Radical idea: NASCAR championship of ovals, road courses and dirt tracks!
It's coming......you heard it first on Tampa Racing.
........Heat races on tap for Bristol dirt...

Image courtesy of BMS
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emailBy Kelly Crandall | February 26, 2021 8:42 AM

The dirt weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway will have both practice and heat races, NASCAR announced this week.

Being a new configuration on this year’s schedule, Bristol is one of the eight races where NASCAR Cup Series teams will be allowed to practice. But officials have added heat races to determine the starting line-up for the Food City Dirt Race.

Two 50-minute practice sessions will be on Friday, March 26. There will be four heat races, 15 laps in length, run on Saturday, March 27.

The race’s green flag is set for shortly after 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 28. The race is scheduled for 250 laps, with stages ending on laps 75 and 150.

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Camping World Truck Series teams will also compete on the dirt at Bristol. Two practice sessions for Truck Series teams will be on Friday, March 26, followed by four heat races (also 15 laps) and the 150-lap main race on Saturday, March 27.

After running at Eldora Speedway for the past seven seasons, Truck Series teams will run two dirt races this season. However, Eldora has fallen off the schedule, and the dirt races will be at Bristol and Knoxville Raceway.

Bristol marks the first time since 1970 that Cup Series teams will run on dirt.

 

https://www.tamparacing.com/forums/a...ml#post9437615

 

NASCAR’s debut on Bristol Motor Speedway’s dirt-track layout won’t be a one-off.

Track owner Speedway Motorsports Inc. announced that its spring NASCAR weekend in 2022 will be held on the dirt. The announcement was made during Monday’s Food City Dirt Race, the NASCAR Cup Series’ first event on a dirt track since 1970.

Mercy sakes!
In Richard Petty's day, they raced on asphalt and also dirt.
Richard Petty had a car for each kind of track.
These days each NASCAR team has at least 20 cars.
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Now I guess they will have 21.
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Bristol dirt weekend set to return for 2022 NASCAR season

 

Two heavy favorites — dirt-track experts Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson — were snared by an early crash, hampering their efforts in Monday’s Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

RELATED: Official results

Bell looped his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota on the 51st of 253 laps in Turn 2, collecting the No. 5 Chevrolet of Larson and the No. 42 Chevy of Ross Chastain in its wake. Bell and Chastain were sidelined for the afternoon by the collision, and Larson lost two laps for repairs with substantial damage.

“Way to go, Bell. Way to go,” Larson told his team after the incident. He continued and finished 29th, five laps in arrears.

After a check at the infield care center, Bell explained he lost control shortly after the water truck rounded the half-mile oval as part of the in-race track prep during the first competition caution period. Both drivers have already scratched the win column this year, but their early tangle kept them from a return trip to Victory Lane.

“I was just trying to run the water in under yellow,” said Bell, who was credited with 34th finishing position. “I knew it was a little bit slick, but I felt like I could go up there and make some time and I kind of entered shallow underneath of it and tried to pick it up on exit and it was just really greasy up there. I hate it for all of our partners – Irwin Tools, PristineAuction.com, Toyota, TRD. That was a lot of fun, being able to be out there for that first run was really cool and hate it that I can’t be out there longer.”

 

Picture: click:
Early crash sidelines Christopher Bell, damages Kyle Larson on Bristol dirtNascar

 

Nemechek-Crafton incident sparks tempers in garage after Trucks’ Bristol dirt race

By
Chase Wilhelm NASCAR.com March 29, 2021 at 3:41 PMAn incident with John Hunter Nemechek and Matt Crafton led to a scuffle in the garage after the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on the Bristol Motor Speedway dirt.

Nemechek went for a spin early in Stage 2 after Crafton ran into the back of his truck. While stopped in the top lane, Nemechek was then hit again, this time by the No. 19 truck of Derek Kraus. Both the Crafton and Nemechek teams were chippy on the radio after the incident.

After climbing out of the No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota, Nemechek gave Crafton a sarcastic round of applause as Crafton drove by under caution.

RELATED: Truex wins Bristol dirt Truck race

Then, No. 88 crew chief Carl “Junior” Joiner had this to say over the radio shortly after the incident: “Better keep the crew chief (of Nemechek) under (expletive) order before I punch him in his (expletive) throat. Don’t you ever (expletive) stare at me like that.”

Nemechek was later released from the infield care center where he took shots at the teams of Crafton and Kraus.

“I don’t know. Matt (Crafton) just flat ran over me,” Nemechek told FS1. “That one will be in the memory bank. We were fine. Didn’t hit anything and then there toward the end of that whole deal, the 19 (Kraus) … I guess he and his spotter both need a pair of glasses. I’ll have those for him at Richmond (Raceway).”

Kraus’ spotter, Freddie Kraft, tweeted this in response after the No. 19 truck was forced to retire due to damage.
"Tell that turkey that I prefer Maui Jim's".

 

Racing on dirt, cussing, spitting on the ground, and fighting.

Let's hear it for NASCAR! WOO HOO!
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Joey Logano savors historic win in NASCAR Cup Series’ return to dirt at Bristol

Your browser does not support the audio element.By
Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service March 29, 2021 at 7:21 PMJoey Logano made history Monday afternoon.

Leading the final 61 laps in the face of a determined charge by Denny Hamlin, Logano won the rain-delayed Food City Dirt Race in overtime at Bristol Motor Speedway, the first dirt-track race for the NASCAR Cup Series since 1970.

But there won’t be that long a gap in the future, given BMS executive and general manager Jerry Caldwell announced during the race that NASCAR will return to the Bristol dirt in 2022.

RELATED: Official results | Dirt weekend in photos

Logano grabbed the lead from Daniel Suarez on Lap 193 of a scheduled 250 and held it the rest of the way through a caution for the second stage break and a late yellow that sent the race three laps beyond the prescribed distance.

On the final restart on Lap 252, Logano pulled away, as Hamlin tried and failed to find grip in the outside lane and fell to third behind runner-up Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Logano’s winning margin over Stenhouse was .554 seconds.

Logano is the seventh consecutive different winner in seven races this season.

“Man, it’s incredible,” said Logano, who won the second straight race for Team Penske and the 27th of his career, extending his streak of at least one victory per year to 10 years. “How about Bristol on dirt? This is an incredible, unbelievable race track — great job by everyone that prepped the track. Obviously, a lot of work over here the last few days (because of rain that forced postponement from Sunday). We did a lot of work in the dirt department here the last few week. …

“Great car, obviously, to be able to execute the race that we did and get a win. I was getting nervous. There were so many first-time winners and different winners than there has typically been. I said, ‘We’ve got to get a win to make sure we get in the playoffs,’ so it’s amazing to get this Shell/Pennzoil Mustang into Victory Lane at Bristol. There’s nothing like winning at Bristol, but putting dirt on it and being the first to do it is really special.”

Despite late brushes with the outside wall as he chased Logano, Hamlin now has three third-place finishes and six top fives this season.

“I really couldn’t see a whole lot,” Hamlin said, referring to the dusty conditions late in the race. “I was kind of guessing. I thought I could, on that last restart, run the top in hard, but they didn’t prep it in between cautions the way they did before. It was just marbles up there.

“Man, I thought I had a shot there. I cut the 22 (Logano) too many breaks there when he was cutting us off. They had a little better car, it looked like, there in the long run. Proud of this whole team — we’re third best again.”

Suarez held fourth place, followed by Ryan Newman. William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, Erik Jones and reigning series champion Chase Elliott in the top 10.

Two of the experienced dirt drivers expected to battle for the victory were eliminated from contention in one dramatic wreck two laps after the restart that followed the first competition caution.

Running second on Lap 53, Christopher Bell spun in the top lane in Turn 2. Kyle Larson, running the top lane behind Bell, plowed into his chief dirt-track rival in a wreck that also involved Kevin Harvick and Ross Chastain.

MORE: Bell, Larson tangle early

“Way to go, Bell — way to go,” Larson said sarcastically on his team radio after the wreck.

Larson, at least, was able to continue but lost two laps during repairs. Bell and Chastain fell out of the race in 34th and 35th place, respectively. Larson finished 29th, five laps down.

“I was just trying to run the water in under yellow,” Bell said after a visit to the infield care center. “I knew it was a little bit slick, but I felt like I could go up there and make some time, and I kind of entered shallow underneath of it and tried to pick it up on exit, and it was just really greasy up there.

“That was a lot of fun, being able to be out there for that first run was really cool and hate it that I can’t be out there longer.”

An earlier wreck had given Martin Truex Jr. a fright during his quest to win both a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race and NASCAR Cup Series event on the same day. (Truex had won the Truck race that started at noon.) Aric Almirola spun on Lap 41 as part of a five-car incident that unfolded in front of Truex, who was leading at the time. Truex barely managed to dodge the crash.

“Holy crap — that was close!” a relieved Truex said on his team radio. But Truex’s luck didn’t hold. After winning the first stage leading a race-high 126 laps, he cut a tire while running third on the final lap of overtime and finished 19th.

The NASCAR Cup Series will be idle next weekend for the Easter holiday, returning to action April 10 at Martinsville Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Note: Post-race inspection in the NASCAR Cup Series garage revealed no issues other than the normal
cheating and $10,000 fines for loose lugnuts........

 

OPINION: NASCAR on dirt's a winner – with a few caveats

Kinrade/Motorsport Images
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emailBy Kelly Crandall | March 30, 2021 9:17 AM

It was different, dirty, and not without its challenges. But the inaugural dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway seemed to be as successful as it could have been. At least for a first attempt.

FNASCAR’s Steve O’Donnell said in the immediate aftermath of the Food City Dirt Race that officials learned a lot from the weekend. And since we already know we’ll be doing this again next season, they have a year to make changes. Reconsidering the race’s length and running it during the day would be a great place to start.

A 250-lap dirt race is pretty long, especially when you consider that the tires weren’t up to the task of going more than 50 laps at a time. Over the next 12 months, Goodyear and NASCAR will undoubtedly be looking at ways to address that.

And choosing to run the race in the middle of the day led to the middle portion of the day naturally resulted in the place looking like a giant dust bowl. That resulted in NASCAR calling an audible and going to single-file restarts at the lap 170 mark.

But again, lessons were learned, and for the most part, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

“I don’t know if there’s different dirt that doesn’t produce as much dust as this one,” Denny Hamlin said. “I know they really did a lot of research on the dirt itself. A couple of them said if you didn’t run during the daylight, dust wouldn’t be as bad.

“I thought the racing was good. It really was. It was almost like the old Bristol. If you got out of the lane, you got shuffled. That part of it was really encouraging. For fans’ sake, for visibility of the drivers’ sake, I think a lot of the wrecks happened because of the dust, and we couldn’t see anything.”
Hamlin thinks visibility needs to be addressed, but is otherwise a fan of Cup’s dirt foray. Kinrade/Motorsport Images

Track conditions were far from ideal. After two days of heavy storms, the track needed hours of work before the Truck and Cup Series races on Monday. Fortunately, bright sunshine helped dry the track, so it wasn’t a mud mess like the only lap of the Truck Series heat race they attempted to run on Saturday night.

“Steve (Swift of SMI) and the boys did a great job,” said Ricky Stenhouse Jr. “Obviously, you can’t have it wet with the cars overheating and our grill screens, windshields, and things like that. They prepped the track to the best of their ability. All the rain didn’t help. They reacted, did stuff as best they could.

“I think they did a great job. May have got a little bit behind there. When we started running single file, all the dust just sat in that second lane. I was one advocating for single-file restarts. I felt like NASCAR did a great job adapting to that because, like Steve O’Donnell said, that’s things that you see in dirt racing when track conditions just change and kind of are out of your control at that point. But I think it made the racing better, a lot better there at the end. Hats off to everybody at NASCAR and everybody on the track crew.”

It could have been worse; most probably were expecting it to be. Heavy stock cars on dirt in the middle of the day seemed like a recipe for bad things to happen. Leave it to the best drivers in the sport to prove those notions wrong, although it was nice to see mistakes were still costly and Bristol, whether concrete or dirt, could still tear up some race cars.

“We had a lot of fun today,” said William Byron.

Said Ryan Newman, “That was fun, no doubt.”

For something so different, it was fun. Despite the challenges and conditions, give NASCAR and Bristol, as well as the teams, credit for making it work. Sure, it wasn’t perfect, but the good news is that it wasn’t a disaster and should be better next time.

Bristol, Insights & Analysis, NASCAR