The NASCAR Cup Series visits Bristol Motor Speedway for the 63rd consecutive season with the running of the historic Food City 500. This race is one of two NASCAR events hosted annually by Bristol Motor Speedway. The weekend also will feature the WEATHER

WHEN: March 16-17, 2024

TELEVISION: Food City 500 (FOX, 3:30 p.m. ET Sunday); WEATHER GUARD Truck Race (FS1, 8 p.m. ET Saturday); Bush’s
Beans Qualifying for Craftsman Trucks (FS1, 3 p.m. Saturday); Bush’s Beans Qualifying for Cup Series (FS1, 5 p.m. Saturday).
 

RADIO: Food City 500 (PRN Radio, 3:30 p.m. ET Sunday); WEATHER GUARD Truck Race (MRN Radio, 8 p.m. ET Saturday)
 

NOTABLE ANNIVERSARYS: Richard Petty Enterprises is celebrating its 75th Anniversary; Hendrick Motorsports is celebrating its
40th Anniversary; In a very special anniversary celebration, BMS is honoring the early 1990s, by bringing back its vintage Food City
500 logo from the iconic 1992 spring race and is creating several fan attractions and activities that will reflect that time period.

Rowan County Weather is excited to be a part of the action on Sunday as we will be reporting live from the Bristol Motor Speedway before during and after the Food City 500!!!!e

If you are heading to the last great coliseum for the event. Here are some important scheduled times for you. 

WEEKEND SCHEDULE:
Saturday, March 16
10 a.m. Garage opens
Noon BMS Fan Zone with Food City Fan Zone Stage opens (BMS Entrance 1)
2 p.m. Spectator and Suite gates open
3-3:40 p.m. Bush’s Beans practice, WEATHER GUARD Truck Race (NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series)
3:40-4:30 p.m. Bush’s Beans qualifying, WEATHER GUARD Truck Race (NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series)
5-5:50 p.m. Bush’s Beans practice, Food City 500, (NASCAR Cup Series)
5:50-7 p.m. Bush’s Beans qualifying, Food City 500, 2 laps, 2 rounds (NASCAR Cup Series)
7:30 p.m. WEATHER GUARD Truck Race driver introductions (NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series)
8 p.m. WEATHER GUARD Truck Race (stages 65/130/250 laps = 133.25 miles) (NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series)
10:30 p.m. 1980s tribute band Spank! will perform on the Food City Fan Zone Stage after the WEATHER GUARD Truck Race
 

Sunday, March 17
9 a.m. BMS Fan Zone with Food City Fan Zone Stage opens (BMS Fan Zone, BMS Entrance 1)
10:30 a.m. Spectator and Suite gates open
11 a.m.-1 p.m. Fan Track Walk
11:30 a.m. Garage opens
1:30-2:30 p.m. The Breakfast Club will perform the pre-race concert on the pre-race stage in the infield
2:45 p.m. Food City 500 driver introductions (NASCAR Cup Series)
3:30 p.m. Food City 500 (stages 125/250/500 laps = 266.5 miles) (NASCAR Cup Series)
 

Some fun stats for Thunder Valley in these events are listed below!

2023 SERIES CHAMPIONS: NASCAR Cup Series (Ryan Blaney, Team Penske); NASCAR Xfinity Series (Cole Custer, Stewart-Haas
Racing); Craftsman Truck Series (Ben Rhodes, Thorsport Racing).
 

2023 BMS RACE WINNERS: Food City Dirt Race (Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing); WEATHER GUARD Truck Race on Dirt (Joey
Logano, Thorsport Racing); Bass Pro Shops Night Race (Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing); Food City 300 (Justin Allgaier, JR
Motorsports); UNOH 200 (Corey Heim, Tricon Garage); Bush’s Beans 200 (William Sawalich, Joe Gibbs Racing).
 

MOST BMS SPRING CUP VICTORIES: Rusty Wallace (6); Kyle Busch (6); Dale Earnhardt (5); Darrell Waltrip (5); Cale Yarborough
(4); Jeff Gordon (4); and Kurt Busch (4).

MOST BMS CUP SERIES VICTORIES: Darrell Waltrip (12); Cale Yarborough (9); Dale Earnhardt (9); Rusty Wallace (9); Kyle Busch
(9); Kurt Busch (6); Jeff Gordon (5); David Pearson (5).
MOST BMS TRUCK SERIES VICTORIES: Kyle Busch (5); Ron Hornaday Jr. (2)
 

BMS NASCAR TRACK RECORDS PER SERIES: These drivers hold NASCAR track records at Bristol in their respective series.
Cup Series – Ryan Blaney, 132.075 mph (14.528 seconds), Ford Mustang, April 2019
Craftsman Truck Series – Kyle Busch, 129.413 mph (14.827 seconds), August 2017
 

DRIVERS WHO HAVE EARNED BRISTOL VICTORIES IN ALL THREE MAJOR NASCAR SERIES: Mark Martin; Joey Logano; Kyle
Busch; Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, and Brad Keselowski (Ryan Blaney or Martin Truex Jr. could join this elite list with a Cup victory
during the Food City 500).
 

Below I have listed some details for the races and qualifying processes.

RACE LENGTH AND STAGES: The Food City 500 is a 500-lap event that covers a race distance of 266 miles on the traditional all-
concrete surface. Under NASCAR’s race stages competition format, the Food City 500 will feature three stages: 125 laps for the first
stage, 125 laps for the second stage and 250 laps for the final stage. The WEATHER GUARD Truck Race will feature three stages of
65, 65 and 120 laps for a 250-lap race of 133 miles.
 

QUALIFYING PROCEDURE: The NASCAR Cup Series Food City 500 will feature two laps and two rounds during Saturday’s Bush’s
Beans Qualifying to set the starting lineup. NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series qualifying for the WEATHER GUARD Truck Race will
feature two laps during Saturday’s Bush’s Beans Qualifying to set the starting lineup for the 250-lap race.
 

The Food City 500 and WEATHER GUARD Truck Race will both be contested on BMS’ traditional all-concrete
high-banked oval configuration, which features 24 to 28 degrees of banking in the turns… For the last three years the Bristol Spring
NASCAR weekend has been contested on a temporary dirt surface… This is the fourth time the Food City 500 will be held on St.
Patrick’s Day, and the three previous winners were David Pearson (1968); Cale Yarborough (1974) and Kasey Kahne (2013)… this is
the 32nd time the Bristol Spring Cup race will be held in the month of March… Darrell Waltrip holds the record for most BMS Cup
victories (12) and most consecutive BMS Cup wins (7), from 1981-1984... Cup drivers Kyle Busch and Zane Smith are moonlighting
and will also compete in the WEATHER GUARD Truck Race on Saturday night in addition to their Cup Series duties on Sunday, Busch
in the No. 7 Chevy and Smith in the No. 91 Chevy… Kyle Busch is the active driver with the most Cup Series wins at Bristol (9) and he
also holds the records for most BMS Xfinity (9) and Truck (5) victories…Kyle Busch has earned 23 total career BMS victories in
NASCAR’s three top touring series… Kyle Busch is the only NASCAR driver in history to sweep victories in all three major NASCAR
events (Cup, Xfinity and Truck) in a single weekend and he accomplished the feat two times at BMS, in 2010 and 2017… This is the
33rd year as the Cup entitlement sponsor for regional grocery retailer Food City, who first sponsored the Food City 500 at Bristol in
1992… The Food City 500 has a trio of strong Cup Series rookies to watch, including Josh Berry, Carson Hocevar and Zane
Smith…Defending Cup Series champ Ryan Blaney is still looking for his first Cup victory at Bristol. Blaney has earned Xfinity and Truck
wins at Bristol… The last Cup winner of a Bristol race called the Food City 500 was Kyle Busch in 2019…

Kids tickets are free on Saturday with paid adults and only $10 for Sunday’s Food City 500 you can purchase them online at www.BristolMotorSpeedway.com and www.NASCAR.com