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Dash4Cash brings heat races to Bristol: What to expect

The NASCAR Xfinity Series is bringing the heat to Bristol Motor Speedway — actually two heats.

Start: Erik Jones, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota leads

Start: Erik Jones, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota leads

NASCAR Media

Bristol atmosphere
Dash 4 Cash winner Daniel Suarez, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Joey Logano, Team Penske Ford
Race action
Darrell Wallace Jr., Roush Fenway Racing Ford, Regan Smith, JR Motorsports Chevrolet, Daniel Suarez, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
A general view of the track during the race
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Justin Allgaier, JR Motorsports Chevrolet, Joey Logano, Team Penske Ford, Chase Elliott, JR Motorsports Chevrolet
Justin Allgaier, JR Motorsports Chevrolet
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Xfinity Series director Wayne Auton said the sponsor and the fans “wanted to see something different” with the Dash4Cash program, and with input from the competitors the new system was formed.

“With the Dash4Cash program coming back this year, we felt it was a good opportunity to give the garage something new and a different way to qualify for it,” Auton said. 

A different way to set the field

On Saturday, NASCAR will debut its new qualifying and heat race format which will be used in all of the NXS Dash 4 Cash events — Bristol, Richmond, Dover and Indianapolis — but vary in length depending on the track. Once drivers establish a time in single lap qualifying, the field will be divided by odd and even-numbered qualifiers into the two 50-lap heat races followed by a 200-lap main.

“We tried everything we could to fit everything into a two-and-a-half hour window,” Auton added. “Three of the four race tracks we picked, we could get all the laps in that we ran in the past. Richmond, with the time it takes to run around the race track, we tried every way we knew to get 250 laps in. It ended up being 210 — but it’s 250 kilometers. That way they could still advertise it as a 250 race.” 

I don’t know what success is in this idea of heat races. All the cars are locked in. There’s no drama of being eliminated.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

The lineup for the field will be established by finishing order in the heats. If a driver wrecks during the heat race, he or she will be allowed to repair the primary car until the checkered flag of his or her respective heat, but not pull out a backup. 

Auton said the “no backup” idea came from the teams — and contributed to “keeping the costs down so they’re not sitting there with a car in the box.” 

Dale Jr. on the fence about the new concept

Xfinity Series team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. is still on the fence when it comes to the new format. He thinks the heat races may lack drama without the threat of eliminations, since all cars that starts the heats are guaranteed spots in the main unless they are wrecked beyond repair. 

Then again, sponsors want to see their cars and drivers on the track.

“You’ve got sponsors that are going to stomp their feet, and they push the buttons to NASCAR,” Earnhardt said. “It ain’t like it used to be, where we just ran our sport like we wanted to run it. 

“The sponsors really have influence on that. They’re not going to want to sit on the sidelines if they don’t make it, and they’re not going to be happy about that. And, as an owner, I’m going to have to answer to my sponsor why we’re not on the race track. That’d be hard to do. So it’s a difficult situation that we’re in."

He believes if there were 80 cars battling for 40 spots the complexion of the racing might be different. With 42 entries this week, only two cars will failed to make the field, and that will be determined during single-lap qualifying. With all 40 starters in the heats locked into the main, Earnhardt wonders whether the risk is worth the reward.

“I don’t know what success is in this idea of heat races,” Earnhardt said. “All the cars are locked in. There’s no drama of being eliminated. In my mind, when I hear about a heat race, you run the heat race to get into the main. And you have guys that run the B-main, C-main, consolation races, and you’ve got guys who go home. That was drama. That’s anticipation and anxiety and drama, and that’s why you watch TV or why you come to a race, to get those emotions and feel those emotions. 

“That’s why you might continue to watch a show, if it gives you those emotions, or you come back to an event that makes you feel that way. I don’t know what to expect, really. When they start, I’ll just be worried that we don’t need to wreck—just don’t wreck. And I don’t know that that’s enough intrigue to keep me hooked, like, ‘Man,I want to see more heat races, because I want to sit there and worry about not wrecking our cars.’ But if there was some sort of drama to the process, not just crashes but drama in how you get to the next event, the main event… I don’t know what they need to do, but we’ll see how it works out. They might just be formalities.”

Earnhardt, who has three cars in the field, pines for the days of the hooligan races that used to be the highlight of speedweeks at Charlotte Motor Speedway. 

“We used to love watching the last-chance race at Charlotte for the sportsman 300,” Earnhardt added. “It was probably the best race of the weekend. If you were watching that race, maybe it didn’t look any different, but you knew what was on the line, and you knew what those guys had to do to get into the main event. 

“And that drama and that anticipation was what made that such a neat show. Somehow they need to bottle that and create that emotion for the people that are watching it. To split us into two fields and let us run around the track for 50 laps when there’s nothing on the line other than just where you’re going to start, I don’t know if that’s enough. It could be much more dramatic if you could be eliminated or something like that out of the event.”

Dash4Cash money a huge opportunity for NASCAR's underdogs

The top-two finishers in each heat races who are Xfinity Series regulars, will compete for the $100,000 Dash4Cash bonus in the main. 

“With Bristol being the first one out of the box, as everyone says, ‘It’s Bristol baby,” Auton said. “Everyone is excited to get there and get this one going.

“Talking to both sides of the garage area, it’s been unbelievable the hype. A Jeremy Clements, a Ryan Sieg, a Johnny Davis — how they feel this is an opportunity to shine depending on what heat you get in. You could really shine and go for the $100,000, which we saw both Jeremy and Ryan Sieg go for it last year.”

There’s another new twist in the Dash4Cash. Should a driver collect two Dash4Cash bonuses, he or she would gain automatic eligibility into the new Chase — and lineup behind the drivers with wins and ahead of the drivers who qualify on points alone. 

Auton believes that will offer additional motivation to the field.

“For $100,000 I’d turn my mama,” Auton said. “If I’m running third, and I need to get in that second spot to get a chance, hold on, baby, for that last lap, because I might move you around a little. That’s the reason we think it’s going to be so exciting.”

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