Column: Bristol on dirt was messy, unusual entertainment

BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) — Credit score have to be given to NASCAR for in the end shaking up the established order and making an attempt new issues, irrespective of how outlandish the concept.

Progressive considering is how the Cup Sequence wound up again at dirt-covered Bristol Motor Speedway for a second consecutive 12 months, this time racing late into the night time on Easter Sunday — a beforehand taboo date for a sport deeply entrenched within the Bible Belt.

The primary version of Bristol filth final 12 months had its challenges. The two,300 truckloads of pink Tennessee clay at first turned to mud and blacked out the driving force windshields. When the filth dried out, it turned the bullring right into a blinding mud bowl. Heavy rains additionally pushed the race to the following day.

Drivers did their finest with the bizarre and unfamiliar circumstances, and even earlier than the inaugural Bristol filth race was over, Speedway Motorsports introduced it might do it once more in 2022.

It was the identical vibe over the weekend, solely this time the drivers weren’t happy to have misplaced their annual vacation weekend and that contributed to their disdain over reconfiguring a wonderfully racy concrete quick observe into a dust observe.

After watching attendance for its spring race plummet over the past 15 years, Speedway Motorsports CEO Marcus Smith was keen to spend the cash on the experiment, which grew to become a made-for-TV occasion when Fox Sports activities efficiently pushed for the race to fill a vacation primetime slot. A full day earlier than the inexperienced flag even fell, Smith was assured filth could be again at Bristol in 2023.

“Dust has been voted on by the followers, and so they instructed us by their ticket buying that they need filth again at Bristol,” Smith stated Saturday of the projected attendance Sunday.

Besides that the gang wasn’t all that spectacular — perhaps higher that what Bristol had been getting for its spring race within the years main into the pandemic — and as veteran driver Kevin Harvick famous all weekend, all the effort could have been an unbelievable waste of time if Fox Sports activities fails to ship a robust tv score.

It didn’t assist that the race was delayed twice by rain, and Harvick was mortified when NASCAR needed to name a warning so drivers may have the mud cleaned off their windshields. “All of us appear like a bunch of bozos coming in to pit as a result of we don’t know tips on how to prep the observe,” he stated.

Even the winner had combined emotions.

Kyle Busch backed into his first victory of the season when he skirted past the spinning lead cars of Tyler Reddick and Chase Briscoe headed into the ultimate flip. Reddick was going to win earlier than Briscoe made him spin. Busch wound up with tying Corridor of Famer Richard Petty in profitable a race for the 18th consecutive 12 months.

“You noticed what it’s like on the final nook, the final lap, to drive round right here each single lap,” Busch stated of profitable on filth. “You’re simply not respiratory since you’re so tensed up of not crashing. If it’s present, it’s present. I feel Bristol is ok with or with out (filth).”

Including a dust observe to the Cup calendar was initially an try so as to add selection to a schedule that had grown however not modified a lot since NASCAR’s 1949 inaugural season.

However this 12 months was clearly about tv. NASCAR had raced on Easter 10 instances earlier than, however all had been weather-related reschedules and by no means intentionally marked for a vacation. It was Fox Sports activities that stated NASCAR ought to seize the day the best way the NFL does on Thanksgiving and the NBA on Christmas, even when it meant chopping the 38-race Cup schedule from February to November to only one off weekend.

The issue with making Bristol on filth a tv occasion is that any new viewers gained’t see one other race prefer it the remainder of the 12 months. It’s an anomaly, not even near what NASCAR does each week.

Harvick stated it was “ridiculous“ and even reigning sequence champion Kyle Larson, arguably the very best filth racer within the nation, thought NASCAR ought to be racing on Bristol’s concrete. The observe goes again to asphalt for its fall playoff race.

“I feel everyone assumes my opinion could be to race filth each weekend, however no I don’t suppose Cup automobiles ought to be on filth,” Larson stated.

A minimum of half the sphere additionally proved to be unclear of the foundations in the course of the first rain delay. NASCAR had instructed groups in its pre-race guidelines video that, not like all the opposite races, scoring could be paused on the finish of the levels. Regardless of the advisory, the groups had been dumbfounded on the finish of the second stage when Briscoe pitted from the lead and was nonetheless scored the chief over Busch, who stayed out to cycle to the entrance.

Successful crew chief Ben Beshore stated he did watch the video however clearly didn’t perceive the rule and “I’ve been in Xfinity or Cup for 18 years.”

It was by no means fairly on Sunday, regardless of the thrilling end and the claims from some drivers that they really loved the race. They’ve been there, achieved that twice now, and NASCAR’s gimmick is shortly rising drained.

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Extra AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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