“We haven’t progressed 75 years of NASCAR to go back to the cornfield.”
Last weekend, Bristol Motor Speedway hosted the NASCAR Cup Series. The half-mile concrete oval was covered in dirt for the only Cup Series dirt race this season.
Now, the Tennessee track will begin the lengthy process of removing all the dirt. Later this year, the track returns to a concrete bullring.
It’s a process the track has gone through every year since 2021. But, will it happen again in 2023?
Ahead of the event, SMI president Marcus Smith said they were having those discussions but nothing was confirmed.
Several drivers aren’t in favor of NASCAR dirt races. Interestingly, avid dirt racer Kyle Larson is one of those. And that’s not a change in tone, Larson has stated from the beginning that NASCAR shouldn’t be on dirt.
Kyle Larson doesn’t want anymore NASCAR dirt races
“I think we all really enjoy the concrete surface here at Bristol,” Kyle Larson told Frontstretch.
“It seems like the crowd’s typically bigger, at this point now for the concrete stuff. It’s up to the series and the promoters but I would love to get back to running two races on the concrete.”
Kyle Larson was asked what other dirt track he’d like to see the NASCAR Cup Series go to.
Larson responded, “None. We don’t need to be racing on dirt.”
Kyle Larson knocks the NASCAR Dirt race at Bristol due to windshields
Kyle Larson vs Ryan Preece on the Bristol Dirt Track (Video)
Corey LaJoie on NASCAR dirt racing
“The Yankees don’t go to a Single A stadium for a game,” Corey LaJoie stated via Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.
“There’s a lot of great race tracks out here for dirt racing. But, the Cup Series needs the infrastructure of like, ‘The show is here.’ ”
“I’m not going to say anything about dirt tracks because there are hundreds of great ones all over. But, just because it’s a nice dirt track doesn’t mean we need to take the Cup Series to a dirt track.”
“I think Bristol works because it has the infrastructure of a Cup Series track.”
“We haven’t progressed 75 years of NASCAR to go back to the cornfield with 10,000 people in the grandstands and one funnel cake trailer. Lets not downgrade it just to check a box.”
The Yankees recently went back to the cornfields. The ‘Field of Dreams’ game brought in 6.1M viewers in 2021, it was the largest regular season game in 16 years. The second edition of that event in 2022 brought in 3.1M.
Kyle Busch said dirt racing took NASCAR backwards; Then he won Bristol
Bristol Dirt Race Results: April 9, 2023 (NASCAR Cup Series)
Links
Kyle Larson | Corey LaJoie | Bristol Motor Speedway | NASCAR
