Bristol Motor Speedway 2025 NASCAR Track Profile

[Editor’s note: The following article is from Athlon Sports’ 2025 Racing Annual magazine. Order your copy online today, or buy one at retail racks and newsstands nationwide.]

NASCAR events at Bristol Motor Speedway are two of the most anticipated racing spectacles fans see all year. The concrete half-mile has steep progressive banking, going from 24 degrees up to 30 in the corners. High speeds and 15-second lap times led to the nickname The World’s Fastest Half Mile. Crashes can happen at a moment’s notice while progressive banking can lead to multiple racing grooves.

The two races at The Last Great Colosseum in 2024 could not have been more different. The spring race in cold weather featured severe tire wear, with Goodyears wearing out roughly every 50 laps. That paved the way for more experienced drivers shining through, as the top-3 finishers, led by race winner Denny Hamlin, were the oldest drivers in the field (Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keselowski).

The famed Bristol Night Race in September had much warmer temperatures and very little tire wear – or passing. Kyle Larson dominated, leading 462 of 500 laps and sweeping all stages. As a result, NASCAR and Goodyear could use softer tire compounds with faster wear at short tracks in 2025, so there is no telling how that impacts either of the Bristol events.

Kyle Busch leads active drivers at BMS with eight wins, 14 top 5s, and 2,598 laps led. That’s double the wins of the next best driver (Hamlin) and over 1,000 laps more than second-place Larson (1,351). However, while Bristol used to be Busch’s house, he has failed to find victory lane here since 2019 (not including Bristol dirt). In fact, Busch’s best finish in the last five Bristol races is 20th.

In the Next Gen era, the masters of Bristol have been Hamlin (2 wins) and Larson (1).

Bristol Motor Speedway track info

Site: Bristol, Tennessee

Laps: .533-mile oval

Banking/Turns: Variable (24-30 degrees)

Banking/Straightaways: 4-9 degrees

2025 Dates: April 13, Sept. 13

2024 race winners

March: Denny Hamlin

September: Kyle Larson

Scouting report

“Unique” doesn’t begin to describe Bristol Motor Speedway. The half-mile bullring in East Tennessee simply remains a place – an event – one must see to believe. The extreme tire-wear race last spring single-handedly changed how NASCAR decided to approach improving how the Next Gen car races on short tracks. But it hasn’t been able to replicate those conditions. Bristol is an anomaly. Currently, there is so much time on the gas, and the cars are so even, that drivers are still waiting for the rules package to come back around to meet their expectations.