It’s no secret that the NASCAR drivers aren’t very excited about the dirt race at Bristol this weekend.
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Bristol Motor Speedway for the the Food City 500 Dirt Race, one of two races at Bristol each season (the other being the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race).
This is the second year in a row they opted to make the Food City 500 a dirt race, and let’s just cut to the chase… nobody is really looking forward to it.
Even very experienced dirt racers like Kyle Larson (he won the regular track race at Bristol last year), are frustrated with the setup.
Whether it’s visibility, the setup of the new Next-Gen cars, the track itself, and even the walls, NASCAR is gonna have to revaluate some things before next year if they want this dirt trace to continue.
Last year’s Cup Series champ, Kyle Larson, called the setup lame, saying they should take the windshield out and put on a true dirt race:
“I feel like we’re just wasting everybody’s time, a little bit. And, not giving the fans and competitors what we all deserve.
Joey Logano agreed that they need to take the windshield out since nobody can see, and Kyle Busch went as far to say that if this weekend’s race is another disaster, they should do away with it all together.
“Cut the cord… as Richard Petty said, ‘dirt takes our sport backwards.’
It’s a mess… our cars, our tracks, it’s just not indicative of putting on a good dirt show. I’ve seen good dirt shows.”
Gotta love Kyle Busch… always bringing the sunny perspective.
But for Ryan Blaney, it’s the wall that’s gonna be a problem.
In a recent post-practice interview, he said his grip actually felt pretty good, but he couldn’t see the wall of the track which is painted black.
“It’s hard to see, not as bad as last year, but it’s still pretty rough… the sun being down definitely helped that.
The wall is painted black so you can’t see the wall, which makes it worse, so they need to paint it white, or neon, or Easter egg colors… I don’t give a shit. You need to paint it something other than black because you cant see it when it gets fusty.
But overall it’s not as bad as last year, I think the night race is gonna help it a little bit. The track seems to be ok, pretty decent.”
My man… just an FYI, I picked Ryan Blaney to win it all this year… you heard it here first.
He also added that he won’t be racing the top line up against the wall, saying that he’s not good enough to run up there consistently like Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell.
