Motorsports/Racing
About Bristol Motor Speedway
You can tell a lot about the character of Bristol Motor Speedway from the nicknames assigned to the venue by racing fans. There are four in wide circulation: "The Last Great Colosseum" and "The Bullring" for the track's shape; "The World's Fastest Half-Mile" for its speed (cars complete laps in about 15 seconds); and "Thunder Valley" for its noise. The track is steeply banked and ringed with stadium-style seating. With a capacity of 162,000, it is the third-largest sports venue in the United States and the seventh-largest in the world.
Bristol Motor Speedway History
Bristol Motor Speedway, located in the northeast corner of Tennessee, opened in 1961. It was built by Carl Moore, Larry Carrier, and R.G. Pope on the site of a former dairy farm. They drew their inspiration from a trip to Charlotte Motor Speedway, but the $600,000 Bristol track was a more intimate (and noisier) venue, and in 1969 the track was reconfigured with its signature steep banks. In 1992, BMS replaced its asphalt surface with a concrete surface that is now its other hallmark. It is something of a celebrity, having served as the basis for the fictional Motor Speedway of the South in the Disney/Pixar film Cars.
The speedway is home to races in the NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series, ARCA Menards Series East, and the NHRA Mello Yellow Drag Racing Series. In the Cup Series, racing great Richard Petty holds the track record for most Top 10 finishes (with 37) and most starts (with 60). Darrell Waltrip leads with 12 all-time wins. The all-time winningest car owner at BMS is the legendary Junior Johnson, with 21 victories. Over the course of a week in 2010, Kyle Busch made history by winning three NASCAR national series races in a single race meeting: the Truck Series race on a Wednesday, then the Nationwide Series race, and the Spring Cup Series race.
As always Bristol is a great track and one of my favorite places to visit. I was hoping for a similar race like the spring with tire wear being an element in the race, but it ended up being a boring event with hardly any passing (no comers and goers).
We love coming to Bristol. Always a good time. The fan zone is always fun too. Event is well organized for sure.
It was a little rough in the beginning due to receiving 2 set of cup tix same tix and no truck tix. I had to call 4xs but in the end customer service helped me through process til I received my tixs even calling me back to make sure I could get to them.
Had so much fun it was a one in lifetime trip. Got to see lots of things easy to get to seats. Need more beer stations.
Bristol was an awesome experience. We had a blast. Only negative thing was parking. Took 2 hrs to leave.
Everything was great from start to finish it’s nice when you go to a event and the entire and I mean every single staff member was nice and helpful. Good job !
This was a blast. The ticket prices and parking pass was awesome. Even my wife, who doesn’t like racing, enjoyed herself. This was my second time, but, the couple we were with and my wife were there for the first time. Everyone said they would go again. If you’ve never been, do it at least once!
My only issue was not having a strong enough connection to bring my tickets up on my phone
Parking was easy to find and get out of. Seats were available and easy to find (once I asked someone). Race was fantastic
$5 for a bottle of water or haul a heavy cooler up lots of steps. Not my thing. Very little value, everything costs extra. One and done.