Happy Easter! How is NASCAR celebrating Easter? Getting dirty of course. The Food City Dirt Race is at Bristol Motor Speedway this Sunday for the second-straight year of dirt racing in the Cup series. They ran this race at Bristol last year as well, though there were certainly some hiccups in that race. Overall though, seeing the best NASCAR has to offer competing on a surface they haven’t raced on regularly since 1971 is still pretty cool.

If this was a normal Bristol race, we’d be talking about how this is the third short track race in a row. However, we can’t take this as a normal race at The Last Great Colosseum. Far from it in fact. None of what we’ve previously studied or learned or leaned on for Bristol races applies this week. None of the same DFS strategy applies either. So then what the heck are we to do for DFS then? Well, all week, including in this Track Breakdown, we’ll be giving you what you need to pay attention to in order to build successful DFS lineups. This won’t be the typical breakdown though since none of the normal data applies this week and none of the other dirt tracks, like Eldora, that are frequented by NASCAR at any level really compare.

Bristol Dirt Track Stats

The typical Bristol Motor Speedway surface is one of concrete that’s highly banked in the corners and straights producing high speeds. Now though, with it covered in dirt, the banking is less severe and it’s progressive. The surface is also a far cry from the grip in the concrete. NASCAR has changed the way they’ve put down the dirt this year to not only get the progressive banking, but also to try and keep it from getting as dusty as last year. As the track surface wears in, it will start to take rubber and turn black, but it still won’t rubber up as much as the standard concrete surface would. The other thing to keep in mind is that pit road isn’t getting covered in dirt and will still remain the normal concrete surface. Last year, the sun played a big role in restarts and creating a lot of glare along with the dust kicked up, hopefully running it at night and changing the construction of the track will keep that from happening this year.

Schedule for Food City Dirt Race

This weekend being an unusual race, brings with it an unusual schedule. Not only do we have practices, that’s right plural, be we also have heat races to set the lineup.

Friday: 4:05 pm ET First Cup practice

6:35 pm ET Final Cup practice

Saturday: 6:00 pm ET Cup Heat races (4x15 laps)

Sunday: 7:00 pm ET Food City Dirt Race (250 laps, 133 miles)

Food City Dirt Race DFS Strategy

Let’s start off by saying that this race is a bit of a wild card. There’s only been one other like it, last year, and the cars are different now, as is the track. In the race last year, guys that we expected to be good given their dirt track racing history weren’t and the opposite was true of guys with little to no dirt racing background. It’s hard to tell what to expect this week right now. In last year’s event, the drivers that had good long-run speed in the practice sessions wound up being the drivers that did well in the race. Martin Truex Jr., Daniel Suarez, and Joey Logano were all in the top-10 in 10-lap, 15-lap, and 20-lap averages in practice. There was quite a bit of chaos throughout the race, some because of drivers and some because of the track. I believe the track induced chaos will be lessened this year and the cars should be able to take more of a beating as well. Expect there to be quite a few cautions for incidents and if the dust gets bad again, single-file restarts can’t be ruled out just like they ended last year’s race with.

DFS Approach for Bristol

In terms of how we’re approaching this for DFS, we’re still looking for drivers who can lead a chunk of laps and rake in the fastest laps. There are 250 laps in the race so there are a decent amount of points to be had. In last year’s Food City Dirt Race, starting super far back wasn’t necessarily a hindrance if the driver could avoid the chaos, much like at a plate track. I’m not sure that that strategy will fully work this year though. In this race a year ago, there were six different drivers to rack up double-digit fast laps in the 253-lap race. As was mentioned on the podcast, there were 19 cars to finish on the lead lap and 26 to finish within one of the lead lap. Seven cars failed to run at least 242 laps.

Overall, it’s a heavy-GPP weekend and perhaps a weekend to fade some of the higher-priced drivers because it’s still a race that anything can happen just as it did last year. Another thing to keep in mind is the weather forecast in Bristol this weekend. There is, as of this writing, a 75-percent chance of rain on Saturday and 91-percent on Monday. That’s not ideal for a dirt track.