BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY 2010 FOOD CITY 500

March 21 Bristol Sun 1 p.m.
Track Details
Completed : 1961
Distance : .533 miles
Shape : Oval
Banking : 36° turns
16° straights
Frontstretch : 650 feet
Backstretch : 650 feet
Seating : 160,000

HISTORY
Bristol Motor Speedway

DATE RACE NAME POLE WINNER RACE WINNER STARTING POS. MAKE
08/22/09 Sharpie 500 Mark Martin Kyle Busch 15 Toyota
03/22/09 Food City 500 Mark Martin Kyle Busch 19 Toyota
08/23/08 Sharpie 500 Carl Edwards Carl Edwards 1 Ford
03/16/08 Food City 500 Rained Out Jeff Burton 8 Chevrolet
08/25/07 Sharpie 500 Kasey Kahne Carl Edwards 6 Ford
03/25/07 Food City 500 Jeff Gordon Kyle Busch 20 Chevrolet
08/26/06 Sharpie 500 Kurt Busch Matt Kenseth 4 Ford
03/26/06 Food City 500 Rained Out Kurt Busch 9 Dodge
08/27/05 Sharpie 500 Matt Kenseth Matt Kenseth 1 Ford
04/03/05 Food City 500 Elliott Sadler Kevin Harvick 13 Chevrolet
08/28/04 Sharpie 500 Jeff Gordon Dale Earnhardt Jr. 30 Chevrolet
03/28/04 Food City 500 Ryan Newman Kurt Busch 13 Ford
08/23/03 Sharpie 500 Jeff Gordon Kurt Busch 5 Ford
03/23/03 Food City 500 Ryan Newman Kurt Busch 9 Ford
08/24/02 Sharpie 500 Jeff Gordon Jeff Gordon 1 Chevrolet
03/24/02 Food City 500 Jeff Gordon Kurt Busch 27 Ford
08/25/01 Sharpie 500 Jeff Green Tony Stewart 18 Pontiac
03/25/01 Food City 500 Mark Martin Elliott Sadler 38 Ford
08/26/00 Goracing.com 500 Rusty Wallace Rusty Wallace 1 Ford
03/26/00 Food City 500 Steve Park Rusty Wallace 6 Ford
08/28/99 Goody's Headache Powder 500 Tony Stewart Dale Earnhardt 26 Chevrolet
04/11/99 Ford City 500 Rusty Wallace Rusty Wallace 1 Ford
08/22/98 Goody's Headache Powder 500 Rusty Wallace Mark Martin 4 Ford
03/29/98 Food City 500 Rusty Wallace Jeff Gordon 2 Chevrolet
08/23/97 Goody's 500 Kenny Wallace Dale Jarrett 3 Ford
04/13/97 Food City 500 Rusty Wallace Jeff Gordon 5 Chevrolet
08/24/96 Goody's 500 Mark Martin Rusty Wallace 5 Ford
03/31/96 Food City 500 Mark Martin Jeff Gordon 8 Chevrolet
08/26/95 Goody's 500 Mark Martin Terry Labonte 2 Chevrolet
04/02/95 Food City 500 Mark Martin Jeff Gordon 2 Chevrolet
08/27/94 Goody's 500 Harry Gant Rusty Wallace 4 Ford
04/10/94 Food City 500 Chuck Bown Dale Earnhardt 24 Chevrolet
08/28/93 Bud 500 Mark Martin Mark Martin 1 Ford
04/04/93 Food City 500 Rusty Wallace Rusty Wallace 1 Pontiac
08/29/92 Bud 500 Ernie Irvan Darrell Waltrip 9 Chevrolet
04/05/92 Food City 500 Alan Kulwicki Alan Kulwicki 1 Ford
08/24/91 Bud 500 Bill Elliott Alan Kulwicki 5 Ford
04/14/91 Valleydale 500 Rusty Wallace Rusty Wallace 1 Pontiac
08/25/90 Busch 500 Dale Earnhardt Ernie Irvan 6 Chevrolet
04/08/90 Valleydale 500 Ernie Irvan Davey Allison 19 Ford
08/26/89 Busch 500 Alan Kulwicki Darrell Waltrip 9 Chevrolet
04/09/89 Valleydale 500 Mark Martin Rusty Wallace 8 Pontiac
08/27/88 Busch 500 Alan Kulwicki Dale Earnhardt 5 Chevrolet
04/10/88 Valleydale 500 Rick Wilson Bill Elliott 13 Ford
08/22/87 Busch 500 Terry Labonte Dale Earnhardt 6 Chevrolet
04/12/87 Valleydale 500 Harry Gant Dale Earnhardt 3 Chevrolet
08/23/86 Busch 500 Geoffrey Bodine Darrell Waltrip 10 Chevrolet
04/06/86 Valleydale 500 Geoffrey Bodine Rusty Wallace 14 Pontiac
08/24/85 Busch 500 Dale Earnhardt Dale Earnhardt 1 Chevrolet
04/06/85 Valleydale 500 Harry Gant Dale Earnhardt 12 Chevrolet
08/25/84 Busch 500 Geoffrey Bodine Terry Labonte 6 Chevrolet
04/01/84 Valleydale 500 Ricky Rudd Darrell Waltrip 3 Chevrolet
08/27/83 Busch 500 Joe Ruttman Darrell Waltrip 2 Buick
05/21/83 Valleydale 500 Neil Bonnett Darrell Waltrip 13 Chevrolet
08/28/82 Busch 500 Tim Richmond Darrell Waltrip 8 Buick
03/14/82 Valleydale 500 Darrell Waltrip Darrell Waltrip 1 Buick
08/22/81 Busch 500 Darrell Waltrip Darrell Waltrip 1 Buick
03/29/81 Valleydale 500 Darrell Waltrip Darrell Waltrip 1 Buick
08/23/80 Busch Vol. 500 Cale Yarborough Cale Yarborough 1 Chevrolet
03/30/80 Valleydale SE 500 Cale Yarborough Dale Earnhardt 4 Chevrolet
08/25/79 SouthEastern 500 Richard Petty Darrell Waltrip 5 Chevrolet
04/01/79 Volunteer 500 Buddy Baker Dale Earnhardt 9 Chevrolet
08/26/78 SouthEastern 500 Lennie Pond Cale Yarborough 4 Oldsmobile
04/02/78 Volunteer 500 Neil Bonnett Darrell Waltrip 7 Chevrolet
08/28/77 SouthEastern 500 Cale Yarborough Cale Yarborough 1 Chevrolet
04/17/77 Volunteer 500 Cale Yarborough Cale Yarborough 1 Chevrolet
08/29/76 SouthEastern 500 Darrell Waltrip Cale Yarborough 2 Chevrolet
03/14/76 Volunteer 500 Buddy Baker Cale Yarborough 3 Chevrolet
11/02/75 SouthEastern 500 Cale Yarborough Richard Petty 4 Dodge
03/16/75 Volunteer 500 Buddy Baker Richard Petty 2 Dodge
07/14/74 Volunteer 500 Richard Petty Cale Yarborough 3 Chevrolet
03/17/74 SouthEastern 500 Donnie Allison Cale Yarborough 3 Chevrolet
07/08/73 SouthEastern 500 Cale Yarborough Benny Parsons 2 Chevrolet
03/25/73 Volunteer 500 Cale Yarborough Cale Yarborough 1 Chevrolet
07/09/72 SouthEastern 500 Bobby Allison Bobby Allison 1 Chevrolet
04/09/72 Volunteer 500 Bobby Allison Bobby Allison 1 Chevrolet

The land upon which Bristol Motor Speedway is built used to be a dairy farm.

Larry Carrier and Carl Moore traveled to Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1960 to watch a race and it was then that they decided to build a speedway in Northeast Tennessee. However, they wanted a smaller model of the Charlotte track, something with a more intimate setting and opted to erect a half-mile facility instead of mirroring the 1.5-mile track.

Work began on what was then called Bristol International Speedway in 1960 and it took approximately one year to finish. Officials scratched many ideas for the track on envelopes and brown paper bags.

The land on which BMS now sits, as well as construction of the track, cost approximately $600,000. The entire layout for BMS covered 100 acres and provided parking for more than 12,000 cars. The track itself was a perfect half-mile, measuring 60 feet wide on the straightaways, 75 feet wide in the turns and the turns were banked at 22 degrees.

Seating capacity for the very first NASCAR race at BMS, held on July 30, 1961, was 18,000. Prior to this race, the speedway had hosted weekly races. The first driver on the track for practice on July 27, 1961, was Tiny Lund in his Pontiac. The second driver out was David Pearson. Fred Lorenzen won the pole for the first race at BMS with a speed of 79.225 mph.

Atlanta's Jack Smith won the inaugural event, The Volunteer 500, at BMS on July 30, 1961.

In the fall of 1969 BMS was reshaped and remeasured. The turns were banked at 36 degrees and it became a .533-mile oval.

The speedway was sold after the 1976 season to Lanny Hester and Gary Baker. In the spring of 1978, the track name was changed to Bristol International Raceway. In August of that year, the first night race was held on the oval.

On July 6, 1983, Warner Hodgdon completed 100 percent purchase of Bristol Motor Speedway. Hodgdon named Larry Carrier as the track's general manager. On Jan. 11, 1985, Warner Hodgdon filed for bankruptcy.

Larry Carrier formally took possession of the speedway and covered all outstanding debts.

In August 1992, BMS became the first fully concrete speedway to host a Cup event.

On Jan. 22, 1996, Larry Carrier sold the speedway to Bruton Smith at a purchase price of $26 million. At the time of the sale, the facility seated 71,000.

On May 28, 1996, the track's name was officially changed to Bristol Motor Speedway. By August of that year, 15,000 seats had been added bringing the seating capacity to 86,000.

For the August 1998 Goody's 500 the speedway featured more than 131,000 grandstand seats and 100 skyboxes. On Aug. 26, 2002, work began on the most ambitious construction project since Speedway Motorsports Inc., purchased BMS in 1996. The new backstretch increased the venue's seating capacity to more than 160,000.