‘Red & White’ Bristol Comes Up With Ingenious Solution to Drivers’ Wall Scare Amidst Lively Weather Forecast

Bristol Motor Speedway is kicking it old school for the upcoming Food City 500, bringing back the red and white striped track walls for the first time since 1995. However, this throwback weekend with the red and white walls comes with a safety hazard. But it’s one that the organizers have found a genius way around. And that’s not all the good news there is.

Unlike the last few races where the weather played spoilsport, Bristol’s forecast is looking great. So we shouldn’t see any pesky delays messing with race day. As for the possibility of any mishaps due to the retro color scheme, that’s precisely what Bristol Motor Speedway has (hopefully) found a way around.

The Speedway has utilized about 200 gallons of paint—115 in white and 80 in red. “We looked back at the footage from the first Food City 500 in 1992 and those were the colors on the track walls,” explained Jerry Caldwell, Bristol Motor Speedway’s president and general manager. He added, “We thought it would be a fun touch for the fans to recreate that.” As appealing a sight as this will be, the white walls could also pose a threat to the drivers on track.

Considering the high speeds at which the cars go around the track, the white walls will likely blend in with the concrete. While this may not be too dangerous on straights, the white walls will likely create the illusion of more space than there actually is at turns. To avoid this confusion, NASCAR reporter Bob Pockrass revealed the Speedway’s clever touch. He tweeted, “For spring Bristol, walls painted red and white. But in the turns, there is a red line at the bottom of the all-white wall. That’s so drivers can tell where the wall is.”

The red and white paint schemed walls make Bristol one of the few tracks, alongside Darlington and North Wilkesboro, to sport the classic red and white look. Brad Keselowski, Erik Jones, and Zane Smith got to leave their mark first, slapping on the initial strokes of paint during a test session. The whole painting gig wrapped up in about two weeks, covering roughly 2,700 feet of wall.

With the clear skies and this retro yet clever look, the anticipation for the weekend at the Bristol Motor Speedway is getting higher by the second. But that’s not all! Bristol is throwing in a couple of surprises that might catch the rookies off guard. Can’t wait to see how this plays out on the track!

A few more changes have been brought to Bristol Motor Speedway

NASCAR’s shaking things up by bringing concrete racing back to Bristol Motor Speedway after three years, and the drivers are all for it. Brad Keselowski, the 2012 and 2020 champ, said it’s awesome to hit the concrete again this spring. He reminisced about the last time they raced on concrete at Bristol in spring, where he took the win. And well, he is all in for a repeat performance.

And if that wasn’t enough to get fans hyped, the track has got the 80s rock band Spank hitting the audience with some classic tunes, taking everyone back to the glory days of the Last Great Colosseum. Then, the whole weekend’s got this cool vintage vibe, thanks to a throwback race logo that nods to when Food City first got on board with the Bristol Spring race 33 years back.

Steve Smith, the big boss over at Food City, said, “What a mess out there is, as the painter used to say. You think about all the great things that have happened here. Elliott Sadler getting his first win. Rusty Wallace winning his 50th race here and the Busch boys, their dominance here. Obviously, Earnhardt and Labonte clashing and knocking each other around, so there’s been so many great memories here.”

So, yeah, Bristol’s pulling out all the stops this weekend, and it’s shaping up to be one for the books.

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