NASCAR Bristol Cup Series race gathers 3,809,000 viewers, beats The Players Championship coverage

NASCAR's Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway recorded 3.8 million viewers, a 10% increase from last year's viewership. It also became the second-highest sport streamed on the weekend in America, ahead of The Players Championship.

The spring event has suffered a decline in attendees in recent years. To address that, NASCAR introduced the 'dirt' edition of the Food City 500. The asphalt on the Bristol Motor Speedway was temporarily converted to a dirt track, but it faced criticism from drivers like Kyle Larson and Chris Buescher.

The Cup Series was held on asphalt again this season after three years of the annual run on dirt. Interestingly, there was also a 10% increase in the viewership of the race, with a total of 3.809 million viewers on FOX.

This was the fifth race in the 2024 Cup Series Championship calendar, with Denny Hamlin emerging victorious, repeating his triumph from the pre-season Busch Light Clash.

NASCAR will return to the Bristol Motor Speedway `later in the season for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race. The 500-lap event will be in September.

---

Denny Hamlin opines on NASCAR's horsepower debate

The current-spec cars in the Cup Series Championship run on 650 horsepower, providing enough power to push the cars to their limit. However, some drivers feel that the races can be made more competitive, and the cars can be pushed further with more horsepower.

It was debated that if more power is used in the cars, newer issues might come up, which haven't been resolved yet. Interestingly, Kyle Larson said earlier that the current engines are capable enough to be pushed for higher horsepower and can bring out around 1000hp.

However, a new issue arose after the race at the Bristol Motor Speedway. Tyre grip remained a major issue throughout the weekend. Many drivers complained about the same, but Denny Hamlin, the race winner, brought in a different opinion.

He said that NASCAR's demand for the current tires is too high. With the introduction of more power, the tires will be stressed further, saying after winning the Food City 500:

"I've always kind of stood on the side of Goodyears in a tough position, because, they don't want to have tire failures at the racetracks. The teams push them to have to build a tough tire because they try to get the car as fast as they can."

"I do think that Goodyears are in a really really tough box to make a really durable tire that doesn't make them look bad and have them do all the things that NASCAR wants them to do. You're asking a lot out of them."

At the moment, it seems clear that the authorities do not want to add more power to the current-spec cars.