Food City 500 Weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway Attracts Big Crowds And Rave Reviews

BRISTOL, Tenn. –  The latest NASCAR show at Bristol Motor Speedway featured a mix of the old, the new and the familiar.

Entering the week, the big question centered on fans and the economy, because the first four races of the Sprint Cup season failed to produce a sellout crowd.
At midday Saturday, track general manager Jeff Byrd confirmed that all tickets had been sold for Sunday’s Food City 500 at BMS. That achievement extended the sellout string for Sprint Cup events at Bristol to 54.

An estimated crowd of 101,000 attended Saturday’s Scotts Turf Builder 300 Nationwide Series race that was won by Sprint Cup regular Kevin Harvick.

More than 160,000 fans watched Sunday as Kyle Busch dominated the field en route en route to his 14th career win.
During his victory lap, Busch was greeted with a blend of cheers, jeers and even a couple of flying beers.

As usual, the 23-year-old Busch seemed to revel in the crowd reaction. He claimed that his attitude was based more on confidence than cockiness.

“When you win races, I guess people want to say I mock the fans or whatever. That’s just ’cause I’m excited,” Busch said during his postrace press conference.
“I gave [the fans] a bow. I gave them a great presentation. Hopefully we can do it again.”

Despite some dire preseason predictions of uneven fields, 45 cars were entered for the Food City 500.

The Sprint Cup series moves to smallest facility on the circuit at Martinsville Speedway this Sunday.

For traditionalists, the highlight of the weekend at Bristol was watching NASCAR legends such as Cale Yarborough, Harry Gant, Junior Johnson and Jack Ingram compete in the Saturday Night Spectacular.

While current NASCAR driver Sterling Marlin controlled all 35 laps, fans of all ages were able to get a living history lesson.
Former Kingsport Speedway and Late Model Sportsman L.D. Ottinger earned some of the loudest cheers with his bold charge through the field. Ottinger, from Newport, Tenn., finished third behind Marlin and Rusty Wallace.

The new BMS
Judging from Internet message boards and radio shows Monday morning, the smoother and calmer version of BMS continues to be popular among drivers and most fans.

The Food City 500 was halted by just nine cautions. Instead of the multicar wrecks and general mayhem that Bristol is famous for, Sunday’s drama featured green-flag runs and precise passing on both the high and low lanes of the concrete surface.

“I thought the racing was pretty good,” said Ryan Newman, who finished seventh. “Everybody seemed to be running about the same speed. Track position was huge.”

Foreign express
One of the most stories from the Food City 500 was the performance of two foreign-born drivers.
Juan Pablo Montoya, who was born in Colombia, finished ninth in the Target Chevrolet for the Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing team.

Meanwhile, Australian Marcus Ambrose recorded a 10th place finish in his short track debut in JTG-Daugherty Racing Toyota.

“It just feels great to be up there racing with those guys, and passing Jeff Gordon. I mean, he’s just a hero of mine,” said Ambrose, a two-time Australian V8 Supercar champion. “I’m learning the craft, and hopefully these kind of runs will help cement my reputation in the series with my fellow drivers.”

The big picture

With his fourth place finish Sunday, four-time Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon pushed his lead in the championship standings to 76 points over Kurt Busch.

Though he didn’t challenge Busch for the win, Gordon and his Hendrick Motorsports crew remained steady.

“I wish the [Chase for the Sprint Cup] was right now because we are in championship form,” Gordon said. “We are very consistent, we are fighting, we are making good adjustments, and we are making great pit stops.”

|(276) 645-2544