(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography
By Aaron Bearden
After each NASCAR Cup Series race, Motorsports Beat will share a piece breaking down the stories and takeaways from the weekend. This is a report on the Food City Dirt Race from Bristol Motor Speedway.
NASCAR Cup Series
Who Won?
Joey Logano. He took the lead in Stage 2 and fended of a challenge from Denny Hamlin early in Stage 3 to snag an unexpected win on the Bristol Motor Speedway dirt track. A late caution and overtime provided a final challenge, but Logano drove off to a gap that helped him avoid the fear of a bump and run on the last lap.
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Raw, but promising
The last time a NASCAR Cup Series race was held on a dirt track before Monday was 51 years ago in 1970. I wasn’t even a thought on this world – in fact, my parents were just babies. Similar sentiments can be said for most drivers currently competing in America’s most popular motorsport series and perhaps even some of the decision makers that made the decision to go back to dirt this weekend.
So it’s safe to say that no one knew exactly what to expect when Bristol Motor Speedway announced that it was turning its traditional concrete oval into a half-mile dirt track for the spring racing season, NASCAR included.
There were so many variables to work through with NASCAR heading on-track. Could the cars drive without significant changes? What tires should be used? Would their heavier weight cause the track to rubber down too quickly? Would the 250-lap distance for Cup be too long?
Most importantly, though, was the all-encompassing question: Could NASCAR put on an enjoyable Cup race on dirt?
The answer was yes… Sort of.
“All in all, I’d give it a thumbs-up with things to learn,” NASCAR Executive Vice President Steve O’Donnell said of the race afterward.
“Fans had asked us for years to look at innovation around the schedule.In fact, we’ve been taken to task for not making some moves. We were bold and aggressive this year. I’m proud of the team for doing that, proud of the industry for taking a chance here.”
The NASCAR dirt race weekend was as highly-anticipated as any on the 2021 schedule filled with changes, standing out even with new dates at tracks like Road America and Nashville Superspeedway. Some loved the concept. Others hated it, and a large group waited skeptically to see if the weekend could be pulled off successfully.
Unfortunately all involved had to wait a bit longer than anticipated.
Heavy rains and even brief spurts of hail arrived at Bristol over the weekend, soaking the area around the Tennessee track and causing both flooding and intense moisture on the dirt surface. Save for a one-lap attempt at a heat race on Saturday, NASCAR saw no track time on the actual weekend it wanted to utilize to showcase the potential and action of dirt racing.
Instead it all came on Monday, with skepticism over whether the dirt surface could be salvaged enough to put on a good show. Some called the weekend a failure before the green flag could be waved, while NASCAR was given the added complication of holding both the Camping World Truck Series and Cup events — 400 laps in total — over the span of a few hours.
Despite the setbacks, the sport marched on. When the races were finally held, they provided an entertaining show with promise for the future after Bristol confirmed plans to host another dirt race weekend in 2022.
There were comers and goers throughout the races. Drivers were forced to adapt to changing track conditions, starting out with slides around the track but ending on a surface that ran like a slow replica of the old bottom-feeder Bristol events of the 1990s and early 2000s.
The race was a spectacle, provided some fresh faces near the front in Daniel Suarez, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Newman among others and had an intense battle for the lead between Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin over the final stage.
That’s not to say everything went perfectly, though. There were a litany of issues over the weekend.
Most obvious among them was the thing we could all see, which kept drivers from being able to actually see on the track – dust.
Visibility was near-nonexistent in the late stages of the event, whether looking at the track through the cockpit or on TV. It forced NASCAR to adapt after a rash of restart crashes, shifting to single-file restarts midway through the second stage.
“I think you probably need to get with the dirt guys a little bit more or ask them,” Hamlin said. “But the dust hindered the ability — the single-file racing as much as anything. You could not get out of the groove or else you were just running on dust.
“I don’t know if there’s different dirt that doesn’t produce as much dust as this one. I know they really did a lot of research on the dirt itself. A couple of them said if you didn’t run during the daylight, dust wouldn’t be as bad.”
Stenhouse echoed Hamlin’s sentiments, saying “when we started running single file, all the dust just sat in that second lane. I was one advocating for single-file restarts. I felt like NASCAR did a great job adapting to that because, like Steve O’Donnell said, that’s things that you see in dirt racing when track conditions just change and kind of are out of your control at that point.
Tire wear was also a concern. NASCAR altered its stages and added competition cautions to keep runs from getting longer than 50 laps after observing issues with wear during Friday’s practice sessions. Goodyear supplied a bias-ply tire that wasn’t initially expected to have significant wear, but even with the changes there were a few drivers that suffered tire issues over the course of the race.
Drivers hope that will be visited when NASCAR prepares for the oval’s 2022 dirt return.
“Hopefully Goodyear is able to work on a tire that we can have a little bit longer run,” Stenhouse said. “Our Kroger Camaro was really good on the long run today. I didn’t have the short run speeds so I needed those long runs. So hopefully with the package that we have when we come back, we can get those 75-lap, 100-lap runs.”
Those weren’t the only issues at hand.
Mud caused early issues in the Cup race, forcing Kyle Busch to pit from the front of the field in Stage 1 with an overheating car. Brake issues saw drivers pile into wrecks they could normally avoid. Safety vehicles and packer cars occasionally struggled with the surface and slid down the track, which could be a safety hazard with a driver out of their car. The communication of single-file restarts seemingly surprised the field, including the then-leader Suarez.
But, critically, the answer to the overarching “can they put on an entertaining race” question was a yes. That trumped the little details afterward.
“Our hope was this would be a success, something we could repeat and have it become really a staple of the schedule going forward,” O’Donnell said. “Certainly [there are] a number of things we learned throughout the weekend that will apply to 2022’s event weekend.
“Some of those things are how much you race in a single day, and are there other racing series that can be part of this in terms of late models as well? We fully intend to be back in ’22 and beyond and continue to apply those learnings and put on some great races.”
No bump, no run
The weathered dirt surface at Bristol Motor Speedway provided the closest thing to the old-school, bottom-feeding Bristol fans loved two decades ago in years.
All that was missing was a vintage bump-and-run – courtesy of Denny Hamlin.
Hamlin’s opportunity was there. After challenging eventual winner Joey Logano early in Stage 3, Hamlin found himself lined up behind the Team Penske ace for an overtime restart at the end of the race.
Logano was prepared to be sent up the track.
“I was fully prepared to get the bumper,” Logano said. “I figured that was going to come at some point. You have a green-white-checkered at Bristol, I don’t care if it’s dirt, concrete, you name it, there’s probably going to be contact.”
But given the opportunity to toss contact Logano’s way, Hamlin instead chose to try a move to the outside lane.
It didn’t work.
He sailed up the track and lost grip in the outer lane’s dust, losing second to Stenhouse. In the end the Virginian was left with a third-place result and an eagerness to re-do the entirety of the final stage.
“I just wasn’t aggressive enough,” Hamlin said. “I should have shoved (Logano) out. When I had position on the bottom, I should have just moved up and got him in the dust and got rid of him. I just wanted to pass him clean. I didn’t, so I didn’t win.”
Hamlin is the points leader and a driver with multiple big wins under his belt. But it’s safe to say the first Cup Series Bristol dirt race will be a race he remembers for slipping away from his grasp.
Patchy race for dirt regulars
Going into Monday’s race, the list of favorites to take home the first dirt Cup win in five decades was a predictable one.
Kyle Larson. Christopher Bell. Chase Briscoe. Austin Dillon. Even Truck Series competitor Stewart Friesen was considered as a trendy upset pick.
The common denominator between the group? Dirt experience. Larson is a mercurial talent on dirt. Bell is a three-time Chili Bowl winner. The pair, along with Briscoe, Dillon and Friesen, all had Truck Series wins at Eldora Speedway to pair with their dirt prowess.
Yet none of them were in contention with the laps winding down.
Bell, Larson and Briscoe were all caught up in early crashes and fell by the wayside early on. Dirt open wheel regulars Chris Windom and Shane Golobic met similar fates. Dillon and Friesen were never factors, nor were the other experienced dirt competitors like Mike Marlar and JJ Yeley.
All told, just three drivers from dirt backgrounds were able to excel with the unique circumstances surrounding the Bristol Cup race. Stenhouse led the group with a late drive up to second, Ryan Newman finished a strong fifth and Tyler Reddick slotted in seventh at race’s end.
But none among the contingent were significant contenders throughout the day, Stenhouse’s late rise aside. Instead it was Logano, Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr. and Daniel Suarez that led the way and competed for the lead.
It was a surprising sight based on expectations entering the day, but it didn’t catch Stenhouse off guard.
“Coming into the Bristol dirt event, I felt like I was going to be comfortable on the race track,” Stenhouse said. “But I felt like these are the best drivers out there. They were going to adapt, their teams were going to adapt, bring good race cars as well.”
Logano adapted better than any other driver, parlaying his limited dirt experience to a surprising victory. Prior to Monday’s race, the 2018 champ had only ran at Volusia Speedway and in the Bristol Dirt Nationals.
Now he has one of the biggest dirt wins in recent memory to his credit, adding to a resume that already included a title, Daytona 500 win and All-Star Race triumph.
“To be the first team to be able to win on dirt in the Cup Series, in 50 years or so, that’s something that I’m very proud of,” Logano said. “Very proud of this team.
“This weekend coming into the week, you just don’t know, right? I said that’s the phrase of the week: I don’t know. You didn’t know what you had to work on in your car. You didn’t know how the race was going to play out, you don’t know how the track is going to change.
“It’s just watching and studying, getting in a dirt car for a few races in Volusia, running a heat race here a week ago. All that kind of helped out and played out for us.”
Notes
- Daniel Suarez and Trackhouse Racing were the unexpected breakout stars of Monday’s race. The 2016 Xfinity Series champion led a career-best 58 laps after driving up from 18th and scored the new team’s first top-five in fourth. Paired with the pace shown in the prior week at Atlanta Motor Speedway, it’s fair to wonder if this team is starting to click and emerging as a potential playoff threat.
- There was a time when it looked like every Bristol dirt story would revolve around Martin Truex Jr. Not only did he claim every stage in a surprising, dominant Truck Series victory, the New Jersey native also won Stage 1 and led a race-high 126 laps in the Cup event. But he faded back to third late and then lost out on his top-five due to a tire issue in overtime. It was still a memorable day, but Monday could have been even grander for a driver that flew under the radar heading into the weekend.
- Ryan Newman’s top-five snuck by without much fanfare, but it was a much-needed run for the Hoosier. He hadn’t scored a top-five since returning from his injuries sustained in the 2020 Daytona 500 – in fact, Newman’s last top-five before Monday came back at Talladega Superspeedway in Oct. 2019.
- Denny Hamlin has done everything but win thus far in 2021. He’s finished fifth or better in six of the opening seven races of the year, with a worst result of 11th at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The results have him 58 points ahead of Logano for the regular season championship lead as things stand.
- Speaking of winning… Logano served as the seventh-different winner to open the 2021 season. That’s the first time a season has opened with this many different victory since 2014, which took eight races for Kevin Harvick to emerge as the first multiple-race winner.
Food City Dirt Race Results
- Joey Logano
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Denny Hamlin
- Daniel Suarez
- Ryan Newman
- William Byron
- Tyler Reddick
- Ryan Blaney
- Erik Jones
- Chase Elliott
- Brad Keselowski
- Michael McDowell
- Matt DiBenedetto
- Chris Buescher
- Kevin Harvick
- Kurt Busch
- Kyle Busch
- Ryan Preece
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Chase Briscoe
- Austin Dillon
- Alex Bowman
- Stewart Friesen
- Cole Custer
- Quin Houff
- Ty Dillon
- Bubba Wallace
- JJ Yeley
- Kyle Larson
- Josh Bilicki
- Mike Marlar
- Cody Ware
- Chris Windom
- Christopher Bell
- Ross Chastain
- Aric Almirola
- Shane Golobic
- Corey LaJoie
- Anthony Alfredoz
Stage 1
- Martin Truex Jr.
- William Byron
- Denny Hamlin
- Daniel Suarez
- Ryan Blaney
- Joey Logano
- Bubba Wallace
- Ryan Newman
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Chris Buescher
Stage 2
- Joey Logano
- Daniel Suarez
- Denny Hamlin
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Ryan Newman
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Bubba Wallace
- Erik Jones
- Tyler Reddick
- Chase Elliott
