Welcome to the Round of 16 elimination race: The NASCAR playoff field will shrink to 12 following the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday in Bristol, Tenn.

What better place to knock out four drivers than Bristol? The short track has a long history of putting racers out of contention and ending their visits with battered cars skidding down the concrete, half-mile bullring.

Austin Dillon (-11 points), Shane van Gisbergen (-15), Alex Bowman (-35) and Josh Berry (-45) lurk below the cut line and need a big Saturday night in the Blue Ridge Mountains in order to advance to the Round of 12 and keep title hopes alive.

It’s a terribly tall task for all four.

Of the quartet, Dillon, Bowman and Berry have the short-track background to perhaps work their way to a clutc

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