{"id":42439,"date":"2023-04-06T13:50:42","date_gmt":"2023-04-06T18:50:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=42439"},"modified":"2023-04-26T16:38:38","modified_gmt":"2023-04-26T21:38:38","slug":"nascar-weekend-preview-bristol-motor-speedway-dirt-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/06\/nascar-weekend-preview-bristol-motor-speedway-dirt-3\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR Weekend Preview: Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n

By Reid Spencer<\/em><\/p>\n

NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

NASCAR\u2019s Food City Dirt Race at Bristol has yet to follow form<\/b><\/p>\n

Is it time for a \u201cdirt driver\u201d to win the Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway (7 p.m. ET Sunday on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Christopher Bell, driver of the #20 DeWalt Toyota, and Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 Mars Crunchy Cookie Toyota, race during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 16, 2022 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

When NASCAR announced that a dirt race at Thunder Valley would be part of the 2021 schedule, the natural assumption was that drivers with extensive dirt experience would dominate the proceedings.<\/p>\n

Specifically, pundits pointed to Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell as the most likely winners. After all, Bell had won three straight Chili Bowl Midget Nationals from 2017-2019, and Larson was the defending winner of the event.<\/p>\n

True to form, Larson won the pole for the inaugural event at Bristol, and Bell worked his way forward from the 15th starting position. But Larson and Bell collided at the front of the field on Lap 53, and Joey Logano\u2014whose experience on dirt was minimal\u2014won the race.<\/p>\n

Last year, Kyle Busch stole the victory when Chase Briscoe overdrove the final corner and spun Tyler Reddick, who had dominated the race with 99 laps led. Larson finished fourth in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, and Bell drove the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to seventh in an event that was interrupted by rain.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year, I had moments in the race where I was really fast, and it was a lot of fun,\u201d Bell recalled. \u201cThen I had moments in the race where I was struggling, and it wasn\u2019t very enjoyable.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, a dirt guy can finally win. It\u2019s been funny, we\u2019ve gone twice now, and a dirt guy has not won. Hopefully, I can change that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Larson pointed out that racing NASCAR\u2019s Next Gen car\u2014markedly different from the open-wheeled cars and late models he typically rives on dirt\u2014might tend to minimize his advantage.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople probably look at me as being a favorite, but it\u2019s so different from the dirt racing that I do throughout the week,\u201d said Larson, who won last Sunday\u2019s Cup Series race at Richmond. \u201cI don\u2019t really think I have an advantage like some people might think.<\/p>\n

\u201cEither way, I know our race cars are fast everywhere we go, and that gives me the most confidence. Hopefully, the track conditions are right, we can put on a good race, and I can find my way to the front. Getting a win there would be pretty neat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Larson and Bell aren\u2019t the only \u201cdirt guys\u201d who will be racing on Sunday. Jonathan Davenport, legendary dirt late model superstar, will drive the No. 13 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet in his Cup debut.<\/p>\n

Nicknamed \u201cSuperman,\u201d Davenport is the reigning winner of the Eldora Million and the Late Model Knoxville Nationals.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m nervously excited for my Cup debut on the dirt at Bristol,\u201d Davenport said. \u201cTotally different atmosphere, totally different kind of car and kind of racing. It\u2019s going to be a huge learning curve, but I\u2019m up for the task, and I feel good about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to absorb all the information I can from my teammates Justin (Haley) and AJ (Allmendinger) to learn the car and learn how Cup drivers race\u2026 Every race car driver wants to drive in NASCAR; this is the best opportunity I\u2019ve had to be able to make this dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n

NASCAR Truck race at Bristol features ample share of interlopers<\/b><\/p>\n

Regulars in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series will face stiff competition this weekend if they hope to maintain bragging rights in Saturday\u2019s Weather Guard Truck Race on Dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway (8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

NASCAR Cup Series drivers Joey Logano, William Byron and Chase Briscoe all are moonlighting in the Truck Series event to gain familiarity with track conditions for Sunday\u2019s Cup race. Logano won the inaugural Food City Dirt Race in 2021.<\/p>\n

In addition, the 41-driver entry list for the race includes dirt specialists Jonathan Davenport in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet; Tyler Carpenter in the No. 41 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet; and Jessica Friesen in the No. 62 Halmar Friesen Toyota.<\/p>\n

Husband Stewart Friesen, a Truck Series regular as well as a dirt modified ace, has a guaranteed starting spot and is fresh from a season-best third-place finish at Texas. Jessica Friesen is attempting to qualify for her third start in the series.<\/p>\n

Ben Rhodes is the defending winner of the race, but he\u2019ll have to overcome formidable competition to repeat. Rhodes beat Carson Hocevar to the checkered flag last year after Hocevar led Laps 92-146 of 150.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say that we lost the race last year\u2014we ran really well,\u201d said Hocevar, who picked up his first victory in the series last Saturday at Texas. \u201cWe were just eventually beat by the better truck. Ben had the fastest truck all day, and he nearly let one get away from him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were in position to take advantage, but he was able to get back out in front and get by us at the end. It was disappointing, but I feel like we are ready to give it another shot this year. It was a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service NASCAR\u2019s Food City Dirt Race at Bristol has yet to follow form Is it time for a \u201cdirt driver\u201d to win the Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway (7 p.m. ET Sunday on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)? When NASCAR announced that a dirt race at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":38440,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[177,16],"class_list":["post-42439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-bristol-motor-speedway","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1391845261-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-b2v","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42439"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42589,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42439\/revisions\/42589"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}