Pistone: Bristol bounce back - Idle Thoughts: Bristol bounce back needed

Whether or not NASCAR will bounce back from its off-weekend only three races into the 2011 season will be answered in Sunday’s Jeff Byrd 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
All the momentum the sport gained from the season-opening Daytona 500 and the subsequent stops in Phoenix and Las Vegas was put on hold when the schedule took a time out last weekend.
But NASCAR does have at least one thing in its favor when it goes back to work on Sunday and it’s the site of race number four of the year.
Bristol is about as unique a racing experience as there is in all of motorsports and this weekend’s visit to the half-mile Tennessee track is perfect timing for NASCAR to recapture the attention of both die-hard fans as well as those coveted casual followers.
Many fans revere the high-banked concrete track as one of the “must-see” stops on the calendar and with good reason. Bristol provides non-stop action and the kind of close short track competition that dates back to the beginnings of NASCAR and stock car racing.
The roller-coaster ride of a track sits inside a modern day Roman Coliseum with 165,000 grandstand seats surrounding it. And while not every one of those seats is expected to be occupied Sunday afternoon, an impressive crowd in excess of 125,000 is anticipated.
Solid attendance alone won’t help NASCAR jump back on the momentum train after the break. What the sport needs is simply a good old fashioned, hard-nosed short track race, which Bristol usually supplies even in the aftermath of the track’s reconfiguration in 2007.
That change created a multiple groove track and the never before imagined sight of two and three wide racing.
While the “new” Bristol doesn’t produce the conveyor belt single file parade that provided drivers with only one groove and one option to improve positions, which was simply to ram their way to the front, it still offers perhaps the best short track racing anywhere.
For NASCAR’s sake Sunday’s race needs to be a good one. Unlike the previous three weeks of the season, the television landscape will be a crowded one. FOX and the Sprint Cup Series won’t have the stage to itself with the biggest heavyweight challenge coming from the final day of the NCAA basketball tournament’s opening weekend.
A bland race dominated by a driver or two won’t do much to help NASCAR break through.
But with the series competing at Bristol, there’s not much chance of that happening.
Garage Chatter
Some believe the ongoing NFL labor problems and the very real chance of a lockout interrupting or canceling the 2011 season will benefit NASCAR. There’s no doubt that without the mighty NFL to contend with on Sunday afternoons NASCAR would enjoy an almost wide-open sports stage and television ratings would surely rise with the possibility of some football-starved fans looking for entertainment. But before there’s too much celebration in anticipation of that scenario there’s a flip side that could be a major downer. Talk has circulated that if the NFL season kicks off late – say a month or so after the planned schedule in early September – the league will extend the calendar into January and February in an attempt to play as close to a full season as possible. Super Bowl 46 (I hate Roman Numerals) is supposed to be played on February 5, 2010 at Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium. However if the schedule goes back say a week or two or even three because of the lockout and catch-up plan, the danger of a Daytona 500-Super Bowl conflict, even with the 500 going all the way back to the final Sunday in February next season, exists. So those who are hoping the NFL is idle in September so NASCAR may prosper may want to re-think things just a little.

The Indy Car Series has been in the news this week with CEO Randy Bernard making several announcements around the circuit’s pre-season testing session at Alabama’s Barber Motorsports Park outside Birmingham. NASCAR ramifications could be felt in Bernard’s plan to offer a $5 million bonus to any “outsider” who wins the Indy Car season finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 16. A committee will choose from a list of potential candidates and there’s already talk of Penske Racing adding a fourth car to its Indy Car stable for current part-time Nationwide driver Sam Hornish Jr. The Sprint Cup Series competes at Charlotte Motor Speedway the night before so while its logistically possible for a driver to compete in both races, don’t look for anyone in this year’s Chase field to attempt the double. Bernard expects to have the outsider entry list available by August.

Firestone’s decision to leave Indy Car racing after the 2013 season may also impact NASCAR should Goodyear decide to return to open wheel racing. Before Firestone and parent company Bridgestone landed the exclusive tire manufacturer deal, Goodyear also participated in Indy Car before bowing out and becoming NASCAR’s sole tire supplier. If Bernard is successful in making American open wheel racing a prominent entity, Goodyear may look at the option of replacing its rival when Firestone leaves.