Changing Bristol Motor Speedway to a variable banking track in 2007 and then reducing the turns’ banking by eight degrees five years later raised the ire of many fans, but Christopher Bell pointed to the introduction of NASCAR’s current Cup car as the single biggest change to racing at the high-speed half-mile track.
“(It) just really affected how you approach this track, how you pass on this track, how you approach making lap time here, and how you pass here,” Bell said during preparations for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver said that with the old Cup car, the O’Reilly Series car, and the Craftsman trucks it was possible to “really pack air on people and get them loose.”
“That was a very successful tactic to pass between all three of those series, the trucks being the hardest, and then O’Reilly cars, probably, and the Cup cars were pretty easy to do when we had the low downforce, too,” Bell continued. “That technique is completely gone with this car in all of the tracks. So, now passing has really become just finding a different groove, and hopefully, you can have enough pace in that groove, whether that’s the bottom or the top.
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“It just feels like it’s become more of a momentum-style track where with the previous generation car, it was a little bit more stop and go. You had less tire so you could get more wheel spin on exit. You really focused a little bit more on drive, where now it’s just keeping it free, keeping it rolling, and keeping momentum up. So, the Next Gen car has really changed it to momentum-style racing, and then not having the ability to pack air has made passing slightly more difficult than it used to be.”
When Speedway Motorsports turned the half-mile Bristol track into a variable banking facility in 2007, it was the first time there had been any changes to it since 1969. That year the track was reshaped, the banking was increased to 36 degrees, and it was converted into its current 0.533-mile layout. In 2012, the upper banking was reduced to 28 degrees in an effort to alter grip levels and racing grooves.
A North Carolina native, Deb Williams is an award-winning motorsports journalist who is in her fourth decade covering auto racing. In addition to covering the sport for United Press International, she has written motorsports articles for several newspapers, magazines and websites including espnW.com, USA Today, and The Charlotte Observer. Her awards include the American Motorsports Media Award of Excellence, two-time National Motorsports Press Association writer of the year, and two-time recipient of the Russ Catlin award. She also has won an award in the North Carolina Press Association’s sports feature category. During her career, Deb has been managing editor of GT Motorsports magazine and was with Winston Cup Scene and NASCAR Winston Cup Scene for 18 years, serving as the publication’s editor for 10 years. In 2024 she was inducted into the NMPA Hall of Fame.