Chase Briscoe calls for NASCAR to bring back dirt racing

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Chase Briscoe has called for the NASCAR Cup Series to host a dirt race again in the future.

Briscoe grew up in a dirt-racing family and has remained a long-time advocate of the discipline, even embarking on a 25-race dirt schedule in 2022 that featured midgets, sprint cars and late models.

While NASCAR has deep roots in dirt racing, the Cup Series has moved so far away from its early years that it’s now difficult for viewers to draw a connection between the past and present.

The Cup Series hosted its first modern-era dirt race in 2021, when Bristol Motor Speedway was temporarily converted into a half-mile dirt track. However, the Food City 500 returned to its traditional concrete surface in 2024 following three dirt editions.

NASCAR currently has no plans to return to dirt racing, but Briscoe believes the series should reconsider its stance.

“Anytime there’s been a NASCAR dirt race, I always try to make it a point to go run it,” said Briscoe, who previously contested the Eldora Dirt Derby in the late 2010s.

“You know, I remember coming here [Knoxville] and running the Truck race a couple of years ago. Obviously, I always ran the Eldora races as well. 

“So, I feel like even in the Cup Series, we need to have a dirt race.”

The three Bristol events between 2021 and 2023 marked the first time the Cup Series had raced on dirt in over 70 years, with 23,000 cubic yards of soil hauled in to transform the venue.

The inaugural 2021 race took place during the day, leading to visibility issues due to sunlight reflecting off the dirt. The event was shifted to a nighttime slot in 2022 and 2023 to improve conditions, but reception remained mixed.

“The first one was obviously not very good, but anybody who knows dirt racing knows we probably don’t need a race in the middle of the day,” Briscoe said. “But I thought the last two were really, really good.”