Wednesday

Bristol Motor Speedway Officials Announce Track Modification

SAFER Barrier Extension Tightens Racing Groove Nearly Three Feet

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Track operations personnel extended SAFER (Steel And Foam Energy Reduction) barriers at the exits of Turns 2 and 4. Work began last week and will be complete before NASCAR teams arrive for the Food City 500 weekend, March 19-21.

“We believe with these modifications, we will not only increase driver safety, but will also create a different transition at the exit of the turns,” said Jeff Byrd, BMS President and General Manager. “While we don’t know exactly how this will impact the racing, the more confined racing area should create less elbow room and tighten up the racing groove at those points.”

A deteriorating track surface forced officials in the summer of 2007 to put down a fresh layer of concrete and an additional four feet of width to the racing groove was part of the change. The modifications will eliminate some of that added room.

“Without question, this extra four feet added room and aided in creating three and, at times, even four-wide racing,” Byrd said. “However, while it is breathtaking, many of our fans have responded that we went too far, in actuality, giving too much racing room to the greatest drivers in the world.”

A package for the Food City 500 weekend is available for only $99. The package consists of Ford Fan Friday qualifying March 19, followed by Saturday’s doubleheader, the Scotts Turf Builder 300 and the Scotts EZ Seed Showdown, culminating with the Food City 500 on Sunday.

For fans who can only attend the Food City 500, single day tickets also are available, starting at $93. Tickets for Saturday’s doubleheader begin at just $45 while fans can watch Ford Fan Friday qualifying for just $5, then attend Food City Race Night at BMS for free.

A season ticket package featuring nine events during the March and August NASCAR weekends starts at only $199. The package includes the two most popular Sprint Cup races in the sport, along with a pair of Nationwide events, a Camping Truck Series race, the Scotts EZ Seed Showdown, a Whelen Modified event, qualifying and Food City Race Night.

For more information concerning tickets, please visit www.bristoltix.com or call the BMS ticket office at 423-BRISTOL (274-7865).

Bristol Motor Speedway is a subsidiary of Speedway Motorsports, Inc.  Speedway Motorsports is a leading marketer and promoter of motorsports entertainment in the United States.  The Company owns and operates the following premiere speedways: Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Infineon Raceway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway.  The Company provides souvenir merchandising services through its SMI Properties subsidiary, and manufactures and distributes smaller-scale, modified racing cars through its 600 Racing subsidiary.  The Company also owns Performance Racing Network (PRN), which broadcasts syndicated motorsports programming to more than 725 radio stations nationwide including XM Satellite and NASCAR.com.  For more information, visit the Company’s website at www.gospeedway.com.

- Bristol Motor Speedway, Press Release