Midpack Attack: Food City 500
Track history
Bristol Motor Speedway (BMS) was built after Larry Carrier and Carl Moore saw a race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1960. They wanted to build a smaller version of CMS in Tennessee and decided on a half-mile oval. Work began on a former dairy farm in 1960 and a year later the speedway was born with 22 degree banking in the turns. 18,000 fans attended the first NASCAR race at BMS in 1961. In 1969 BMS was reshaped with the turns banked at 36 degrees. After the reshaping it became a 0.533-mile oval.
In August of 1992 the track was resurfaced from the original asphalt to become the first speedway to host a NASCAR Cup event on a concrete surface. In March 2007, right after the Food City 500, a multimillion-dollar project of removing and replacing the concrete racing surface, asphalt apron, pit road and all the retaining walls around the track was started. Conditions do not change during a race because concrete isn't as sensitive to weather changes like an asphalt paved track. Since the straightaways are only 650 feet long on the 0.533-mile oval, the drivers are constantly braking, turning and accelerating which makes for a demanding race. The key to passing at Bristol is to be at the bottom in the turns and getting a good run off the corners. That's why shocks, springs and brakes are critical in the race setup.
First Cup race
On July 30, 1961, Fred Lorenzen started the No. 28 Holman-Moody 1961 Ford on the pole for the Volunteer 500. He made it through 175 laps of the 500 lap event before losing the rear end and finished 33rd.
Jack Smith, who started 12th in his own No. 46 Pontiac, led the most laps (243) and earned $3,025 for the inaugural BMS victory.
Since this is the fifth race of the season, the top 15 in the point standings is starting to become more stable. With that in mind, we'll stay away from those drivers for mid-pack picks, as well as the track favorites, from now on.
As fantasy players, your team budget won't allow you to pick all track favorites so Mid-pack Attack is here to help. A mid-packer may not win the race but has as good a shot at a top 15 finish as track favorites Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart. There were 46 cars on the preliminary entry list for this weekend's Cup race. The 43 drivers who qualify will be competing in front of 160,000 fans in the grandstands for a total purse of $5,661,265. Here are our picks for Sunday's Food City 500 in Bristol, Tennessee.
Travis Kvapil will be running the race at BMS in a car that already visited victory lane. Yates Racing purchased (from Roush Fenway Racing) the 2007 Bristol Sharpie 500 race winning chassis that was driven by
Carl Edwards. Kvapil has completed 1848 of 2000 Cup career laps at Bristol (92.4 percent). His best Cup finish at BMS is a seventh. Kvapil has three truck starts at Bristol, one from the pole, with finishes of 1st, 8th and 11th. He's a good choice for at least a top 15 on Sunday.
NASCAR Media gives Elliot Sadler a Bristol Driver Rating of 92.9 (eighth-best), an Average Running Position of 14.9 (ninth) and he has run 68% of the laps in the top 15 (2,046 of 3,004). He picked up his first Cup career win at Bristol (2001). Sadler pounded the outside wall a few times last Sunday at Atlanta, finally giving up the ghost on lap 257, but we think he'll rebound with a top 15 this weekend.
Clint Bowyer scored 307 points in the two Bristol races last year. That was third highest behind favorites Busch and Edwards (last year's race winners as well). Coming off a 6th at Atlanta and top tens in the last two Bristol races, Bowyer is a strong third or fourth pick for your Food City 500 roster.
We're going deep with
Brian Vickers this weekend since his team is outside the top 35 in owners points and he has to race his way into the field. Vickers has a respectable 14th place average finish in the first four races this season. He finished 15th in this race last season. If you don't mind a gamble on a go-or-go-homer, Vickers will make a great pick to round out your fantasy team at the half-mile bull-ring.