BRISTOL, Tenn. – Entering NASCAR’s foray on dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway, pretty much everyone had Kyle Larson circled as the prohibitive favorite to dominate the Food City Dirt Race.
Following Friday’s twin NASCAR Cup Series practice sessions at the .533-mile, dirt-covered oval, that inclination remained strong. However, Larson will have plenty of work to do on Sunday.
Though Larson boasted the fastest five-lap, 10-lap, 15-lap, 20-lap, 25-lap and 30-lap averages from Cup Series Happy Hour, his engine temperature spiked to more than 300 degrees midway through final practice, leading his Hendrick Motorsports team to make a precautionary engine change.
That’s the bad news for Larson, who will be forced to start from the rear of both his heat race Saturday evening and the 250-lap main event Sunday.
What’s the good news? As shown by his performance in practice, Larson has a fast race car.
“I don’t know exactly what happened, but I finally looked down at my dash and saw that my engine was running really hot,” Larson explained. “I pulled in after that. I know there was some oil coming out of it … but my Freightliner Chevy felt really good in that (final) practice. I was able to run a few laps on the bottom early, and then I started running the top to just try and learn up there.
“It actually got better as more people started moving up. I’m happy we started to be able to run the fence, because it wasn’t looking very promising for a bit. We’ll see what we have to do for Sunday.”
– Kevin Harvick, the 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion, was one of the most outspoken critics of a Cup Series race being held on a dirt track for many years prior to the announcement of Bristol’s dirt event.
However, after Friday practice, count Harvick among those who became dirt believers.
Even before he climbed into his Stewart-Haas Racing Ford for Cup Series practice, Harvick was grinning from ear to ear based on his experience during the first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series session of the afternoon.
The Bakersfield, Calif., native called it “probably the most fun I’ve had in a race car in a long time.”
“Honestly, this was just a weekend that I had a big X through [before] coming here,” Harvick admitted. “But just being able to go out there, get over the anxiety and be able to do something way outside of my comfort zone was pretty rewarding. I wasn’t ready to go as fast as the race track was ready to go at the beginning, but I didn’t know how much grip it was going to have.
“I’m having fun though!”
– Among the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regulars with dirt experience that fans might not think about immediately is 2018 NHRA Pro Stock champion Tanner Gray.
Before he ran roughshod over the best Pro Stock competitors in professional drag racing, Gray cut his teeth racing outlaw karts on dirt at North Carolina’s Millbridge Speedway.
Gray was a multi-time feature winner on the sixth-mile dirt track, including a victory in the track’s Ironman event – a grueling 50-lap feature that serves as one of the longest of the year for outlaw karts.
“It was a lot of fun, growing up racing there,” Gray said. “Not much of that translates to here, though.”
Gray was still impressive, posting the third-best lap time during final practice Friday evening.
“I think we’re OK,” noted Gray. “We probably need to make some adjustments and get some more (forward) drive. I think a lot of us are fighting that same issue. But overall, it’s just fun to come to Bristol and do something different. DGR has brought us a fast Ford Performance F-150 and I’m just having fun, man. Trying to get the feel for it and figure out how to run the top in (turns) three and four.
“I think you’ll be able to do that in the race; it’s just a matter of how to get the entry speed and getting (into) the corner the right way.”
– In contrast to Gray, Hattori Racing Enterprises driver Austin Hill has no previous dirt experience to lean on, aside from two Truck Series starts at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.
Hill hopes to better his career-best on dirt in the Truck Series, a 21st-place finish from 2018 with Young’s Motorsports, and believes he has a truck capable of doing that this weekend.
“Our United Rentals Toyota Tundra is pretty good,” tipped Hill. “When the track is slick, we feel confident, but when it has some water on it we’re not really where we want to be to go out and run a really fast lap. We felt really confident with our truck, though, on a long run. Our right-rear (tire) had a little bit of wear and we just didn’t want to force the issue, so we just cut practice short.
“We were happy with where we were and we’re going to work on it a little bit more, but I’m having a blast. This is a lot of fun,” Hill added. “I’m not a dirt guy, by any means, but it has been fun running out here so far.”
– In terms of “dirt ringers,” USAC Triple Crown champion Chris Windom, California sprint car ace Shane Golobic, big-block modified king Stewart Friesen and World of Outlaws Late Model Series titlist Mike Marlar are all competing in the Cup Series race Sunday afternoon.
Ringers in the Truck Series field include Jessica Friesen, Stewart’s wife; as well as Cody Erickson, Marlar, Trevor Collins, J.R. Heffner and Jake Griffin. Stewart Friesen is a full-time racer in the Truck Series.