NASCAR Bristol Dirt Recap

The Craftsman Truck Series and the Cup Series showed up to Bristol Motor Speedway for a showdown on dirt on Easter weekend to give a different challenge to the top stars of NASCAR.

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series

Starting off with the truck series race, it was a dominant performance by two-time cup series champion Joey Logano, driving a one-off for Thorsport Racing in the No. 66 Ford F-150. He also led for 138 of the 150 laps in the race as teammate Ty Majeski finished second 1.241 seconds back of Logano.

“My fun meter was pegged tonight,” said Logano after the race. “I had a lot of fun out here racing at Bristol. The dirt’s a lot of fun.

“Hopefully, tomorrow is just as good with the other car.”

As for Majeski, it felt like he was no match for Joey Logano.

“He’s a two-time Cup champion for a reason,” Majeski said. “Just happy we got ThorSport in Victory Lane. ThorSport deserves to be in Victory Lane. Just wish it was us. Just one spot short.

“Overall, he was just better than us tonight. I thought maybe, at times, if we would have had a long run, I might have been able to match him or at least make him nervous. Just wasn’t in the cards for us.”

Despite the dominating performance from Logano, the race had 11 cautions for 64 laps in what was a wild race. Logano wasn’t sure if he was able to learn anything for Sunday’s Cup race, but also thanked his Cup teammate Ryan Blaney for serving as his spotter.

“I had a great spotter up there in Blaney. He kept me entertained and light-hearted and was whole lot of fun, too.” Logano said of Blaney.

William Byron, who drove the No. 51 for Kyle Busch Motorsports finished third, while Matt Crafton and Grant Enfinger finished fourth and fifth. Jake Garcia, Chase Briscoe, Tanner Gray, Kaden Honeycutt, and Matt DiBenedetto rounded out the top ten.

NASCAR Cup Series: Food City Dirt Race

As for the Cup Series race, it was finally a day for the drivers with a dirt racing background. Kyle Larson started from the pole and led the way to win stage one, however his chances of winning her cut short after a late caution involving him and Ryan Preece. In the end, it was down to Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick in the closing laps. Reddick, the stage two winner, tried to reel in Bell but on the final lap, an incident involving Ross Chastain brought out the caution, ending the race and giving the win to Christopher Bell, who led the final 100 laps. It also helped Bell that he didn’t pit during the final pit session after the second stage.

“We clearly were not the best car, but Adam (Stevens, crew chief) kept asking me what I needed and I was like, ‘Man, I don’t know if you’re going to be able to help me enough on a pit stop adjustment to get me where I need to be.’ I just said, ‘Let’s stay out,’ and he believed in me and we were able to make it work.” Bell said after winning the race.

The race was fillied with tough challenges for the drivers as there were plenty of caution flags. Joey Logano, who won the truck race, ended up finishing in last after a couple incidents and a suspension issue that parked him for the rest of the race. After Larson and Preece’s run-in’s, Larson ended up finishing 35th, while Preece finished 24th.

Austin Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, and Chase Briscoe finished in the top five, while Justin Haley, Martin Truex Jr, Todd Gilliland, Kevin Harvick, and Ty Gibbs rounded out the top ten.