Bristol as it was with dirt, spring '23 (NASCAR via Getty Images)Bristol Management Announces Both Cup Races on Concrete in ’24 September 16, 2023 NASCAR The spring race at Bristol Motor Speedway no longer will be a dirty business. After three years of hauling in truckloads of Tennessee red clay to stage a dirt-track event at the 0.533-mile short track, Bristol racing will return to its concrete surface for the Food City 500 in the spring of 2024. No specific dates for the race were provided, pending the release of the NASCAR Cup Series’ schedule for next year. “As the motorsports world focuses on America’s Night Race (on Saturday), we are thrilled to announce Bristol Motor Speedway will host the return of the Food City 500 on the concrete high-banks of the World’s Fastest Half Mile in the spring of 2024,” Bristol Motor Speedway president and general manager Jerry Caldwell said in a statement announcing the change. “We will revive a logo reminiscent of the first Food City 500s in the early ’90s and resurrect the track’s vintage trademark look and feel of the era. We’re looking forward to a great weekend of racing and what’s to come in 2024.” Accordingly, Christopher Bell, winner of the 2023 Food City Dirt Race, will have the last chance for an unprecedented sweep of Bristol Cup races on two different surfaces in the same season. The Bass Pro Shops Night Race is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Saturday on USA, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Veteran driver Kevin Harvick applauded the decision. “I think that’s fantastic,” he said. “I think the dirt race was what it was. I think it’s something that you try and probably tried it a couple years too long, but I’m always going to vote for something that’s not dirt.” By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service
