Start time, lineup, TV schedule and more for Food City Dirt Race
NASCAR waited more than 50 years for its Cup Series to race on dirt, so what’s another day?
Extreme rain and flooding required NASCAR to delay both Sunday’s Cup and Truck Series races at Bristol Motor Speedway to Monday, making a currently special occasion a lot more uneasy.
Bristol trucked 23,000 cubic backyards of dirt into its renowned bullring to host NASCAR’s very first Cup Series race on actual earth given that 1970. However how the dirt — and the tires — will hold up throughout the race is still to be figured out, specifically after 2 days of rain.
4 Friday session eventually revealed the tires can’t sustain the heavy wear on the dirt track. The 3 layers of dirt functioned as a cheese-grater and the tires in turn dug deep divots into the surface area, requiring NASCAR to make numerous procedural modifications Saturday in a desperate quote to conserve the program.
Here’s all the details you require to prepare for Monday’s Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway:
START TIME: 4 p.m. ET. Green flag is set up for 4:18 p.m. ET.
TELEVISION: Fox. No pre-race broadcast.
RADIO: Peformance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
STREAMING: Fox Sports Go (should have TELEVISION company) and FOX Sports app plus other streaming service providers.
RACE RANGE: 250 laps around the dirt track at Bristol Motor Speedway for an overall of 125 miles.
PHASE LENGTHS (laps per phase): Phase 1: 100, Phase 2: 100, Phase 3: 50. There will be a competitors care at lap 50 in Phase 1 and Lap 150 in Phase 2.
LAST TIME: Kevin Harvick led 226 of 500 laps on the typical pavement in the 2020 playoff race on Sept. 19 to win for the 3rd time at Bristol. Harvick edged Kyle Busch by 0.310 seconds. And 10 months earlier in the Food City Provides the Grocery Store Heroes 500 — likewise on the typical pavement — Brad Keselowski led 115 of 500 laps and held back Clint Bowyer by 0.471 seconds to likewise win his 3rd Bristol Cup race.
QUALIFYING: 4 15-lap certifying races were set up for Saturday to set the beginning lineup, however rain required NASCAR to cancel the heat races and set the starting lineup utilizing its formula based upon efficiency metrics.
LINEUP: Kyle Larson was granted the pole, however his No. 5 Chevrolet will drop to the back of the 39-car field after his Hendrick Motorsports team altered engines following Friday’s last practice. Denny Hamlin declared the 2nd beginning area.
Here is the lineup for the Food City Dirt Race (with vehicle number in parentheses):
1. (5) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet
2. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota
3. (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford
4. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota
5. (19) Martin Truex Jr, Toyota
6. (4) Kevin Harvick, Ford
7. (48) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet
8. (24) William Byron, Chevrolet
9. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet
10. (22) Joey Logano, Ford
11. (17) Chris Buescher, Ford
12. (21) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford
13. (47) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Chevrolet
14. (6) Ryan Newman, Ford
15. (20) Christopher Bell, Toyota
16. (34) Michael McDowell, Ford
17. (42) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet
18. (99) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet
19. (23) Bubba Wallace, Toyota
20. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford
22. (41) Cole Custer, Ford
22. (37) Ryan Preece, Chevrolet
23. (10) Aric Almirola, Ford
24. (43) Erik Jones, Chevrolet
25. (14) Chase Briscoe, Ford
26. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet
27. (8) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet
28. (1) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet
29. (38) Anthony Alfredo, Ford
30. (7) Corey Lajoie, Chevrolet
31. (51) Cody Ware, Chevrolet
32. (77) Stewart Friesen, Chevrolet
33. (00) Quin Houff, Chevrolet
34. (53) JJ Yeley, Chevrolet
35. (78) Shane Golobic, Ford
36. (15) Chris Wimdom, Chevrolet
37. (52) Josh Bilicki, Ford
38. (66) Mike Marlar, Toyota
39. (96) Ty Dillon, Toyota
Contributing: The Associated Press
This post initially appeared on U.S.A. TODAY: NASCAR at Bristol: What time is Monday’s Cup Series Dirt Race?
Jobber Wiki author Frank Long contributed to this report.