Long: Dirt or pavement is wrong question to ask about Bristol

BRISTOL, Tenn. — In the debate on if the dirt race should return to Bristol Motor Speedway next season, the wrong question is being asked.

The focus should be when will Bristol get a better date for its spring race.

Drivers say Bristol Motor Speedway’s concrete track makes for one of the best racing venues on the circuit. It’s time to give Bristol a better date away from the cold, rainy conditions that have impacted the event in recent years.

One idea would be to move Bristol’s spring date to May and have the North Wilkesboro race move to April and become a points event next season. Promote North Wilkesboro as the first points race at that track since 1996 and run it on Easter night.

North Wilkesboro’s more intimate setting means a capacity crowd of around 25,000 will look much better on TV than the larger crowd that saw the Bristol race Sunday but still had many seats empty.

The Bristol race that moves to May could remain a points event and allow NASCAR to do something different with the All-Star Race. Maybe Nashville’s Fairground Speedway will be ready to host the All-Star Race in 2025.

Moving Bristol later in the season gives the track a chance to draw a larger crowd and possibly avoid some of the weather issues that have plagued the track.

Three times since 2017 he spring Bristol Cup race has finished on a Monday. Twice in that span the entire race was held on a Monday because of rain.

All three years Cup has raced on the dirt at Bristol has been plagued by bad weather.

As to the question of if Bristol should be a dirt event, Brad Keselowski noted the expiration date on such unique events.

“If you’re going to have a special event, I don’t think you do it more than two years,” he said. “I think it kind of loses its