A Bristol Truck Race Unlike Any Other

On Saturday (March 16), the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will join the NASCAR Cup Series once again for its spring trip to Bristol Motor Speedway.

The catch this time? No dirt.

For the first time since 2020, the Cup Series will contest its spring race on the concrete. A subject of debate as to whether or not the dirt race should stay or go, NASCAR made the decision to have no dirt race for 2024, and the concrete will return. Here’s to hoping fans put their money where their mouth is this weekend.

But would you believe me if I told you that, for the first time ever, the Truck Series will race on the concrete in the spring?

Bristol has been a part of the Truck Series schedule since the series’ inception in 1995. The series did not compete at The Last Great Colosseum from 2000 to 2002, but ever since, it has traveled with the NASCAR Xfinity Series and Cup Series for the iconic summer night races that essentially round out the summer stretch for all three series.

For the Truck Series, it was the only trip to Bristol each year; as such, a tradition was born in that its summer/fall race takes place on a Thursday night, currently the only race across NASCAR’s premier series that isn’t originally scheduled to take place on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.

Much like the Cup Series, the Truck Series night race has provided some highlight reel-worthy moments, such as Kyle Busch‘s first leg of his historic weekend sweep in 2010, Busch vs. Timothy Peters in 2013 and Ben Kennedy vs. Matt Tifft in 2016. It’s also provided several first time Truck winners, including Kennedy, Brad Keselowski, Sam Mayer, Chandler Smith and Ty Majeski.

Meanwhile, for the spring race, the Cup Series was usually accompanied by the Xfinity Series while the Truckers had the week off.

That is, until 2021, when the introduction of dirt shook things up.

The Truck Series was added as a support race for the dirt race back in 2021 and competed all three years on the half-mile dirt track. It was the first time the Truck Series had two Bristol races in a year. Meanwhile, the Xfinity Series got the week off.

Now, with the 2024 spring race moving back to the concrete, the Truck Series will remain as the support series, marking the first time the Truck Series will compete at Bristol proper twice in one season.

One would think this has no effect on how the Truck Series races. But, it kind of does.

The first major difference between the spring…