Tracking Glory with Hal Martin

I had been looking forward to this past weekend all year – the race at the high-banked, half-mile racetrack that is Bristol Motor Speedway. I grew up racing on short tracks around the Gulf Coast, and Bristol Motor Speedway was the ultimate short track to race. It is known as the last great colosseum for good reason – the track is dug into the ground, contains thirty degree banked corners and is the 4th largest sports venue in America, holding 165,000 spectators. To say the least, I was extremely excited to be racing at the “World’s Fastest Half-Mile.”

Because Bristol was only three and a half hours from where I currently live in North Carolina, we drove out to the speedway on Thursday. The drive was quite scenic as we cut through the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. I arrived at the speedway Thursday afternoon and couldn’t wait to get inside the track. Thursday was tech day, which is when my crewmembers take my car through NASCAR’s rigorous technical inspection process. When I arrived and walked across the track, I came to the realization where I was and what I would be doing over the course of the weekend, racing at Bristol Motor Speedway!

On Friday, we had two practice sessions scheduled. I used the first practice session to get up to speed and really learned the track. My first practice run on the track was a four lap run, and when I came into the pits after that first run, I was winded and breathing heavily. What I realized was that I was actually holding my breath for most of the run and forgot to breathe. That is how intense laps around the track were. As I got more comfortable with the track, my breathing got better.

The race started and I quickly moved from my 25th starting position up into 21st. I had a well setup car and was just struggling with a tight handling condition of the car in the middle of the corner, having to wait for the chassis to turn. We were steadily working on the setup throughout the day and had worked up to 19th position. Unfortunately, about halfway through the race, I was working around a car that was several laps down to the leaders, and as I came out of turn four, he hooked my right rear bumper and sent me hard into the inside wall ending my day. It was an unfortunate circumstance and a frustrating end to a great race that I was having in my first start at Bristol Motor Speedway.

This week, I am heading West again to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. I look to have a solid weekend at the fast 2.5-mile speedway!