Ryan Blaney started the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season hot. Unfortunately, the finishes tell a different story. Yes, he finished runner-up in the season opening Daytona 500, but the young Penske driver had arguably one of the fastest cars the next two weeks as well.

He was leading at the end of the next race in Las Vegas before Ross Chastain brought out a late race caution. Alex Bowman was charging him down, so even if the caution doesn’t come out and Bowman got by, he still would have finished second. The next race in Fontana, he was running second again to Bowman in the final laps before a tire went down. In Phoenix, he was crashed out early.

Then, COVID-19 hit. After a 70 day break, Blaney picked up where he left off. He finished third in both races at Charlotte and looks to keep his No. 12 Ford shining again in Sunday’s Food City 500 (3:30 pm ET/FOX/PRN).

Blaney has one top five in his career at Bristol, but he does have three straight top 10s and four in his last five tries overall. He’s also led 100 or more laps in three of his last four Bristol starts as well.

His Penske teammates of Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski have combined to win three of the eight races this season, so why not Blaney finding victory in himself.

Logano does have seven top 10s in his last nine on the high banked .533-mile Tennessee oval including a third last year, one spot ahead of Blaney. Brad Keselowski was third in the Bristol night race last August for his lone top 10 in the last eight races there.