BRISTOL, Tenn. (WJHL) – Sunday night’s Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway saw several lead changes, two and three-wide racing and a tight battle for the win between Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick.
But during the race weekend, several of NASCAR’s top drivers expressed frustration with taking the Cup Series dirt racing at one of the most iconic tracks on the circuit.
Richard Childress Racing driver Kyle Busch expressed the same frustration he did last year when he won the dirt race on a dramatic last-lap pass.
Busch said the Cup cars do not have the same ability to drive on dirt as purpose-built dirt racing, and cannot put on as good of a show.
“I don’t know that we’re really capturing the Cup Series allure here, just with these cars,” Busch said during a Saturday press conference. “These things here, you’re literally trying to not spin out when you’re going around there, so how do you make a pass when you’re already past the limit of spinning out?”
There were 14 caution flags, not including several single-car spins that did not bring out a yellow at Sunday night’s race.
Fellow Cup Series driver, Joey Logano, had similar frustrations to Busch after crashing out of the Food City Dirt Race.
“You’ve seen cars just spin out, which is just a product of not being dirt cars, but when we do get to race it’s pretty entertaining,” Logano said.
Taylor Gray, a Craftsman Truck Series driver who crashed out of Saturday’s Weather Guard Truck Race on Dirt, said both series would be better served racing Bristol’s Spring dates on the concrete track.
“In my opinion, it’s a really good concrete track and we should probably keep coming here with concrete,” Gray said.
A spokesperson for Bristol Motor Speedway told News Channel 11 a decision has not been made on whether the 2024 Spring race would be on dirt “because of the number of stakeholders that are consulted in the decision-making process, and we’re not finished yet in those discussions.”
Race winner Christopher Bell, who made a name for himself racing dirt cars, said in victory lane that he would be indifferent as to which surface will be used in 2024.
“I don’t care either way,” Bell said. “That’s not for me to decide.”
Bell said it seemed like an entertaining race during his battle to the front.
“From my seat, it was a great race,” Bell said. “Always great racing throughout the field and I think that’s everything you can ask for.”
Bill Gaines, owner of Bristol Campgrounds outside the track, said fans have mixed feelings about the dirt race as well.
“There’s a lot of diehard fans and there’s a lot of dirt race fans that are happy to see this, but a lot of the regular NASCAR fans [will say] ‘I’ll come back in the fall,'” Gaines said.
Gaines reported just 86 campers on his property over the weekend, a far cry from the nearly 2,000 he would see during Bristol’s boom in the 90s and 2000s.
Sunday’s race saw plenty of empty seats as well. Gaines said the timing of the race on Easter Sunday held more of the blame for the turnout than it being run on dirt.
“They’re [fans] certainly not a fan of coming down on Easter Sunday because if nothing else, they have to get back to work on Monday, so a night race on Sunday night is difficult for a lot of folks,” Gaines said.
He said his campground would see more people if the race was later in the spring for warmer weather and off the Easter weekend.
The BMS spokesperson said a decision has not been made on the dates for next year’s race, but an answer would come later in the summer or fall when NASCAR releases the 2024 schedule.