The 2017 Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 was the seventh stock car race of the 2017 NASCAR Xfinity Series season and the 35th iteration of the event. The race was held on Saturday, April 22, 2017, in Bristol, Tennessee at Bristol Motor Speedway, a 0.533 miles (0.858 km) permanent oval-shaped racetrack. The race took the scheduled 300 laps to complete. At race's end, Erik Jones, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, would take the lead with 20 to go to win his eighth career NASCAR Xfinity Series win and his second of the season.^[1] To fill out the podium, Ryan Blaney of Team Penske and Daniel Suárez of Joe Gibbs Racing would finish second and third, respectively.

Background

The layout of Bristol Motor Speedway, the venue where the race was held.

The Bristol Motor Speedway, formerly known as Bristol International Raceway and Bristol Raceway, is a NASCAR short track venue located in Bristol, Tennessee. Constructed in 1960, it held its first NASCAR race on July 30, 1961. Despite its short length, Bristol is among the most popular tracks on the NASCAR schedule because of its distinct features, which include extraordinarily steep banking, an all concrete surface, two pit roads, and stadium-like seating. It has also been named one of the loudest NASCAR tracks.

Practice

The only 55-minute practice session was held on Friday, April 21, at 2:00 PM EST.^[3] Justin Allgaier of JR Motorsports would set the fastest time in the session, with a time of 15.422 and an average speed of 124.420 miles per hour (200.235 km/h).^[4]

Qualifying

Qualifying was held on Saturday, April 22, at 9:35 AM EST.^[3] Since Bristol Motor Speedway is under 2 miles (3.2 km), the qualifying system was a multi-car system that included three rounds. The first round was 15 minutes, where every driver would be able to set a lap within the 15 minutes. Then, the second round would consist of the fastest 24 cars in Round 1, and drivers would have 10 minutes to set a lap. Round 3 consisted of the fastest 12 drivers from Round 2, and the drivers would have 5 minutes to set a time. Whoever was fastest in Round 3 would win the pole.^[5]

Kyle Larson of Chip Ganassi Racing would win the pole after advancing from both preliminary rounds and setting the fastest lap in Round 3, with a time of 14.992 and an average speed of 127.988 miles per hour (205.977 km/h).^[6]

No drivers would fail to qualify.

Race results

Stage 1 Laps: 85

Stage 2 Laps: 85

Stage 3 Laps: 130

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Elliott Sadler 260 2 William Byron 244 (-16) 3 Justin Allgaier 200 (–60) 4 Ryan Reed 184 (–76) 5 Daniel Hemric 180 (–80) 6 Bubba Wallace 180 (–80) 7 Blake Koch 164 (–96) 8 Brennan Poole 163 (–97) 9 Matt Tifft 160 (–100) 10 Michael Annett 157 (–103) 11 Dakoda Armstrong 139 (–121) 12 Cole Custer 130 (–130) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 12 positions are included for the driver standings.

References