NASCAR Cup drivers to watch at Nashville

The NASCAR Cup Series returns to Nashville Superspeedway for a fourth consecutive year.

Sunday's race airs at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC. Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain have each won a Cup race at Nashville.

Here are the drivers to watch at Nashville.

FRONTRUNNERS

Kyle Larson

Points position: 1st

Best finish this season: 1st (Las Vegas I, Kansas I, Sonoma)

2024 stats: Three wins, eight top fives and nine top 10s. Has led a series-high 755 laps and has an average finish of 12.5.

Going into the weekend: Larson has never finished worse than fifth at Nashville. He won the track's inaugural Cup race in 2021, leading 264 laps. He placed fourth in 2022 and was fifth last year. Larson has scored a series-high 192 stage points and has a series-best 23 playoff points this year.

Chase Elliott

Points position: 2nd

Best finish this season: 1st (Texas)

2024 stats: One win, seven top fives and nine top 10s. Has led 178 laps and has an average finish of 9.6, which is best in the series.

Going into the weekend: Elliott won the 2022 race at Nashville and was fourth last year. He has not finished worse than 19th in a Cup race this season.

Ross Chastain

Points position: 9th

Best finish this season: 4th (Las Vegas I)

2024 stats: No wins, two top fives and seven top 10s. Has led 118 laps and has an average finish of 12.3.

Going into the weekend: Chastain has never finished worse than fifth at Nashville. He is the defending winner of this race. He was second in 2021 and fifth in 2022. Chastain has finished 12th or better in each of the last six races this season.

Christopher Bell

Points position: 3rd

Best finish this season: 1st (Phoenix I, Coca-Cola 600, New Hampshire)

2024 stats: Three wins, six top fives and 11 top 10s. Has led 451 laps and has an average finish of 14.1.

Going into the weekend: Bell has finished in the top 10 in all three Cup starts at Nashville. He's won two of the past five races this season and enters the weekend with a streak of five consecutive top-10 results.

QUESTIONS TO ANSWER

Bubba Wallace

Points position: 15th

Best finish this season: 4th (Martinsville I)

2024 stats: No wins, three top fives and five top 10s. Has led 35 laps and has an average finish of 18.0.

Going into the weekend: Wallace has one top-10 finish in the last nine races. His best finish in Cup at Nashville is 12th in 2022. He is 13 points below the playoff cutline.

Chase Briscoe

Points position: 16th

Best finish this season: 2nd (New Hampshire)

2024 stats: No wins, two top fives and six top 10s. Has led 12 laps and has an average finish of 16.3.

Going into the weekend: Briscoe has never finished better than 31st in his three Cup starts at Nashville. After his runner-up finish last weekend at New Hampshire, Briscoe is 25 points from the playoff cutline.

Chris Buescher

Points position: 13th

Best finish this season: 2nd (Phoenix I, Kansas I)

2024 stats: No wins, four top fives and eight top 10s. Has led 148 laps and has an average finish of 14.3.

Going into the weekend: Buescher has not finished better than 18th in three Nashville Cup starts. He comes into the weekend with two top-five results in the last three races.

Kyle Busch

Points position: 17th

Best finish this season: 3rd (Atlanta I)

2024 stats: No wins, two top fives and five top 10s. Has led 130 laps and has an average finish of 18.9.

Going into the weekend: The two-time Cup champion has fallen to 45 points below the playoff cutline with eight races left in the regular season. He has not had a top 10 in the last six points races. Busch has placed 35th in three of the last four races this year. He enters the weekend with a career-long 39-race winless streak.