NASCAR’s First Bristol Filth Race With the Subsequent Gen Automotive Was Messy

The NASCAR Cup Collection’ first race on filth in 50 years final spring did not go completely to plan. Regardless of months of prep work to show Bristol Motor Speedway into a dust observe, the non permanent racing floor turned dusty because it dried, compromising drivers’ visibility—and thus security. This yr, regardless of makes an attempt made to rectify the difficulty, mud remained an issue, whereas a completely new one reared its head on race day: Mud.

Mud served because the opening act for drivers’ grapples with the racing floor over the weekend, kicking up throughout follow in the brand new Subsequent Gen automobiles because it did throughout final yr’s race. Because the race itself had been rescheduled for the night, nonetheless, with a NASCAR official telling The Charlotte Observer that’d forestall the observe from drying an excessive amount of, mud wasn’t anticipated to stay an issue. They have been proper, however they traded one problem for one more.

Come race day, the racing floor was if something too moist, as a substitute leading to mud that pressured automobiles to pit as quickly as lap 12 with overheating issues. On lap 13, officers threw a warning, requiring all automobiles pit to scrub their windshields and unclog their radiators. Like final yr, with its hasty mid-race tweak to race restarts, NASCAR made it clear that it is but to discover a approach to create free surfaces that maintain as much as Cup automobiles.

“The very first thing I can let you know is we did a horrible job prepping the observe,” remarked 2014 Cup Collection champion Kevin Harvick after his lap-100 crash, based on Racer. “[It was] filled with mud and there was no one right here to pack the observe, so all of us appear like a bunch of bozos coming in to pit as a result of we do not know the right way to prep the observe.”

Harvick added that he preferred Bristol when it was strong asphalt, however that his complaints would fall on deaf ears. Sadly for him, Johnson Metropolis Press stories Bristol has already secured one other spherical of filth racing for subsequent spring. Solely then will we all know if NASCAR has discovered a approach to nail the stability between too dry and too moist—or if it will merely be chased from the cottage by the household of bears whose porridge it has wasted. I will let you determine that metaphor for your self. Possibly Bob’s Pink Mill will make it simple on me and sponsor a automobile for shits and giggles.

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