Bristol Odds & Ends: Jeff Byrd 500 Presented by Food City

At Bristol Motor Speedway:

History

·         Groundbreaking for Bristol International Speedway, as Bristol Motor Speedway was originally known, took place in 1960. The track was an exact half-mile.

·         First NASCAR Sprint Cup race was July 30, 1961.

·         In the fall of 1969, the track was reshaped and re-measured to .533-miles.

·         The name changed to Bristol International Raceway in 1978.

·         The first night race was held in the fall of 1978.

·         The surface was changed from asphalt to concrete in 1992.

·         The name changed to Bristol Motor Speedway in May 1996.

·         The track was resurfaced between races in 2007.

Notebook

·         There have been 100 NASCAR Sprint Cup races since the first race there in 1961, two races each season.

·         All races have been scheduled for 500 laps, except for both races in 1976 and the second in 1977, which were 400 laps.

·         Fred Lorenzen won the first pole.

·         The first NASCAR Sprint Cup race was won by Jack Smith (with relief from Johnny Allen).

·         There have been 44 different pole winners, led by Cale Yarborough and Mark Martin (nine). Martin swept both poles at Bristol in 1995, 1996 and 2009.

·         38 different drivers have won, led by Darrell Waltrip (12).

·         Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon each have five wins, most among active drivers.

·         The race winner has started from the pole 22 times, the most productive starting position. The last driver to win from the pole was Carl Edwards in the night race of 2008.

·         80 of 100 races have been won from a top-10 starting position, including 52 from the first four spots.

·         The deepest in the field that a race winner has started is 38th, by Elliott Sadler in 2001. Prior to this year’s Daytona 500, that race was the last win by legendary owners, the Wood Brothers.

·         Only one active driver averages a top-10 finish: Kyle Busch with a 9.3 average finish in 12 starts.

·         Five of the last six Bristol races had a margin of victory under one second.

Bristol Motor Speedway Data

Race #: 4 of 36 (3-20-11)

Track Size: .533 miles

·     Race Length: 500 laps/266.5 miles

·     Banking/Corners: 26 to 30 degrees

·     Banking/Straights: 4 to 9 degrees

Driver Rating at Bristol

Kyle Busch                   106.0

Greg Biffle                      99.5

Jeff Gordon                    98.7

Matt Kenseth                   97.7

Kurt Busch                      95.9

Tony Stewart                   93.8

Denny Hamlin                  91.8

Kevin Harvick                  89.8

Carl Edwards                  89.4

Dale Earnhardt Jr.           88.7

Note: Driver Rating compiled from 2005-2010 races (12 total) at Bristol.

Qualifying/Race Data

2010 pole winner: Joey Logano, 124.630 mph, 15.396 seconds

2010 race winner: Jimmie Johnson, 79.618 mph, 3-21-10)

Track qualifying record: Ryan Newman (128.709 mph, 14.908 seconds, 3-21-03)

Track race record: Charlie Glotzbach (101.074 mph, 7-11-71)

NASCAR in Tennessee

• There have been 161 NASCAR Sprint Cup races in Tennessee.
• 103 drivers all-time in NASCAR’s three national series have their home state recorded as Tennessee.
• There have been 13 race winners from Tennessee in NASCAR’s three national series.

compiled by Ray M. Smith, NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications


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