NASCAR Bristol 2016 live stream: Start time, TV schedule and how to watch Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race online

Bristol Motor Speedway’s reputation is as a place where drivers are often physical, using their bumpers to shove a competitor out of the way.

That style of racing is why Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race (NBC Sports, 8 p.m. ET; live stream on NBCSports.com) is traditionally one of the more anticipated dates on the NASCAR schedule.

In recent years, however, the kind of racing that’s unfolded on the half-mile, high-banked oval has not fit its reputation. Ever since Bristol underwent a reconfiguration in 2008, the preferred groove has shifted from the bottom to the top, and that has dramatically altered the racing that fans had grown accustomed to.

Largely gone is the tactic known as a bump-and-run, where a driver nudges the car ahead out of the lower groove and up the track allowing them to pass underneath. A byproduct of that method was drivers often pushed too hard and caused the car ahead to crash, which then often elicited an emotional response from the driver who was spun.

Think Kevin Harvick accosting Greg Biffle on pit road in 2002; Tony Stewart chucking his helmet at Matt Kenseth in 2012.

And perhaps coincidentally, perhaps not, Bristol’s popularity has significantly waned. The track’s 55-race streak of selling out every Cup Series event was snapped in August 2009, and in April its grandstands were half-filled for its annual spring event.

In an attempt to revert to the rough-and-tumble nature that long defined Bristol, and counteract the reconfiguration that had drivers running the top lane almost exclusively, track officials applied a sticky adhesive to the lower groove last week to increase grip.

“I’m excited about the prospect of having not only multiple lines, but having the line be on the bottom is a lot of fun ... if a guy slips up it gives you a little window to get under him,” pole-sitter Carl Edwards said. “But at the top, if everybody is following one another, they slip up and you can’t really go between them and the wall and you can’t make anything happen.

“Multiple lines and having the bottom I think is going to make for a much more dynamic race.”

Thus far, through a Camping World Truck Series race on Wednesday and two Sprint Cup practices and an Xfinity Series race on Friday, the desired changes largely took effect. Many drivers have shifted back to the bottom where the improved traction has provided a speed boost, while others have remained up top.

“I’m hopeful that there are gonna be a couple lanes and you’ll be able to adapt and move around,” Trevor Bayne said. “But if not, it’s gonna be the Bristol of old and drivers are just gonna have to check their feelings at the start/finish line when we go by for the first time.”

But whether the adhesive will hold for the duration of the Sprint Cup race is unknown. During the Xfinity race drivers gradually moved up the track as the VHT compound track officials used began wearing off in the lower lane, although some were able to make the bottom groove work throughout.

“I think that the groove will go back up to the top like we have seen here the past couple of races,” Chase Elliott said. “Eventually the top lane is probably going to prevail unless they redo the bottom.”

Following the Xfinity race, NASCAR did add 18 inches of resin, a sticky chemical substance, to the lower groove through the corners. Just as what transpired on Friday night, the track conditions will now evolve considerably over the course of 500 laps, and those who can best adapt will position themselves to have a successful evening.

If the Xfinity race is any indication, the characteristic that used to be Bristol’s hallmark appears to have returned. The Food City 300 featured an abundance of physicality, with drivers banging into one another throughout. It culminated in heavy contact between Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch as they scraped for the lead with three laps left, sending Busch into the wall and directly into the path of third-place Ty Dillon, who slammed into the No. 18 car.

A similar sequence of events is expected on Saturday night -- close quarters racing where drivers have the option to push their way to the front if they so choose.

“I’m sure you’ll be mad if you get pushed out of the groove,” Chris Buescher said. “But pretty quickly everybody will realize that’s the only way they’re gonna get those spots back that they just lost and they’re gonna wind up on the other side dishing it out. If that’s the way it goes, I think we should just fully expect it and be ready, and try not to let our feelings get hurt because it’s gonna be a tough race if it’s just on the bottom like that.”