NASCAR in dirt for 1st time since ’70
Don’t wear white to Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend. Pack a pair of goggles and be prepared to get really dirty.
Bristol has trucked 23,000 cubic yards of dirt into its famed bullring to host NASCAR’s first Cup Series race on literal earth since 1970. This wild experiment was pushed by broadcast partner Fox at the same time NASCAR was looking to diversify its uninspiring schedule.
Speedway Motorsports said it was game — elbowing out Tony Stewart and his well-established Eldora Speedway dirt track in Ohio — and offered up “The Last Great Coliseum” for Sunday’s adventure.
Once one of the toughest tickets in all sports with a 55race sellout streak from 1982 through 2010, Bristol lost some of its luster when its spring race date bounced all over the NASCAR calendar. Fans grew tired of expensive
local hotel rates and unpredictable weather — it snowed during the 2006 race weekend — but a dirt race gives Bristol a chance to re-establish itself as a bucket list event.
The buzz hasn’t stopped since the race was announced last year, and Bristol, which hosted the World of Outlaws on dirt in 2000 and 2001, began the enormous project.
A layer of sawdust was spread over the 0.533-mile concrete oval and then 2,300 truckloads of dirt were dumped on the track.
The next layer is soil from the Outlaws races two decades ago, followed by dirt from a campground near the track and a final top layer from nearby Bluff City.
The track is done and Bristol successfully hosted late model racing all last week as a tune-up for the event. The Bristol Dirt Nationals drew a handful of current Cup drivers who wanted to get a look at the surface and they included Kyle Larson, one of the winningest dirt racers in the country.