This is not your father's Bristol Motor Speedway.
The high-banked, half-mile Tennessee speed bowl had built a reputation for its slam bang, rough and tumble action during the better part of its more than 40-year history.
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| Carl Edwards, who won the event in '07, is enjoying the new Bristol. (Getty Images) |
The aftereffect was a speedway that suddenly had multiple grooves and allowed drivers to actually pass one another without having to ram into a rear bumper.
Most drivers found that a welcome relief.
"I don't know what it was like to watch, but it was fun from where I was sitting," Tony Stewart said of last August's race on the new layout. "You could run all over the race track. You could race. Guys weren't running over each other to pass. It was the most fun I've had at Bristol in my career, and that includes the night I won."
Carl Edwards, who won last year's August race at Bristol, feels the same way.
"There's probably less bumping now just because you don't have to bump a guy out of the way to get a position," said Edwards, who has five wins this year. "But I think it's better racing for sure. I don't enjoy the races where you have to bump somebody out of the way to pass them. That's not any fun. I don't think that's the right way to race. It's frustrating when that's the only way you can pass somebody."
| Chase standings | |||
| Driver | Points | Deficit | |
| 1. Jimmie Johnson | 6,684 | --- | |
| 2. Carl Edwards | 6,615 | -69 | |
| 3. Greg Biffle | 6,467 | -217 | |
| 4. Kevin Harvick | 6,408 | -276 | |
| 5. Clint Bowyer | 6,381 | -303 | |
| Complete Chase | Traditional points | |||
However, some fans miss the slam-bang reputation of the "old" Bristol, when ramming the car in front was the only way to pass on the one-lane track.
But the guys behind the wheel most certainly prefer to use more finesse than muscle to get the job done.
"I think the people at Bristol and the speedway did a good job redoing it," said Ryan Newman. "The track is better racing-wise than it ever has been. I think that a lot of the fans are disappointed in the lack of bumping and the lack of pushing that happens now compared to the way it was, but the racing from where I sit is by far better and I look forward to going there."
In addition to the new layout, drivers are still learning how to drive the new Sprint Cup car at the tight, half-mile track which makes finding the right equation even tougher.
Although Saturday night's race will be the fourth Bristol outing for the new machine, it is still very much a work in progress.
