Weather Guard Truck Race
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
VenueBristol Motor Speedway
LocationBristol, Tennessee
Corporate sponsorWeather Guard[1]
First race2021
Distance79.95 miles (128.67 km)
Laps150[2]
Stage 1: 40
Stage 2: 50
Final stage: 60
Previous namesPinty's Truck Race on Dirt (2021–2022)
Most wins (team)Thorsport Racing (2022 & 2023)
Most wins (manufacturer)Toyota (2)
Circuit information
SurfaceDirt
Length.533 mi (0.858 km)
Turns4

The Weather Guard Truck Race is a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway. The race is held on the same weekend as the NASCAR Cup Series' Food City 500.

History

Pinty's was the title sponsor of the race in its first two years in 2021 and 2022

In 2013, the Truck Series raced at Eldora Speedway in NASCAR's first dirt track race since 1970.[3] Known as the Eldora Dirt Derby, the event ran from 2013 to 2019; it was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was then removed from the 2021 schedule.[4]

Bristol Motor Speedway, a half-mile concrete short track, had its surface covered by clay when it hosted the World of Outlaws dirt late model and sprint car tours in 2000 and 2001. Although successful with over 85,000 in average attendance, the race was canceled after its second year due to logistical difficulties: 14,000 truckloads of materials were needed to convert the track to dirt regulations,[5] which resulted in damage to the streets outside, with 8,000 cubic feet of red clay being hauled in from a nearby farm for the surface.[6][7] The track also had to be widened from 12 to 14 feet and the banking was reduced from 36 to 23 degrees.[6]

On September 30, 2020, NASCAR revealed the 2021 Cup Series schedule, which featured a spring dirt race at Bristol that replaced the existing event on Bristol's normal concrete surface.[8] The Truck Series followed suit in its schedule release on November 19, with the Pinty's Dirt Truck Race being one of two dirt events on the series calendar alongside a July round at Knoxville Raceway in Iowa.[9] The event would run alongside the Cup Series dirt race; World of Outlaws events would also take place on the temporary dirt surface, which began to be laid down in early January 2021.[10]

The 2021 race was originally scheduled for Saturday, March 27 with four heat races to determine the starting grid, but rain forced it to be pushed to Sunday. Rain had been in the forecast entering the weekend, prompting NASCAR to delay the heats on Saturday to deploy "packers"—vehicles like Ford Crown Victorias to pack the dirt together—and late models to test the surface's viability before starting the first heat; it only completed one lap before being halted due to mud accumulating on the trucks' windshields and grilles.[11] Further rain and flash flooding on Sunday resulted in a second postponement to Monday.[12]

On February 13, 2023, it was announced that Weather Guard would become the title sponsor of the Truck Series Bristol dirt race in 2023, replacing Pinty's.[1]

Past winners

Year Date No. Driver Team Manufacturer Race Distance Race Time Average Speed
(mph)		 Reference
Laps Miles (km)
2021 March 29* 51 Martin Truex Jr. Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota 150 79.95 (128.67) 1:49:30 41.096 [13]
2022 April 16 99 Ben Rhodes ThorSport Racing Toyota 150 79.95 (128.67) 1:37:55 45.957 [14]
2023 April 8 66 Joey Logano ThorSport Racing Ford 150 79.95 (128.67) 1:54:30 39.301 [15]
  • 2021: Race postponed from Saturday to Monday due to rain.[12]

Multiple winners (teams)

# Wins Team Years Won
2 ThorSport Racing 2022, 2023

Manufacturer wins

# Wins Make Years won
2 Japan Toyota 2021, 2022
1 United States Ford 2023

References

  1. 1 2 "WEATHER GUARD sponsoring Bristol Truck Series dirt race". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. February 13, 2023. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
  2. ↑ "Stage lengths for 2021 NASCAR season". NASCAR. January 25, 2021. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  3. ↑ Billing, Greg (November 28, 2012). "Eldora to host first NASCAR dirt race since 1970". Dayton Daily News. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  4. ↑ Orner, Ben (November 18, 2020). "Ohio's famed Eldora Speedway loses NASCAR race, gains event in owner's new series". WCMH-TV. Retrieved January 2, 2021.
  5. ↑ Weaver, Matt (October 2, 2020). "The Reason NASCAR is Going Dirt Racing, Why Bristol, and Why Now". Autoweek. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  6. 1 2 Weaver, Matt (January 17, 2015). "Could Dirt Racing Return to Bristol? How About Two Night Races?". Popular Speed. Archived from the original on January 10, 2021. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  7. ↑ Sheek, Rick (April 28, 2000). "Dirt tracks not too rich for Jackson". Johnson City Press. Retrieved January 7, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ Estrada, Chris (September 30, 2020). "NASCAR Cup Series to go dirt trackin' at Bristol in 2021". NBC Sports. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  9. ↑ Estrada, Chris (November 19, 2020). "NASCAR announces 2021 Truck Series schedule with two dirt races". NBC Sports. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  10. ↑ Gregory, Allen (January 7, 2021). "NASCAR: Transformation begins: Dirt materials arrive as tickets sell out for Food City Dirt Race at BMS". Bristol Herald Courier. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  11. ↑ Smith, Fred (March 27, 2021). "NASCAR Ran One Total Lap on Dirt Before Giving Up and Trying Again". Road & Track. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  12. 1 2 Andrejev, Alex (March 28, 2021). "NASCAR dirt race at Bristol postponed due to rainy weather, flash flooding". The Charlotte Observer. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  13. ↑ "2021 Pinty's Truck Race on Dirt". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  14. ↑ "2022 Pinty's Dirt Truck Race". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
  15. ↑ "2023 Weather Guard Truck Race on Dirt". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
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