Bristol Motor Speedway hosts two annual NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races. (Photo: Getty Images)
Safety and excitement tend to be mutually exclusive concepts when it comes to racing. Unlike love and marriage, it just seems that when it comes to safety and excitement, you can’t have one with the other.
In today’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, that theory will be tested as track owners have lengthened the protective SAFER barriers in the exits of turns 2 and 4. Yes, to keep drivers safer, but yes, also, Bristol promoters say, to increase the excitement level for fans.
What the barriers do, basically, is narrow the track by about three feet. What promoters hope is that the tightened track will heighten the drama as drivers fight more ferociously for less real estate.
Drivers were asked about the concept and the reality of the situation over the weekend and here is what a select group had to say:
Matt Kenseth, No. 17 Roush Fenway Ford: “You could tell off 4 it’s narrower. I think as long as we’re spending the money on SAFER barriers when you put all these people in here, we should just put them all the way around every track on the outside and inside. Then you wouldn’t have to worry about it and there wouldn’t be all those weird transitions.”
David Regan, No. 6 Roush Fenway Ford: “There’s not a big difference right now with just one car on the track, but when you restart the race in about 10th spot, and you’ve got everyone crowding you up, I think you’re gonna wish you had that extra three or four feet. With just one car on the track here for qualifying it’s not that bad, but it should be fun for the race…I really haven’t had to adjust my line much, but even in that qualifying lap I just ran out of room and I barely touched the right rear. If I would have had six more inches, I would have been fine.”
Tony Stewart, No. 14 Stewart-Haas Chevrolet: “Nothing. I didn’t even notice it to be honest. I didn’t even notice it at all. They paint them white every week so we can see them and where they’re at you know you can’t go any further than that so you just use as much track as you can. You can move it five feet and we probably wouldn’t know the difference.”
Mark Martin, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet: “It will (have an effect). It will affect where you pick up the throttle. I think you’re going to have to roll a few feet further around the corner before you pick up the throttle or get all of it. It will make a slight difference. We did have a little excess room. About half of what they took we really didn’t need and really didn’t use, so that’s a good thing. We really only gave up about a foot-and-a-half.”
Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet: “It’s like anything else, we’ll eventually get used to it. But we already use every inch of the track…It’s going to be very important to get your car working well for the race, though, because with a narrower track it’s going to be harder to pass. If you want to see sparks fly, I think this might be the thing that does that.”
— The facts
What: Food City 500
Where: At Bristol Motor Speedway; Bristol, Tenn.
When: Sunday, 1 p.m. ET
TV: Fox, noon ET
Radio: PRN/Sirius Satellite Ch. 128
Track layout: .533-mile oval
Banking in turns: Variable, from 26 to 30 degrees
Grandstand seating capacity: 160,000
Race distance: 500 laps/266.5 miles
Estimated pit window: 120-130 laps
2009 winner: Kyle Busch
2009 polesitter: Mark Martin
Today’s polesitter: Joey Logano
Points leaders: 1. Kevin Harvick, 644; 2. Matt Kenseth, 618; 3. Greg Biffle, 585; 4. Jimmie Johnson, 570; 5. Clint Bowyer, 558; 6. Jeff Burton, 538; 7. Mark Martin, 521; 8. Tony Stewart, 510; 9. Paul Menard, 505; 10. Kurt Busch, 502; 11. Jeff Gordon, 482; 12. Scott Speed, 482.
