Food City 500 Tickets

The Bristol Motor Speedway will once again be packed with well over one hundred and fifty thousand fans when the Food City 500 makes its return this year. The race has thrown up plenty of exciting moments over the years and it is not expected to be any different this time around either.

The start of stock car racing

NASCAR, also known as the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing has brought something different to the table since its inception in 1948. The roots for Stock Car Racing however were planted around two decades earlier. During the 1920s and 1930s, the famous Daytona Beach became the preferred choice for many to set new land speed records. An astonishing eight straight world records were set between the years 1927 and 1935.

Then Bill France who was a motor mechanic moved to Daytona in 1935. Stock car racing has begun to get a lot of traction among the masses and Bill came up with an idea of hosting a competition to take the sport to more people. That idea manifested itself into the “National Championship Stock Car Circuit” in the year 1947.

NASCAR is formed

The first season comprising of forty races in 1947 was extremely successful. Bill France then held a meeting with all the drivers after the season finished and told them he wants a group of drivers to look after every aspect of stock car racing. In order to do that, the NASCAR was incepted as the sport’s governing body on February 2, 1948. NASCAR has kicked on from there.

NASCAR Cup Series     

The NASCAR Cup Series made its debut in the year 1949 and the most important NASCAR competition in the world.  It has had plenty of name changes over the years and is currently known as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

The season has two parts. Twenty six races are held in the first half where the drivers get points as per where they finish in a race and the number of laps they led the pack. Sixteen drivers then move to the next round which is also known as “Chase for the Cup.” The drivers are picked as per the wins they recorded in the first half of the NASCAR Cup Series and are then seeded accordingly for the next round of ten races. The driver who ends up with most points wins the NASCAR Cup Series.

The Food City 500

The Food City 500 made its debut way back in the year 1961. It is held at the famous Bristol Motor Speedway and a lot of people rank it among the best races that the NASCAR has to offer. The Food City 500 is part of the NASCAR Cup Series.

The race has five hundred laps which means that the drivers have to cover 266.5 miles to reach the finish line. This translates to 428.9 kilometers. The Food City 500 was held in the middle of March but it was then moved to April in the year 2015 to avoid sleet, rain and snow. Jeff Byrd, the GM of the Bristol Motor Speedway had come up with the suggestion in 2008 but it was rejected at that point in time.

Winners

The first Food City 500 race was held in 1961 and Joe Weatherly won that historic race by clocking a time of 3:27:02. Carl Edwards is the current winner of the Food City 500. He clocked 3:15:52 in 2016.

Rusty Wallace holds the honor of winning the Food City 500 for the most time. He won the race of six occasions. Darrell Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt have won the race five times each. Then there is a group of three drivers, Cale Yarborough, Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch with three Food City 500 race wins each against their names.

Chevrolet has been the dominant manufacturer when it comes to winning the Food City 500, with twenty two wins. Ford is in second place with seventeen triumphs while Pontiac and Dodge have five wins each to their credit.

The time has come for the Food City 500 to take center stage once again. If you are a car racing enthusiast, then this is your chance to grab Food City 500 tickets and watch the best cars and drivers in the business race across the Bristol Motor Speedway to win the coveted race.