BRISTOL, Tenn. — Martin Truex Jr. doesn’t wish to be the heel and has spent his racing profession making an attempt to keep away from being that kind of driver.

But because the regular-season champion heads into Saturday night time’s elimination race exterior a switch spot, Truex was requested by NBC Sports if he should be a jerk on the monitor this time.

“It’s possible,” he stated.

Is he snug with that?

“No, of course not.”

That Truex would contemplate being the kind of driver who places the bumper to a different competitor reveals the depth of those playoffs. Then once more, the regular-season champion has by no means been eradicated within the first spherical of the playoffs.

Should Truex advance, the factors will reset and he’ll be again among the many leaders coming into the subsequent spherical.

He’s bought to get there first.

Friday night time was begin. Truex certified fifth.

Kevin Harvick holds the ultimate switch spot and is seven factors forward of Truex. Reigning Cup champion Joey Logano is 12 factors forward of Truex. Chris Buescher and Christopher Bell every are 13 factors forward of Truex.

Logano begins twenty eighth, Buescher certified twentieth and Bell starts on the pole for the race (6:30 p.m. ET on USA Network).

There is a path to the second spherical for Truex, however aggression may very well be the important thing. His file at Bristol is abysmal for a former Cup champion. He has failed to complete extra races at Bristol (5) than he has top-10 finishes (4) on the monitor.

“All of the times we’ve run here it’s always been a flat tire or a loose wheel,” Truex stated of his woes at this monitor. “I can’t even use both hands to count all of the times that has happened. It’s just been a tough place, hopefully no bad luck (Saturday) night and we can go just have a smooth race and hopefully have the performance to get the job done.”

Harvick, who has made it recognized that in his final season in Cup he’s taking greater than giving, concedes that restraint may very well be as essential as aggression Saturday night time, particularly for these making an attempt to maneuver to the subsequent spherical of the playoffs.

“You can be forceful and do other things, but you’re gonna be aggressive and race hard and do the things that you need to do,” Harvick stated. “But, typically, if you run somebody over, you’re gonna get run back over, so you just have to balance all that stuff.”

Still, that could be arduous to keep away from doing. The backside lane can be dominant early with the PJ1 traction spray there, however it’ll put on and the sector will migrate to the highest lane.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who enters the race 19 factors out of a switch spot, says a simpler device to aggressively making a transfer is to make use of a slower automobile as a decide on the automobile one is making an attempt to go.

“I think definitely using the slower cars is the preferred way,” Stenhouse stated.

“Moving somebody running the top of the racetrack is a little more difficult. You don’t want to wreck somebody, right? When you’re running the bottom of the racetrack, you can move somebody and you don’t necessarily feel like you’re going to wreck them. You can move them off the bottom, get underneath them and make the pass.

“When you run the top, if you get into them and you’re running that close to the wall, the only option is if they move up a little bit, they’re in the fence. I don’t think any one of us wants to wreck anyone on purpose. So that’s where the bump and run, I feel like, is more difficult when we run the top of the racetrack.”

But then Stenhouse notes: “It’s going to happen. You look at the way this race plays out.”