hopefully the cards will play in our favor.
02:37 After tonight's race, four drivers will be eliminated.
02:40 But for 12 drivers, they will still be in the hunt for the 2023 championship trophy.
02:46 It's time to race under the lights in Thunder Valley, Bristol Motor Speedway, 6.30 p.m. Eastern on USA.
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