NASCAR Cup Series

Bristol is the Daytona of short tracks

Published Mar. 15, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

Jeff Hammond

This weekend, we head to one of my favorite racetracks, Bristol Motor Speedway. When you look at the record book, you find out that not everyone can master that racetrack. I was fortunate in my career up on the pit box to enjoy a lot of success at Bristol.

I perceive Bristol as the Daytona of short tracks. It’s a place that always tries the machine and always makes the man. I think that is really what makes Bristol what it is. Stop and look at the Who’s Who of winners at Bristol. It’s a select group.

There’s a mystique that has been created at Bristol. It carries through even today. That’s what leads us to always want to go there. Anytime you combine the history and challenge of Bristol with 160,000 screaming fans, it simply makes it that much better. Where else can you go to a half-mile track and have as many fans in the stands as you do at Daytona or Charlotte?

Dale Earnhardt Jr. coined the phrase when he won there — “It’s Bristol, baby.” Again, go look at the legendary winners, starting, of course, with its all-time winner — Darrell Waltrip. You’ve got Fireball Roberts, Junior Johnson, Cale Yarborough, Dale Earnhardt Sr. and on and on who have won the biggest trophy on the circuit at our smallest track.

Winning at Bristol carves out an honor for your career that ranks right up there with the Daytonas, the Darlingtons and the Brickyards of the world. Go ask the drivers how badly they want to win at Bristol. Winning at Bristol simply is special.

The key to winning at Bristol is the driver. If you put the car under the right driver there, you can win there. I was very fortunate to win, and win a lot, there with Waltrip. He won there a record-setting 12 times. Even more impressive than that, he won there an amazing seven races in a row. Think about that for a second, folks: for 3-1/2 years at Bristol, no one won a race other than Darrell.

He knew how to go out there and attack that track. The thing was, he had the uncanny knack of not using up his equipment and saving just enough of the car to be able to go out there and dominate those last 100 laps.

It’s no different today. You have to go out, hit your marks and be precise lap after lap. You have to get your rhythm going. Watch the drivers who are able to do that. It’s wide open as you get it up off the corner. As soon as you get about halfway down the straightaway you get out of the throttle and let the car float down into the corner. Then you pick the throttle up, drive and finesse it up off the corner. You have to be able to do that time after time after time for 500 laps.

Bristol is a driver’s racetrack. Darrell always says it’s also about anticipation. If you can get your rhythm going and anticipate things ahead of you, you literally can wear down your competition and beat the track at the same time.

So it really is about the man behind wheel at Bristol. If you can get the car to a point where he likes it, then just stand back and watch. These cars have so much horsepower now, but you simply can’t put your foot to the floor and expect that to be the answer. The driver has to drive that car with finesse.

Darrell always uses the analogy that you have to use the throttle like there is an egg up underneath it. You simply have to be smooth and deliberate. You also have to have feel. You have to be able to know when those rear tires are getting ready to break loose coming up out of the turns.

The guys who have that feel are very difficult to beat at Bristol. Kyle and Kurt Busch come to mind. Jeff Gordon at Bristol comes to mind. On the flip side, look at the names of drivers who haven’t won at Bristol. You will see there is a pretty clear-cut separation. These guys are like the class of the field. There’s only a handful who can consistently win at Bristol Motor Speedway.