Series more times than not keeps Mother’s Day and Easter Sunday off the schedule.
Early notes from the NASCAR weekend on the dirt at Bristol:
For much of its history, NASCAR had an unwritten rule that called for leaving Easter Sunday and Mother’s Day as open dates.
That approach went by the wayside years ago, and Darlington Raceway’s spring race is scheduled May 8, Mother’s Day. But Sunday night’s dirt race at Bristol was the first held on Easter since 1989, when snow early in the season forced NASCAR to reschedule a Richmond race to that date.
NASCAR has been criticized both inside and outside the sport for scheduling an Easter race. Track officials tried to blunt some of that criticism by scheduling an Easter afternoon (pre-race) celebration featuring popular Christian pastor Max Lucado.
Veteran driver Kevin Harvick said scheduling a Cup race on Easter should be considered a success only if “TV ratings are through the roof. … That’s the only reason it is where it is, so if it doesn’t have a TV rating, you should never do it again, in my opinion.”
Cup driver Austin Dillon said that the drivers and teams were going to make the most of it.
“It’s not ideal, but a good thing is all of our family is here,” Dillon said. “I feel for the guys who can’t bring all their family here—your crew guys, your mechanics—everybody else that doesn’t have the luxury that we have of having a bus here.”
Non-Competitive Pit Stops
Sunday night’s race marked a rare occurrence in Cup racing—the use of non-competitive pit stops. After caution-flag stops, drivers returned to the track position they were in before the stop.
NASCAR threw the first caution flag of the evening to allow teams to clean mud caked on the cars’ grilles. Cole Custer, who pitted before the caution and lost a lap, was livid. “We should get some laps back because they get the track wrong and can’t do anything …. right,” Custer said on his team radio.
Defending NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Ben Rhodes won at Bristol.
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Rhodes Takes Care of Business
Ben Rhodes took control of the Pinty’s Truck Race at Bristol Motor Speedway in the closing laps Saturday night and outran 19-year-old Michigan native Carson Hocevar for the win.
Rhodes charged from 13th place on lap 91 to challenge for the checkered flag. He had the advantage of fresher tires but used excellent driving to weave through the other contenders to finish first.
Hocevar said Rhodes had “the fastest truck all day. I was just trying to hold on.”
Playing Nice
Ty Gibbs, NASCAR’s most aggressive driver in numerous measurements this season, was not involved in an altercation at Bristol over the weekend. Of course, he wasn’t in a race at Bristol, but the fact that Gibbs didn’t push, shove, punch or otherwise impede a driver or car seems to be worth mentioning.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results
2nd Annual Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt
Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt
Saturday, April 16
1. (2) Ben Rhodes, Toyota, 150.
2. (6) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 150.
3. (18) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 150.
4. (4) Parker Kligerman, Chevrolet, 150.
5. (19) Christian Eckes, Toyota, 150.
6. (1) Joey Logano(i), Ford, 150.
7. (7) Chase Elliott(i), Chevrolet, 150.
8. (16) Grant Enfinger, Chevrolet, 150.
9. (14) Matt Crafton, Toyota, 150.
10. (17) Zane Smith, Ford, 150.
11. (3) Stewart Friesen, Toyota, 150.
12. (12) Colby Howard, Chevrolet, 150.
13. (33) Chase Purdy, Toyota, 150.
14. (10) Austin Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 150.
15. (35) Tanner Gray, Ford, 150.
16. (27) Dean Thompson #, Chevrolet, 150.
17. (21) Mike Marlar, Toyota, 150.
18. (26) Hailie Deegan, Ford, 150.
19. (5) Chandler Smith, Toyota, 150.
20. (23) Harrison Burton(i), Ford, 150.
21. (8) Ty Majeski, Toyota, 150.
22. (13) Jack Wood #, Chevrolet, 150.
23. (29) Timmy Hill, Toyota, 150.
24. (34) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 150.
25. (28) Blaine Perkins #, Chevrolet, 150.
26. (25) Kaz Grala, Chevrolet, 150.
27. (32) Buddy Kofoid, Toyota, 150.
28. (24) Tate Fogleman, Toyota, 149.
29. (15) Derek Kraus, Chevrolet, 149.
30. (31) Lawless Alan #, Chevrolet, 149.
31. (20) Tyler Ankrum, Toyota, 147.
32. (22) Andrew Gordon, Ford, 146.
33. (30) Kris Wright, Chevrolet, 146.
34. (36) Keith Mcgee, Chevrolet, 146.
35. (9) Matt DiBenedetto, Chevrolet, 145.
36. (11) Austin Wayne Self, Chevrolet, 143.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 45.957 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 37 Mins, 55 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.824 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 8 for 43 laps.
Lead Changes: 3 among 2 drivers.
Lap Leaders: J. Logano(i) 0; B. Rhodes 1-91; C. Hocevar 92-146; B. Rhodes 147-150.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Ben Rhodes 2 times for 95 laps; Carson Hocevar 1 time for 55 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 99,66,52,54,18,75,7,88,42,25
Stage #2 Top Ten: 99,66,4,75,54,7,51,42,18,19
Keyword: How NASCAR's Easter Race at Bristol Broke an Unwritten Rule