NASCAR Nextel Cup on ESPN - "Thunder Valley" - Bristol night race! 8/25

It is a fun race to watch. By far the fan favorite on the circuit.

160k + packed around that sucker. Tons of fun watch, even from the couch!

I think this is one of the racer's favorite races as well. The broadcast looks great. How does everyone think ESPN has been thus far with their NASCAR broadcasts? Does anyone else have Dolby D-EX coming over for sound? My receiver usually just displays Dolby D for races. Watching on Armstrong HD in Medina, Ohio.

They seem to always be a few seconds behind what's going on the track. The wrecks, the passes, the fly over, always just a few seconds too late to cut to the action - or they miss it all together.

Rookie season (ESPN/NASCAR glory days were long ago in TV time).

But I think they'll improve.

What do you think would cause it to show up as D-EX then?

Nope, not on E*.

round and round they go

exciting

what is the resolution of the brodcast?

Still a fun race, and Edwards pulls out the win.

Very impressed again with ESPN's coverage, and has done well replacing NBC's "coverage" Now I just wish TNT wasn't a carbon copy of the old NBC days

Maybe it's just me, but tonight's race, like the last 3 since the "Chase" points system began, didn't seem like Bristol. I'm not a fan of wreckfest races, but you could always count on a little drama at this little short track. Not tonight...and not in long while at this place. Drivers are way too conservative and afraid to jeapordize their point standing.

NASCAR is well on its way toward choking the goose...let's hope they get some sense soon.

Night races look great in HD. There's another one this weekend.

I really don't think that it wasn't that guys weren't aggressive enough or didn't have any intentions of racing like usual at Bristol, but as documented by ESPN & Speed, with the new resurfacing, and adding more space in the corners/turns, + the COT; it just made it much more easy to go side-by-side and even 3-wide through the turns, thus not needing to "bump & run" like usual. You could just go on either side of the guy you're trying to pass or split/go around 2 other cars in the banking.

In fact, you could argue that while the room is there to do so, watching guys go 3-wide coming out of the turns was plenty aggressive, seeing as how most times when its just 2 cars SbS, they usually "merge" together coming out of the high-banked turns.

I never really liked Bristol. It took for ever for your driver to pass just one car. One bad mistake and he could loose 10, 15 spots easy. Couple laps around and cars would start to get lapped. But with the new surface, it was great. Loved it. HD coverage was great. Wonder if that's cause it was at night. Just looked good.

Not the Bristol I have always been a fan of. I know that I wouldn't drive 8hrs to go see that kind of racing (and I used to make the drive yearly). I predict that you'll be able to buy Bristol tickets the day of the race in a year or two.

I was at this race and while it wasn't the Bristol we are used to it was still some great racing. I think it is amazing to see cars 3 wide through 2 turns. I even saw them go 4 wide in turn 3 a couple of times. Judging by the crowd reactions I don't think that you will ever be able to buy Bristol tickets on the day of the race. IMHO.

http://www.bristolmotorspeedway.com/tickets/

The Bristol race was good, but "Lubedude" has a good point.

Guys trying to make the chase were laying off guys to make sure they didn't get knocked out with retaliation. Even Harvick was not as rough with Montoya as I expected.

The way the chase is set up, survival is the name of the game. Don't forget 2 or 3 years ago Jimmie Johnson won 4 of the 10 chase races and still wasn't the champion--because he had 2 or 3 DNFs.

Regards,
Fitzie

Wishing ESPN would get off the Dale Earnhardt Jr. bandwagon and concentrate on the truly worthy drivers in Nextel cup!

I've read many of the articles, blogs, and various ramblings after the Bristol race. Most focus on the fact that there were multiple grooves and 3-4 wide racing throughout the night. I can't argue with that...it was pretty obvious, and at times exciting (if you listened to MRN radio...ESPN was too busy coaching Jr to a better finish). My beef is with NASCAR and their failed efforts to cook up drama through this contrived playoff system.

Teams and drivers have cracked the code and know what they need to do position themselves for a solid points finish...by the time they get to Bristol, the only thing on their minds is not to screw up. There's no need to try to "rattle his cage" when there is simply more downside to being aggressive at a immaculately repaved track that begs for close racing.

My guess is that someday NASCAR will recognize their folly and eventually move Bristol into the final 10 Chase races. Perhaps then we'll see some really good racing at this venerable short track once again....let's only hope that they also see fit to restore the Labor Day tradition at Darlington and restore the Southern 500.

Bristol is a PRN race, not MRN...

Test123

good catch...now that i listen with sirius, it's sometimes hard to tell...I hope that Doug Rice and Chuck Carland will forgive me for such an egregious error.