NASCAR.com asked the question, fans answered and Bristol Motor Speedway again has come out on top.
In an internet poll this week, the editors of NASCAR.com asked fans to choose their favorite short track on the NASCAR Sprint Cup tour. When polling closed last night, more than 45,000 votes had been cast with nearly 70 percent of the opinion picking Bristol Motor Speedway.
The "World's Fastest Half-Mile" picked up 30,320 of the 45,091 votes or 67 percent. Richmond International Raceway, where NASCAR's top tour races this weekend was second with 8,898 votes (20%) and Martinsville Speedway was third with 5,873 (13%).
It is not the first time the home of the Food City 500 and the Sharpie 500 has been picked in such an exercise. But the recognition does not get old and, actually, enhances the need to raise the bar.
"We work every event, every day really; to find ways to not only provide our guests with what we call the Bristol Experience, but to find ways to make it better," said Jeff Byrd, Bristol Motor Speedway President and General Manager. "The fact fans acknowledge that is humbling, but it also puts us on notice. Once you gain that trust, you have to take it to the next level to keep it."
In recent years, the popularity of Bristol Motor Speedway has led to it garnering top honors from a number of magazines, newspapers and websites.
Sports Illustrated listed BMS as one of the magazine's "summer essentials," recommendations for things fans "absolutely must do, watch, read or eat before Labor Day." In the magazine's mid-season report last July, Bristol was picked as the favorite track among more of the drivers in the top series.
The Sporting News tabbed BMS and Bristol, Tennessee as "Best Sports City" in all of NASCAR and Racer magazine gave attending the Sharpie 500 top honors in an article entitled "50 New Year's Resolutions. Also, ESPN.com tabbed the Sharpie 500 as one of the Top Ten Hottest Tickets In American Sports.
The Charlotte Observer has named Bristol Motor Speedway as the No. 1 track for fans to see a race. The Tennessean in Nashville named Bristol as the tour's toughest track. BMS also was tabbed the fans' top short track in a FoxSports.com internet poll last summer.
