NASCAR Bristol preview: Is the bump-and-run back?

The ethos of short-track racing is that physicality is unavoidable; sometimes a driver simply has little recourse but to lay a front bumper on another if they wish to get around them. To what degree is open to interpretation, but the general understanding is if one driver is holding up a competitor, they can expect a tap -- or an outright shove -- that will send them up the track, thereby opening up the bottom lane for the aggressor to pass.

Short Track Racing 101. The fundamental principle which drivers will abide by during Sunday’s Monster Energy Cup Series race (2 p.m. ET, Fox) on the half-mile Bristol Motor Speedway.

Food City 500 favorite Kyle Busch prefers to only rely on the bump-and-run during late-race situations. And as long as he doesn’t send someone spinning into the wall, he has no qualms about executing the patented short track maneuver.

“As long as you don’t put him in the fence or he still continues on to finish second and doesn’t lose too many spots,” Busch said Friday. “… Just a simple bump-and-run at a short track. I mean, we all grew up with that.”

Busch was on the receiving end of a last-lap tap during a 2016 race at the three-quarter mile Richmond International Raceway. In that instance, however, the driver who pushed his way by was Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Carl Edwards, who nudged Busch up the track in Turn 4 to snatch away the victory. That he and Edwards were teammates complicated the dynamic, Busch said, demonstrating the lengths some would go to when a win is on the line.

“I didn’t think that was necessarily the way teammates raced each other, but after that it opened it up that this was how it goes,” Busch said. “There’s been certain things that have been said in (team) meetings where when it comes down to the end of a race, it’s every man for himself.

“I always thought you tried to race clean and race hard and do the best that you could to pass cleanly and not cause accidents or constraints within the people within the organization or within the shop.”

Not everyone is comfortable with the style of racing Bristol brings out. The high-banked Tennessee oval is one of only a few tracks where seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson doesn’t routinely reign supreme. He has just a single victory in 30 career starts.

That record is in part attributed to Johnson’s preference to make passes cleanly, something not always possible on Bristol’s tight confines. His reluctance to employ the bump-and-run stems from a 1999 Xfinity Series short track race at Memphis Motorsports Park. Instead of tapping Rich Bickle’s rear bumper, Johnson unbeknownst lifted Bickle’s back tires off the ground as they raced into Turn 1. Consequently, Bickle crashed hard, a fact Johnson was reminded of when he encountered Bickle the next day while grocery shopping.

“I saw him in the produce section,” Johnson said. “I thought that man was going to beat me to death with a head of lettuce and chase me around. At that point, I figured I just better worry about passing people instead of trying to move them.”

But the slugfest associated with racing at Bristol has become a rarity as of late. Multiple track reconfigurations shifted the preferred groove from bottom to the top, with drivers now able to make passes rather cleanly.

Greatly reduced are the slam-bam moments that made Bristol the most sought-after ticket in NASCAR. Dale Earnhardt Sr. dumping Terry Labonte in the closing laps to steal a win. Jeff Gordon winning by moving Rusty Wallace. And so forth, and so forth.

Not coincidently, the nearly 150,000-seat venue that once sold-out 55 consecutive races has been half-full in recent years. The shrinking popularity prompted BMS officials to counteract the changed track surface by applying VHT on the lower groove for its August night race last year, with the idea the formulated resin would provide additional grip and make it the superior way around the oval.

The reviews were mixed, but the intent was noble and VHT was again laid on the track for this weekend. Initially it was thought Bristol had gone retro and reverted back to a single groove track where drivers intensely fought to stay on the bottom.

Naturally, not all drivers welcome BMS’ efforts. Chief among those who prefer the newer Bristol compared to its previous version is points leader Kyle Larson, who spent considerable time running the higher lane in practice. With rain having washed away qualifying on Friday, the Chip Ganassi Racing driver will start on the pole Sunday after officials set the starting lineup off points.

“It looks like old Bristol because we are all running around the bottom, but I just don’t see how that is fun,” Larson said after practice Friday. “So, we will see. … Just makes it too easy for us and I don’t think that is good for racing.”

Larson’s consternation proved for naught. A combination of rain and drivers slowly working in the top lane during two practice sessions significantly diminished the advantage that came with running alongside the apron.

Although entertaining, Saturday’s Xfinity Series race unfolded similar to so many recent Bristol races. Much of the passing was by utilizing the top groove, not by use of a bumper. A notable exception was Erik Jones’ winning pass where contact with Ryan Blaney allowed Jones to drive through.

“It doesn’t look like there’s visibly much VHT left, but there’s still a lot of grip down there,” Jones said. “The biggest thing is that you have to adjust your car for both lanes.”