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Drivers had varying opinions for the recently concluded NASCAR Cup Series Food City 500 race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
NASCAR was back in action for the fifth Cup Series race of the season. After a dominant Christopher Bell victory in Phoenix, fans turned their attention towards Bristol's return to the concrete surface for its spring race after three seasons of dirt action.
With defending champion Ryan Blaney starting from pole, almost every driver was presented with the daunting challenge of tire management. With resin issues marring the surface, drivers faced a lack of tire control while competing in Bristol, resulting in a rare outcome that saw them exchange leads 54 times throughout the Sunday afternoon.
With Denny Hamlin emerging victorious after a display of Joe Gibbs Racing domination, many drivers expressed their views on the race, particularly the surface.
Brad Keselowski, RFK Racing co-owner who finished third in the race, took to Instagram to write:
"Today was fun. It was refreshing and different... Some weeks you drive 'em till you burn 'em down, this week you had to take care of 'em. We had a really good car, proud of this 6 team! #6NeverQuits"
Denny Hamlin was another driver in agreement with Keselowski, as he expressed his joy upon winning his first race of the season. He said, via NBC Sports, after the race:
"Once it became a tire management race, I really liked our chances."
Echoing the sentiment, Rick Ware Racing driver Justin Haley stated (via NBC):
"I loved it. I don’t know what social media says, but as a driver I thought it was fun because you had to manage it."
Chase Elliott, Ryan Preece, and Martin Truex Jr. were among the other drivers who expressed similar feelings regarding the race in Bristol.
Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson not impressed with Bristol NASCAR race
While some drivers found the tire management challenge a shift from the norm, others, including the likes of NASCAR champions such as Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson, weren't pleased with the idea.
Larson told Autoweek after the race:
"I’ve never ran a race like that. I hope I never have to run a race like that again. To have to run a race like that every week would not be good, and it’s honestly probably a black eye to Goodyear just with all the rubber that couldn’t get laid down and just wearing through tires and all that."
The lack of tire control was something that didn't excite reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney either. The Team Penske driver, who, despite starting from pole, finished 16th in the race, told Frontstretch:
"I didn’t have fun. (You) can't run 50 laps unless you blow a tire. I can’t believe there wasn’t an accident. Everybody blew a tire there before the last pit stop."
Meanwhile, former Xfinity Series driver and Stewart-Haas Racing rookie Josh Berry, who shared the front row with Blaney, told the aforementioned source after the race:
"It was probably entertaining. And I’m not going to lie, it was kind of fun. But obviously this is not what we need going forward."
With the Bristol weekend out of the way, NASCAR will now shift its focus towards the much-awaited racing action at Circuit of the Americas next week.
