Bristol to feature red and white striped walls for Food City 500

Slater Teague
·2 min read
1

BRISTOL, Tenn. (WJHL) — With the upcoming Food City 500 featuring a throwback theme, Bristol Motor Speedway announced the track walls will be painted with red and white stripes for race weekend.

The last time the track walls had red and white stripes was in 1995.

“We looked back at the footage from the first Food City 500 in 1992 and those were the colors on the track walls, so we thought it would be a fun touch for the fans to recreate that,” said Jerry Caldwell, president and general manager, Bristol Motor Speedway. “There have been so many iconic moments for the sport of NASCAR to take place on this track and inside these walls, we hope to be able to share more of those ‘wow’ moments with fans on Sunday afternoon, March 17.”

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Cup Series drivers Brad Keselowski, Erik Jones, and Zane Smith ceremonially painted the first strokes while at the track for a closed test session.

The paint job is expected to take around 195 gallons of paint, including 115 gallons of white and 80 gallons of red, and will take three coats to cover the existing black walls. It will take around two weeks to paint the approximately 2,700 feet of wall.

“We will have a four-man crew to complete the job in the time frame we have,” said Steve Swift, senior vice president of operations and development for Speedway Motorsports. “We will also have to add small red lines at the bottom of the white sections in the turns to help the drivers discern the wall from the track.”

The only other NASCAR tracks with red and white walls are Darlington and North Wilkesboro, according to the speedway. The black walls will return for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race weekend in September.

The Food City 500 will take place on Sunday, March 17 at 3:30 p.m. The Weather Guard Truck Race will take place on Saturday, March 16 at 8 p.m.

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