Logano wins in a haze of Bristol dirt
Truex Jr. dominates in runaway trucks victory
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Somewhere under the thick red haze floating over Bristol Motor Speedway, Joey Logano took the checkered flag for NASCAR’s first Cup Series race at a dirt track in 50 years.
He couldn’t see much — visibility was next to nothing during this Monday dust storm — but Logano clung to the familiar bottom lane around the bullring to collect the checkered flag on this NASCAR experiment.
Logano got a jump on Denny Hamlin on the overtime restart to earn his third career victory at Bristol. But this was not the Bristol of old, the track had been covered with 2,300 truckloads of red Tennessee clay so that NASCAR could add a dirt track to the Cup schedule for the first time since 1970.
“How about Bristol on dirt, guys! This is incredible,” Logano said to the crowd, a reduced capacity sellout of about 30,000 fans.
“There’s nothing like winning at Bristol, but putting it on dirt and being the first to do it is very special.”
Logano became the seventh race winner through seven races this season and gave Team Penske back-to-back victories. Ryan Blaney won in a Penske Ford last week.
The Logano victory closed a weekend of uncertainty and even some hysteria as NASCAR launched this drive through the dirt. It was broadcast partner Fox who wanted a dirt race on the Cup schedule and Speedway Motorsports, seeking some new energy at its beloved Bristol bullring, said it would take the race.
So NASCAR awarded the experiment to Bristol, bypassing dozens of quality established dirt tracks across the country. The snub extended to Tony Stewart, who had successfully hosted seven Truck Series races at his Eldora Speedway dirt track in Ohio but said it was never considered for a Cup race.
Marcus Smith, the CEO of Speedway Motorsports, insisted concrete Bristol was up to the challenge and he told The Associated Press he’d spent nearly $2 million to make the dirt dream a reality.
Smith was pleased with the buzz generated by the event, even as NASCAR huddled for solutions to extreme dust, poor tire durability and shifting weather conditions that made the buildup a muddy mess. When race day finally arrived, torrential overnight rains had flooded the Bristol grounds and NASCAR had to postpone Sunday’s show by a day.
Through all the consternation, Smith remained optimistic and headed to the track Monday morning convinced this dirt project was a success. The final product was a doubleheader — Martin Truex Jr. won his first Truck Series race in 15 years — and then Logano closed the Cup race with the overtime victory.
Everyone seemed happy, and before the race was even over, the track announced over the public address system that Bristol would run on dirt again next season.
“It’s only my fourth dirt race ever, so I had a lot of fun trying to figure it out,” Logano said. “I was having a blast racing, trying to find the right lanes, moving around.”
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., a veteran dirt racer, was second for his highest finish of the season. Hamlin, who had last raced on dirt in go-karts when he was 8, finished third.
Daniel Suarez was a season-best fourth for new team Trackhouse Racing, which is part-owned by Pitbull.
TRUCKS: Martin Truex Jr. entered the Truck Series race for the first time in 15 years just to get extra laps on the dirt surface at Bristol Motor Speedway.
That reconnaissance mission turned into a runaway victory for Truex, who dominated the Monday afternoon race and then quickly turned his attention to the main event.
NASCAR’s first Cup Series race at a dirt track was delayed a day when torrential rain flooded Bristol’s parking lots and campgrounds and turned Monday into a doubleheader. Truex was one of seven Cup drivers entered in the trucks’ opener in their attempt to learn how to race the surface.
Bristol is a 0.533-mile concrete bullring that was covered in three layers of red Tennessee clay in NASCAR’s attempt to add versatility to its schedule. The Truck Series raced seven times on dirt at Eldora Speedway in Ohio but it had been 50 years since NASCAR’s elite got down into the mud.
Truex, who ran one Truck Series race in both 2005 and 2006, had almost no dirt experience before Bristol. He led 105 of the 150 laps, won all three stages and beat series regulars Ben Rhodes, Raphael Lessard and Todd Gilliland for the win.
Chase Briscoe, a Cup Series rookie with a dirt racing background, finished fourth.