BRISTOL, Tenn. — The Friesens are a match made on dirt.
Stewart and Jessica Friesen have been married since 2014, and their history of racing against – alongside? – each other dates back well before then, specifically at dirt tracks. That didn’t stop after marriage, nor did it after their son, Parker, was born. In fact, both parents are entered into Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway, with the youngster on site.
“It’s a little bit further than Utica-Rome (Speedway), where we met, you know, sneaking dates at the drivers’ meeting back in early 2000s,” Stewart told NASCAR.com. “Jess was running the sportsman, I was running a modified there, and that’s kind of where we met and all this got started. I never dreamed it would end up here at Bristol, let alone with dirt, our kind of native surface.”
The racing duo tried to do this exact same thing last year in the inaugural Bristol dirt weekend, but weather literally washed out the heat races, which Jessica needed in order to qualify into the main event. Before rain ruined her chances to compete, Jessica posted the 19th (of 43) and 27th (of 44) fastest times in the two practices. Stewart then ultimately finished 12th in the feature.
Both Jessica and Stewart raced in the Trucks’ second dirt event in 2021 at Knoxville Raceway, though they wouldn’t call it a big success. Jessica came in 26th. Stewart placed 27th.
“Last year, I felt like Bambi on ice,” Jessica said. “I was not super. I was a little tough on Stewart. We had to totally change a lot of things on the trucks at Knoxville.”
Stewart, a Trucks full-timer and team co-owner, was in his usual No. 52 Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota. Jessica ran the organization’s No. 62 entry.
“Over the winter, our guys went to work,” Stewart said. “We hacked up both the dirt trucks and made a lot of changes from the frame up through the bodywork and everything. That was all due to a lot of Jess’ feedback and her hammering on Trip (Bruce, general manager), saying we gotta get these better.
“So, hopefully, we can unload in practice and see those results.”
The Trucks’ first practice on Bristol’s dirt began Friday at 3 p.m. ET. Stewart topped the leaderboard, turning the 0.533-mile loop in 19.369 seconds at 92.932 mph. Jessica checked in 31st (of 37) with 20.369 seconds and 88.37 mph.
The second and final run set for 5:35 p.m. ET, live on FS1. Qualifying – which will consist of four 15-lap heats – is Saturday, starting at 4:30 p.m. ET (FS2). The main feature – Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt – is then at 8 p.m. ET (FS1).
Like last season’s attempt, Jessica will need to qualify into the finale. Stewart, running for points, is guaranteed a spot. As long as one of the teammates wields Bristol’s sword in Victory Lane, they’re a happy family.
“We’re always the first ones to kind of tell each other when somebody is wrong, definitely,” Jessica said. “He’s the first one to critique me when I need to do something better or something needs to be changed.”
Said Stewart: “Which doesn’t happen too often. I mean, you don’t really make too many mistakes.”
CONCORD, N.C. — Earlier this week, Coca-Cola Racing Family driver and team owner Denny Hamlin met via zoom with troops from U.S. Army Central and the U.S. Army 163rd Cavalry Regiment from Camp Buehring, Kuwait, as Charlotte Motor Speedway kicked off its 2022 Mission 600. As a prelude to the 63rd running of the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day Weekend, Mission 600 is designed to honor the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces by pairing drivers with military bases to educate the NASCAR community about the day-to-day lives of the men and women who serve.
Separated by more than 6,800 miles, Hamlin and the troops found plenty of common ground during their hour-long conversation, which covered topics ranging from leadership and teamwork to training regimes and the differences in shift patterns between a military tank and Next Gen race car.
Hamlin was even given a personal tour of the inner workings of an M1A1 Abrams tank and introduced to each member of the tank’s four-person crew, who talked through their respective roles and responsibilities as commander, gunner, loader and driver.
“When they get out there, they know what they’re doing,” said SSG Thomas Moore. “But it doesn’t happen unless we do have that leadership, we have that capability. Like the captain was saying about being on the battlefield, being coordinated, especially with the medical crews, the retrieval crews, that’s just like your pit crew. We have those roles that are ready to go at a moment’s notice.”
Following the tour, members of the unit showered Hamlin — a 17-year NASCAR driver and more recently co-owner of 23XI Racing — with questions about balancing his dual roles as driver and owner, how he stays in shape to handle the rigors of a 130-degree race car and who some of his mentors were coming up through the racing ranks.
“What the normal person would not be able to do inside of our cars, deal with the heat,” Hamlin said. “Maybe you guys, because it does not look cool inside those tanks. But you know, it’s 130 to 140 (degrees) in the car usually. And we’re in there for four hours and there’s not AC blowing or anything like that.”
“About the 130-degrees in the car, that’s kind of what it is outside here,” Moore joked.
Hamlin’s virtual visit is the first of six engagements that are planned for the 2022 Mission 600 campaign. In the coming weeks, fellow Coca-Cola Racing drivers Daniel Suarez and Austin Dillon are scheduled to visit Coast Guard Station Wrightsville Beach and Fort Bragg, respectively, while Joey Logano is expected to visit virtually with an overseas U.S. Air Force unit. Additionally, Kurt Busch will make a trip to Camp Lejeune and Kyle Larson — the defending Coca-Cola 600 winner — will visit Arlington National Cemetery.
“The connection of our military and our driving community and fans really embodies what the Coca-Cola 600 is all about,” said Greg Walter, executive vice president and general manager at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “One of the wonderful things about our sport is the sense of patriotism that our fans have, that our athletes like Denny have — a true appreciation for what our servicemen and women do each and every day. What Mission 600 does is bring those two worlds together.”
BULLS GAP, Tenn. — For the first time in his 24 years of life, eight of which have been spent professionally racing stock cars, William Byron strapped into a Late Model and powered it around a dirt track.
Truth be told, his debut wasn’t always the prettiest. Byron spun more than once throughout the action-packed Thursday night at Tennessee’s Volunteer Speedway, including during his opening run in qualifying hot laps. But he kept at it. He even competed in not just one but ultimately two races.
“I could go do asphalt Late Model races and compete for wins, and that’s a little bit different than this,” Byron told NASCAR.com. “This was more just to put myself in a different environment and see what happens. So, hopefully, I can do a lot more of it and kind of learn behind the scenes, not learn under pressure so much. But it was definitely good to just get some experience around these guys and kind of know what I have to build towards.
Byron advanced out of the heat races into a B-Main, in which he finished 10th out of 11. His NASCAR Cup Series teammate, Kyle Larson, however, was the promoter of the overall event – officially called the inaugural FloRacing Late Model Challenge powered by Tezo – and was able to gift Byron his promoter’s provisional, a guaranteed spot in the feature race.
The finale was a 50-lap shootout with 25 competitors. Byron came in 24th. Larson crossed fourth behind winner Mike Marlar, runner-up Jimmy Owens and third-place Scott Bloomquist.
“The field was really tough,” Larson said. “A lot of these drivers are every bit as good as what Kyle Busch would be in a Cup car.”
Busch is a two-time Cup Series champion, the only current multi-time champ in the premier series garage. Larson is the reigning titleholder.
Larson, who is just as successful in the dirt world as he is within the stock realm, knows one can’t compare a Cup car to a Late Model, especially when it comes to dirt. A Late Model is built for the surface type. Cup is not; it only races on dirt once a year as of last year. That weekend just so happens to be this weekend, with the second Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway scheduled for Sunday (7 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM).
That may have played a small part in Byron’s decision to enter Larson’s showdown, but it wasn’t the sole reason, as he himself noted earlier.
“It was cool for him to show up and do it,” Larson said. “Obviously, way different than what he grew up doing. So yeah, neat that he was willing to kind of step way out of his comfort zone and try something really different.”
This wasn’t really out of his comfort zone given his NASCAR history, but just last week at Martinsville Speedway, Byron ran just his second Camping World Truck Series race since 2016 — and won.
Afterward, when asked about the rather unexpected seat add, he said, “I’m just having fun.” The spontaneous dirt adventure tracks more so there than Bristol prep.
It’s not always about winning, especially at the very beginning of a new endeavor.
“I was just trying to get up to speed,” Byron said. “I don’t have any laps in these cars, so just figuring out how they feel and what to do. But it was a lot of fun, for sure.”
When Jennerstown Speedway Complex general manager Bill Hribar was in Florida visiting New Smyrna Speedway in February for the track’s annual Speedweeks, he ran into some old friends who now work in NASCAR. They all started talking about the possibility of adding Jennerstown to the list of NASCAR-sanctioned short tracks, and, he said, “Next thing you know, we started talking at the table with a NASCAR sanctioning agreement.”
It was about two or three weeks after Hribar returned from Florida that Jennerstown came to an agreement with NASCAR. The Jennerstown, Pennsylvania, half-mile oval became the 45th NASCAR-sanctioned short track in the United States and Canada.
“It’s been an incredible experience,” Hribar said in a phone interview this week. “There hasn’t been one person in NASCAR that hasn’t been amazing to work with so far.”
It’s been about 15 years since Jennerstown was a part of NASCAR. The track closed in 2008 and was not NASCAR-sanctioned at that time. Back then, Jennerstown had a sister track, Motordrome Speedway, about an hour away in West Newton, Pennsylvania.
Hribar grew up a mile from Motordrome, and he eventually started racing there himself.
“That was my entire childhood. I spent every Friday night there,” he said. “When I got my first teaching job in 2007, the very first purchase I made was for a race car to race at Motordrome Speedway.”
His knowledge of racing and his involvement in the fire department and other local organizations in the community helped Hribar move from behind the wheel to the management side of the sport.
“You meet some of the greatest people of your life in racing, and I met one of the current owners there,” he said. “The owner asked if I would help out at Motordrome and kind of give it a breath of fresh air.”
Hribar and others had an agreement to purchase Motordrome in 2013, but the deal didn’t work out. A year later, he got a call saying, “We’re going to Jennerstown.”
“I thought he was kind of crazy,” Hribar said. “It’s an hour away, and I didn’t really know many people.
“Long story short, I went in front of six individuals, spoke for about two-and-a-half hours about what I wanted to do and how to make it work, and here we are eight years later, and I’m running the place.”
Hribar has been at Jennerstown since it reopened in 2014. He started as basically a volunteer, got a little more involved in 2015, and was named general manager before the 2016 season.
The track has been through several different owners in that time, but it has continued to grow.
It was that growth that convinced Hribar and others it was time to go NASCAR-sanctioned.
“I believe timing is everything in this sport,” he said. “We feel we’ve got a pretty good foundation underneath us.”
Jennerstown Speedway (Nate Smallwood/NASCAR)
Hribar said the response has been “remarkable” since Jennerstown made the NASCAR announcement, from the drivers to the sponsors to the fans. When they made the announcement, they were on a Facebook live stream, and almost immediately, he said, their phones were “just going ballistic.”
“And it was from some of the people you would never expect to hear from in regards to that,” he said. ” Even if they were in favor, you wouldn’t expect them to reach out. It has been nothing but positive support from everyone involved. It’s opened up numerous opportunities for the speedway, for drivers, sponsors. It has been a win-win the whole way around, and NASCAR has been amazing to work with.”
Jennerstown hopes to continue to grow in 2022. Hribar said the track recently completed a $350,000 LED lighting project. They redid the VIP area and press box, and they’re currently redoing all the bleachers and some spots in the pit area.
Completing these projects and bringing Jennerstown back to prominence has, most importantly, revived the excitement for short track racing in Southwest Pennsylvania. Before the track re-opened, Hribar said what the sport was missing in the area was consistency.
“You had individuals opening and running the racetracks, and you wouldn’t know until March of the following year if the racetrack was even going to be there,” he said. “So people weren’t willing to invest in their cars, the equipment or the facility not knowing, that uncertainty.
“So we made it quite clear the gentlemen involved, and still are involved, we’re the real deal. They’re investing their time, energy and money into making the speedway successful.”
The biggest reflection of Jennerstown’s success has been in the car count and the fans in the stands. Last year, the track had 34 cars in their top Late Model division collect points, something Hribar said “this region and part of the country hasn’t seen in decades.”
The track is also averaging between 4,000-4,500 fans a week, he added.
“Low and behold, when you pay your bills and treat people with respect, they want to come to your facility,” Hribar added. “And we actually saw people. A gentleman here who hadn’t raced in 20-something years came back. Other people who hadn’t raced in 15, 16 years. Everybody wants to be part of Jennerstown Speedway, and it’s just like a revitalization, and it’s been great.”
Hribar still teaches high school manufacturing full time, and he doesn’t race any more himself. While he said he can’t compare racing to being the general manager of a track, and can’t say which role he likes more, he couldn’t imagine being in any other position at this time. To him, he’s doing a lot more good on that side of the track, and being the GM “scratches the itch where I’m still involved in racing and doing a lot more good on this side of things.”
What he’s most excited about this season is seeing everyone again — from his drivers to the fans to everyone else involved with Jennerstown’s growth.
The track held a registration party last weekend, and Hribar said people came out in droves to support the track and get excited for the 2022 season.
“We’re really excited,” he said. “The 2021 season was probably the most remarkable for Jennerstown, not just in our years but any other years combined.
“In every other year it seems like there’s always, I don’t want to say down time, but you don’t have that adrenaline rush. I live off adrenaline, and all offseason you wait for that to kick back in. Well, I can confidently tell you the adrenaline rush hasn’t stopped since September of last year, and ever since we’ve made the NASCAR deal … It is full speed ahead for everyone involved.”
Jennerstown will hold its first practice day on April 23 and a second practice on April 30. The track will open the season on May 7.
Jennerstown is also one of 21 tracks currently competing for the Advance Auto Parts Advance My Track Challenge for a $50,000 prize. To learn more or vote for your favorite track, go to https://www.advancemytrack.com/.
When the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour returns to Lee USA Speedway for the first time in more than two decades next month, race fans are going to be in for quite the treat in the inaugural Granite State Derby, promoted by JDV Productions.
Headlined by the 175-lap Whelen Modified Tour race, which will have various tire strategies to keep track of at one of the most abrasive tracks in the region, the Granite State Derby will have multiple different types of race cars battling throughout the day. There will be a little bit of something for everyone on Saturday, May 21, at New Hampshire’s Center of Speed, as the Modifieds, Pro Stocks, Mini Stocks and winged Midgets will all be in action.
Fans will get a taste of high-powered Modified thunder in two separate divisions — the Whelen Modified Tour and the Pro 4 Modifieds — both standout divisions in New England for many years. The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour’s most recent visit to Lee was in 1998, and although some of the drivers have competed in other races at the track in the last decade alone, many of them will have their first experience at the track with the element of pit stops in play. When will teams elect to take their fresh tires? Will they take them earlier in the race and hope for a long green flag run to the finish? Will they wait until the final few laps and hope for a late caution to blast them on and make a dash through the field? It’s all a guessing game that will keep fans engaged for the whole distance.
The 175-lap Tour race will also serve as the first of three events in the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup, a three-race series that will begin at Lee, continue at Monadnock Speedway on June 18 and conclude at Claremont Motorsports Park on Friday, July 29, when a champion will be crowned. Driver point totals will be kept, and the champion will be the driver who totals the most points over the three races. The incentive bonus program for the Whelen Granite State Short Track Cup is now more than $15,000 in extra bonus awards.
“The inaugural Granite State Derby at Lee is going to be a perfect kick-off to a busy JDV Productions schedule for the 2022 season,” said Josh Vanada, owner of JDV Productions. “We’re looking forward to watching so many different divisions on the same day at Lee. You have the Modifieds, which need no introduction with their ground pounding excitement, along with Pro Stocks, Mini Stocks and Midgets, all on the same day. On top of everything else we will have going on at the track, this is a can’t miss race day for race fans.”
The Pro 4 Modifieds, one of the longest standing New England touring divisions, will roar into Lee looking to showcase both the veterans and rising stars of the region. Their 25-lap feature is sure to be a tightly-contested battle that will go down to the wire.
On the fendered side, the Granite State Pro Stock Series will join the JDV Productions events for the first of two times during the 2022 season at Lee. In what will be the third race of the series for the New Hampshire-based touring division, similar to the Modifieds, tire conservation will be a hot topic in their 100-lap race. The only difference: Teams will have to run the entire race on the same four tires, meaning those drivers who save the best will have the most at the end of the race to chase for the trophy.
The GSPSS entry list, to be released closer to the day of the race, is expected to be strong, as teams will be looking to grab as many laps as possible ahead of their $10,000-to-win race at the track in July.
On the winged side, another one of New England’s longest running divisions, the NEMA Lites, will rocket around the track at fast speeds for 25 laps of their own. The NEMA Lites, a division tied to the NEMA Midgets, is used as a more affordable class, but also one that showcases both veterans and rising stars. Many of the drivers who compete in the NEMA Lites eventually become NEMA Midget winners, while names like Randy Cabral, a multiple-time NEMA Midget champion, also dip down into the NEMA Lites to race. The division is familiar with the .375-oval and will have another exciting race in the cards.
And finally, the NHSTRA Mini Stocks will race in a special Battle For The Belt event, set for 50 laps. As one of the more affordable divisions in racing, the Mini Stocks are one of many divisions part of the Battle for the Belt Series in New Hampshire, where the division competes across multiple tracks for glory. The rules are the same across all tracks in the NHSTRA banner, which includes Lee, Claremont Motorsports Park, Monadnock Speedway and Hudson Speedway.
The Mini Stock drivers are no strangers to the long straightaways at Lee and will be excited to race for the checkered flag in a bit of a longer race. Don’t let the laps fool you, though. Racing will be hot and heavy right from the drop of the first green flag through the entire distance.
Tickets for the inaugural Granite State Derby are available today at JDVProductions.com. Tickets for all four JDV events during the 2022 season are also available.. Tickets also include the opportunity to purchase an exclusive pass in the JDV Experience, where fans will get select marquee seating, a private autograph session, concession stand vouchers and more.
For more information on JDV Productions, visit JDVProductions.com and follow on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the latest updates.
The hype for Darlington Raceway’s annual throwback weekend is continuing to build.
Josh Berry, driver of the No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, is the latest to reveal his scheme for the Mahindra ROXOR 200 on May 7 — and it’s a good one.
Berry’s brightly-colored tribute is a nod to team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s 2002 Xfinity Series (then-Busch Series) win at Richmond Raceway, featuring the mischievous monster Gossamer from Looney Tunes on the hood and family-favorite Bugs Bunny on the decklid.
Earnhardt gathered two series championships and 24 races en route to his NASCAR Hall of Fame career. Berry’s first series victory (and second) came in 2021 when he earned a part-time ride with the Earnhardt-owned team. His prowess in the limited stint earned him a full-time opportunity this season and has been a key member of the organization’s success, with four top 10s in eight races.
Christopher Bell was five weeks removed from his first career NASCAR Cup Series win — the 2021 O’Reilly Auto Parts 253 — when he arrived in March 2021 at Bristol Motor Speedway for the first Cup Series dirt race since 1970.
He was a three-time Chili Bowl Nationals champion who won at Eldora Speedway in his third career Camping World Truck Series race and was one of the most experienced dirt-track drivers in the 39-car lineup for the Food City Dirt Race.
That was enough for BetMGM oddsmakers to place Bell in front of 37 of the other drivers in NASCAR odds.
At +800 to win — his best odds ever entering a Cup Series race — Bell was well below the favorite, Kyle Larson (+280). But it was still a resounding vote of confidence for the then-26-year-old with only 42 career Cup Series starts. Those starts were less than 10% of several others beneath him on the odds board, including Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick.
And for 52 laps at the “World’s Dirtiest Half-Mile,” Bell delivered on the hype; he was running second behind Truex midway through Stage 1 before spinning out, leading to a 34th-place finish.
Despite the result, oddsmakers and the public evidently saw enough to deliver another vote of confidence this year.
Once again, Bell sits behind Larson at +800, the second-best odds on the board as of Wednesday, though the gap is narrower; Larson is +450 one year after his No. 5 Chevrolet was damaged in Bell’s wreck and finished 29th.
“I passed Joey Logano early in the race last year before I spun out,” Bell told the Johnson City Press, referring to an early pass of Logano, the eventual winner. “That’s good to have that confidence in my head. All the dirt racers, we got a lot of them in the Cup Series now. So it’s not going to be an easy race by any means.”
Kyle Larson dropped four spots to a season-low sixth in this week’s NASCAR Power Rankings after a 19th-place finish at Martinsville, his fifth finish outside the top 15 in the last six races.
He did not, however, drop in Cup Series championship odds, still sitting atop the board at +550, narrowly ahead of Chase Elliott (+700) and William Byron (+700) and far ahead of Bell (+2200) and others.
Larson, a two-time Chili Bowl Nationals champion, gets another crack at the Bristol dirt this weekend and must, at minimum, finish ahead of Bell to earn his second win of the season.
And many BetMGM bettors believe that’ll happen; as of Wednesday, Larson had the highest ticket (11%) and handle shares (22.4%) to win the race and 97% of tickets and 96% of the handle in the head-to-head against Bell.
Joey Logano (-145) vs. Martin Truex Jr., (+115)
Joey Logano won Stage 2 last year en route to his lone win of 2021 and just his second win since early 2020. And after relishing the uniqueness and nostalgia of winning the first Cup Series dirt race at Bristol — his third career Cup Series win at Bristol — he returns with hopes of becoming the ninth different driver to win the 62-year-old race in back-to-back years.
For what it’s worth, Logano ranks sixth in top-five finishes, seventh in laps led, and fifth in wins at Bristol among active drivers. He’s had significantly more success at the iconic track than his head-to-head opponent this week, Martin Truex Jr., who was in position for his first Bristol win (in 31 career starts) at last year’s race before a late flat tire.
The public is buying Logano in race-winner betting — fourth-highest shares in both tickets and handle — but Truex has 89% of the handle in the featured matchup.
William Byron (-125) vs. Alex Bowman (-105)
William Byron became the year’s first multi-win driver with last weekend’s triumph at Martinsville and now sits a career-high third in the NASCAR Cup Series standings, just nine points behind Ryan Blaney and 12 points behind Chase Elliot. And his bid for a second straight win will include a dirt warmup on Thursday in Kyle Larson’s Late Model Challenge at Volunteer Speedway.
Alex Bowman, meanwhile, is seeking a seventh straight top-15 finish since opening the season 24th at Daytona and 25th at Fontana. And with a win, he’d join Byron as the only drivers with multiple wins this season.
The public isn’t convinced of that happening, though; Bowman has only 1.5% of tickets and 1.4% of the handle in race-winner betting and barely any action against Byron in this featured matchup. Byron is dominating both tickets (98%) and handle (99%).
Chase Briscoe (-155) vs. Daniel Suárez (+120)
Pulling double dirt duty last year, Chase Briscoe finished 20th in the Food City Dirt Race and fifth in the Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt. The former teenage dirt-track superstar won’t be behind the wheel of Roper Racing’s No. 4 Ford truck this year, but he will be behind the wheel of his No. 14 Ford on Sunday in search of his second win this season.
Only Larson, Bell, and Chase Elliott have a higher share of the race-winner handle than Briscoe (5.6%). Daniel Suárez, however, has 72% of the handle (on a 50/50 ticket split) in their head-to-head.
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.
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.
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.
— 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
Credit: Goodyear Tire
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.
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).
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.
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.
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:
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
SUNDAY
7 p.m. ET — Food City Dirt Race (FOX)
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.
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.
That may have played a small part in Byron’s decision to enter Larson’s showdown, but it wasn’t the sole reason, as he himself noted earlier.
