Speedway Motorsports Chairman Bruton Smith announced this week that he's moving forward with plans to change the track at Bristol Motor Speedway. He's making the move after the recent Food City 500 ran before a 160,000-seat grandstand that appeared to be little over half full.
Many fans have said they liked racing at Bristol better before the track was reconfigured in 2007, but it’s still not clear exactly what changes will or can be made.
“The question we wanted to answer as quickly as possible was, ‘Is something going to be done?’” Smith said in a statement released by the track. “The answer to that is ‘Yes.’ We will have the details in two weeks as to what that ‘something’ is.”
Several drivers -- and some fans -- say that simply taking out the progressive banking may not be the cure for fans who seem to prefer the wrecking and one-groove racing of the old Bristol.
"It's not just the banking. It isn't ever just one thing," Dale Earnhardt Jr. told reporters at Auto Club Speedway last week. "Whatever he decides to do, talk to the drivers. ... We are the ones out there running on it and can provide some insight. We don't have all the answers, but I'm sure we can give him some things that they can improve on the situation, if that is what they want to do."
Biffle: Watch for Stewart
Sprint Cup points leader Greg Biffle said on this week's NASCAR teleconference that Tony Stewart, who has won two races this year and seven of the past 15 dating back to last fall at Chicagoland, may keep on winning for some time.
“It is obvious that they found something, some combination or a spring-shock-bar-geometry,” Biffle said. “They have found something that is working for them and that is making their cars better than everyone else.”
He said finding a competitive edge is the secret to success in any sport.
"It is finding a play or a pattern or something that is better than your competition," he said. "Clearly it has trickled down to the 39 [car of Stewart's teammate Ryan Newman] because he was not that spectacular last year and is running much better. Not as good as [Stewart], but they clearly have something figured out."
Biffle compared Stewart’s run of success to his own back in 2005, when he led the Cup series in race victories with six.
“Almost no matter what we did, we were right there competing for wins,” he said. “I know what it is like and I know the position they are in. We are just trying to figure out what the heck they are doing to be that competitive. ...
“He could win 12 or 15 races if whatever they are doing keeps working for him and nobody else figures it out.”
Vickers fills in
After a strong run at Bristol in his return to the Sprint Cup Series, Brian Vickers will be back behind the wheel of the No. 55 Toyota at Martinsville Speedway this weekend for Michael Waltrip Racing.
Vickers, who finished fifth and led 125 laps at Bristol, is set to run six races this year: at Bristol, Martinsville and New Hampshire. Mark Martin is driving the car for most of the rest of the races.
Truck series resumes
NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series is back on the track this weekend at Martinsville, after being idle since the season opener at Daytona International Speedway last month.
The race marks the truck series' debut of a second-generation member of one of NASCAR’s best-known families.
Jeb Burton, the 19-year-old son of former Cup driver Ward Burton and nephew of current driver Jeff Burton, is among the entries. Because the younger Burton wasn't approved to race at Daytona, his father came out of retirement and drove the truck to an eighth-place finish. The Hillman Racing entry is backed by State Water Heaters, which sponsored Ward Burton in the past.
France Humanitarian Award
If there's a NASCAR fan out there who is making a difference in the lives of children, he or she might make a good nominee for the 2012 Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award.
Nominations are being accepted through May 31 at NASCAR.com/foundation. The winner will receive $100,000 from the foundation to be given to the children’s charity of the winner's choice.
The winner also will receive expenses-paid trips to a Sprint Cup race weekend and the 2012 Cup Series Champion’s Week in Las Vegas in December, as well as a 2013 Toyota Camry Hybrid.
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