The eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series returns for its second season Wednesday evening, kicking off with a brand-new challenge: the Bristol Motor Speedway dirt track. Just four days before the stars of the NASCAR Cup Series take the green flag in the first-ever Bristol Dirt Race, the drivers will compete in a virtual exhibition race using iRacing, with television coverage on FS1.
The eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series is a 10-race series of just-for-fun esports events featuring some of NASCAR’s brightest stars and most popular drivers.
The well-received series was created last year after the start of the COVID-19 outbreak as NASCAR looked for alternative forms of racing. Seven races were held between March and May, until NASCAR returned to the track on May 17 at Darlington Raceway.
Drivers from multiple NASCAR circuits competed in the events, which were televised by FOX Sports and featured the familiar voices of commentators Jeff Gordon, Mike Joy and Larry McReynolds. Competition was fierce — but fun — and race winners included Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Alex Bowman and Timmy Hill.
Now, a year later, the iRacing Pro Invitational Series returns for 2021, offering fans — and drivers — a first, mid-week look at new stops on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule, like Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, and, of course, the Bristol Dirt Race.
What to expect
It’s hard to predict what might happen in the iRacing Pro Invitational Series’ return.
Last year, the series helped spawn the now-classic on-air banter between Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer and also shine a spotlight on sim-enthusiast drivers like Byron, Hill and Garrett Smithley. And longtime iRacer Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced he’ll return to the series.
The drivers have zero laps of experience on the real-world dirt-covered Bristol Motor Speedway; their first laps in competition happen on iRacing. (Keep an eye out, fantasy fans!) Last year’s iRacing Pro Invitational Series featured no dirt racing, and the Bristol dirt track was just released to iRacing members earlier this month.
In other words, it’s anybody’s race.
Race format
Last week, the format for the iRacing Pro Invitational Series season opener was announced.
Drivers will have a two-hour open-practice window to get a feel for the track. FS1’s live coverage will begin at 6 p.m. ET with check-ins on the session throughout its programming.
After practice, drivers will complete a two-lap qualifying session around 7:50 p.m. ET. That qualifying session will determine the starting order for three 20-lap heat races, which begin at 8 p.m. ET.
From the three heats, seven drivers will advance from each race to make up the feature field of 21. The 70-lap feature event is scheduled to roll off at 8:40 p.m. ET.
Drivers competing in the feature event will have two damage-repair resets available to use if necessary. (No, those aren’t available Sunday.)
How to watch
Coverage of the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series at the virtual, dirt Bristol Motor Speedway begins at 6 p.m. ET on FS1. Heat races begin at 8 p.m. ET.
When Traci Hobbs and her husband, Doug, took over as promoters of Washington’s Evergreen Speedway 10 years ago, they inherited keys to the gates and office, and nothing else.
Hobbs said they didn’t have a single file folder or any information. She said the first year was like “drinking from a fire hose.”
“I don’t want to say I cried every single weekend the first year, but I think I cried every single weekend the first year,” Hobbs said. “There was such a steep learning curve and there were so many areas that needed our attention that the first two years were really tough.
“Now, looking back, I’m very proud of how far we’ve come.”
Hobbs didn’t come from a racing background when she took over the track. Having graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in advertising, she spent much of what she called her “first career” selling media and TV advertising.
Traci and Doug Hobbs
She was also a radio rep for Evergreen Speedway under the previous owners, and had done promotions with them, but “I didn’t know really much about racing at all,” she said.
Doug was a local car dealer, and had worked behind the scenes at Evergreen, sponsoring cars and classes for more than 20 years, and Hobbs said it had always been his dream to the buy the racetrack. The couple got married in 2011, and the same year they put in a business plan bid for Snohomish County, Washington when Evergreen was put up for bid for a long-term contract with the county, which owns the land the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series track sits on.
“We met through our work, ended up getting engaged and applied to take over the racetrack,” she said. “I left my job, he left his job, and we started our own company and took over Evergreen Speedway.”
Evergreen sits on 71 acres of land, and features a .625-mile outer oval, and two smaller inner ovals, as well as a drag strip, figure 8 track, and .750-mile road course. It is the only NASCAR-sanctioned weekly track in the state of Washington.
The track is located in Monroe, Washington, and sits 30 miles northwest of Seattle.
While other bidders at the time had deeper backgrounds in racing, Hobbs said she and her husband used their business and sales background to seal the deal with the County.
There was definitely a learning curve in the racing side for Hobbs, though.
“I didn’t know the difference between the mini stocks and the super late model when I took over,” she said. “There was a lot about racing I didn’t know.”
What she did know, though, was about sponsorship and how to bring in money. Hobbs said she spent most of the first two years trying to get sponsors. This was in 2011, right after the recession, and she said at the time, “there were no drivers, hardly any fans, and very few sponsors.”
It took a couple of years to get caught up, but Hobbs focused on “inviting sponsors to the party,” she said, as well as applying for grants, and looking at the customer service side of the track.
“It could be drivers at the back gate, or customers at the front gate, we wanted to get that concierge service because the track didn’t really have the best reputation,” she said. “Evergreen was a power house in the ‘80s and ‘90s. It was larger than life. But in the early 2000s, that’s when things started to go downhill, so I was more focused on bringing sponsors, bringing groups, reaching out into the local community, making contacts, establishing ties, and bringing people to the party.”
As far as the real operations and technical side of the sport, Hobbs said she learned that on the job, and has since fallen in love with racing.
“Now, I know all the little nuances about shocks and stagger on tires and all the minutia that goes into racing, and there’s an awful lot of it,” she said.
“There isn’t a better feeling in the world than looking at the grandstands and seeing a full-packed house… and you don’t just open the doors and everybody comes. It’s a lot of work in maintaining relationships and promoting. It doesn’t happen easily, but boy, I tell you, when the super late models get all raring to go and they come down the front stretch as soon as the green flag waves and the cars go speeding by, that’s just such a thrill for me.”
The first couple of years were difficult, but Hobbs said it’s night and day now from where they started. They went through more than 3,000 gallons of paint making the track look nice, and she said in their top year they’ve also brought in over half a million dollars in sponsorship money.
Hobbs said Doug has also been the brains behind making the track relevant locally, regionally, and nationally. Three times in 10 years they’ve been in the top-10 NASCAR tracks for membership, and they’ve focused on bringing regional and even national races to Washington.
“The facility looks 100 percent different, and people can see that,” Hobbs said “But I’d say it’s more in terms of the number of drivers we’ve attracted, the series we’ve attracted, and certainly the fans. The fans have come back again.”
And the work is never over. Hobbs said they’re constantly trying to continue making improvements. They recently repaved the pits and small track, and they’re working on repaving the bigger oval track as well.
Even though taking over a track with no experience and no help was tough, Hobbs said those first two years are a distant memory now. She doesn’t think about the tears anymore, but rather she looks back with pride at how far the track how come and how well she and her husband and everyone else involved hung in there through it all.
Evergreen will open the 2021 season on Saturday, with fans allowed to attend for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I love it. I get emotional the first opening night. It’s always very emotional for me,” Hobbs said. “I get so excited when the new season is about to start. I think a lot of it is the drivers. We have some driving families that have been around for three decades, or more than that. Where the second generation is now coming up from all these families.
“The support and dedication of the drivers and teams that they have to the sport and to the track, it’s very satisfying. They’ve become our family. Some of our fans are super fans. They are loyal, they come back year after year. I love those people. They’re our people. I’m very attached to the racing community and the fans.”
Evergreen Speedway has expanded its fan amenities under the leadership of Traci and Doug Hobbs. (Lindsey Wasson/NASCAR)
This story originally appeared on NASCAR.com on Sept. 30, 2020:
Bristol Motor Speedway announced Wednesday afternoon that the NASCAR Cup Series spring race at the short track will be contested on dirt. It will be the first premier series event on a dirt track in more than 50 years.
NASCAR historian Ken Martin presents a history of dirt at NASCAR’s top level:
There were 489 NASCAR Cup Series races held on dirt between June 19, 1949, and Sept. 30, 1970.
The first race in NASCAR premier series history was on dirt on June 19, 1949, at the .75-mile track known as Charlotte Speedway. Jim Roper was the winner.
In the 1949 season seven of the eight tracks competed on were dirt. The only pavement was at the Daytona Beach and Road course.
Seventy-six different drivers won on dirt, with Lee Petty holding the all-time record of 42 wins.
Rank
Driver
Wins
1
Lee Petty
42
2
Buck Baker
40
3
Herb Thomas
40
4
Tim Flock
36
5
Ned Jarrett
33
6
Richard Petty
30
7
Junior Johnson
23
8
David Pearson
23
9
Speedy Thompson
17
10
Fonty Flock
15
The top eight drivers on the above list are members of the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
In 1955 and 1956 NASCAR held 40 premier series events on dirt, the most of any seasons.
On Sept. 30, 1970, NASCAR held its final/most recent Cup Series race on dirt at the half-mile North Carolina State Fairgrounds track in Raleigh, North Carolina. Richard Petty won driving a Plymouth owned by Don Robertson.
Among the top-10 finishers still alive from that race: Petty (first), Neil Castles (second), Bobby Allison (sixth) and Dave Marcis (seventh).
There were three dirt track races in 1970 – two at Columbia Speedway (SC) and Raleigh. Richard Petty won the first race at Columbia, Bobby Isaac the second.
Richard Petty’s first career win came on dirt on Feb. 2, 1960, on the half-mile Southern States Fairgrounds track at Charlotte.
When Hershel McGriff competed in his final premier series event at Sears Point on May 16, 1993, he was the last driver with a dirt track win at NASCAR’s top level to compete.
When Dave Marcis competed in his final race at the 2002 Daytona 500, he was the last premier series driver to have competed on dirt in a Cup Series race.
The largest dirt track the series ever raced on was the 1.5 banked Memphis-Arkansas Speedway at LeHi, Arkansas. Five races were held from 1954-1957. Junior Johnson was the pole winner and Buck Baker was the winner the inaugural race in 1954.
The fastest Cup Series race ever on dirt came on March 14, 1965, when Ned Jarrett won the 150-mile race at the Orange Speedway in Hillsboro, North Carolina, at an average of 90.633 mph.
NASCAR returned to dirt in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series back in 2013 with an event at Eldora Speedway. The half-banked Ohio oval owned by Tony Stewart hosted Gander Trucks races from 2013-19, with this year’s scheduled event being realigned to another track due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Roger Penske expressed optimism Monday about Brad Keselowski’s future with Team Penske, saying that contract talks were headed down a positive path.
Penske’s remarks came in a Monday video conference, one day after Ryan Blaney scored Team Penske’s first NASCAR Cup Series win of the season at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The 84-year-old team owner discussed Keselowski’s status within the context of his overall racing organization, with IndyCar drivers Will Power and Simon Pagenaud also reported to be nearing the end of their contracts.
“We’re in discussion with all of them,” Penske said from Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which he agreed to purchase in November 2019. “I think that with COVID, we haven’t been able to get together, but we’ve had conversations with Brad before. I think that we’re moving in the right direction. There’s no reason we wouldn’t renew, for sure. I mean, I guess it’s just a matter of us sitting down and putting it together, but with everybody not being able to move around, you don’t do that over the phone and you don’t do it by Zoom, so we want to do that face-to-face with all of them.”
Keselowski, who claimed the 2012 Cup Series championship and has 34 career wins, re-signed with Team Penske’s No. 2 Ford team last August. Terms were not disclosed, but the Associated Press reported the agreement as a one-year extension.
Blaney re-signed with the No. 12 Ford team in March 2020 with a multiyear agreement. Teammate Joey Logano re-upped in February 2017 with a contract that keeps him in Penske’s No. 22 Ford through at least the 2023 season.
Ryan Blaney’s win Sunday in the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway punched his ticket for the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
It also carried significance for a pair of NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series tracks in South Carolina.
As part of Advance Auto Parts activation with Blaney’s No. 12 Team Penske Ford, two weekly series tracks are featured on the car’s C-post each week. Sunday’s race at Atlanta highlighted Greenville-Pickens Speedway and Florence Motor Speedway. In addition, because Blaney won, both of those tracks will receive a $1,200 donation that the track may use for operations, weekly race winnings or charity.
The activation began with New Smyrna Speedway on the C-post for Blaney for the DAYTONA 500 at the Daytona International Speedway. Grand Bay Speedway in Ontario (Canada) and Oregon’s Coos Bay Speedway were on the car at Homestead-Miami Speedway, while Alaska Raceway Park and Idaho’s Meridian Speedway were on at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and Massachusetts’ Seekonk Speedway and Nebraska’s I-80 Speedway were on the car at Phoenix Raceway.
Advance will continue its sponsorship of Team Penske’s No. 12 Ford in four races this season: at the Bristol Motor Speedway dirt race on March 28, Darlington Raceway on May 9, Atlanta Motor Speedway on July 11 and the night race at Richmond on September 11. The company is entering the second season of a multi-year agreement with Team Penske.
The NASCAR Cup Series will get to play in the dirt for the first time since 1970, joining the Camping World Truck Series at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The Camping World Truck Series will hit the Bristol dirt track for the Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt on Monday at Noon ET (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM). The Cup Series will run the Food City Dirt Race on Monday at 4 p.m. ET (FOX, PRN, SiriusXM).
In order to get you ready for a weekend of action-packed racing on the dirt, we’ve put together a dirt racing glossary that includes terminology you will likely hear on the broadcasts and frequently asked questions.
Bite: The amount of traction the tread holds in the rear tires, which allows for more grip on the dirt racing surface.
The “cushion” is the darker line of dirt at the top of the racing groove in the corner. (Matt Sullivan | Getty Images)
Bottom feeder: When a driver elects to run the lowest line of the race track during a race.
Cushion: A dirt edge formed when multiple cars run on the top groove of the race track. The “cushion” will move up as cars run a higher line on the track throughout the event.
Dry or slick track: When the dirt racing surface holds little to no moisture, which results in a dustier surface.
Feathering the throttle: The amount of usage the driver applies on the gas pedal through the corner depending on the availability of grip on the dirt racing surface. The better the car handles through the corner, the more throttle they will be able to apply.
Hopping the cushion: When a car jumps above the dirt edge at the top of the highest racing groove, which will upset the car and cause it to bobble up the track and potentially into the outside wall.
This is how the track will appear when it “slicks off,” creating a shiny, gray look to the dirt surface. (Matt Sullivan | Getty Images)
Slicking off: When the dirt racing surface becomes slicker throughout the course of the race, which gives the track a shiny, gray appearance.
Slide job: When a driver makes a pass on another driver by diving low and sliding up the race track in front of the opposing car.
Tacky: When the dirt racing surface is wet, which holds moisture and is sticky.
How will the starting lineup for each main event be determined?
Both series will set the starting lineups according to the inclement weather policies in the NASCAR Rule Book since Saturday’s qualifying races were canceled. Kyle Larson will start from the pole position in the Cup Series event (and is expected to drop to the rear due to an engine change), and John Hunter Nemechek is set to start first in the Camping World Trucks.
Will there be live, competitive pit stops for each race?
Due to safety reasons, there will not be live pit stops under green- or yellow-flag conditions for both series. Teams will not be permitted to change tires, add fuel or work on their vehicles except during the breaks between stages. Exceptions will be made for vehicles involved in incidents. Additionally, teams are not required to pit during stage breaks. Those that elect to stay on the track during stage intermissions will line up ahead of the cars/trucks that pit on the ensuing restart. There will be no race onto or off pit road, using a controlled pit-stop procedure similar to the previous format in Eldora events.
Will caution laps count for the main events?
Yes, as was the case for Eldora Speedway, caution-flag laps will count for both the Cup Series and Camping World Truck Series main events. Only green-flag laps will count for the qualifying heats.
Will there be stages for each race?
Yes. Stages for Monday’s Cup Series main event will end at Lap 100, Lap 200, with 250 laps the scheduled full distance. Stage endings for Monday’s Truck Series main event are set for Lap 40, Lap 90 and Lap 150. None of the stage lengths are scheduled longer than a full fuel run for either series. There will also be competition cautions on Laps 50 and 150 in the Cup race.
Will there be a Choose Rule for these events?
The choose rule procedure of allowing teams/drivers to pick either the inside or outside line for restarts will not be in effect. The race leader — or “control car” in scoring tower parlance — will still select the inside or outside lane on the front row for restarts, as is the case for all NASCAR national series events. The difficultly of maintaining an orange “V” on the dirt-racing surface was a key determining factor of this decision.
Kyle Larson sat poised to snap the string of unique winners in the NASCAR Cup Series this season Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway. His No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet had led a considerable bulk of the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 and his second victory in a three-week span seemed within sight.
Larson’s dominant day unraveled in the closing laps as Ryan Blaney eased past him to lead the final nine laps at the 1.54-mile Georgia track, bringing the count of 2021 winners up to a half-dozen. Larson was left to settle for his third top-five finish in the last four Cup Series races, a result that left him disappointed but still trying to see the bright side in his first year with the No. 5 group.
“I don’t know, I think he just got a lot better there that last stage and it kind of changed up my flow of the race a little bit,” said Larson, who led a race-best 269 laps. “I could get out to such a big lead and then I could take care of my stuff and run the bottom (groove), where it was maybe slower, but I could take care of my tires. He was fast there, and I just wanted to maintain that gap that I had, so I had to run in the faster part of the race track and just use my stuff up. And then, he was just a lot better than me there late in the run. Hate to lead a lot of laps and lose, but we had a really good car that we brought to the track.”
Larson swept both stages, and though he lost the lead to Blaney on a pit-stop exchange early in Stage 3, he quickly regained the top spot and rebuilt his margin on the rest of the field.
That reign started to fray down the stretch as Blaney closed back in. Larson complained over his team communications that Joey Logano, a teammate to Blaney with Team Penske, had initially held him up during Blaney’s final pursuit. No. 5 crew chief Cliff Daniels tried to encourage Larson’s confidence by saying he could pass him back, but the 28-year-old driver was unable to mount another challenge and finished 2.083 seconds behind at the checkered flag.
“I mean, it’s hard to say. I definitely would have had a better shot had I gotten by Logano when I got to him,” Larson said. ” But, yeah, I mean, it just was hard. My tires were pretty much gone at that point. I was sliding around. I just didn’t get through traffic good at the end.”
Larson’s most recent start at Atlanta — February 2019 — also ended with heartache. He led a race-high 142 laps but finished 12th after a pit-road speeding penalty. Larson also was runner-up in 2017 at Atlanta, where he has four top-10 finishes but lacks a victory.
Still, Larson took some solace in the team’s speed and performance, expressing hope that more wins — like his March 7 victory at Las Vegas — would follow.
“Yeah, I mean, I would have loved to win today to really pick up some momentum. But, yeah, I mean, we’ve had the fastest car most weekends,” Larson said. “If we can continue to evolve and continue to get better, yeah, I mean, we can do great things. Our pit crew has been really good. Our car has been really fast. I feel like for the most part I’ve been doing a good job.
“With all that Cliff and all the guys making good decisions on the box, yeah, we can definitely go out there and keep contending. If we can contend as much as we are, yeah, I mean, we can win a lot of races.”
With a pass for the lead with eight laps left in Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Blaney took the air out of an otherwise dominating performance by Kyle Larson, who had to settle for second place after winning the first two stages and leading 269 of 325 laps.
“Gosh, we had a great long-run car all day,” Blaney said after climbing from his No. 12 Team Penske Ford. “It took us a little bit to get going. I was pretty free all day, so we made a really good change to tighten me up where I needed it.
“It looked like Kyle was getting loose, and I’m happy it worked into our favor that there were a couple of long runs at the end (that) let us kind of get there, and he got slowed up behind some lapped traffic. … It’s nice to close out a race like that — it was awesome.”
Blaney’s first victory at Atlanta and the fifth of his career extended the streak of different NASCAR Cup Series winners this season to six. The victory was the fifth straight at the 1.54-mile track for Ford drivers.
For the fourth time in his career, Larson swept the first two stages of a race and failed to win the event.
“I think he (Blaney) just got a lot better that last stage, and that changed up my flow of the race a little bit,” said Larson, who won each of the first two stages by more than six seconds. “I could get out to such big leads, and I could take care of my stuff and run the bottom where it was maybe slower, but I could take care of my tires.
“He was fast there (in the final run), and I just wanted to maintain that gap that I had, so I had to run in the faster part of the race track and just used my stuff up. He was a lot better than me there late in the run. I hate to lead a lot of laps and lose, but we had a really good car that we brought to the track. Our (No. 5) Hendrick Cars Chevy was stupid-fast there for a long time. I don’t know if we got that much worse, or if he got way better.”
Alex Bowman ran third, followed by Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch. Austin Dillon, Chris Buescher, William Byron, Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick completed the top 10.
The first two stages featured only one caution for an on-track incident. On a restart on Lap 113, after the break at the end of Stage 1, Kyle Busch spun his tires at the front of the pack in the outside lane, causing Chase Elliott and Kurt Busch to check up behind him.
Kurt Busch steered down to the middle lane, but off-center contact from Hamlin’s Toyota sent the No. 1 Chevrolet into the Turn 1 wall and out of the race.
“Yeah, I think the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) was the outside-lead car,” said Kurt Busch, who ran near the front of the field throughout the first stage. “The No. 9 (Elliott) kind of checked-up, too. I checked up. … It was just the accordion effect and then I jumped to the middle. I’m like ‘I’m here’; I positioned myself. It wasn’t like I rearranged my lanes and made another block.
“He (Hamlin) didn’t do anything vicious or malicious there. It’s a 500-miler, and these are the days that it hurts the worst. This absolutely hurts the worst because we had a top-five, winning Monster Energy Chevy.”
Elliott, the reigning series champion, sustained damage on that same restart, but his troubles didn’t become terminal until the third stage, when his engine blew to cause the fifth caution of the afternoon.
“Yeah, obviously we broke a motor there later on,” Elliott said. “We got some damage there on that restart. Kyle (Busch) kind of spun his tires and then I was pushing him, and Kurt (Busch) was pushing me. We all just really jammed together hard and ended up hurting the nose some. I don’t know if that had something to do with breaking the engine or not.”
Early tire troubles ruined the afternoon for defending race winner Harvick, who pitted with a flat left rear as the rest of the field restarted on Lap 32 after a competition caution. Larson lapped Harvick later in the first stage, and the 2014 series champion didn’t get the lap back until he took a wave-around under the fifth caution, for Elliott’s blown engine.
Harvick battled back to finish 10th but could advance no further.
The Cup Series’ next event is the Food City Dirt Race, scheduled next Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM) on Bristol Motor Speedway’s dirt surface. It’s the first race on dirt for NASCAR’s top division since 1970.
Notes: Blaney’s win extended Ford’s streak of Atlanta victories to five in a row. … The Cup Series returns to Atlanta Motor Speedway on July 11. It’s the first time since 2010 that the track has held two annual events for the series. … Inspection in the NASCAR Cup Series garage turned up no issues.
Monday, March 22 3:30 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Best of Radioactive — Atlanta (re-air), FS1
4:30 a.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway (re-air), FS1
9 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway (re-air), FS2
Tuesday, March 23
Midnight, NASCAR Race Hub: Best of Radioactive — Atlanta (re-air), FS2
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
On MRN:
7 p.m., NASCAR Live
Wednesday, March 24 10 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Best of Radioactive — Atlanta (re-air), FS2
10:30 a.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: Fr8Auctions 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway (re-air), FS2
12:30 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series: EchoPark 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway (re-air), FS2
2:30 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway (re-air), FS2
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
7 p.m., eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series: Bristol — Dirt practice, FS1
8 p.m., eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series: Bristol — Dirt, FS1
Thursday, March 25
Midnight, eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series: Bristol — Dirt (re-air), FS1
3:30 a.m., eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series: Bristol — Dirt (re-air), FS2
11 a.m., eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series: Bristol — Dirt practice (re-air), FS2
Noon, eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series: Bristol — Dirt (re-air), FS2
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
7 p.m., Dale Jr. Download, NBCSN
Friday, March 26 11:30 a.m., eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series: Bristol — Dirt (re-air), FS2 3 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway first practice, FS1 (Canada: TSN3)
4 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway first practice, FS1 (Canada: TSN3)
5 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Weekend Edition, FS1
5:30 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway final practice, FS1 (Canada: TSN3)
6:30 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway final practice, FS1 (Canada: TSN3)
7:30 p.m., Blink of an Eye (re-air), FS1
Saturday, March 27 3 a.m., NASCAR Presents: Neil Bonnett (re-air), FS2
3:30 a.m., The Golden Hour: Making of Days of Thunder (re-air), FS2
6:30 a.m., NASCAR Race Classic: The 1997 Winston 500 (re-air), FS1
7 a.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway final practice (re-air), FS1
12:30 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway final practice (re-air), FS2
1:30 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway final practice (re-air), FS2
4:30 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Series: Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway qualifying, FS1 (Canada: TSN2) — CANCELED
5:30 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Weekend Edition, FS1
6 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway qualifying, FS1 (Canada: TSN2) — CANCELED
7 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay: NCWTS at Bristol Motor Speedway dirt, FS1 — CANCELED
8 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Series: Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway, FS1 (Canada: TSN2) — POSTPONED
10 p.m., Trackhouse Racing: Get Ready, FS1
11 p.m., eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series: Bristol — Dirt (re-air), FS1
On MRN:
7:30 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Series: Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway — POSTPONED
Sunday, March 28
1:30 a.m., NASCAR Classics: 2007 Food City 500 (re-air), FS1
2 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay: Cup Series, FOX
3:30 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, FOX (Canada: TSN5) — POSTPONED
9 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Series: Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway, FS2 — POSTPONED
On PRN:
2:30 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway — POSTPONED
On MRN: 9 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Series: Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway — POSTPONED
Monday, March 29
Noon, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Series: Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway, FS1 (Canada: TSN1)
4 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, FOX (Canada: TSN1)
On MRN: Noon, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Series: Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway
On PRN:
4 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway
Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion and home state hero Chase Elliott will start from the rear of the field for Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway (3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) following a pair of failures in pre-race inspection.
Elliott’s No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was slated to start fifth. In five starts at the 1.54-mile track, Elliott has one top five, four top 10s and an average finish of 10.0.
The 25-year-old driver also started at the rear of last Sunday’s race at Phoenix Raceway following multiple pre-race inspection failures and came on to score a fifth-place finish.
The No. 66 car of Timmy Hill failed three times, will drop to the rear of the field, serve a pass-through penalty and lose their car chief, Sebastian LaForge, for today’s race.
The No. 00 car of Quin Houff will also drop to the rear for making unapproved adjustments.
