When the Bristol Motor Speedway ripped up the concrete and added progressive banking a few years ago, many complained that racing at the World’s Fastest Half Mile would never be the same. Gone was the bump-and-run made famous for crashing cars, sparking tempers and bringing fans to their feet. Fans would now be treated to multi-groove racing and at times two and three-wide battles, but for many it was just not the same.

With the new double-file restarts in place for the first time at the high-banked half-mile, will the action under the lights this Saturday night be more like the Bristol of years past? Will fans forget about the old bump-and-run and be crazed with the amount of action and controversy the double-file restarts created? Those questions will only be answered after this weekend, but Carl Edwards certainly has it on his mind.

“I’m a little nervous about the double-file restart there though,” Edwards admitted heading into this weekend’s Sharpie 500. “It has the potential to cause a lot of stress for the guys that are points racing. That’ll be interesting to see how that plays out.  There’s no more exciting event on the schedule than the Bristol night race, so it should be fun.”

The tight quarters and aggressiveness that comes out at Bristol has Edwards nervous about the double-file restarts, but points leader Tony Stewart has no worries.

“No, not at all,” Stewart responded when asked if he was concerned about the double-file restarts. “Everybody’s getting used to it. There’s nowhere on the schedule the rest of the year where it’s going to be an issue.  I don’t think it’s been an issue yet.  Yes, there are tracks we go to where you would rather be in one line versus the other, but at some point in the day, it’s going to work in your favor and there’s going to be some point in the day where it’s going to work against you.  Bristol’s always been good about two-wide racing since they repaved it.  The rest of the season, there’s not a track on the circuit that I sit there and say, ‘Oh man, I’m dreading these restarts here.’”

While some feel as if the racing at Bristol has been diminished since the track was repaved, most drivers believe the progressive banking has created a lot of choices and allowed for better racing. Instead of being forced to move the guy in front of you to get past, drivers have more options and can now search for a line that works best to move through the field. If this is not exciting, I’m not sure what is – and Clint Bowyer tends to agree.

"Since they repaved it, there's more of an option,” Bowyer explained. “You can run two-wide a whole lot more than you used to be able to.  It used to be that if a guy was holding you up, you'd move him out of the way and whether he wrecked or not was up to him.  So, I think that's changed a bit, and I think it's made the racing better.  I understand that people like to see wrecks, but two-wide racing like that is incredible to watch."

With so much on the line, a short track Saturday night atmosphere in the air and close to 160,000 Hardcore Race Fans in the stands, these drivers are sure to be aggressive each time they double up to restart the race. Taking the green two-wide, thanks to the new banking, the drivers will be able to race each other for position instead of falling in line and moving the car in front when they get the chance.

“I think Bristol in general is more conducive to two-wide racing than it ever has been so I think those double-file restarts will be more exciting for the fans,” Ryan Newman pointed out. “We saw when the race track was redone that the fans were mostly disappointed because they didn’t see the bumper-to-bumper beating and banging and the crashes. I think the double-file restarts will add some excitement back to that. Not because of the crashes but just more excitement and we’ve seen that I think in my opinion at every race. Pocono was probably the worst I’ve seen as far as aggressiveness on restart and I think guys are starting to realize it’s a great opportunity to make some spots and feeling a little bit more aggressive.”

Considered a ‘wild-card’ event leading up to the Chase, anything can happen when the 43-car field takes the green with the flashbulbs sparkling in the grandstands. When all is said and done, there will most likely be some sort of excitement and drama to come from a double-file restart. On a track where cautions breed cautions like no other, throwing double-file restarts into the mix may eliminate many of the complaints heard over the last few years that Bristol has lost some of its excitement.

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