Filed under: Bristol Motor Speedway, Speedway Motorsports Inc., NASCAR Tracks, Sprint Cup

When the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers roll off pit road at Bristol Motor Speedway for the first practice for the March 21 Food City 500, they will encounter a new change to the half-mile track -- the third in the last 7 races.

Track officials at the northeast Tennessee speedway announced Wednesday that additional SAFER barrier has been added to the outside walls at the exits of both turns 2 and 4 -- a move that, interestingly enough, is more about changing the racing than making the track safer.

Racing at the track became decidedly different after a much-needed replacement of the concrete surface in the summer of 2007. Trying to make the track more of a multiple groove venue that facilitated side-by-side racing, management widened the track by about four feet while adjusting the banking in the corner to feature a varying degree of banking that increased from the bottom to the top.

The result proved wildly popular with drivers who found more room to race and make passes, while many fans were upset, believing the Bristol of old had left the building. Simply, more room for the drivers meant less on-track contact and ultimately fewer crashes and heated tempers, two elements that had made the 160,000-seat bowl of speed the toughest ticket in NASCAR.

Ticket sales -- many attributed to fewer corporate buyers -- have slowed at the track in the last year or so, making seats easily available for the first time, at least March race tickets or season tickets, anyway. For years, especially before tens of thousands of new seats were added, the track had a massive waiting list for tickets to the Sprint Cup night race in August.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments