Fan Pressure Pushes Bristol Track Change

When the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers roll off pit road at Bristol Motor Speedway for the first practice for the March 21 Food City 500, they will encounter a new change to the half-mile track -- the third in the last 7 races.

Track officials at the northeast Tennessee speedway announced Wednesday that additional SAFER barrier has been added to the outside walls at the exits of both turns 2 and 4 -- a move that, interestingly enough, is more about changing the racing than making the track safer.

Racing at the track became decidedly different after a much-needed replacement of the concrete surface in the summer of 2007. Trying to make the track more of a multiple groove venue that facilitated side-by-side racing, management widened the track by about four feet while adjusting the banking in the corner to feature a varying degree of banking that increased from the bottom to the top.

The result proved wildly popular with drivers who found more room to race and make passes, while many fans were upset, believing the Bristol of old had left the building. Simply, more room for the drivers meant less on-track contact and ultimately fewer crashes and heated tempers, two elements that had made the 160,000-seat bowl of speed the toughest ticket in NASCAR.

Ticket sales -- many attributed to fewer corporate buyers -- have slowed at the track in the last year or so, making seats easily available for the first time, at least March race tickets or season tickets, anyway. For years, especially before tens of thousands of new seats were added, the track had a massive waiting list for tickets to the Sprint Cup night race in August.

Now, like other tracks, Bristol is making changes in effort to benefit its fans (and, obviously, its bottom line), while potentially making the track less driver-friendly.

"Without question, this extra four feet added room and aided in creating three and, at times, even four-wide racing," track president and general manager Jeff Byrd said in a track news release. "However, while it is breathtaking, many of our fans have responded that we went too far, in actuality, giving too much racing room to the greatest drivers in the world."

The SAFER barrier -- SAFER is an acronym for Steel And Foam Energy Reduction -- is already in place in the corners, but will be extended a total of 160 feet. Indeed, the new construction will make the wall safer for drivers in an impact, but the greatest effect will be felt on corner exit.

The barrier itself juts out from the original wall a few feet and will nearly eliminate the expanded racing surface, forcing drivers to use a more narrow corner exit. Such a result, of course, is intended to produce more contact and promote the track's tagline: "Racin' the way it ought'a be!"

The Sprint Cup Series has raced five times at the short track since the new surface was applied in 2007, and a noticeable reduction in the number of cautions -- a major fan draw at the track thanks to them mainly being precipitated by wrecks -- is evident. Since the resurfacing, the track is averaging five fewer yellow flags per race than in the five races prior to the new concrete.