The Bristol Motor Speedway is taking a trip down memory lane. Having hosted the only dirt race on the NASCAR schedule in the past few years, the speedway authorities are handed the objective of painting its walls for spring’s Food City 500. Following the throwback theme, the track authorities have decided to go with the iconic red and white painted walls. Now, the Cup Series drivers Brad Keselowski, Erik Jones, and Zane Smith joined the cause and took up the paint brushes.

The speedway’s official Twitter handle announced that it had already begun replacing the black walls after the annual dirt race. Having confirmed that the Bristol Motor Speedway will not host a dirt race in the 2024 Cup calendar, the focus has been on preparing the concrete track for March 17. The last time the red and white walls were seen at the track was in 1995. It looks like it will make a much-anticipated return this year.

Brad Keselowski grabs the paint brush after testing wet tires

RFK Racing, Spire Motorsports, and Legacy Motor Club were the three Cup Series teams invited to represent the three manufacturing companies at the wet weather test session. With NASCAR aiming to tackle inclement weather after struggling with it in 2023, Brad Keselowski, Erik Jones, and Zane Smith arrived at the track with wet weather tires in their kits. Following the conclusion of the test session, Bristol Motor Speedway invited the trio to begin revamping the black walls.

The three Cup Series drivers can be seen applying white paint to the walls in a tweet shared by the speedway’s official Twitter handle. The 2012 Cup champion even painted his message for NASCAR on the walls as he wrote, “We love concrete Bristol.”

With Bristol Motor Speedway returning to red and white walls, it becomes the third track to have them apart from Darlington and North Wilkesboro. The Bass Pro Shops night race is scheduled for the later months of the calendar, and the track authorities have enough time to paint the walls black again. Revealing the reason behind a sudden change of heart to bring back the red and white walls, track president Jerry Caldwell said,

“We looked back at the footage from the first Food City 500 in 1992, and those were the colors on the track walls, so we thought it would be a fun touch for the fans to recreate that. There have been so many iconic moments for the sport of NASCAR to take place on this track and inside these walls, we hope to be able to share more of those ‘wow’ moments with fans on Sunday afternoon, March 17.”

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The decision to drop Bristol Motor Speedway’s dirt track from the schedule isn’t surprising. There was a lot of speculation within the NASCAR community about replacing it with the classic concrete track. It turns out that the iconic red and white walls have also returned with them. With a deep consideration for the driver’s safety, the track personnel will add red lines to the bottom of the walls. This helps drivers differentiate between the track markers and the wall.

Bristol Motor Speedway has evolved with time and, before beginning the paint job, hosted NASCAR as it tried to evaluate the sport’s progress in wet conditions. With the season-opening Clash at the Coliseum being rescheduled due to a storm, NASCAR is concerned about avoiding a repeat of 2023.

NASCAR’s large-scale changes to the wet weather package

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By August 2023, 17 NASCAR race weekends had been suspended or rescheduled due to inclement weather interventions. However, in 2024, NASCAR plans to change that. Its idea isn’t to reinforce the existing measures of wipers and rain flaps but instead replace them with wet weather tires. Last year’s Chicago Street Race is an excellent example of its usefulness.

Additionally, the Bristol Motor Speedway is one of the best tracks to test the feasibility of the revised wet weather package. The concrete track is a problem for the drivers when the surface is dry. Owing to this, track authorities recreated wet conditions with water on the track to test the practicality of the tires. If NASCAR finds a path-breaking solution from the session, it will help the sport maintain a lot of revenue and go on par with motorsports that can race in the rain.

It remains to be seen if NASCAR can successfully integrate wet tires this year. Having experienced nature’s wrath in Los Angeles, the situation has undoubtedly become more urgent. NASCAR missed out on tremendous opportunities like the Machine Gun Kelly concert and Dillon Francis DJ set. While revision of the schedule is one step in the positive direction, it is not a sustainable solution in the long run.

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