Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson is one of the strong favorites to win the upcoming Cup Series race at the Bristol Motor Speedway. He won the past two races at the track and holds a high average finish at the venue. But tackling this challenging short track won’t be an easy job even for someone as adept as him. He admitted why on NASCAR: Inside the Race.
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Driving at high speeds, it is easy for a driver to lose an idea about which corner of the track he is approaching since the corners are all identical. Larson said, “Bristol would be a little easier to get lost. There’s definitely been times, you know, where you get rolling so fast. Like, on a string that you run, a 100-lap run to the end of the race, you know, pushing as hard as you can.
“There’s definitely been times where I get out of the car and the feeling when you get off the boat from being on the lake all day and you’ve got a little bit like… You just feel like you’re kind of still just, you know, turning. I would say Bristol’s probably the only track that I’ve ever felt that way.”
The turns at the track are steeply banked at a range of 24 to 28 degrees. It also possesses variable banking, meaning these angles aren’t uniform from top to bottom.
Because of such steep angles, the centripetal force is extremely high and enables the cars to carry a lot more speed through the turns. This leads to the racing occurring across multiple lanes, making things far more exciting than otherwise. But the cost of that is, as Larson says, a topsy-turvy experience.
Why the pit road in Bristol is tricky
Green flag pit stops are extremely risky at Bristol. This is because the cars are riding around at great speeds. Also, the track is only 0.533 miles. This short length results in a car falling too far behind its competitors when it pits under green. So, teams typically avoid such pit stops unless they don’t have much choice.
Also, drivers have different entry points depending on their stall. This demands that they be mindful when getting onto pit road. Larson said about this, “If you’re pitted on the frontstretch side, it’s a different entry than [under] yellow.
“Under yellow, you’re always entering off turn two. If you’re on the frontstretch, you’re entering off turn four. So, you don’t want to make the brainfart of wrong pit road, you know. So yeah, you’re really focused on that, too.”
Will Larson be able to score a perfect three on three at this tough track? The answer will come soon.
