BRISTOL, Tenn.– “The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading…” and after the first day of race activity at Thunder Valley, It appears the bottom line is the way around Bristol again.
After one day of practice and qualifying at Bristol Motor Speedway, a number of things are noticeably different than in previous years. To start, the Sprint Cup Series cars are running around the bottom at Bristol. Since the top lane was grounded out back in the summer of 2012, the fast way around the track has been the high line up against the wall.
During final practice for the XFINITY Series, the cars were running the against the wall again. But during Sprint Cup Series qualifying, everyone way hugging the bottom.
During his media availability earlier today, I asked Carl Edwards why everyone was running the bottom line when the top had been the norm and he said he wasn’t sure why.
“There might be some slight differences with the Goodyear tires, but probably the best reason or most likely reason for that is that we haven’t put a lot of rubber down on the track yet and it just seems like this place moves around a lot,” he added. “We talked about it in practice, I don’t think that the race will be run on the bottom like that. I think it will really widen out, but I don’t know when it will happen. I don’t know if it will happen today or all the way where we might have to wait until Sunday for it.”
“I think you are going to see cars wherever the grip is,” Chase Elliott said. “If the grip is up top that is where you are going to see them and if it’s around the bottom that is where it’s going to be. The way the races have gone here the past few years, I’m sure, maybe not today or tomorrow, but definitely Sunday and I would expect by tomorrow afternoon you will see everybody up to if I had to guess.”
I have to believe that the low-downforce package is playing a part in these cars hugging the bottom, although the drivers I’ve spoken to today can’t say for sure.
When asked how the package will affect Bristol, Elliott said he thinks “you might see some difference. I don’t know, as you said, being a half-mile racetrack I’m not sure just how much it will play a role. Looking back to Martinsville, I do think on the braking side of things you didn’t have as much downforce and as much drag helping you get stopped, whereas here you have a lot of the banking to catch you. I don’t know that you will see a big difference in that this weekend.”
Cars running against the wall the last many years has been among the biggest complaints fans have lumped at Bristol since the surface was revamped into a progressive banking surface. Now that cars are running the bottom this time around and if this continues through the weekend, those of you who’ve begged and pleaded for a return to “old Bristol” may finally get your wish.
My plane is about to take off, so I must get going. Until next time, I’ll leave you with this fact. You can be fined up to a thousand dollars for whistling on Sunday in Salt Lake City.
*The opinions expressed in this piece are solely those of the author. They may or may not represent the views of SpeedwayMedia.com.
