| | | | | | NO CHANGE | Ryan Newman happy with Bristol Speedway the way it is | |
| | By SceneDaily Staff BRISTOL, TN -- The new racing surface at Bristol Motor Speedway may not lend itself to as much drama as the old one, but that’s just fine with Ryan Newman.
In fact, he’d prefer it this way.
“I thought they did an excellent job in making this a better racetrack,” Newman said on Friday of the .533-mile facility, which was repaved before last August’s Nextel Cup race at the high-banked oval.
“From my standpoint sitting in the seat, it drives like a three-wide, like a Michigan in a round about way. It’s a lot of fun to race. You can move around. It takes some time for [the groove] to move up towards the wall, but it’s a three-groove race track. Any half-mile that’s a three-groove racetrack is a heck of a racetrack in my book.”
Sunday’s Food City 500 Sprint Cup race will be just the second time Cup drivers have raced on the track since it was repaved.
The facility drew mostly praise from drivers but criticism from some fans after last summer’s race, which featured an unusually low number of wrecks and subsequent cautions. Bristol has long been lauded as a fan favorite for its trademark beating, banging and wrecking among competitors, which often yields intense displays of emotion.
“I’m a race car driver, and I want to see a race. I want to see us go door handle to door handle and rub sides,” Newman said. “I don’t want to see us bumping and banging and getting mad because one guy spun the other guy out. Now in saying that, this new car doesn’t allow us to spin each other out the way we used to, but we can still get it done. I like the race track the way it is.”
Changes introduced to the surface last year included the addition of three extra feet in width as well as slightly variable banking, designed to give drivers multiple grooves where they can run fast. Newman believes that has been accomplished.
“It’s not like it was a bad race track before, but I just think that it’s a racier race track now," he said. "If fans are here to see a race, then those fans should be happy. Those fans that don’t like it as much, they’re probably not here to see a race. They’re probably here to see some crashing. So go visit your demolition derby.”
| | Posted March 14, 2008 , 6:31 pm EST
| | | | | | | | | | |
