Lets Go Bristol Racin Boys!

Bristol Night Race

This past weekend I got tickets, at the last minute, to the Bristol Night Race. This is the hottest ticket in NASCAR and even sports fans who don't have much interest in NASCAR like this race. I took advantage of this opportunity and took a road trip to Bristol Tennessee on Saturday and it was awesome! I have seen many a race at Bristol on TV but more than any track I have been to, this one is better in person. TV just doesn't capture the constant competition and the incredible banking at Bristol.
I started my day at the track in a very familiar way: tailgating in the parking lot while talking with the others around me in the parking lot. This is one part of NASCAR that I love. Tailgating is common in many sports but it is more apart of the race event in NASCAR than in any other sport.
Next I took a walk through the merchandise trailors to see what was being sold this year in the cup series and get a surprise! Bobby Labonte is making an appearance on a radio/TV program for Speed and PRN, I knew I had to go to this event and was in the front row! I was even able to get my Bobby Labonte hat signed! Drivers make a lot of appearances in the trailor area but it is rare to get to see your favorite drivers simply because the average fan will only go to a handful of races. For example: I have attended four races: Michigan (twice), Charlotte, and now Bristol.
Once the show was completed, my trailor shopping complete, and the live concert over I went back to the car to eat dinner and prepare for the race. After all at a NASCAR race you can bring a cooler (size is regulated) into the race so I needed to organize the cooler. I cooked up some brats my tailgating neighbors kindly offered and proceeded to place a couple beers and a few pops in the cooler along with Chips Ahoy white fudge chocolate chip cookies. YUM!!!!! Then it was off to the track.
When I first saw Bristol Motor Speedway it was incredible but actually walking into the track and seeing the banking of 36 degrees! It was steeper than the grandstands! It was awesome! In fact I believe Heaven just might have its own Bristol Motor Speedway...but the tempers are probably not at Heavens Bristol.....
On to the race. Mark Martin started on the pole in his 1000th career NASCAR start and myself and the other fans in turns one and two participated in two tributes. The first was to Martin in which the track laid out colored cardboard sheets that, when held up by everyone through the turn spelled Mark 1000 starts. The second tribute was the same idea except the picture was of an American Flag during the anthem. The actual race was great too. I personally always enjoyed a race at Martinsville more than Bristol and on TV this is very true, but TV does not do Bristol justice. There is never a dull moment around the track. This particular race featured a 5 car wreck a couple dominant drivers and a thrilling final 10 laps with Kyle Busch and Mark Martin battling side-by-side for the win. Kyle Busch took the victory along with over-welming booing from the fans. Busch is not the most popular driver mostly because of attitude and lots of wins in dominant fashion.
After the race comes the worst part of a NASCAR race: 155,000+ leave the track. This process can see you in traffic for multiple hours. At Bristol the wait was only about 2 hours. Or at least I think so, I wasn't actually in the traffic. I slept in my car from 11:30 to just after 2:00 AM before driving home and didn't run into any traffic! All in all it was a fantastic trip!