News and Notes About Bristol Motor Speedway Ahead of Wednesday's All-Star Races

We’re closing in on the midway point of the season for NASCAR, which is impressive when you factor in that drivers missed more than two months thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. Seventeen of the normal 36 races have been run already this season, 13 of which have come since the season restarted in mid-May with a pair of races at Darlington Raceway. On Wednesday, we get a race that’s not for points but it all about bragging rights, along with a $1 million prize to the winner, when the All-Star Open and All-Star Race come to you from the World’s Fastest Half-Mile of Bristol Motor Speedway. Today, we take a deeper look at Bristol to give you the best preparation possible to make wagers that could lead to you whistling away from the window with some cash.

Bristol Motor Speedway is a massive venue when it comes to capacity. The track can hold up to 162,000 fans, which makes it the third-largest sports venue in America and the seventh-largest in the world. While this one won’t have a full house, NASCAR is allowing up to 30,000 fans to take in the race from the grandstands, which is about 20 percent of the track’s capacity. This race normally takes place at Charlotte Motor Speedway but was moved last month. The track is a .533-mile banked oval: when it was originally built in 1961, the track was a half-mile and remained that way until 1969. That year, it moved to .527 miles before becoming its known configuration of .533 miles in 1970.

One part of the setup that is uncommon at most tracks, in part due to the short length of the track, is that there are pit stalls on both straightaways. Drivers must enter pit road on turn 2, then drive down the back straightaway through turns 3 and 4 before exiting in turn one during caution pit stops. When it’s a green flag pit stop, pit stops are split up: those on the front straightaway enter in turn 4 and exit in turn 1 while those on the back straightaway enter in turn 2 before exiting in turn 3. The straightaways are banked between five and nine degrees while the turns are banked between 24 and 28 degrees.

The first ever race to take place at Bristol Motor Speedway took place on July 30, 1961. Jack Smith won the race though he wasn’t the man behind the wheel at the checkered flag. He gave way to Johnny Allen after the heat of the day, plus being in the vehicle, caused his feet to blister. It was Allen that carried Smith’s vehicle to the checkered flag and victory lane. Smith’s vehicle was the only one on the lead lap that day, with Fireball Roberts (two laps down) finishing second and Ned Jarrett (five laps down) ending up third in the race.

Among current racers, Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick have run the most races at the track with 39 starts apiece. Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman are right behind that duo as each has raced 37 times on the half-mile oval. Kyle Busch leads active drivers with eight wins on the track while Kurt Busch has six victories and Kenseth has four of his own. Brad Keselowski has earned three wins here while Johnson, Harvick, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano each have two wins. They are the only other guys to have recorded a victory on this track among active drivers. Kenseth has 15 top-five finishes while Johnson and Kyle Busch both have 13 to their credit. Harvick and Kurt Busch each have recorded 12. When it comes to top-10 finishes, Kenseth and Johnson share the lead among active drivers with 22. Kurt Busch (21), Newman (19) and Harvick (19) round out the top five in that department.

Hamlin has started from the pole position four times in his career here, giving him the lead among active drivers. Newman has won the pole three times while Kenseth and Kyle Busch each have two poles. That quartet comprises the lone drivers to have won the pole more than once here at Bristol. Kyle Busch is far and away the leader in laps led as he has held the lead on a massive 2,434 laps on the track, far outdistancing second-place Kenseth’s 1,583. Kurt Busch is third with 1,095 laps led while Johnson (914) and Harvick (912) round out the top five. Harvick leads the field with 28 lead-lap finishes while Kenseth and Newman are tied for second with 26 such runs. Johnson and Kurt Busch round out the top five as each has 23.

Keselowski won the most recent race at the track, taking the Supermarket Heroes 400 presented by Food City, back on May 31. He beat Clint Bowyer for the checkered flag by .471 seconds while Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch and Erik Jones rounded out the top five in the race. The All-Star Open is an 85-lap race with stage 1 ending after lap 35 and stage 2 ending at lap 70 before concluding at lap 85. Afterwards, the All-Star Race is a 140-lap affair that is broken up into four stages. Stage 1 comes to a close after lap 55, stage 2 ends after lap 90 and stage 3 ends after lap 125 before a 15-lap sprint for stage 4.

The All-Star Open drops the green flag at 7 pm ET while the All-Star Race is expected to get going about 8:30 pm ET. Television coverage for the race will be brought to you by FS1. Stay tuned tomorrow for our look at the top prop bets for these races.