This weekend, under the lights, Bristol Motor Speedway will host NASCAR’s Winston Cup Series, Busch Series, Craftsman Truck Series and Goody’s Dash Series.
The ETSU Alumni Associ-ation and the Bristol Motor Speedway will offer a complimentary ticket for Wednesday night’s races for the first 500 persons with valid ETSU identification. These tickets will be available at Gate 2 on the north end of the speedway and will be handed out on a first come, first served basis.
Bristol Motor Speedway opened in 1961 and has grown into the 160,000 seat, Roman Coliseum of the NASCAR circuit. Also known for being the fastest half-mile track in the nation, the 36-degree banking in the turns allows drivers to go as fast as 128 miles per hour in qualifying.
This weekend’s main event, Winston Cup’s Sharpie 500 race on Saturday night, is known for being the hardest tickets in NASCAR to get.
The main reason for the speedway’s popularity is that a ticket holder is guaranteed an exciting event, no matter what series is racing.
The high-banked track is only 40 feet wide which means that with 40 cars on the track doing excess of 100 mph, someone is going to hit the wall or one of their competitors.
In the Winston Cup points standings, Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 car, is currently 329 points ahead of the No. 8 car, driven by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Jeff Gordon, the No. 24 car driver, is currently 461 points behind Kenseth and with only 12 more races after Bristol, the championship race will go into full speed as drivers fall out of contention.
The opening race will be the Goody’s Dash Series Pabst Blue Ribbon 150, Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck series is also returning to the track this fall with the O’Reilly 200 which begins Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. and will air on Speed TV.
The NACAR Busch Series’ Food City 250 will begin Friday night at 8 and will air on TNT.
The Sharpie 500 will begin Saturday night at 7:30 and will also air on TNT.
The Motor Racing Network will also broadcast the O’Reilly 200, the Food City 250 and the Sharpie 500 on WJCW-AM 910.

Author