–Bristol Motor Speedway trivia: (from Wikipedia & other sources)(Pulled from AJ Allmendinger’s PR email blast)

Bristol Motor Speedway is the 4th largest sports venue in America, and the 8th largest in the world, housing up to 165,000 people

BMS broke ground in 1960 and opened in 1961. The initial construction cost was $600,000. The seating capacity was a whopping 18,000.

The track itself was a perfect half-mile, measuring 60 feet (18 m) wide on the straightaways, 75 feet (23 m) wide in the turns and the turns were banked at 22 degrees.

Atlanta’s Jack Smith won the inaugural event – the Volunteer 500 – at BMS. However, Smith wasn’t in the driver’s seat of the Pontiac when the race ended.

Smith drove the first 290 laps then had to have Johnny Allen, also of Atlanta, take over as his relief driver. The two shared the $3,225 purse. The total purse for the race was $16,625. A total of 42 cars started the first race at BMS but only 19 finished.

After a reconfiguration in 1969, BMS was listed as a 0.533-mile oval and its banking for years as 36 degrees, although many disputed that. When the track completed its most recent resurfacing and slight reconfiguration in 2007, it now lists the banking at 24 to 30 degrees.

Penske Racing’s Brad Keselowski won the most recent race at BMS last August. He led the final 80 laps in scoring his first BMS victory by 0.951 seconds over runner-up Martin Truex Jr. Keselowski picked up a check for $291,883 for the win. The total purse for the Irwin Tools Night Race was $6,123,745.

–Bristol Motor Speedway track records entering this weekend’s Food City 500:
• NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Qualifying: Ryan Newman, 14.908 seconds (128.709 mph), 2003
• NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race (500 laps): Charlie Glotzbach, 2 hours, 38 minutes, 12 seconds (101.074 mph), 1971