COLUMN: Bristol Motor Speedway Is The Great Equalizer

Other than three-time defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, who was only half-joking when he said that he has to convince himself that he loves Bristol Motor Speedway every time he comes here, drivers have nothing bad at all to say about the place.

Fans, on the other hand, have mixed feelings about BMS. Long-time watchers say the track resurfacing in 2007 took away much of the character of the place.

It is not, they insist, “Racin’ the way it ought’a be,” as the folks at BMS like to advertise. The bumping and banging for position that made this place special, they will point out, just isn’t the same as it used to be.

The drivers – with the notable exception of Johnson, who’s had virtually no success in Bristol during his career – could not disagree more. They say there is still more than enough door-to-door and bumper-to-bumper action to suit even the most ardent traditionalist, but they like the fact that there now is more room from top to bottom on the track to allow for some actual racing.

“You don’t have to knock someone out of the way to get past them,” Kevin Harvick said Friday.

Maybe not, but that kind of stuff still happens at Bristol – a lot. Carl Edwards bumped Kyle Busch out of the way last summer to win the Sharpie 500. And Harvick ended Tony Stewart’s dominating run last spring with a nudge from behind, opening the door to Jeff Burton to win the Food City 500.

Jeff Gordon has run on three different surfaces at Bristol during his career – it’s a matter of adjusting to whatever is there, he said – but he likes the current one best because it offers a chance at better racing.

That said, he quickly added: “But the basics of this race track have always been there. It is a fast high-bank. You never have a second to really take a breath.”

And that typically creates more banging than some drivers would like. Just ask Kasey Kahne about that multi-car pileup here last summer – he didn’t cause it; he just got caught in the middle of it – that
effectively ended any chance he had of making the season-ending Chase.

“You definitely know coming into Bristol that you’re going to take a [butt]-kicking,” Clint Bowyer said. “That’s what makes it fun. It’s a cool, cool race track.
“[But] if you slip up the least little bit, you can be out of it in a hurry.”

Bowyer’s last point speaks volumes about why Bristol is such a popular stop among the drivers, and it doesn’t matter whether they’re sitting atop the points standings or needing to clock a qualifying
time fast enough to make the field

Why? Because the track is a great equalizer.

The potential for wackiness exists from start to finish during a race –Stewart can attest to that – so the race doesn’t necessarily go to the fastest car or the hottest driver.

Based on his win last spring, Burton understands that.

“I felt like we had a chance, but I knew it wasn’t going to be easy … and then the floodgates opened,” Burton said. “I’ve lost races like that, when you think you have everything in hand and it falls apart. On that weekend, we won it.

“If you continually put yourself in position to win races, that’s how you win them. We ran well all day [in that race] and things went our way. It’s way cool to lead every lap … but it’s cool to kind of get a surprise, you know what I mean? There it is, and it happens quickly. That’s a real special feeling.”

It’s one that any number of drivers in today’s Food City 500 can reasonably expect to experience.

That’s why they like Bristol so much.

JIM CNOCKAERT is the Herald Courier sports editor. He can be reached at jcnockaert@bristolnews.com and (276) 645-2572.