Ahead of this weekend’s NASCAR races on dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway, here’s a roundup of notable news and notes from around the NASCAR world.
Dale Jr. Wants Another Crack at Martinsville
Dale Earnhardt Jr. has some more racing in him.
The 47-year-old Earnhardt is fresh off his annual Xfinity Series start in last Saturday’s race at Martinsville Speedway. Earnhardt placed 11th (following help from a late wreck that advanced him 10 spots) after a disappointing night for the NASCAR Hall of Famer.
Appearing on the “Door, Bumper, Clear” podcast this week, Earnhardt shared that he wants another shot at the short track.
“I really love Martinsville, and I think I didn’t get everything out of that that I wanted in terms of performance, so I’d love to go back and try again to run better knowing what I know now,” Earnhardt said. “The short runs in that series, the lack of tire wear, the grip, the cooler temperatures, all those things, we weren’t quite prepared balance-wise for how that race was going to play out. And I don’t know that I would’ve been able to prepare any better because I just didn’t know. But going back, I think I could perform better.”
Saturday’s Xfinity race was Earnhardt’s fifth in the series since retiring from the NASCAR Cup Series after 2017.
“I definitely want to do it again,”Earnhardt said. “I love driving the cars … The thing is I need to do it more to be better. It does help (covering the sport on TV). Because … it reminds me of how good they are and I think we take that for granted. Sitting up there in the booth, you’re watching it over and over and over and you’re talking nuts and bolts or strategy or what a guy’s thinking or feeling. But we sometimes kind of forget these are the elite. These are the best guys out there.”
New Car, Different Dirt Race?
The second NASCAR Cup race on dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway has one major wrinkle from the first — the Next Gen car.
The seventh generation of Cup Series car will make its dirt debut this weekend on the half-mile track, complete with its independent rear suspension, bigger wheels and mud flaps.
How will those ingredients, plus a slightly re-profiled track, impact the show?
“I don’t really know what to expect, just because I’ve never driven a car that has this type of suspension on dirt,” said Chase Briscoe, a driver from a dirt background, said in a media release. “So how it drives on dirt and what you feel is probably totally different than what I’ve experienced. The other big component is the tires. The sidewall is so much shorter and stiffer than what we had before, from a side-bite and lateral grip standpoint. It’ll be totally different how the car reacts and the grip level that you have compared to anything I’ve raced. But we’ve got a couple of practices and heat races to figure it out.”
Briscoe’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, Kevin Harvick, believes Sunday’s race will “be different” while still having “a lot of the same nuances that you currently have at the race track.”
“I don’t know what we’re going to do with the back window with the car filling up with dirt, but we’ve worked through all these new issues before and none of that stuff has been as big of a deal as we had anticipated it being.”
Last year was notable because drivers who didn’t come from a dirt background performed on par or better than those with extensive dirt experience.
Will the Next Gen car flip that on its head?
“Obviously, they (dirt racers) can look at the race track and tell easier when it’s ready to move up a lane, and they have a little more confidence to pass,” Harvick said. “But in the end, a regular won (Joey Logano), so I think that tells you how much more it’s like what we normally do than what a lot of people thought it might be.”
Suarez Back For More
There probably weren’t many who were more surprised about how the first NASCAR Cup Series dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway went than Daniel Suarez.
The micro sprint Daniel Suarez has been racing in his spare time (Photo: Trackhouse Racing)
Before the 2021 race, the Trackhouse Racing driver had never raced on dirt in his life, let alone watched it as a fan. But the Mexican-born driver almost captured his first career win, leading 58 of 253 laps before finishing fourth.
“It was funny, all the guys with dirt experience seemed to struggle last year and the drivers who dirt racing was something new to seemed to do better,” Suarez said in a media release.
That included race winner Joey Logano, who had nearly no dirt experience before last year.
“I don’t know if that will continue,” Suarez said. “(Dirt regulars) are pretty smart and will figure it out.”
Suarez has spent the last month or so getting ready for Round 2. His preparation has included racing a winged 600 micro sprint car at Millbridge in Salisbury, North Carolina on weeknights this spring.
“I never thought I would be doing something like this,” Suarez said. “But this has been so much fun. It took a bit to get used to it. But I am getting better and better.”
Darlington Throwbacks
This year is Mars, Inc.’s final season as a sponsor in NASCAR.
To mark the occasion, the company allowed fans to vote on the M&M’s throwback paint scheme Kyle Busch will drive in the May 8 Cup race at Darlington Raceway.
The winner of the vote was the very first M&M’s scheme, driven by Ernie Irvan in one race in 1998 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
We've counted the votes and the people have spoken… @KyleBusch will be taking the 1998 @mmschocolate Throwback car to @TooToughToTame! It's a great looking car and we can't wait to see it in Victory Lane. Thanks to everyone who voted! pic.twitter.com/a3md6qjl7R
— M&M'S (@mmschocolate) April 14, 2022
JR Motorsports is continuing to announce some deep cuts when it comes to its throwbacks for the Xfinity Series race at Darlington.
The team co-owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. has already announced that Justin Allgaier will drive a scheme inspired by a Wrangler car Dale Earnhardt Sr. drove in 1984. On Thursday, JRM revealed the scheme Josh Berry will have on his No. 8 Chevrolet.
The car is inspired by a Looney Toons scheme Earnhardt Jr. drove and won with in a 2002 Busch Series race at Richmond Raceway.
— SP Designs (@SPDesignsNC) April 14, 2022
TV Ratings
The NASCAR Cup Series’ first night race of the season also brought the first poor TV ratings news of the year for the sport.
Saturday’s race at Martinsville Speedway, which was delayed almost an hour due to rain, averaged 1.8 million viewers. That’s well off the year-to-date average of 4.4 million.
There’s no direct comparison to last year’s race, since it was delayed to Sunday due to weather, but that race garnered an average of 2,299,000 viewers with a rating of 1.37.
Keyword: NASCAR News Roundup: Bristol Dirt Edition