BRISTOL, Tennessee. – NASCAR feverishly tried to prevent its vaunted first Cup Series dirt race since 1970 from turning into a total disaster, which has not happened since the 2008 tire disaster in Indianapolis, one of the worst events in the history of the sport.
The Cup Series is scheduled to run on Sunday at the Bristol Motor Speedway, where 2,300 red clay trucks from Tennessee filled the famous bull ring for an experimental attempt – some may claim it was misleading – in a grassroots race.
But the dirt, the 28-degree Bristol seat and cars weighing 3,400 pounds seem to be a terrible fit.
Yes, drivers had a lot of fun playing on the land, some for the first time since they were children. But four Friday practice sessions showed that the tires cannot withstand heavy wear. The three layers of dirt acted like a cheese grater and the tires, in turn, dug deep marks on the surface.
“The track is getting closer and just big divots. It is definitely not smooth,” said Ryan Blaney, who was the fastest driver in the World Cup on Friday.
Guided by drivers Kyle Larson and Austin Dillon, who raced all week in Bristol, NASCAR made several procedural changes on Saturday in a desperate attempt to save Sunday’s 250 lap race.
The first stage was extended by 25 laps, the second stage by 50 laps and two competition warnings were added. NASCAR also distributed an extra set of tires to the teams.
Additional competition notices create additional opportunities for track preparation.
“We need this show to be great,” said Scott Miller, vice president of competition at NASCAR. “We need to err on the side of caution.”
NASCAR is also facing climate challenges – heavy rains drenched the land and delayed Saturday’s activities.
“We didn’t want to end up in a situation where we had 20 blown up asses and we’re talking about the Bristol dirt show 20 years later, as if we’re talking about what happened in Indy,” said Miller.
That “thing” at Indy in 2008 ruined fans’ appetite for NASCAR at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Goodyear tires used on NASCAR’s new car model that year couldn’t handle the loads and started to explode during the race. To mitigate the damage, NASCAR issued competition notices every 10 or more laps to force teams to look for new tires.
There were 11 precautions for 52 laps in a 160 lap race – an average of nine green flag race laps per stretch – and fans still haven’t forgotten.
More than 400,000 attended the Indianapolis 500 event, but attendance at NASCAR events fell well below 100,000. This year’s Brickyard will be held on the road course after 27 years in the famous oval.
Bristol also made a bold change this year, converting its facilities into a dirt race as part of the radical changes to the 2021 schedule. NASCAR needed a big shake-up and the dirt race was joined by an influx of race tracks and new ones. locations for the most adventurous programming in the history of the sport.
Bristol, which calls itself “The Last Great Coliseum”, wanted to get in on the action. The track has had 55 consecutive seats and was one of the most difficult tickets in the sport. But its spring run faced a steep decline in attendance, as an ever-changing race date presented annual climate concerns.
So when NASCAR’s broadcast partner Fox pushed for a dirty race on the World Cup schedule, Speedway Motorsports said Bristol would be the guinea pig.
The decision infuriated Tony Stewart, who successfully hosted seven Truck series races on his Eldora Speedway dirt track in Ohio, but was passed over for a coveted Cup Series encounter.
Nonetheless, Stewart pulled the Truck series out of Eldora’s schedule this season and openly wondered if Speedway Motorsports would be able to handle the challenges of a dirt race.
Bristol had been turned into garbage for the World of Outlaws in 2000 and 2001, and Speedway Motorsports has hosted dirt events at other facilities with mixed reviews. Conditions on the dirt track in Charlotte last November created a blinding dust cloud, but Bristol seemed to have found out last week, when it hosted a week of smooth runs.
Saturday’s qualifying races for the Truck series barely took a turn before thick mud hardened the windshields and reduced visibility to zero.
“I honestly thought they would go to the corner and never double,” said Larson, one of seven regular World Cup players who participated in the Truck series event.
NASCAR stopped the race and sent the latest car models to the track to go around and get some water out of the ground.
“It’s probably the most uncomfortable I’ve ever been in a race car, ” said Kevin Harvick, racing his first race in the Truck series since 2015.“ Conditions very, very unsafe so far, when it comes to vision. I just had to look to the left and tell you what you know about the race track. ”