Bristol - Reflecting On Last Week

Bristol confuses me.

Before they repaved it into the banked mini-monster-superspeedway that it is today, it was relatively flat. Flat and harmful. It only had one groove and bumpers were the main course on this menu when looking to pass other drivers during the race.

By the end of the race, there was a lot of E-Bay sheet metal looking for buyers and nary a car came off the track not looking like... well, like it was at Bristol, or just came off a demolition derby.

But the reconfiguration has me stymied.

The first race I watched after the reconfiguration, I liked it.

Suddenly we had some racing where they could play with each other, side by side. Now the race finished in under 6 hours. That is awesome in and of itself. OK, NBaP is joking about the "under 6 hours" thing, but sometimes it felt like it.

I really don't mind not seeing a caution every 15 to 30 laps.

But the flare that WAS Bristol is gone.

No one came off the track pissed off. No one was called to the hauler. Most of the cars were only rumpled, and not crumpled.

WTH is that about?

It's still a cup race and all, but now, it looks like we only have Martinsville to give us the old style skill and bumper driving.

I wonder when they're going to bank the paperclip? I hope never.