Tennessee drivers ready for Bristol

Josh Berry and Chad Finchum are two Tennessee drivers expected to be in the field for Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Berry, a full-time Cup Series driver from Hendersonville, will be behind the wheel of the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford. Knoxville racer Finchum will be making his first start of the season with the No. 66 Ford for the Garage 66 team. It hasn't been near as good start to the season for Berry when he won last season at Las Vegas. He still feels confident with a pair of top-10 finishes in the first seven races "I feel pretty good about where we're at. There are a lot of strong tracks for us coming up," Berry said. "We had a solid day at Darlington, a day that we needed, and then had a really good car at Martinsville. Unfortunately, we just kind of lost some track position here or there to take us out of a top five, but we ended up 10th there, so I think there are a lot of positives." The off weekend came at the perfect time for Berry, a 33 year-old who went to the same high school as global music star Taylor Swift and two-time Indianapolis 500 champion Josef Newgarden. He's yet to achieve that notoriety, but feels like he could be a headline grabber at Bristol. "It seems like we struggled a little bit more with our short-track program at Phoenix than we expected, but obviously had a really good car at Martinsville," he said. "I feel good about everything we've been doing this week to prepare for Bristol. It's obviously a little different aero package and horsepower, so there's going to be some adapting for everybody." Berry has two 12th place finishes in four previous Bristol races. While the cars have 200 more horsepower this time at the "Last Great Colosseum," Berry feels the tire fall-off won't be as big a difference as some expect." Like many of the drivers, Berry's first experience at Bristol was as a fan. The first time he circled the "World's Fastest Half-Mile" he was blown away by the speed. But, what is the key to a good race at Bristol? Sometimes, it means going slower to go fast. "Corner speeds are obviously really fast there and you have to be secure and stable to be able to roll the speed in the corner to make the lap time," he said. " It's hard to drive the car if it's really on edge. You just have to go slower, so I think that's the biggest thing we're working on and looking forward to. I think we did a pretty good job of that last year and hopefully we can do it again on Sunday." FAST TIMES FOR FINCHUM Finchum, a former Kingsport Speedway and Lonesome Pine Raceway track champion, has a sponsor from Knoxville, Brian King Roofing on his No. 66 Ford. King, a dirt-track driver on the side, actually raced at BMS before when the track was covered in clay. It will be Finchum's first Cup Series start of the season after three races last season. His only NASCAR national series race this year has been the O'Reilly Series race at Atlanta where he finished 17th. He talked about the challenges of racing at Bristol as a part-time competitor. "You have to be ready when you strap in that car. All the banking and lateral G-force it loads on you is a toll," he said. "It's fast and happens so quick, you can get caught up in an accident even if you're a straightway back. You have to be on your toes and have luck on your side." Finchum won in an ARCA Series (then K&N Series) race at Bristol in 2016 for former NASCAR driver Eric McClure. He hoped it would lead to a top-tier ride in one of the top three series. That never happened, although Finchum is still grateful for getting to race on a part-time basis. He often relives that victory. "It was a Cinderella story with an Abingdon team and a Knoxville driver teaming together to win Bristol," Finchum said. "I was on top of the world."