Larson, Johnson, Busch talk Bristol’s updated racing groove – Nascar

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BRISTOL, Tenn. — It’s not that Kyle Larson isn’t a fan of the sticky substance put down on the racing surface at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series points leader understands the reasoning behind the application of an adhesive product to the lower portion of the track.

But the driver of the No. 42 Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing said he believes the amount placed on the concrete could create a situation that lends itself to keeping drivers racing single-file around the steeply-banked .533-mile track for Sunday’s Food City 500 (2 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Track officials applied the adhesive in the lower sections of the turns in an attempt to create an additional racing groove and promote passing on the often treacherous track.

One of a handful of Monster Energy Cup drivers also competing in this weekend’s Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 XFINITY Series race (1 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), Larson said he “tried to work the top in” during Friday’s XFINITY Series practice at BMS.

“I feel like it would still be really fast up there, it’s just nobody is brave enough to go up there and work in the groove,” said Larson, who won the pole for Saturday’s XFINITY Series race. 

“The VHT (substance) is wider than the width of our race cars now too, which makes it extremely easy to run around the bottom and not a lot of fun. 

“I don’t know, maybe some guys like it, but I think, yeah it looks like old Bristol because we are all running around the bottom, but I just don’t see how that is fun.”

For years, Bristol was known as a one-groove track where drivers were forced to bump their way past competitors as they tried to advance through the field. That often led to ill tempers and altercations but tremendous fan turnout as well. The facility boasted a string of 55-consecutive sellouts between 1982 and 2010 during a time that seating capacity grew from approximately 30,000 to nearly 160,000.

Officials added progressive banking in 2007 in an effort to move away from the single-file racing for which the facility, which opened in 1961, had become known.

But the change created a reverse situation — the upper groove became the preferred line around the track, and after several races that featured few lead changes and contact, officials went back to the drawing boards

In 2012, the track was altered once again when officials milled the upper groove in an effort to create more side-by-side competition.

The results have been mixed, and the application of the adhesive is the latest move. Officials first applied the product prior to last year’s night race at BMS.

“I think it was like three or four feet wide,” Larson, one of six race winners through this season’s first seven races, said of the initial application. “I thought that was a good width because you could get your left sides in it and you really had to be cautious of hitting your marks every corner. 

“Now it’s like you just fire off from the corner and it doesn’t really matter where you enter as long as your right sides are in the grip you are going to rip around the corner. (It) just makes it too easy for us and I don’t think that is good for racing.”

Kyle Busch, a winner of five Monster Energy NASCAR races and 17 overall at BMS, said the early indication Friday was that “there’s a lot of bottom going on and not a whole lot of middle or top.”

“I’m sure Larson’s thrilled and he’ll have to rubber in the top himself while the rest of us are rooting and gouging for the bottom,” he said.

Seven-time series champion Jimmie Johnson commended Bristol officials for the effort, noting that it was something that had worked in the past.

“And in the Driver’s Council meeting after our fall race here, we were all eager to make sure it was back down,” Johnson said, “and (we) thought that it did offer more options (for passing) than without it.”