NASCAR Dirt Race: Dirty windshields halt race (Video)

It took just one lap for the red flag to be deployed in the first NASCAR dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway

It reads like an Onion title. But, it’s was a very real and scary situation for the field of NASCAR Truck Series drivers.

NASCAR machines have windshields for safety. But, there’s nothing more unsafe than not being able to see out of it.

In traditional short track machines, windshield don’t exist. Instead, drivers are fitted with helmets that have tearoffs. To clean the windshield, drivers just pull a tearoff and their vision is cleared.

Last night and this morning, rain was int he area. The track is heavy and slimmy today. That doesn’t help the situation.

Four heat races are on deck for the NASCAR Truck Series and another four for the NASCAR Cup Series. The heat races will be used to set the lineup for the feature races.

They dropped the green on the first heat. The drivers went sliding through turn one, nearly three wide off turn two.

However, it took just one lap for mud to completely cover the windshield and the grills on the NASCAR Truck Series drivers.

NASCAR VP Scott Miller commented, “The track took quite a bit of rain this morning, but we’re optimistic in a couple hours or so, if it doesn’t rain any more, we’ll be ready to get the program underway.”

Kevin Harvick comments

Harvick started on the final row for his heat. That means he had to drive through all the rooster tails.

“That’s probably as uncomfortable as I’ve ever been in a race car,” Kevin Harvick said after 1 lap in his truck.

“As soon as everybody put the throttle down it just caked onto the front window. That’s the unfortunate part about where we are with the race track.”

“I don’t see that changing anytime soon. It’s not fair to everybody to have to drive with their windows shut. So, really unsafe conditions currently.”

“I just had to look left. You just have to go with what you know of the race track and where you’re at on the race track. I had a lot of fun yesterday, both in the truck and the car.”

Harvick added, “But, there’s a reality to where we are with the race track currently in the vehicles that we’re racing. I might make this pretty tough to do for the next couple hours until we get the race track right.”

NASCAR has sent dirt late models on the track. They’re attempting to pack in the track a little more and throw the slime off it.

At the same time, more weather is on the way.

Dirt on the windshields at Bristol

Links

Bristol Motor Speedway | NASCAR

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