“This was old school”: NASCAR insiders give a raving review of the ‘chaotic’ Bristol night race

NASCAR insider Jordan Bianchi shared an optimistic take on the 'dramatic' and 'unpredictable' Bristol night race. He noted that the 'varying speeds' and strategies put up an 'exciting' race that was reminiscent of Bristol's glory days.

About 30 laps into Saturday's race, many drivers began diving into the pits to address corded tires, including polesitter AJ Allmendinger. Soon enough, many more followed suit, while Ryan Blaney went long and eventually grabbed the stage win.

He was trailed by Joe Gibbs Racing's Ty Gibbs, and the two drivers took turns leading the following stage. Gibbs led a race-high 201 laps and came out as the top driver in Stage 2, but he wasn't the one vying for a win later in the race. It was Carson Hocevar, Zane Smith and Alex Bowman who were battling for their maiden win of the season during the final restart.

However, Christopher Bell drove up from the bottom to pass the race leaders, and he was joined by Brad Keselowski for a fight to the finish. The JGR driver ultimately outlasted Keselowski and ended his 24-race winless drought.

Reflecting on the 500-lap event, Jordan Bianchi had this to say on the latest episode of The Teardown podcast.

"I'm cool with it. Man like this was good, this was fun, it was chaotic, it was dramatic, it was exciting, it was unpredictable. You had a lot of contact and physicality in this race because of the varying speeds that drivers, some guys were saving tires, other guys were on fresher rubber or trying to blaze through. Because of that, you had a lot of contact. This in a lot of respects was Old School Bristol."

Tire wear was a major issue during the race. NASCAR even had to sweep out loose marbles all across the top groove at one point, without which there would've been far more incidents due to sliding and a lack of grip.

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Austin Cindric sounds the alarm on NASCAR's tire trouble at Bristol

Austin Cindric fell victim to a fiery mishap late into the 500-lap event at Bristol Motor Speedway. His right front caught fire due to excessive rubber buildup. He promptly entered the pits and was sent back once the fire was put out.

“I was going to wait until I saw a color other than smoky grey. As crazy as it sounds, we were fortunate the [No.] 21 had the same problem because I think the lesson learned there was to try to minimize the laps run. The moment I smelled something, I said something and confirmed it. We pitted, and the guys were ready. It was really well executed for something that tragic," Cindric said via Racer.com

Notably, the same issue had plagued Josh Berry's No. 21 Ford early in the race. Goodyear, NASCAR's official tire manufacturer, brought softer right-side tires to allow for higher tire degradation and more passing opportunities. NASCAR has resorted to tire management to make up for the Next Gen car's struggles under dirty air, but the same has now brought about new challenges for driver safety.

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Edited by Tushhita Barua