Hey folks, it's Tuesday, so it's time for another NASCAR weekend thread. Only this time, we only have to wait 24 hours to watch a race.

This weekend all three national touring series run at the high banked, concrete bullring in Bristol, Tennessee. There's also a Whelen Modifieds race which I believe runs Wednesday before the Trucks.

Ryan Newman is entered in ALL FOUR races cos he's just a maniac.

Here's the TV schedule for the national touring series:

http://www.nascar.com/races/tune_in/

here's hoping for good weather.

The Whelen Modified tour cars lap Bristol faster than Cup cars!

Top practice times in the modifieds are under 15 seconds. Cup cars never turn sub-15 second laps.

That would be because they weight a 1000lbs less...I bet they are slower at Michigan/Indy/any other track where aero is needed.

They don't run the mods at anything (I think) over a mile in length. They are rockets on the short tracks. They consistently run the most exciting races at New Hampshire (except CART 1993).

Can't wait for this race I love the short tracks, my visit to the paperclip was the best NASCAR experience I have had to date. Considering Talladega later in the year to round out the track types.

Bristol's the .5 mile track, right?
I don't like it at all. The faster the better. Which doesn't mean it won't be a fun race.

Bristol is really fast man, really fast I can tell you! It has 36 degrees of banking in the corners, and more than 10 degrees on a straightaway, and an F1 car could in theory lap the track at 11 seconds (faster than a Monza lap). Bristol is like a racing velodrome, and most of us absolutely love it!

I didn't know that. Living and learning.

So, Mr Montoya goes to Washington today.

It's really hard to convey on TV as well the racing that goes on as they can really only focus on groups, when your at such a track it really is action packed if you understand the nuances that are factors in NASCAR. I am not a US native but I appreciate the racing in its format, hell race lawnmowers I am there....

btw, the track is really only banked 24-30 degrees. The 36 is some marketing thing..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Motor_Speedway

The trucks are on now, Donny Lia won the Modified race but I missed it.

I keep forgetting what an international forum this is. There's me, getting all excited because NASCAR is coming to Bristol, with the sound of heavy metal thundering across the Clifton Suspension Bridge over the Avon Gorge to Temple Meads station and back, and then I read that it's Bristol, Tennessee.

You may have NASCAR, but I bet you don't have a Banksy ...

OK, just a cheat then However it really looks steep compared to Martinsville, which has just 12 degrees of banking, so it's still something special. This place really feels like a velodrome from the drivers' seat.

Given that 2 of the last 3 races have been postponed due to rain, and last weeks race also had rain, what are the chances of rain affecting the race this weekend? Surely we're not going to have another rain affected race..........are we?

How many modifieds are entered? At those times, lapped cars should be happening within the first five laps or so (kind of like the Lime Rock ALMS race last month, where prototypes were lapping GT3s by the third circuit, amazingly with only one caution).

Was going to start a poll of "predict the Nationwide driver that will offend Kyle this week," but not sure if they support 43 options. He figures to be in the Cup news promiently one way or the other, as it's close to a desperate situation for his chase chances.

Races have been quite team in recent years but there's always the liklihood of some controversy entertainment, like #99/18 last year and #20/29 in 08

Modified race was yesterday, as was the Truck race, which Kyle won, so that's one minefield down.

I'm sure someone will piss him off in Nationwide though. With Stephen Wallace maturing, we need a new scapegoat in Nationwide. Perhaps we need a poll for that?

True true. Sorry you're disappointed, but the racing should make a good compliment to the F1 stuff going on this weekend. Banksy is epic.

This is so cheesy...if Clint Bowyer wins, 33,000 people get free Hamburger Helper:

http://www.scenedaily.com/news/articles/sp...ger_Helper.html

I hate to say this, but HH is such a "white trash" food. It's too stereotypical. But I guess that makes it a great fit for NASCAR.

I ain't complainin'. We can't have races without sponsors.

The Cup guys are qualifying presently. Nationwide race is tonight.

JPM discusses a little further his spat with Kahne: http://www.scenedaily.com/news/articles/sp...t_Bristol_.html

while saying he won't retaliate. Pussy.

Kasey is a cool dude.. I wont hold it against Montoya if he does not retaliate..

Not bad qualifying lap by Scott Speed.

Yeah that's what I thought, but what about that elderly security guard he Kimi'd last year?



Yeah, big surprise. David Blaney qualified really well here last time. Wonder what those Prism guys have figured out about Bristol and how he will do once the green flag drops. Also, excellent effort by David Wreckerbland, inside of Monty.

Brad Keselowski signed with Penske for next year taking over for Stremme.

Allgaier

Keselowski

Wow that was a terrible, terrible mistake by Chase Austin to take out the leader, Kyle Busch.

I gotta concede the view of the grandstands surrounding the entire track is impressive.
What's the spectator capacity there??

I am also intrigued - I hear Sunday will be a sell out.

That's the scary part.

The fans might just be a little late if they turn up on Sunday

180,000 IIRC. Maybe 80,000 though cos it's so small (Indy I think can and regularly does pack in a quarter of a million).

I'll check for sure, and also, the race is on Saturday night, same time! YEEE HAW!

Well Monty excels on starts/restarts so I'm sure he'll be fine.

Bristol Motor Speedway's wikipedia page lists capacity as 165,000. I guarantee you it's sold out. It's the hottest ticket on the NASCAR circuit, for reasons I hope are obvious!

Cheers, David Ragan. Sometimes I'm not a fan of his. T-Stew after all called him a dart without feathers. But he clearly drove a superb race and got a well-deserved win.

Steven Wallace waited until the last lap but he came through with his usual reckless driving manouver.

I cant stand the new Bristol track. Yeah I know its more side by side racing, but I liked the old battles better. Now nothing happens because they run side by side for 80 laps before someone gets by another car.

I agree, the Bristol as we knew it was ruined in the redesign. They did get a more sane racetrack, but the whole attraction of Bristol was the insane racing with increasingly insane drivers.

How was it before?
Are there any good youtube videos?

Showing what a cool off period can do, Kyle was considerably more rational in last night's interview when truly wronged than after being raced hard by Vickers and Ambrose the past two weekends.

Sure It was really a one groove track that if anyone steped out of line they fell back about 7-13 spots before they got back inline. It made for aggressive and hard racing.
they resurfaced the track at the end of 07 I think.

Anyways here are some vids

and yeah there are some good vids on youtube. Bristol 2002 nightrace I was at and it was awesome finish.

How about Chase Austin wrecking Kyle Busch? Even though he was having flat tire and suspension damage I kept going "What the hell was he doing?"

Here's the wreck: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKxsWiYa3O8


Here's crazy action from 1992: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwcDZM9iv8M

As Kyle said, it was rookie stuff.



I'll try to watch the Sprint Cup race tonight. Yay Bristol!! Will be a hard challenge though as it starts 0130 am here in Germany.

take a nap, drink coffe, do whatever it takes!

Office, any chance of rain tonight in Bristol?

3 hours and 20 mins till the start! Another sleepless night for me here! Gallon of coffee already cooked!

It's pouring here near DC so I checked the weather radar, then zoomed out and back in on Bristol, and I see absolutely nada.

Not to say there can't be evening popups but certainly no weather systems in the area.

I think I'll be fine if I just refrain from the beer drinking part until it actually gets close to green flag.

How about don't drink until the first CAUTION flag?

Hmm, I feel a drinking game coming on...

Makes a change after the last few weekends!

It's 7pm here in Brazil.
How long until the start of the race?

7:43 eastern, so 8:43 for you. (edited because it was off slightly)

Green flag at 7:43 PM (approx) as reported by jayski: http://jayski.com/next/2009/24bms2009.htm

That's Eastern Daylight Time. For reference, I am in that time zone and it is 6:16 PM now so about 1.5 hours from right now.

Thanks.