The biggest block party in history is taking place this week in Thunder Valley when they’ll be overflowing off of Highway 394 into Bristol Motor Speedway for the annual NASCAR race under the lights. Throughout the entire area, there are several parties happening. Should you not come as prepared as many do with all the fixings, most of the folks will welcome you into their area like you’ve been friends or family for years. The smoke BBQ fills the air, the ice chests are filled with the coldest beverages, and you sing “Rocky Top” in unison in what has to be the greatest party man has ever known.

The party and celebration is simply because there may be no better entertainment in the world for some of these folks and they’re darn happy about having a ticket to get in. So why not celebrate and be thankful?

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Truth is, the Bristol night race is the most sought after ticket in NASCAR. It is one of those races that’s always sold out and those who have tickets aren’t too easily bought out. In comparison, perhaps a Yankees/Red Sox game could compare, but they play 22 times. The Bristol night race is once a year and only 170,000 lucky people can go.

They ran the spring race in Bristol back in March. It was a day race, which normally keeps the tempers and aggressiveness of the drivers to a minimum, but this year some let it fly and it turned out to be pretty good TV.

The night race traditionally has evoked battles, fights, and rivalries with some drivers that last forever. Grudges are held and kept throughout some drivers careers just because of happenings on the track. The layout of the track can be noted as the culprit, or instigator. The track is a half mile, but because of the banking, it’s the fastest half-mile track in the world. When you get all these drivers bunched together where there is only a small window for making passes, road rage takes over.

The night race only magnifies it. Not sure if they get their juices flowing a little more at night, if it’s the moon, or if they want to show that prime-time audience at home a good show. It may be a little bit of all 3, but whatever it is, it’s definitely worthy of a great party, with BBQ and singing.

In the March race, all 3 Childress cars finished in the top 3 with Jeff Burton winning. That race went into 6 laps of overtime which essentially cost the race for Denny Hamlin. Unfortunately for Hamlin, Burton had much fresher tires and took him on the re-start where Hamlin was a sitting duck. The main fireworks occurred when Kevin Harvick, who finished 2nd, punted Tony Stewart, who was in 2nd, with two laps to go and caused the caution, which ultimately caused Hamlin to lose.

In that race, the Gibbs tandem of Stewart and Hamlin led 365 of the 506 laps run. Jeff Burton led just two laps and it was the only time he led all day.

Is it possible that we may see the same drivers competing for a win again this week? It’s likely and almost probable, but I wouldn’t expect Stewart to sit and wait to be punted again. I believe Stewart will come up with his first win of the season it will be him doing the punting.

Harvick and Stewart call themselves friends. After they mixed it up in that race, both took the blame. But I think Stewart has a different perspective on it after watching the replay. Because of Harvick’s great career record at Bristol it is likely that he’ll be in a position where Stewart just may be able to extract some revenge.

Clint Bowyer led 81 laps in the March race and was our pick to win the race at 25 to 1. He finished 3rd for the 2nd consecutive Bristol race, but wasn’t good at the end of the race. The team is really struggling right now and getting back into that chassis that has been so good for the last two seasons. No more surprises with Bowyer however. His odds will be in the 15 to 1 range.

TOP 5 BRISTOL Finish Prediction:

1- #20 Tony Stewart (6/1)
2- #29 Kevin Harvick (11/1)
3-#11 Denny Hamlin (6/1)
4- #18 Kyle Busch (7/1)
5- #88 Dale Earnhardt Jr (9/1)

Micah Roberts is a Race and Sports Director for Station Casinos in Las Vegas , Nevada who covers motor sports from both a bettor and bookmaker's perspective.