 | | The high-banks of Bristol have changed since the concrete was poured in August 1992. Credit: Autostock |
By Jarrod Breeze, NASCAR.COM
March 24, 2006
09:59 PM EST (02:59 GMT)
BRISTOL, Tenn. -- NASCAR's growth throughout the years has reached all regions of the country, but when the Cup Series makes a stop at one of its longstanding tracks, well, everyone far and near knows it. This week, that track is Bristol Motor Speedway, which opened in 1961 and has been the host of 90 Cup races. "It's still Bristol, it's still that high-banked, half-mile short track where anything can happen," Dale Earnhardt Jr. simply stated. "There are tracks on the circuit that are important to me -- those are the Daytonas, the Atlantas, the Charlottes, the Bristols -- the ones that have been around for years and years and years and continue to grow with the sport." Back in the day, Dale Jarrett remembers, Bristol's surface was asphalt. The facility was small then, he recalled. "It was a blast to drive because you could run on the bottom, in the middle, and you could run up there where Harry Gant used to race against the wall," said Jarrett, who has one victory in 39 starts at BMS. "Now there's a small piece of real estate down on the bottom that everybody wants." The speedway has expanded, but the concrete track is tougher than ever. "It's a small piece of real estate to begin with and over the years that's become a smaller piece of real estate, and we all want that same piece," Jarrett said. "Trying to maintain the piece for yourself or keep someone from taking it is difficult." That's what made winning both the Busch and Cup races in August 2004 so special for Earnhardt. "What's cool about winning here is the history of the track," said Earnhardt, who much like his father went into Bristol with a good car only to have something negative happen. "It's a very tough race to run and stay out of trouble. There's a lot of action going on," he added. "You can be getting side-to-side with somebody and knock the toe out -- the television won't see it and nobody will notice it -- but a small incident like that can ruin it for you. "You can really never be too careful. When you win a race you feel like you successfully navigated a mine field." Jarrett said racing at Bristol is as much mental as mechanical. "It's a fun place to race, but can get frustrating at times," he said. "Trying to keep those emotions in check are the hardest thing that you'll do out here -- even harder than trying to find the balance of your car. "And you can get a little impatient whichever side your on. If you're the guy in front you get a little bit tired of the guy beating on you from behind. If your that guy behind it's like, 'Why don't you just give me that and we'll both be better off.' "But if you give up one spot, you're likely to give up 10 spots. If you can go out there and race hard, keep your nose clean, you have a good chance of finishing in the top 10 at this racetrack and that's a good finish. And if you get yourself in the top 10, anything can happen at that point." One thing to watch Sunday could be the verbal sparring back and forth between drivers early this season. Bristol can bring all of that to a head. "You can make life a little more difficult for somebody here than other places," said Jarrett, speaking of no one in particular. "If you keep them behind, you can make life miserable for them." The key is not speed, he said, but positioning. "You have the ability to keep that thing right around the bottom, then you can get off the corner good enough and that's what a lot of people work on," Jarrett said. For Earnhardt, his plan is simple. "One of the things I like to do, I choose a line that I like to run and keep a speed I like to run it, and I'm not really focused on the guy in front of me. I'm focused on putting together consistent laps," he said. | 
