BRISTOL, Tenn. – The NASCAR Cup Series is set for its first race on a dirt surface in more than five decades with the running of this weekend’s Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Meanwhile, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will contest its eighth dirt event in the last nine years – dating back to 2013 – Saturday night when the Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt hits the .533-mile, dirt-covered high banks.
However, there are a lot more numbers than just the timelines to consider when analyzing this weekend’s NASCAR activities at The Last Great Coliseum.
Here’s a look at some of the statistics to know – and perhaps a few unexpected ones – in advance of this weekend’s pair of NASCAR events on Bristol’s temporary dirt surface.
0 – The number of overtime finishes so far in the Cup Series season. Each of the six races so far has taken the checkered flag at its scheduled distance.
3 – Three Cup Series drivers have top-20 finishes in each of the first six races of the season. Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. have all done so.
5.0 – Denny Hamlin’s average finish through six Cup Series races in 2021. He’s finished 11th or better in every race so far this year.
6 – There have been six different winners in the first six Cup Series races this season. The record for the most different winners to open a Cup Series campaign is 10, set in 2000.
7 – The number of different winners on dirt in Truck Series history, coming in as many races. There has never been a repeat dirt-track winner before in the Truck Series.
9 – Sunday’s Food City Dirt Race will, by default, mark the ninth Cup Series race in a row where the winner has won for the first time at that venue or configuration. This weekend is the first time that NASCAR has raced on a dirt surface at Bristol – classified as a new venue by the history books.
19 – The degree of banking in the corners at Bristol Motor Speedway for its dirt-track events, reduced from the 24-28 degrees of progressive banking in the normal concrete configuration.
19.384 – The fastest lap time, in seconds, turned during either Truck Series practice on Friday. Raphael Lessard took top honors on the combined speed charts, setting the mark in the opening session.
20.155 – The fastest lap time, in seconds, turned during either Cup Series practice on Friday. Alex Bowman took top honors on the combined speed charts, setting the mark in the first practice.
42 – The record for the most dirt-track victories in Cup Series history, held by Lee Petty, who boasts 54 career wins overall in NASCAR’s premier division.
46 – The number of feature victories that Kyle Larson recorded on dirt tracks across the country in 2020. He won in midgets, sprint cars, a USAC Silver Crown car and a dirt late model.
50 – The width, in feet, of the dirt racing surface at Bristol from the inside berm to the outside wall.
150 – The lap count, excluding the possibility of overtime, scheduled for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt feature.
250 – The lap count, excluding the possibility of overtime, scheduled for Sunday’s Food City Dirt Race for the NASCAR Cup Series.
379 – The series-leading number of laps that Larson has led so far this year in the NASCAR Cup Series.
490 – Sunday’s Food City Dirt Race will be the 490th race in Cup Series history to be run on dirt.
520 – The total number of combined laps, between heat races and features for the Truck Series and Cup Series, scheduled to be run on Bristol’s dirt surface over the next two days.
1970 – The last year, prior to Sunday’s event, that the NASCAR Cup Series competed on a dirt surface. That race, held Sept. 30, 1970 at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh, N.C., was won by NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty.
2,000 – A rough estimate of how many truck loads of dirt were required to construct the temporary dirt surface being utilized at Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend.
23,000 – The estimated number of cubic feet of dirt used to form the temporary dirt surface at Bristol.