A couple of weeks ago I expressed concern over the upcoming changes at Phoenix. I hoped that changing the layout and bringing in progressive banking doesn’t rob NASCAR racing of one its most “characterful" tracks.
Bristol is “the” short track... Or it was. I loved the old Bristol. Everything about the track was fast, dramatic, action packed! It was a place where you needed the patience of a saint, and the front bumper strength of a Greek god. Never has the term “moving up the field” meant so much as overtaking involved “moving” your opposition “up” out of the way... something about “ratteling” and “cage” comes to mind... can’t think why...
Anyway, the track changed a couple of years ago with a the laying of a new “progressive banking” surface. The idea was to introduce two racing grooves to Bristol for the first time. You could run on the bottom, the shorter way around but slower in the turns due to the shallower banking, or run up high, the longer way round but faster due to the steeper banking.
It works too! Bristol does have two grooves now. The drivers can run side-by-side at Bristol however much of the Bristol myth is built around the last lap contact, the boos, the cheers, the “ratteling” of the “cage”. This last lap drama has been missing since the new banking was put in, which is odd as you would hope that two good racing grooves would mean lots of close two wide finishes, but so far it has not hapened. However the track does produce good racing, better even than the old one-groove surface.
Did NASCAR loose one of its most iconic tracks with the resurfacing or did it gain another?
I like the new Bristol. I want to love it I really do... maybe in time.
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