After the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway last weekend, it feels like every driver, columnist or social media personality agrees the track deserves its own points race on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule.
If that’s the case, great.
However, there are some other logistical issues to work out, particularly when it comes to deciding which track would lose one of its two dates in order for NWB to snag one itself. The first that came to mind here at Frontstretch was Bristol Motor Speedway and we figured that would get everyone talking one way or another.
In fact, two different editors of this column decided to weigh in this week, so gear up.
North Wilkesboro For The Win Over Bristol
While the first North Wilkesboro Speedway All-Star Race left a bit to be desired, aside from the nostalgia overload, the most recent installment has many fans demanding this become a points race again. It’s hard to argue against that, but looking at the calendar and schedule it becomes a Thunderdome equation: Two tracks enter; one track leaves.
The only question: who is getting the boot?
When these types of questions come up, nobody is going to be happy with the result. When North Wilkesboro bid goodbye in 1996, it was to make room for Texas Motor Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway to receive its Cup Series dates. That was definitely met with mixed feelings
It would be quite the full-circle moment if that was the decision to be made, but given the state of short-track racing and the crowd a few weeks ago, Bristol might be the one who surrenders a date.
While normally that would be sacrilege, Bristol has simply been a mess for several years now. From flirting with making it a dirt track to restoring it to concrete with a March date and sparse attendance, the current Cup Series car and the way it races there hasn’t been doing it any favors either.
Granted, you could make that argument for any short track on the schedule right now, but a mix of tire strategies tried during this past weekend’s North Wilkesboro race made for some great racing. The Craftsman Truck Series event was equally entertaining and made for a great finish as well.
Not to mention perhaps the coolest trophy I’ve seen in some time: a bronze moonshine still.
Some stats were released after the race, in an effort to help sell how successful the event was:
- 59 green flag passes for the lead – most in ASR history
- 18 official lead changes among eight different leaders
- 1,426 green flag passes – second most in ASR history
While stats are nice – but often misleading – they weren’t necessary. This event and track has started to sell itself. A full house on a Sunday night at 8:00 p.m. ET during a weird time of year; not quite summer, high school graduation season, people not yet taking their vacations or having a holiday to bookend it with, none of that mattered — and the optics looked amazing. No, it doesn’t seat as many as Bristol might, but what’s more impressive, a sold-out track or acres of reflective aluminum with sun glinting off of them on TV?
Now, I’m not trashing Bristol as a bad track. It’s a track that has had bad things done to it in recent years and the Cup cars simply don’t race that well on it in the current configuration. And their first date is one that can be warm, cold or a rainout depending on the year.
The cries for someone to do something are only going to get louder for Rockingham once they get another crack at it next year. If they get a better date (not on Easter) and can start it earlier or later so that the drivers aren’t blinded for the majority of the race in Turn 1, there’s going to be an even louder call for a track to lose a date.
Ultimately, things are in a pickle right now because NASCAR is hesitant – or just downright resistant – to do anything to the car. Maybe it’s to appease a new manufacturer, but it’s hurting both short tracks and road courses. The latter were supposed to be the savior of the series with the new car and its independent rear suspension, transaxle, sequential shifter and bigger wheels and brakes.
Street courses seem to be the next evolution, but there’s questions surrounding Chicago’s future on the schedule. The fact North Wilkesboro seems to be working following its repave bodes well for its future.
If we need a new location for a throwback weekend that’s also a points-paying race, we’ve certainly found a worthy candidate. – Vito Pugliese
That Time May Come, But Not Yet
Look, I’ll be the first to come straight out of the gate and tell you that I do not, and have not, enjoyed Bristol for the better part of the past decade.
The fact that this track still has two dates is solely based off aura farming alone, and just this once, I’m going to say that is O.K., because there are bigger fish to fry in terms of ridding the Cup Series schedule of a few bad race days.
There are a few things I believe we should consider before pulling a date from any track.
1. Does this track make itself and NASCAR money by hosting two events?
2. Do people show up in person to both events? No one wants to see empty bleachers.
3. Does it make sense for all three series to be moved to a new venue?
I imagine that Bristol does turn a profit for NASCAR each time it shows up in the mountains of Tennessee, so check one. Additionally, significantly less people show up to the day race as opposed to the night race. Keep in mind, the local community around Bristol houses some of the best fans in the sport, but the reality of the situation is that they either don’t want to or can’t show up to two races a year – it doesn’t make sense financially or physically. So, it’s a no-go for point two.
But point three is what sticks me on Bristol for the absolutely current time (Rockingham may have something to say about this in the future). The Xfinity cars put on quite the show at Bristol, just like they do at almost every other track, and the short track ringers in the Truck series find a way to make it an entertaining race one way or another.
The Last Great Colosseum has a saving grace or two, then, so allow me to propose an alternative.
To come out swinging, nobody wants to watch two races at Martinsville every year, especially with the way all three series race on the track. The NASCAR Xfinity Series can’t leave there without crashing the entire field, the Craftsman Truck Series typically can’t race on short tracks anyway and the Cup races at the ole paperclip make me want to hit the snooze button halfway through the first stage.
Think about it – what makes Martinsville special anymore? It used to be the fact that the corners are only banked 12 degrees and none in the straights, and that did provide a unique challenge to the drivers, but as my esteemed colleague said, New Hampshire has dialed that factor up to 10 since its inception.
And I know Bristol has tried just about every gimmick under the sun to make that race more exciting by now, which might seem boring to a lot of fans, but think about it this way – at least they’re trying. Martinsville sends the same old cars around the same old track in the same old way, hoping for a different result and getting none. I may not have paid attention enough in school, but I did listen on the day we talked about the definition of insanity.
Martinsville would be option 1A to me due to the facts already discussed, but I feel as though 1B has to be Kansas Speedway. I get that it has produced some wildly good finishes, and that’s great for the track, but that’s a market that has no business hosting two races in one calendar season at the sport’s highest level. Let the fans have one race a year there, make it as special as it can be by keeping it in the playoffs, and give the sport’s homeland a win when it needs and deserves it most.
If you want my God’s honest thoughts on the state of the schedule, we shouldn’t race anywhere twice a year, as it ruins the allure of a city actually getting to host a race on the nation’s biggest stock car stage, but that’s a conversation for another day.
Bristol deserves to live on a little bit longer – at least until Rockingham gets its repave – and then we can inch a little bit closer to having the kind of schedule that will have people looking forward to when NASCAR visits their front door. – Tanner Marlar
Tanner Marlar is a staff writer for Sports Illustrated’s OnSI Network, a contributor for TopSpeed.com, an AP Wire reporter, an award-winning sports columnist and talk show host and master's student at Mississippi State University. Soon, Tanner will be pursuing a PhD. in Mass Media Studies. Tanner began working with Frontstretch as an Xfinity Series columnist in 2022.
Vito is one of the longest-tenured writers at Frontstretch, joining the staff in 2007. He’s a contributor to several other outlets, including Athlon Sports and Popular Speed in addition to making radio appearances. He forever has a soft-spot in his heart for old Mopars and presumably oil-soaked cardboard in his garage.