Chase Briscoe voices 4-word demand following Bristol Cup race
Chase Briscoe recently shared his thoughts after the NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway, where Kyle Larson dominated by leading an overwhelming 411 of 500 laps. In a race that lacked competition at the front, Briscoe expressed his desire to revisit the now-discontinued dirt format
Once hailed for its short-track intensity, the Bristol Spring race has been scrutinized in recent seasons. Larson's flag-to-flag dominance led to growing discontent within the community, especially on social media. Drivers and analysts have pointed to the absence of contest and strategic nuance.
Veteran reporter Jeff Gluck captured this sentiment through his traditional post-race poll on X (formerly Twitter), asking fans:
"Was Bristol a good race?"
In a striking outcome, 79.9% responded with a resounding "No." The Joe Gibbs Racing #19 racer joined the discourse with a short but telling post in the comments:
"Bring back the dirt."
Chase Briscoe's remark has reignited conversations about the decision to remove the dirt configuration from the Bristol Spring race in 2023. Fans echoed his feelings, following the one-sided race weekend, and demanded a return to the dirt track.
NASCAR first introduced the dirt version in 2021 to add variety and spectacle. Although it faced logistical challenges, the races provided a different flavor of action, something the traditional concrete layout struggled to replicate. Last year, Larson won the fall race at the short track, similarly leading 462 laps to take the checkered flag.
While Briscoe didn’t fare well in the first two dirt iterations, he significantly improved in 2023. He finished outside the top 20 in 2021 and 2022 but clinched a top-five finish before the configuration was scrapped for 2024. The three Cup Series races at the Bristol dirt track saw three different winners and exciting and competitive racing.
Chase Briscoe questions the track surface amid puzzling pace changes
While Chase Briscoe's comment stirred an online debate on dirt racing, his post-race media interaction revealed another layer of concern about track surface consistency. Briscoe described a confusing change in grip levels between practice and race day, attributing it to a possible shift in the compound used on the racing groove.
"I came in this morning and it felt totally different and very similar to what we had in the fall. So, I really felt like they (NASCAR) sprayed something different, before yesterday (qualifying) versus what they did today and I told James (Stall), 'I really don't think that it's going to do what it did in practice.' But you couldn't risk the chance of going hard at the beginning of the race," Briscoe told Frontstretch. (1:47 onwards)
NASCAR insider Bob Pockrass was also left "infuriated" by the Bristol race for its inconsistency of tire wear. Briscoe elaborated further, noting that the surface lacked its usual sticky grip during practice, only to feel significantly tackier on race day. He speculated that officials may have applied resin instead of PJ1 TrackBite during practice:
"Something was definitely different. I felt like they had resin on the racetrack before and they thought it was PJ1 and maybe it was in the wrong barrel or something. Today it was definitely PJ."
Team Penske's Ryan Blaney echoed the sentiment to Fronstretch after the race, but he was happily "surprised" by the change.
Despite the confusion and race conditions, Chase Briscoe still managed a strong fourth-place finish—his third P4 result this season. The performance bumped him to 13th in the overall standings with 213 points, reinforcing his steady campaign.