Nowhere but NASCAR is a half-mile paved oval turned into a dirt track for a weekend. But that’s what to expect for the third annual Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway (7 p.m. ET Sunday on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
And it’s as unpredictable as you might expect a dirt bullring to be, including in dirt winners.
Though Kyle Larson has extensive experience, including winning his own dirt race in the Kyle Larson Late Model Challenge at Volunteer Speedway in Tennessee, he says the Next Gen car is so foreign that he doesn’t expect much of an advantage.
“Sure, it’s dirt, so obviously I’ll be a little more confident,” he said, “but it’s nothing like what I do. It doesn’t even feel like a dirt race to me. I think the last few years have shown that a dirt guy doesn’t have an extreme advantage as everybody might think. But we’ll go there and try to do better than we did the past few years.”
As for those last two years, he finished 29th in the inaugural race and improved to fourth. It was won instead by Joey Logano and Kyle Busch, two drivers who don’t have the same dirt racing pedigree.
However, both are working on it. Joey Logano will be driving in the Truck Series, and Kyle Busch actually raced Larson at Volunteer Speedway, ultimately being lapped.
The driver who did give Larson a fight for the lead in the closing laps of that race was Bill Davenport. He’ll be making his NASCAR debut in the no. 13 car for Kaulig Racing.
“I’m nervously excited for my Cup debut on the dirt at Bristol,” Davenport said, describing it as a “totally different atmosphere, totally different kind of car and kind of racing. Every race car driver wants to drive in NASCAR; this is the best opportunity I’ve had to be able to make this dream come true.”
“It’s going to be a huge learning curve, but I’m up for the task, and I feel good about it. I’m 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.”
Christopher Bell also has plenty of wins on dirt, including three straight Chili Bowl Midget Nationals from 2017-2019. But he also hasn’t seen the results to match, getting tangled in the same wreck as Kyle Larson in the inaugural race after running up front and only managing seventh in the following race.
“Last year, I had moments in the race where I was really fast, and it was a lot of fun,” Bell recalled. “Then I had moments in the race where I was struggling, and it wasn’t very enjoyable.”
“Hopefully, a dirt guy can finally win. It’s been funny, we’ve gone twice now, and a dirt guy has not won. Hopefully, I can change that.”
NASCAR Truck race at Bristol features ample share of interlopers
Regulars in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series will face stiff competition this weekend if they hope to maintain bragging rights in Saturday’s Weather Guard Truck Race on Dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway (8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
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’s Cup race. Logano won the inaugural Food City Dirt Race in 2021.
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.
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.
Ben Rhodes is the defending winner of the race, but he’ll 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.
“I wouldn’t say that we lost the race last year—we ran really well,” said Hocevar, who picked up his first victory in the series last Saturday at Texas. “We were just eventually beat by the better truck. Ben had the fastest truck all day, and he nearly let one get away from him.
“We 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.”
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