Concrete better than Dirt for NASCAR at Bristol

Saturday’s Cup Series race featured a run-in between Kevin Harvick(4) and Chase Elliott(Photo: Getty Images)

The sister site to this one, InsideDirtRacing.com, is obviously dedicated to the coverage of dirt racing so the title of this piece may get this writer in trouble with some of his readers. But this past weekend clearly demonstrated that, for NASCAR at least, the concrete surface at the Bristol Motor Speedway made for better racing than the clay surface installed around the half-mile oval back in the spring.

As a matter of fact, it would be hard to image a better collective trio of races than those contested by the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and the NASCAR Cup Series on successive days at the high-banked track located in upper east Tennessee. All three of those races featured great racing that led to exciting finishes.

It’s not that the racing back in March on Bristol’s dirt surface was bad. There was drama, intensity, and entertainment. But on the other hand, those events were no match for this past weekend’s races.

Thursday’s Truck Series race featured a first time winner who used that victory to advance in the Playoffs. Friday’s Xfinity Series race saw multiple lead changes over the closing laps with the top-2 cars literally sliding sideways across the finish line. And when it seemed as if those scenarios could not be topped, the Cup Series contest had a controversial incident between two of the sport’s biggest stars that spilled over into a post-race verbal confrontation.

Bristol’s more recent Cup Series races have produced similar situations. Joey Logano and Chase Elliott found themselves in a post-race “discussion” after Brad Keselowski took the checkered flag in May of 2020 serves as an example.

The dirt covered turns three & four at Bristol Motor Speedway

This is not to say that I don’t want Bristol covered in dirt again. I enjoyed the Karl Kustoms Bristol Dirt Nationals and the World of Outlaws-sanctioned events held before and after the spring NASCAR weekend. And as was said earlier, the NASCAR races on dirt weren’t terrible, but they did not match up with this weekend’s offerings.

And more, I’m not against NASCAR racing on dirt. I just don’t like the fact that one of the sport’s top short track races is sacrificed for it. If the leaders of NASCAR want their form of motorsports to be featured on clay, they should do so on an actual dirt track so that there can still be two event weekends on the surface meant for racing in Bristol.

If BMS wants to have some sort of dirt extravaganza for dirt-specific cars in the summer or some other time of year, that would be great.

Again, it’s okay for NASCAR to try new things but just don’t give up something that is a known winner. After all, there have been a number of road courses added to the schedule over the past few seasons which gives those drivers who have more experience in that form of racing a chance to shine. Racing at a track such as Eldora Speedway, Knoxville Raceway or Lucas Oil Speedway would be great dirt additions to the schedule.

But as far as Bristol is concerned, it is meant for concrete and this past weekend showed that.

Richard Allen is a member of the National Motorsports Press Association

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