Food City 300 Preview: Creed Brings the Lead, Allgaier Brings the Bristol Record

Sheldon Creed arrives at Bristol with the championship lead. Justin Allgaier arrives with a particularly good place to take it back. After a Darlington victory and a runner-up finish at Gateway, Creed holds a three-point advantage entering Friday night's Food City 300, the third race of the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Chase.

Allgaier's response to losing the lead at Gateway was immediate: “That just fuels this team.” A loose wheel and damage from the Corey Day–William Sawalich collision left him 13th there. Bristol offers a chance to put the No. 7 back near the front, but the spring race also supplied a warning: controlling most of the evening does not guarantee controlling the finish.

The 300-lap race combines a tightening championship contest with a concentrated Friday schedule. Teams have one afternoon of practice and qualifying before racing under the lights. For FantasyJolt players, that makes Friday's long-run evidence especially useful before committing the biggest multipliers.

Allgaier has two Bristol victories and 13 top-five finishes. Those numbers describe repeated competitiveness, not one fortunate night. He finished fourth in April and brings six victories from this season into Friday's race. His ability to spend substantial portions of an evening near the front makes him a natural starting point for the contender discussion.

Creed's argument is more immediate. His No. 00 team has opened the Chase with consecutive top-two finishes, and he explained in Bristol's race advance that the Gateway crew kept adjusting until the balance improved. That ability to recover within a race matters when the next track offers little breathing room. Creed was sixth in the spring Bristol race, so the recent momentum has a respectable local result behind it.

Carson Kvapil and Jesse Love prevent this from becoming a two-driver preview. Love finally earned his first 2026 victory at Gateway after moving past Kvapil with 16 laps left. Kvapil led 105 laps before finishing fifth; Love led 70 and won Stage 2. One left with the trophy, but both demonstrated the sustained speed fantasy players want to identify before Bristol.

Sam Mayer deserves attention alongside his Haas Factory Team teammate. His third at Gateway followed a strong Chase opener, and Speedway Digest reports 84 championship points across those two races. That is a useful measure of recent execution, although it is separate from FantasyJolt scoring. Mayer gives the Friday practice session another front-running car to evaluate beyond the most obvious championship pairing.

Kyle Larson led 230 of 300 laps and swept the stages in April. Connor Zilisch nevertheless won after crew chief Rodney Childers kept the No. 1 on track during the late tire decision. Zilisch defended the lead on older rubber and beat Larson by 0.703 seconds. Brent Crews used the same stay-out approach to finish third.

Neither Zilisch nor Larson is entered in Friday's O'Reilly race. The lesson survives their absence: a dominant car can surrender its preferred position when the field splits on pit strategy. Kvapil now drives the No. 1 with Childers listed as crew chief, adding an intriguing connection between April's winning decision and Friday's contender list.

Goodyear's fall combination adds a reason to study practice rather than simply replay April. The left-side tire has already raced at Bristol this year, while the complete pairing was used at Pocono, Indianapolis and Iowa. Teams receive five dry-weather sets in total: one for practice, one qualifying set carried into the race and three new race sets. Fresh tires are a resource to manage, and their actual advantage must be measured against the positions a stop costs.

Day and Sawalich bring consecutive weekends of contact to a short track. Their Gateway collision ended Day's race and damaged Allgaier's car, illustrating how a dispute can reach drivers outside it. That history merits attention without assuming another incident is inevitable. Day finished eighth at Bristol in April, while Sawalich qualified on the pole and finished seventh; both have competitive reasons to focus on this race.

Austin Hill also carries a specific complication. NASCAR confirmed his No. 21 would lose pit selection at Bristol because of a Gateway inspection penalty. That does not determine his Friday result, but it removes a choice his team would ordinarily earn. Watch his race pace and eventual pit location together before treating a strong qualifying lap as a complete picture.

The field has a qualifying contest at the other end, too. Frontstretch's entry report identifies Jake Finch in JR Motorsports' No. 9 and Andrew Patterson in Jordan Anderson Racing's No. 32. With 39 entries and 38 available places, confirm who makes the race before selecting anyone from the entry list.

FantasyJolt uses five drivers under a $50 cap, with A through E worth 2.0x, 1.75x, 1.5x, 1.25x and 1.0x. Bristol's 300 laps create opportunities for laps-led points, while finishes and stage performance remain important. Place differential does not score here, so a driver starting deep is not automatically a bargain.

Allgaier, Creed, Kvapil and Love form the first group to compare for the highest multipliers. Mayer and Crews belong in that discussion if practice supports them. These are editorial watch lists, not a projected finishing order: assess who can maintain speed through traffic and remain competitive after the opening laps of a run.

As of September 17, the final FantasyJolt salary board and race-specific projections are not ready for a dependable priced lineup. Qualifying is also pending. Avoid treating an early displayed price as a verified value opportunity; the useful decision now is which drivers to watch, then how their final prices fit together.

Before locking a team, confirm the starting field, check updated salaries and compare the strongest sustained practice runs. Reserve the biggest multipliers for drivers whose expected scoring justifies them, then use the remaining budget to complete five viable selections. Friday will supply the missing evidence; Bristol has already supplied plenty of reasons to pay attention.