4 things to know about this year’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway
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BRISTOL, Tenn. (WJHL) – NASCAR returns to the South and Bristol Motor Speedway (BMS) for Sunday’s Food City 500. There will be some differences since the Night Race on Sept. 4 that fans may notice when the green flag waves at the track on St. Patrick’s Day.
No dirt this year
After three years of mixed reviews, NASCAR decided to clean up its act by returning to concrete racing at the Bristol Motor Speedway, and most of the drivers couldn’t be happier.
“Good to get back here on concrete in the spring, and I was just reminded I won the last race here in the spring on concrete, and I’d like to keep that going,” said 2012 Cup Series Champion Brad Keselowski.
“I’m happy it’s back concrete instead of dirt,” Cup Series driver Erik Jones said. “So this place is like no other. It brings just a different vibe, different atmosphere. And it’s just awesome.”
Return to the red and white
Also returning for this weekend’s race are the red and white walls that adorned the World’s Fastest Half-Mile in 1992. A trio of Cup drivers, Brad Keselowski, Erik Jones and rookie Zane Smith, helped get the painting started several weeks ago. It’s a part of Throwback Week, which is designed to transport fans to the early nineties.
Campers roll in days before Bristol Motor Speedway race weekend
“Painting the walls was a natural extension of that,” BMS general manager Jerry Caldwell said. “Let’s let’s make this place feel like 1992.”
Bringing back an old-school logo
Perhaps the best visual element of the overall throwback theme this weekend is the vintage race logo, which highlights when Food City first became the entitlement sponsor of the Bristol Spring race 33 years ago.
“What a mess out there is, as the painter used to say,” said Food City President and CEO Steve Smith. “You think about all the great things that have happened here. Elliott Sadler getting his first win. Rusty Wallace winning his 50th race here and the Bush boys, their dominance here. Obviously, Earnhardt and Labonte clashing and knocking each other around, so there’s been so many great memories here.”
Spank to perform
Finally, to top off the throwback weekend, the popular 80s band Spank will crank out their 1980s music to remind fans of the great history that the Last Great Colosseum possesses.
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