History-laden Bristol on cusp of 100th Cup race

To celebrate Bristol Motor Speedway's 100th Cup Series race, NASCAR.COM is taking a look back at significant moments and drivers that have made events at BMS the most sought-after ticket in NASCAR.

Nestled in "Thunder Valley," Bristol Motor Speedway is the crown jewel of the Tri-Cities -- Bristol-Johnson City-Kingsport -- in Northeast Tennessee.

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Inside the Numbers

Most Cup Series races

Rank	Track	No.
1	Daytona	127 *
2	Martinsville	123
3	Richmond	108
4	Darlington	107
5	Charlotte	103
6	Atlanta	102
7	Bristol	99
8	Michigan	82
	Talladega	82
10	Dover	81
11	Pocono	65
12	Loudon	31
13	Phoenix	28
14	Watkins Glen	27
15	Sonoma	22
16	Fontana	20
17	Texas	19
18	Indianapolis	16
19	Las Vegas	13
20	Homestead	11
21	Chicago	10
22	Kansas	9

* -- Includes 23 Daytona 500 qualifying races that were points events.
Race totals as of July 12, 2010.

On Aug. 21, 2010, BMS will play host to its 100th Cup Series race to become only the seventh track to reach the milestone.

Bristol Motor Speedway is a .533-mile concrete oval with 24- to 30-degree baking in the corners and 6- to 10-degree banking on the straightaways. A cathedral of speed -- Ryan Newman holds the track qualifying record at 128.709 mph -- BMS seats 160,000 and is marketed as the "World's Fastest Half Mile."

However, the need for short-track speed is only part of the story that is Bristol Motor Speedway.

In 1960, Larry Carrier and Carl Moore traveled to Charlotte Motor Speedway to watch a race and it was then that they decided to build a speedway in Northeast Tennessee. However, Carrier, Moore and R.G. Pope wanted a smaller version of CMS, something with a more intimate setting and opted to erect a half-mile facility instead of mirroring the 1.5-mile track in Charlotte.

Work began on what was then called Bristol International Speedway in 1960 and it took about one year to finish. Carrier, Moore and Pope scratched many ideas for the track on envelopes and brown paper bags.

Purchase of the land on which BMS now sits, as well as construction of the track, cost approximately $600,000. The entire layout for BMS covered 100 acres and provided parking for more than 12,000 cars. The track was a perfect half-mile, measuring 60 feet wide on the straightaways, 75 feet wide in the turns and the turns were banked at 22 degrees.

Seating capacity for the inaugural NASCAR race at BMS was 18,000.

The first NASCAR race at Bristol was held on July 30, 1961. The first driver on the track for practice on July 27, 1961, was Tiny Lund and Fred Lorenzen won the pole at 79.225 mph. Jack Smith won the race, the Volunteer 500 -- but he wasn't in the driver's seat when the race ended. Smith drove the first 290 laps before Johnny Allen climbed behind the wheel as the relief driver.

After that, the milestones were racked up almost as fast as the on-track action.

In the fall of 1969, BMS was reshaped and re-measured. The turns were banked steeper and it became a .533-mile oval.

On Aug. 26, 1978, Cale Yarborough won the first night race at Bristol. In August 1992, BMS was the first speedway to host a Cup Series event that boasted a track surface that was all concrete.

On Jan. 22, 1996, Larry Carrier sold the speedway to Bruton Smith for $26 million. At the time of the sale, the facility seated 71,000. And almost immediately Smith's Speedway Motrorsports Inc. began making improvements to the facility:

• On May 28, 1996 the track's name was officially changed to Bristol Motor Speedway.

• By August of 1996, 15,000 seats had been added bringing the seating capacity to 86,000.

• By April 1997, BMS' seating was 118,000 with 22 new skyboxes.

• For the August 1998 race the speedway featured more than 131,000 grandstand seats and 100 skyboxes.

• Seating capacity for the March 2000 race was 147,000 as the Kulwicki Terrace and Kulwicki Tower were completed.

• The 2002 season featured the addition of a long-awaited infield pedestrian tunnel, which allows access into and out of the infield during on-track activity, as well as the christening of a new Victory Lane and new scoreboards located on the facing of the suites in Turns 2 and 3.

• On Aug. 26, 2002, work began on a project that saw the entire backstretch -- including the speedway's remaining concrete seating -- demolished in favor of a new grandstand that increased the track's seating capacity to approximately 160,000. The backstretch now includes three levels of seating and features 52 luxury skybox suites.

• March 2007 brought several milestones to the World's Fastest Half Mile. The Food City 500 was the 50th consecutive Cup Series race sellout at Bristol, a streak that began in August 1982, and the race featured the debut of NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow.

However, the consecutive-race sellout streak ended at 55 after the Food City 500 in March 2010 drew an estimated 138,000 spectators.

Tickets for the night race in August are available and Kevin Triplett, BMS' vice president of public affairs, told the Bristol Herald that marketing efforts are focusing on fans who are not in Bristol's backyard. Many of the speedway's radio and TV spots will air in locations that are six hours -- or more -- away from Bristol in travel time.

"We've found that about 43 to 48 percent of our race spectators travel six or more hours to attend," Triplett said. "When you're making a trip that far, especially in this current economy, you need more time to decide to attend and plan for it. We're trying to help fans make that decision sooner."