NASCAR car engines are ready to start at Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend for another short track race. But given that short track racing has suffered quite a lot in the Next Gen era, it would be interesting to see if the tire handling could help make the race more interesting again. However, the prospect of an unusual outcome isn’t just a feature of modern racing. That has been the case in Bristol since 1961, when the first Cup race happened at the track.
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Amidst sweltering cabin temperatures and searing pain from an overheated accelerator pedal, Jack Smith, initially leading the race, found himself in dire need of a relief driver by lap 292. His friend, Johnny Allen, stepped into the breach, taking the wheel of Smith’s #46 car.
Allen entered the fray and not only kept the lead but extended it, winning the race by a margin of two laps ahead of Fireball Roberts. The unexpected swap etched both their names into Bristol’s racing legacy, with Ned Jarrett, Richard Petty, and Buddy Barker completing the top five finishers.
Meanwhile, Smith, who had gotten a blistered foot, was cleared to resume racing but chose to let Allen finish the race. Thus, the pair dominated 243 laps together and hence divided the $3,225 winner’s purse, creating one of NASCAR’s most memorable moments. The win marked the first of six instances where a relief driver had won at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Afterward, Jack Smith and Johnny Allen shared the limelight in victory lane, posing with race officials and trophy queens, each holding their well-earned trophies.
Last season, Bristol hosted a race that stunned fans due to extreme tire wear, leading to a record-breaking 54 lead changes over the course of 500 laps. Despite using the same tires that had performed without issue in the fall night race of 2023, the track’s concrete surface unexpectedly failed to hold rubber.
Instead, marbles — tiny rubber fragments from deteriorating tires — clung to the upper reaches of the track’s corners, making the high lines nearly impassable. Drawing on tactics from their days in late-model racing, three veteran drivers took control, with Denny Hamlin leading the charge and narrowly defeating Martin Truex Jr. by 1.083 seconds in a podium finish.
As the Next Gen cars rev up for another showdown, all eyes are on whether Denny Hamlin will continue his victorious streak, bagging a third consecutive win at The Last Great Colosseum, after Martinsville and Darlington, or if another contender will rise to claim the win at the Food City 500 and punch their ticket to the playoffs.
