Bristol is back, baby. Before Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway (7 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), try your hand at some props on the race.
RELATED: Set your Fantasy Live lineup
Featured Matchups of the week
Race-specific data props
The NASCAR Cup Series is getting dirty.
Cup cars will race on the dirt-covered Bristol Motor Speedway for the second year in a row on Sunday night (7 ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). But perhaps more special is that NASCAR will race on Easter Sunday for the first time since 1989, when a February race at Richmond was postponed to the holiday.
Hop into the racing spirit and get all you need to know about the Food City Dirt Race:
DEEP IN THE DIRT
The first step to the weekend is getting acquainted with the red clay coating the 0.533-mile track this weekend, which is the same as was used in last year’s inaugural event.
Beneath the surface lies about two inches of sawdust to protect the concrete racing surface typically used by NASCAR. That is topped by 5,330 cubic yards of dirt saved from Bristol’s first foray into dirt racing back in 2000-01, followed by 4,008 cubic yards of dirt from the campground as well as lime-treated clay.
The top layer features Bluff City Red Tennessee Clay, which will be what the Next Gen car’s tires contact all weekend long.
RELATED: Next Gen changes for dirt | Bristol schedule | Cup Series standings
DIFFERENT SURFACE, DIFFERENT FORMAT
Teams will be allotted two 50-minute practice sessions on Friday afternoon (4:05 p.m. ET, FS1) to familiarize themselves and the new vehicle to the surface.
Unlike typical race weekends, there will be no single-car or group qualifying. Instead, teams will line up for four 15-lap heats Saturday evening (6 ET, FS2), with starting positions for each heat selected by crew members via random draw in order of owner’s points. With all 36 chartered teams on the entry list, nine cars will compete in each heat.
At the conclusion of each heat, drivers will be awarded both finishing points and passing points. Finishing points will be awarded just like stage points — 10 points for first place down to two points for ninth place. Drivers will also accumulate passing points, gaining one point per position gained from their initial starting position. No points will be deducted for lost positions. Combined point totals will then determine the starting lineup for Sunday night’s 250-lap feature event.
RELATED: Dive deeper into how the Bristol format works
NASCAR’S HISTORY OFF-ROADING
— The last Cup Series race on dirt before last year’s Bristol spring race was held on Sept. 30, 1970 at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh.
— In all, there have been 490 Cup races held on dirt, including the series’ inaugural race at the 0.75-mile Charlotte Speedway on June 19, 1949, an event won by Jim Roper.
— Lee Petty holds the all-time record for dirt wins, claiming 42 of his 54 career wins on dirt.
— Richard Petty’s first of 200 career wins came on the dirt-surfaced Southern State Fairgrounds in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Feb. 28, 1960. Thirty of his 200 wins came on dirt.
— Darlington Raceway became the first asphalt track to host a race in Cup history back in September 1950. The first 20 Cup races were held on dirt, clay or sand, including the 4.15-mile Daytona Beach & Road Course that featured both sand and asphalt.
— The Camping World Truck Series began racing on dirt in 2013 at Eldora Speedway and continued through 2019. Last year, the series joined Cup at Bristol before heading to the iconic Knoxville Speedway in Iowa for another dirt race.
Source: Racing Insights
GOODYEAR TIRES
After developing a tire for last year’s inaugural Bristol dirt race, Goodyear had to go back to work in preparation for the Next Gen’s dirt debut, going from the 15-inch bead diameter for the Gen-6 tire to the 18-inch tire this year.
Additionally, this year’s tire is a radial tire as opposed to the bias ply tire that was used in 2021.
“We had to develop a new package for the 18-inch dirt tire this season, so it gave us the opportunity to totally re-imagine this Cup tire set-up,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “We felt the right move was for a radial tire, which provides a greater degree of size consistency. However, a radial tire incorporates a much stiffer tread surface, so we made adjustments to the tire construction to achieve a more compliant feel, similar to that of a bias ply, and able to handle the irregularities of a dirt surface. The 18-inch package also includes a new tread pattern, which incorporates a lot of dirt tire technology we’ve developed over the years, and tread compounds adjusted to be more resistant to heat and wear.”
BRISTOL DIRT STORY LINES
— Sunday marks the first scheduled Cup race on Easter since 1970, when Bobby Allison won a March 29 race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. This will be the 12th such race in Cup history.
— William Byron became the only repeat winner of 2022 with his win a week ago at Martinsville Speedway. It was Byron’s second win in four weeks and marks the first multi-win season of his career.
— Joey Logano is on a 37-race winless streak, with his last win coming in this race last year, his only win in the last 47 races aside from his victory in the exhibition Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in February. This is his longest points-paying winless streak since joining Team Penske.
— Ryan Blaney is the first driver since Tony Stewart in 2006 to lead in each of the first eight races of a season.
— Martin Truex Jr. led the most laps in this race a year ago (126) and also won last year’s Truck race at Bristol.
— Including Logano, Truex is one of seven drivers to win a NASCAR-sanctioned race on dirt, joining Austin Dillon, Bubba Wallace, Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe, who all won the Eldora Dirt Derby.
— Logano, Dillon, Chase Elliott and Harrison Burton will compete in Saturday’s Camping World Truck Series race to get extra track time at Bristol.
— Denny Hamlin’s average finish through eight races is 17 spots worse than it was at this time a year ago, but the No. 11 Toyota was the only car to run inside the top 10 for all 253 laps on Bristol dirt a year ago, eventually finishing third.
Source: Racing Insights
FEELING LUCKY?
When dirt comes into the picture, so does Kyle Larson.
Las Vegas is keen on Larson’s dirt supremacy as the defending Cup champion continues to dominate dirt circuits, winning the Chili Bowl Nationals, King’s Royal, Prairie Dirt Classic and Knoxville Nationals all in the same year in 2021. The driver of Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 5 Chevrolet is listed as the 9-2 favorite courtesy of BetMGM — but beware. Larson has not shown near the consistency he and crew chief Cliff Daniels did in 2021 and has posted just three finishes better than 19th all year (of course, those three finishes were all top fives and include an Auto Club Speedway victory).
Christopher Bell is listed as BetMGM’s second-best bet this week at 8-1 odds. However, Bell spun from second place a year ago in this event at Lap 53, falling right into the path of Larson and Ross Chastain. If Bell can avoid getting turned around this week, he should be an excellent pick: The Oklahoman was the 2013 USAC National Midget champion and is a three-time winner of the Chili Bowl Nationals.
RELATED: Odds for Bristol dirt | @nascarcasm: Friendly tips for Bell and Larson
FANTASY LIVE
Want to manage a team and race your way to the top of the leaderboards? Check out NASCAR Fantasy Live, which is open now. The free-to-play game lets you choose your drivers each week and show off your crew-chief instincts by garaging a driver by the end of Stage 2, and there is a $25,000 prize for the winner.
The 2022 Fantasy Live points leaders are Chase Elliott (282), Ryan Blaney (277) and William Byron (276).
How to play: Fantasy Live | Set up a team today!
ALSO ON NASCAR.COM
Get additional camera views by logging on to NASCAR Drive, where each week a select number of in-car cameras will be available — as well as a battle cam and an overhead look.
NASCAR has partnered with LiveLike to add fan engagement in the NASCAR Mobile App. Log in to the mobile app during the race for polls, quizzes, the cheer meter and more — and see instant results from NASCAR fans like you.
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to its second-ever Bristol Dirt Race weekend, starting Friday and concluding Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee. There will be on-track action each day due to practice, qualifying and the main event. And because dirt deviates from the norm, the race format does the same.
RELATED: Weekend schedule | Paint schemes | Betting odds | Entry list
Below is a day-by-day breakdown of the weekend format:
There are two practices, each 50 minutes in length. This is the only track in 2022 where two practices are scheduled. There are no abnormal rules or regulations in place for practice, despite the dirt aspect. Drivers and teams simply have designated time on the 0.533-mile circuit to prepare for qualifying and the main event.
ANALYSIS: Digging into Next Gen car changes for dirt race
Qualifying consists of four heat races. Each is a quick 15 laps. The first starts at 6 p.m. ET, the second at 6:15 p.m. ET, the third at 6:30 p.m. ET and the final at 6:45 p.m. ET, according to the at-track schedule.
Heat assignments and lineups were determined by a random draw, conducted in order of team owner points. The drawing took place at 3 p.m. ET on Friday, and the results are as follows:
| HEAT 1 | HEAT 2 | HEAT 3 | HEAT 4 |
| Todd Gilliland | Kevin Harvick | Joey Logano | Chase Elliott |
| Ross Chastain | Kyle Busch | Justin Haley | Ty Dillon |
| Brad Keselowski | Michael McDowell | JJ Yeley | Aric Almirola |
| Tyler Reddick | Justin Allgaier | Chris Buescher | William Byron |
| Alex Bowman | Christopher Bell | Denny Hamlin | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. |
| Ryan Blaney | Josh Williams | Kurt Busch | Kyle Larson |
| Martin Truex Jr. | Chase Briscoe | Bubba Wallace | Austin Cindric |
| Corey LaJoie | Erik Jones | Austin Dillon | Cody Ware |
| Cole Custer | Daniel Suárez | Noah Gragson | Harrison Burton |
DEBATE: Best driver without dirt-racing resume for Bristol Dirt Race?
During the heat races, drivers accumulate points for finishing and passing. First place earns 10 points, second gets nine and so on down to two points for ninth — it’s the same way stage points are determined during a regulation race.
In addition to their finishing points, drivers gain one point for each car passed from their original starting position. For example, a driver who starts fourth and finishes second will receive two points. Drivers who finish where they started or ultimately lose spots on the grid get zero passing points. There are no deductions.
Only green-flag laps count. Free-pass and wave-around procedures operate as normal. NASCAR Overtime is not an option.
Once all four heat races are complete, point totals determine the field’s starting lineup for the main event, a max of 40 entries. Therefore, the driver with the most points wins the Busch Light Pole Award. All ties are broken by team owner points.
| STARTING SPOT | DRIVER, CAR | HEAT POINTS |
| 1 | Cole Custer | 16 |
| 2 | Christopher Bell | 14 |
| 3 | Tyler Reddick | 13 |
| 4 | Chase Briscoe | 12 |
| 5 | Kyle Larson | 11 |
| 6 | Justin Haley | 11 |
| 7 | Ty Dillon | 11 |
| 8 | Alex Bowman | 10 |
| 9 | Chase Elliott | 9 |
| 10 | Joey Logano | 9 |
| 11 | Kyle Busch | 9 |
| 12 | Austin Dillon | 9 |
| 13 | Kurt Busch | 9 |
| 14 | Erik Jones | 9 |
| 15 | Chris Buescher | 9 |
| 16 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 8 |
| 17 | Michael McDowell | 7 |
| 18 | Brad Keselowski | 7 |
| 19 | William Byron | 6 |
| 20 | Austin Cindric | 6 |
| 21 | Daniel Suárez | 6 |
| 22 | Bubba Wallace | 6 |
| 23 | Todd Gilliland | 6 |
| 24 | Harrison Burton | 6 |
| 25 | Ryan Blaney | 5 |
| 26 | Corey LaJoie | 5 |
| 27 | Justin Allgaier | 5 |
| 28 | Noah Gragson | 4 |
| 29 | JJ Yeley | 4 |
| 30 | Martin Truex Jr. | 3 |
| 31 | Aric Almirola | 3 |
| 32 | Kevin Harvick | 3 |
| 33 | Ross Chastain | 2 |
| 34 | Denny Hamlin | 2 |
| 35 | Cody Ware | 2 |
| 36 | Josh Williams | 2 |
The Food City Dirt Race, obviously, is the main event. It’s a 125-mile race broken up into three stages, per usual. The first stage ends on Lap 75. The second stage concludes on Lap 150. And the checkered flag signifies the end on Lap 250, unless there is NASCAR Overtime.
Business as usual, except on pit road.
Outside of stage breaks, teams are not allowed to fuel their cars or change out tires (unless a tire is flat). They can work on their cars under caution but have to restart behind the non-pitting cars as a result.
During the stage breaks, teams are given the option to fully pit. No driver can gain or lose position on pit road at this time. Upon restart, however, cars that did not pit get to start ahead of those that did.
Free-pass and wave-around procedures remain in play, but the choose rule does not apply for restarts.
REWIND: Joey Logano wins inaugural Bristol Dirt Race in 2021
***
In addition to the NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will be in attendance this weekend. Its procedural format is the same but adapted to the truckers’ schedule.
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR® and Sportradar Integrity Services, a global supplier of sports integrity solutions and a division of Sportradar (NASDAQ: SRAD), today announced a multi-year integrity services agreement, which features an expansion of a previous pact. The partnership reinforces Sportradar Integrity Services’ leadership position within the US market, while underscoring NASCAR’s mission to continue growing the sport in a safe and responsible manner.
Sportradar Integrity Services will provide NASCAR bet monitoring and reporting with its Universal Fraud Detection System (UFDS), covering all races in the NASCAR Cup Series™, NASCAR Xfinity Series™, and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series™. Additionally, Sportradar will supply NASCAR with its Education & Prevention Services to deliver an annual in-person integrity workshop and online eLearning tutorial. Furthermore, NASCAR will leverage Sportradar’s Intelligence & Investigation Services, as well as its Integrity Audit Service.
NASCAR will also be the first North American sports league to receive Sportradar’s Handle Estimation & Reporting Service, which consists of four quarterly race handle reports and one annual American Sports Betting Handle report. These reports will enable NASCAR to better analyze how fans are engaging with the sport through betting, while providing the league with a window into the emerging betting industry trends in the US market.
“NASCAR’s unwavering commitment to upholding the highest levels of competitive integrity has been instrumental to its success, and we look forward to continuing to safeguard their sport through our growing portfolio of industry-leading products and solutions,” said Andy Cunningham, Director, Global Partnerships, Sportradar Integrity Services.
“Our partnership with Sportradar is a foundational component to the success of NASCAR’s involvement with sports betting,” said Joe Solosky, Managing Director of Sports Betting, NASCAR. “When we began our journey into legal sports betting, our first priority was to protect the integrity of our product. Through this renewal, we’ll continue to ensure that our drivers, teams and industry stakeholders are educated on our policies. We are excited for this next step of the relationship between NASCAR and Sportradar to drive interest and engagement with our sport.”
Sportradar Integrity Services features a global team of integrity experts who deliver analysis on irregular betting patterns with any suspicious matches subsequently reported to partners, providing essential visibility into the global match-fixing landscape. During 2021, Sportradar Integrity Services detected more than 900 suspicious matches across global sport, and more than 6,900 suspicious matches have been witnessed during the past 17 years.
To learn more about Sportradar Integrity Services, please visit https://integrity.sportradar.com/
Experience on the dirt is the single biggest factor in how oddsmakers are pricing the NASCAR Cup Series spring race at Bristol Motor Speedway, set to be run for the second year in a row on a surface unfamiliar to many drivers. But while the top of the betting board for Sunday’s Food City Dirt Race mirrors that for last year’s go-round the half-mile oval, there’s been significant odds adjustments among some of the contenders lurking behind favorites Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell.
Daniel Suárez stands out among the movers. The No. 99 Chevrolet led 58 laps around the Bristol dirt last April, finishing fourth in Stage 1, second in Stage 2, and crossing the finish line fourth. That performance, combined with solid form out of the Trackhouse Racing garage this year, prompted SuperBook USA’s Ed Salmons to open Suarez at 25-to-1 odds for Sunday, a massive leap from the 100-to-1 odds the Mexican driver was offered at last year.
RELATED: Betting odds for Bristol Dirt Race | Bristol weekend schedule
Despite a less-than-impressive practice run in 2021, Suarez earned the betting market’s respect after the green flag dropped.
“There was nothing that I saw in practice that said he’s gonna go up and challenge to win the race. So (the way he ran) was definitely a surprise. And that’s applied to this year’s odds, obviously,” Salmons, VP of risk management at the Las Vegas bet shop, told NASCAR.com this week.
Race luck wasn’t on the side of Ross Chastain, Suarez’s Trackhouse teammate, in last year’s version of this event. He crashed out early driving for Chip Ganassi Racing and finished just 52 laps, not enough for bookmakers or bettors to glean anything meaningful. This season, though, Chastain has been among the best drivers in the Cup Series, tallying a win, two seconds, a third and fifth over the first eight races.
Yes, he’s gained the market’s attention, and Vegas bettors have taken a liking to the No. 1’s opening price for Bristol.
“He’s not a dirt guy, but he’s running so well all year, and with Suárez’s team running good (on the dirt) last year, I assume that their car will be fast,” Salmons said. “He’s actually getting some money at 18-to-1.”
Back to the Top
With dirt-track success bulleted on their resumes, Larson and Bell are priced as the clear first and second betting choices at the SuperBook. It’s a tighter call for second at BetMGM and Barstool, with Joey Logano — winner of last spring’s Food City Dirt Race — listed at 9-to-1 odds at both sportsbooks.
Here are odds from those three books for Sunday’s top contenders:
| Driver | SuperBook | BetMGM | Barstool |
| Kyle Larson | +450 | +450 | +500 |
| Christopher Bell | +800 | +800 | +900 |
| William Byron | +1200 | +1200 | +1200 |
| Joey Logano | +1200 | +900 | +900 |
| Chase Briscoe | +1200 | +1400 | +1400 |
| Tyler Reddick | +1200 | +1400 | +1400 |
| Kyle Busch | +1200 | +1400 | +1400 |
| Chase Elliott | +1400 | +1200 | +1200 |
| Ryan Blaney | +1400 | +1400 | +1300 |
| Denny Hamlin | +1400 | +1200 | +1400 |
| Martin Truex | +1400 | +1400 | +1200 |
| Ricky Stenhouse | +1800 | +2000 | +2200 |
| Alex Bowman | +1800 | +1600 | +1600 |
| Ross Chastain | +1800 | +2200 | +2200 |
| Kevin Harvick | +2500 | +2500 | +2500 |
| Daniel Suárez | +2500 | +2000 | +2500 |
| Kurt Busch | +4000 | +4000 | +5000 |
| Austin Dillon | +4000 | +4000 | +3300 |
“They’re the starting point, they’ll always be the starting point,” Salmons said of Larson and Bell. “Last year was kind of screwy that they both got taken out in the same thing (a wreck on Lap 51). We’ll never know how that race actually would’ve gone down if those two had run (a complete race).”
Different Approaches to Handicapping the Dirt
With just one dirt race of data to go off, quantitative analysis becomes challenging for Sunday’s Cup event. Some sharp bettors are staying away completely.
Jim Sannes, a NASCAR betting and DFS analyst at numberFire, has trepidation about his simulations this week.
“I do have a model for it, but I’m not sure how much I should trust it,” Sannes said in a direct message. “It is based mostly on performance on slick tracks, or those with heavy tire falloff. Those tracks were more predictive of performance at last year’s race, even if they weren’t short. So, for example, average running position in the Homestead race had high correlation to average running position in the Bristol dirt race. So for this year, tracks like Richmond and Fontana are featured (in his model) even though they’re not similar to Bristol dirt.
“I’m not sure if I’ll use (the model) to bet.”
A more qualitative approach, Salmons suggests, is to look back at overall performance at Bristol, the change to the Next Gen car notwithstanding.
“I think the one thing that we took from last year was if you run good on Bristol pavement, you run good on Bristol dirt,” the oddsmaker said. “And it’s pretty obvious that the good teams are still the good teams on this stuff, whether you have dirt experience or you don’t.”
Around the Field
Here are some more thoughts from Salmons and Sannes on other drivers in Sunday’s field:
— Martin Truex Jr. had an outstanding showing on the Bristol dirt last year, winning the Truck race, shining in Cup practice, and leading 126 laps and winning Stage 1 before cutting a tire and finishing 19th in the main event. “(Winning the Truck race) showed something, and his practice at the Cup level last year was off-the-charts fast,” Salmons said.
— While his model doesn’t necessarily show value in Tyler Reddick, Sannes has the No. 8 circled in pencil. “Still evaluating that,” Sannes said Tuesday. “But either way, I’ll likely be holding off until after practice to truly go deep in on it.”
— Denny Hamlin is priced as a pick ‘em in matchup props at the SuperBook against Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, and Truex. Some bettors will be looking to fade the No. 11 in these markets, Salmons anticipates. “You may see some things that you’re willing to bet in matchups if you think you’ve got someone that’s bet-against,” Salmons said. “It was pretty obvious last week in practice that Hamlin looked way off the pace. So you’re probably gonna see that this week, and some people would be happy to bet against that.”
Marcus DiNitto is Senior News Editor at Gaming Today. He’s been covering sports business for 24 years and sports betting for 11. NASCAR is among the many sports Marcus enjoys betting but often loses on. Follow him on Twitter; do not bet his picks.
The NASCAR Cup Series is set for the second edition of the Bristol Dirt Race on Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway (7 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Drivers bred on the dirt-racing grassroots scene, including Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe, are automatic favorites. What about the non-dirt racing background drivers, like last year’s race winner, Joey Logano?
NASCAR.com’s Pat DeCola and Chase Wilhelm debate which one of those competitors has the best opportunity to snatch a win away from the field under the lights.
RELATED: Full schedule for Bristol
DECOLA: Almost nothing went the way many expected things to go in last year’s inaugural running of dirt at the “Last Great Colosseum” — including the drivers who ran well.
Most foresaw either Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell or Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, two of the dirt-racing scene’s top competitors, stealing the show … which didn’t happen, as they actually wound up having their races derailed in the same wreck and both finished 29th or worse. Joey Logano, a champion of NASCAR but essentially a complete rookie on non-paved surfaces, led 61 laps en route to the win. Daniel Suárez, who joked during a mid-race interview he didn’t know what he was doing out there, landed Trackhouse Racing’s first-ever top five after leading 58 laps of his own.
Now with a Next Gen car that’s showing a proclivity toward parity in the early going, the field is once again wide open for this race. Of course, the dirt guys will likely still play a significant factor — and Bell/Larson are the two top favorites per oddsmakers — but it’s not a slam dunk that it’s their race for the taking. Logano and Suárez both make for good picks once again, but I’m actually going to go with last year’s Truck Series dirt race winner … Martin Truex Jr.
Lest we forget, MTJ went into Bristol, hopped into a truck for the first time since 2006 … and proceeded to lead 105 of 150 laps en route to the victory. On a surface he’s mostly unfamiliar with.
He also looked like he was headed toward his second W of the weekend in the Cup race, leading another race-high 126 laps in that one before fading to 19th.
This season has yet to see Truex land in Victory Lane, but he has been JGR’s best overall and most consistent driver to date. The team as a whole kind of had a big swing-and-a-miss at Martinsville Speedway, and the quartet of All-Stars will be hungry to make their mark on a 2022 campaign that so far has not seen them look like one of the elite teams.
A Truex win would give JGR two in the past three weeks (Denny Hamlin won at Richmond earlier this month), and of the four drivers, the speed in his No. 19 Toyota could give him the best shot.
Truex just needs to get past his teammate first.
WILHELM: Martin Truex Jr. will need to worry about William Byron before his teammates if he wants a victory at Bristol.
Despite his lack of practice on dirt, Byron qualified eighth and finished sixth in last year’s inaugural Bristol Dirt Race, a remarkable finish for a driver bred on asphalt racing. Prior to Sunday’s race, Byron set to compete in his first dirt late-model event on Thursday — FloRacing Late Model Challenge powered by Tezos at Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tennessee. It’s perfect timing for Byron to gain valuable dirt-racing experience.
Also, Byron is a hot shoe at the moment. He put the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports back in Victory Lane last Sunday at Martinsville, becoming the first multi-win driver of the season. Byron also leads the field with stage points — 82 with two stage victories — five points ahead of Ryan Blaney.
The Las Vegas betting scene likes Byron’s chances, as well. He’s a 12-1 favorite to win on BetMGM, while Truex comes in at 14-1 odds.
You can’t buy momentum, and it’s hard to come by at the premier level. Right now, Byron has plenty of it. That’s dangerous for the rest of the field and could likely transform into a surprise win Sunday night.
Scott Miller, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition, joined SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s The Morning Drive to discuss details of the infraction levied against the No. 6 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing team of driver-owner Brad Keselowski.
On March 24, an L2-level penalty was given to RFK’s No. 6 Ford in violation of Sections 14.1 and 14.5 of the NASCAR Rule Book — both headings that relate to the modification of a single-source supplied part for the Next Gen stock car. It resulted in a 100-point hit in the driver and owner standings, a 10-point deduction in playoff points, a four-race suspension for crew chief Matt McCall and a $100,000 fine.
RELATED: Brad Keselowski comments on the penalty
The penalties were upheld following an April 7 appeal hearing by a three-member group from the National Motorsports Appeals Panel. The deadline for RFK Racing to file a final appeal was Tuesday at 5 p.m. ET, but the team elected not to move forward.
With the book now closed, Miller made it a point to be transparent about what was found that led to the substantial consequence, which was a repair to a tail panel that wasn’t up to code.
“The repair policy is very straightforward,” Miller said Wednesday. “Any repair that’s done is to bring the part back to the original specification. On this part, that was not adhered to. There are body mounting landings that are part of the rear fascia that weren’t brought back to the original specifications. That’s a key design feature of the part. The repair policy was not followed. That’s really what it comes down to. A critical dimension of the part was altered.”
Miller noted that a strict deterrence model was requested by NASCAR Cup Series drivers and teams during the Next Gen development process.
“As we worked through what the NextGen car was going to be over that long journey with the teams, one of the things was the single-source parts had to be strictly enforced or we’ll get right back to the place where we were with the other car — of constant development,” Miller said. “A strict deterrence model was asked for by the folks in the garage, and it was our job to do that.”
The dust — and there was plenty of it – hadn’t even settled on last year’s inaugural dirt-track race at Bristol Motor Speedway when the announcement came that the format would return for 2022. Track officials interjected the news on the public-address system during the Stage 2 intermission.
One year later, that second edition has arrived with teams set to load in before Sunday’s Food City Dirt Race (7 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM). Teams learned plenty about the nuances of racing Cup Series cars on a packed dirt surface in the first go-around, but the amount of uncertainty remains high for the second running — especially with the new Next Gen car primed for its unpaved debut.
RELATED: Weekend schedule | Power Rankings
“I had fun last year,” said Joey Logano, who has good reason to say so since he won the inaugural Bristol Dirt Race. “You just kind of have to go with it. There’s still a lot of unknowns. We might know a little bit more than we did last year, but you have a whole new car now and there are areas I still want to be better at. That’s why I’m running the Truck race, so I don’t know. We’ll just kind of get up there and go racing like we do every other week.”
As new a concept as mud-slinging a stock car is, Cup Series drivers have sought out ways to sharpen their dirt skills, and the entry list of Saturday’s Camping World Truck Series race (8 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM) is dotted with their names. Team DGR will field trucks for Logano and fellow Cup Series regular Harrison Burton, and Chase Elliott (Spire Motorsports) and Austin Dillon (Young’s Motorsports) also plan to participate.
Reigning Cup Series champ and dirt aficionado Kyle Larson isn’t on that list, but he has already tried his hand at Bristol’s surface this year. He won a qualifying heat and had a best main-event finish of fourth in two nights of Late Model competition at the Karl Kustoms Bristol Dirt Nationals on April 1-2.
“The entries of the corners seem to be a little more sweeping, so a lot easier to run wide open in the late model,” Larson said last weekend at Martinsville Speedway. “So I don’t know if that’s good or bad or what it means for the racing, I felt like the track needs some character, some bumps and stuff, but natural kind of bumps. But I think they’ve learned a lot with track prep and things. And I felt like the track was really close to being really good, the two nights I was there. So, excited to get the cars on there.”
Truck Series regular Stewart Friesen, an avid dirt-track racer, shook down the Next Gen P3 test car last week at Bristol as NASCAR officials tried multiple configurations – grille openings, windshield settings and diffuser adjustments among them — to dial the car in. This followed an initial dirt-track test for the car Dec. 10 at Lancaster Motor Speedway in South Carolina.
Another change in place for the 2022 edition is a shift to a nighttime event. The inaugural, which was pushed to a Monday start because of race-day rain and flooding, was run during sunny, daytime conditions. The shift is expected to help keep the track from drying out and stirring dust, aiding visibility for drivers and fans alike.
MORE: Car changes for Bristol’s dirt | Latest odds
Covering Bristol’s concrete surface with dirt is still a novelty for NASCAR, but it has origins that predate this recent revival. World of Outlaws sprint cars and Late Models competed on Bristol’s dirt from 2000-01, something that stuck with Tyler Reddick.
“As a dirt racer myself growing up, just the thought of having dirt Bristol back just in itself and having other dirt cars out there in itself was a really huge deal for me, because that’s something I never thought I’d see in my lifetime,” Reddick said. “Just only able to hear stories about it from the drivers who got to do it. So again, to be a part of it was really cool, but it is really, really important for it to be a good race. From my perspective being more of the dirt background, we don’t want to make dirt racing look like, you know … we don’t want to make the racing product look bad. It’s always been really good.”
Whether Bristol returns in its current form for 2023 is still undecided, but the race – just the second on dirt in the modern era for NASCAR’s top division – furthers the recent trend of the sanctioning body expanding its palate for new venues.
Last season’s adventurous schedule tackled dirt and a handful of new ovals and road circuits – Nashville Superspeedway, Road America and Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course among them. This year topped that cake with a kick-off Clash exhibition inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, a revamped Atlanta Motor Speedway, plus race dates to come in St. Louis and – for the Xfinity Series – an expansion to the Pacific Northwest in Portland, Oregon.
So far, there has been an appetite for the newness – paved or not.
“The fact that NASCAR is going to different things … we just ran the Clash. I thought that was crazy, but it was actually pretty good and really big for our sport,” Logano said. “What’s next? We can race anywhere. We’ve proven we can put on a great race and an entertaining race for the fans, and a competitive race for the competitors out there. I don’t care where we go. Let’s do it. I think it’s great and if that’s on dirt, fine. If it’s at a local dirt track or Bristol, I don’t care. I’m gonna go race where they tell me to race and try to win and I think, honestly, it’s been pretty good here the last few years of the unknowns.
“When we go to those new tracks – Road America, the place packs out. Go back to Nashville after not going there for 10 years or so, the place packs out. So there’s something to that on bringing races to different markets that we haven’t gone to and bringing the races to the fans, whether it’s on whatever kind of track.”
For roughly five years, Joey Gase says he constantly thought about what it would be like to become a NASCAR team owner. Now, he’s living his dream.
Last November, Gase announced the formation of Joey Gase Racing, which would run the No. 35 car full time in the Xfinity Series. Over a month later, the team added veteran Whelen Modified Tour driver Patrick Emerling as a co-owner. Thus, Emerling-Gase Motorsports came to life.
RELATED: Xfinity Series standings
“Of all years, this was the best year to do it and probably the worst year, all at the same time,” Gase recently told NASCAR.com. “The competition this year is by far the strongest it’s ever been since I’ve been in the Xfinity Series.”
Since 2014, Gase has made sporadic starts in the Cup Series. During the last couple of seasons, it became his priority, primarily competing for Rick Ware Racing — a schedule that included 33 races in 2020.
But with the implementation of the Next Gen car, Gase needed to find something new. He wasn’t sure that his sponsors would be able to pay the bills to foot him a ride in the Cup Series.
“I knew it was going to be really hard to stay in the Cup Series,” Gase stated. “At the same time, I’ve been in the Xfinity Series a lot, and running my own team is something I’ve always had in the back of my mind.”
Last fall, though, Gase had no equipment. So he took a gander at Shane Lee’s race shop, which consisted of a plethora of parts and pieces from the former H2 Motorsports operation. Gase believes Lee had roughly 75% of the tools it took to start a team, including three chassis.
Not knowing if he would obtain any of it, Gase left with his hands full.
“I wasn’t expecting to buy all of it; I thought I was only going to buy some parts and pieces,” Gase said. “We got talking to the Lees and ended up buying all of it.”
The next goal was to get a race shop. A mutual friend of both Gase and Emerling introduced the two. They both shared a common interest, which led to a conversation about becoming co-owners of a race team. After all, Emerling, who ran the No. 23 Our Motorsports team last season, had a chunk of equipment that Gase didn’t have, including the hauler. He also had ownership of the points from the No. 23 team, which finished 20th in the owners’ standings last year.
Since 2011, Emerling’s family has fielded a competitive Whelen Modified Tour team. In 126 starts, he’s earned four victories, three of which came last season on the way to finishing runner-up in the championship standings. In the last two years, he’s competed in a quartet of Xfinity races, with a best effort of 24th last fall at Kansas.
“Racing has always been my passion,” Emerling stated. “I always wanted to get to the next level as a driver. Teaming up with Joey made a lot of sense. It’s a situation where you don’t know if you don’t try. We came together and so far, so good.”
The team, which has five full-time employees and two part-timers, didn’t even get into its race shop until January. It had to hustle just to have a car – let alone two – ready for the season opener at Daytona for both Gase and Lee.
Because the team came together so late, the team’s first challenge was to find quality employees. But Gase believes that’s hard for any start-up team.
“Finding good people right now is really hard,” he said. “Finding enough people is the hardest thing. And good people. We have a good core group of people right now, but we are hiring and trying to find a few more. We’re looking.”
Unfortunately for EGM, the team does not have a technical alliance with any manufacturer, thus they are running whichever suits them best for a given weekend. For instance, in the season opener at Daytona, the No. 35 was a Toyota and Gase drove the No. 53 Ford.
Because the team doesn’t have the same resources as one of the series’ elites, admittedly, a top-20 finish is the equivalent to a top-five run. And in nine starts this season, the team has accomplished that feat three times, including Parker Kligerman’s 12th-place run at Circuit of The Americas.
“If we can finish in the top 25 in points this year, we’ll be really happy,” Gase added.
MORE: 2022 Xfinity Series schedule
Emerling, who plans to run the majority of the Whelen Modified races in 2022, won’t let that schedule conflict with his Xfinity starts. Fortunately for him, he has people in place to run the modified program, so he can focus his attention on the Xfinity schedule.
“It is quite the task balancing both race teams, along with my real estate business,” he said. “The Xfinity team is definitely my main focus. With the competition in the series today, I believe it is as difficult as ever to form a new team in the series, especially on a budget.
“Owning a team allows you to control the situation. That’s all my family and I ever did.”
Through the first eight races of the season, the No. 35 car sits 29th in the owners’ standings, just 12 points below Gase’s goal of 25th. The team has had a few hiccups early on, but also had consecutive top-20 results between Atlanta and COTA. Like Daytona, the team plans to also run the No. 53 car in the series’ next race at Talladega.
Regardless of the results, the duo shares the same vision moving forward.
“To survive, make a living off of it and make it into something we’re proud of,” Gase said of his hopes for the team. “The overall goal is to become a team that can go out and compete for the win every week. That’s something that doesn’t happen overnight.
“It doesn’t matter how much money you have – we don’t have all that money yet – but it’s something that takes time. I don’t care what level of racing you’ve been at before, late models, modifieds, ARCA or whatever it might be, everyone that’s here has won before at what they’ve done. So when everyone is here and everyone is winners, it’s a lot harder competition.”
For competitors in the state of Michigan, the racing season gets underway Saturday, April 23, with the running of the Icebreaker at Berlin Raceway in Marne, Michigan.
The opening race of the 72nd season for the 7/16-mile paved oval provides racers in the Super Late Model, Limited Late Model, Sportsman and 4 Cylinder divisions opportunities to begin the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series season with a bang.
RELATED: Watch the Icebreaker live on FloRacing
The event is headlined by a 75-lap, $5,000-to-win Super Late Model event that will kick off a busy season that features racing through mid-September.
All of the Icebreaker feature racing action can be seen live on FloRacing. Below is the schedule for this year’s kickoff to the short-track racing season at Berlin Raceway.
All feature racing action from the 2022 Icebreaker at Berlin Raceway can be viewed live on FloRacing, the new streaming home of all NASCAR Roots properties.
The Icebreaker will not be shown on a television network.
Below is the complete schedule for Icebreaker coverage on FloRacing.
| Date | Start time | How to watch |
| Saturday, April 23 | 4 p.m. ET | FloRacing |
Berlin Raceway’s Icebreaker is a packed one-day show that begins with rotating practice starting at 2 p.m. ET.
Qualifying for the headlining Super Late Model division is set to begin at 3:30 p.m. ET, with feature racing for the four divisions set to follow. The Limited Late Model, Sportsman and 4 Cylinder classes will each run double features.
Below is the complete track schedule for the 2022 Icebreaker at Berlin Raceway.
| Time | Event |
| 11:30 a.m. | Pit Pass Window Opens |
| 12 p.m. | Pit Gate Open |
| 12:30 p.m. | 4 Cylinder Tech (Turn 1) |
| 1:30 p.m. | Sportsman Tech (Turn 1) |
| 2 – 2:30 p.m. | Super Late Model Practice (30 min) |
| 2:30 – 2:40 p.m. | Sportsman Practice (10 min) |
| 2:30 p.m. | Super Late Model Tech |
| 2:50 – 3 p.m. | Limited Late Model Practice (10 min) |
| 3 – 3:10 p.m. | 4 Cylinder Practice (10 min) |
| 3:10 – 3:20 p.m. | Sportsman Practice (10 min) |
| 3:20 – 3:30 p.m. | Limited Late Model Practice (10 min) |
| 3:30 p.m. | Super Late Model Qualifying |
| 3:57 p.m. | Invocation (Larry Bush); National Anthem (Davin Risk) |
| 4 p.m. | Features (4 Cylinder Feature 1: 15 laps/15 min … Sportsman Feature 1: 20 laps/20 min … Limited Late Model Feature 1: 25 laps/25 min … Super Late Model Scuff Session … 4 Cylinder Feature 2: 15 laps/15 min … Sportsman Feature 2: 20 laps/20 min … Limited Late Model Feature 2: 25 laps/25 min … Super Late Model Feature: 75 laps/60 min) |
(All times ET)
