August is on its way… and yes, we have tickets

Wow, it’s been way too long since we’ve posted on the blog. Sorry ’bout that, but man it’s been busy around here. Since March we’ve hosted a variety of events across the creek at the Dragway — including the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals last month. A big congrats to Tony Schumacher, John Force and Mike Edwards who took home the wins in NHRA’s top classes at Bristol.

Now for some Speedway stuff. While we haven’t hosted any major events since Jimmy Johnson grabbed the checkered flag in the Food City 500, there has been quite a bit happening in, around and on the concrete oval. Construction workers are putting the finishing touches on the infield project, which includes a new media center, inspection area and Goodyear Tire building.

Outside of that, we’ve been visited twice by drivers from the NASCAR Whelen Modified Series testing tires for Hoosier. And also, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers Denny Hamlin, Juan Pablo Montoya, David Ragan and Scott Speed completed a two-day tire test for Goodyear here at BMS last week. Check out video comments from Hamlin and Ragan.

Most importantly we’ve been working hard to sell August tickets. We’re finding that after 55 straight sell-outs it’s still hard for some folks to believe they can actually get tickets.

I got this e-mail from Cheryl Williams today, one of our fan advisory board members, who went to Daytona last weekend. It reads, “Hey Ben, I won some free tickets to Daytona, and wore my Bristol visor to the race. Lots of people told me Bristol is one track they want to go to before they die. They couldn’t believe it when I told them they could get tickets. I found it overwhelming at how many people didn’t know Bristol had night race tickets for sale. Of course I told them to go to the website, buy tickets and pass the word.”

Thanks to Cheryl for being a great Bristol ambassador. Now you folks do the same and tell all your race luvin’ buddies we still have IRWIN Tools Night Race tickets for sale. Just call toll-free 1.866.415.4158 or buy online.

Remember, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and we’ll be talkin’ to you again soon.

Lookin’ forward to the Modifieds

Had a lot of fun yesterday watching teams from the NASCAR Whelen Modified Series circle the high banks of Bristol during an open test session for the open-wheelers.

Kasey Kahne, who had just finished 15th on Sunday at Pocono, was on hand and participated in the test session. Cup car owner Tommy Baldwin, Jr. made the trip to Bristol along with Kahne.

I’m tellin’ ya, these cars get around Bristol Motor Speedway. Anyone who attends the UNOH Perfect Storm 150 on August 19, is going to see the quickest  laps ever at BMS.

The UNOH Perfect Storm 150 and the O’Reilly 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event make up the card on the Wednesday night double feature that kicks off the Sharpie 500 weekend. 

Check out more photos from the test session on the BMS Flickr photo page.

August ticket packages are available and include tickets for both the Sharpie 500 and the Food City 250. Package prices begin at $145.

Now that’s fast! Modifieds hit Bristol

Cars from the The NASCAR Whelen Modified Series hit the Bristol Motor Speedway concrete for the first time Tuesday, as part of a test session and “The World’s Fastest Half-Mile” got even faster.  

The cars ran with carburetor restrictor-plates early in the afternoon.  The fastest time with plates was clocked by L.W. Miller of Dushore, Pa.  Miller circled the half-mile track in 14.742 sec., breaking Ryan Newman’s Cup Series track record of 14.908 sec. set in 2003.

Ted Christopher, 2008 Whelen Modified Tour Champion, jumped at the chance to test his car on the .533 mile track with the engine unrestricted.  Christopher turned the fastest lap of the evening, a mind-blowing 14.479 sec. 

Bristol will welcome the NASCAR Whelen Modified and NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tours for the first time in a doubleheader with the Camping World Truck Series on Wednesday, Aug. 19. Tuesday provided Hoosier Tire, NASCAR and the test teams their first opportunity to see how the open-wheeled race cars performed on the concrete .533-mile oval.