By Roger Brown
Published: March 09, 2011
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BRISTOL --
Bristol Motor Speedway race weekend
When: March 18-20, culminating with the Jeff Byrd 500 Presented by Food City.
Admission: $5 for Ford Fan Friday; $45 to $72 for the Scotts EZ Seed 300; $93 to $133 for the big race. Admission is free to Food City Family Race Night.
Ticket information: Call BMS ticket office at (866) 415-4158 or (423)989-6900. You can also visit
www.bristolmotorspeedway.com.
Other details: Country music star and actor Billy Ray Cyrus will sing the national anthem prior to the Jeff Byrd 500. Carter’s Chord, a three-sister group that was signed by country star Toby Keith, will sing the national anthem before the Scotts EZ Seed 300.
City officials and law enforcement authorities plan to stick with their traditional “tried and true” methods to handle the crush of traffic during the upcoming March race weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, City Traffic Engineer David Metzger said Tuesday afternoon.
“We’re going to pretty much have everything in place that we’ve normally had,” Metzger said of race traffic strategies during a City Hall news conference. “And we’re really hoping to keep our streak of not having to tow any vehicles for illegal parking, too. We’re on three straight race weekends with that, and counting.”
The weekend will kick off March 18 with Ford Fan Friday at BMS, followed by the Scotts EZ Seed 300 and Jeff Byrd 500 Presented by Food City races on Saturday and Sunday, March 19-20, respectively.
During the March 2010 weekend – which saw an end to the speedway’s 55-race, 27-year sellout streak– more than 400,000 vehicles were in and around the Twin City.
“We’ve had a pretty good game plan for dealing with the traffic, and it’s working,” said Bristol Police Capt. Matt Austin, who was among the city, regional and BMS officials who turned out for Tuesday’s briefing. “We just need to keep executing well, just like for past races.”
Metzger said officials once again plan to have six primary routes leading into BMS:
Interstate 81 northbound, exiting at Exits 57, 66 or 69.
I-81 southbound, exiting at Exits 3 or 17.
Interstate 26 westbound, exiting at Exit 19 in Johnson City and taking U.S. Highway 11-E to BMS.
And, as usual, Metzger said, there will be eight major routes for motorists when they leave events at BMS:
US 11-E southbound, leading to I-81, Exit 57.
US 11-E southbound, referred to as a “contraflow lane,” and particularly available to motorists leaving through BMS’ south entrance going to I-81, Exit 57.
State Route 394 westbound, leading to I-81, Exits 66 or 69.
Bethel Drive northbound to state Route 126 to U.S. 11-E to I-81, Exit 74.
U.S. 11-E northbound to I-81, Exit 3.
State Route 394 eastbound to I-81, Exit 5.
State 394 eastbound to I-81, Exit 17.
Kevin Triplett, vice president of public affairs at BMS, said the speedway has sold “a tremendous number” of March tickets to fans making their first race trips to Bristol.
“That’s fantastic, because it’s going to be bringing new fans to our race experience,” Triplett said Tuesday. “But it’s also going to be a challenge, because they won’t have the built-in knowledge that longtime fans have about getting around in traffic.”
