CONCORD, N.C. -- Like most of the NASCAR Cup Series field, Rudy Fugle is expecting the unexpected for the dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday.
The crew chief of the No. 24 Liberty University team is taking information from all resources to prepare driver William Byron for the first Cup Series race on dirt in over 50 years. He’s also setting his sights on enjoying the experience at Bristol rather than trying to figure out the track immediately.
“We are looking at it as a fun, different event, trying to have expectations that are realistic,” Fugle said. “He (Byron) doesn’t have a ton of dirt experience. I’ve got a little bit of Eldora experience from Trucks that will lead us in a good direction for how the car is prepared.
“William and I are just going to try and have fun but learn as much as we can and try to be competitive as we can by the end of the race.”
BRISTOL DIRT MERCHANDISE NOW AVAILABLE
Fugle’s aforementioned dirt experience mostly comes from running in the NASCAR Truck Series before he was elevated to a Cup Series crew chief. Fugle raced at Eldora Speedway six times in his Truck Series career, but he realized the race becomes a different game when heavy Cup cars are on a dirt track.
“I’m just cautioning everybody on the weekend, just how to approach it,” Fugle said. “The track will go through so many different states of grip as the race goes on, and car will handle based on how the track is. It’s just going to be way, way different by the time we get to the final stage of the race.
“It’s still an educated guess on what’s going to happen, but a lot of times you can be really, really good in practice and the track can completely change by the time you get to the dirt series," Fugle said. "It’s just different. We have to have a good handling car when it matters.”
All drivers are anticipating having to adjust multiple times throughout the race to the surface on the track. The moisture in the dirt and how backed it becomes throughout the race, combined with the temperature changes, will cause the dirt track to change far more rapidly than an asphalt surface.
According to Fugle, a committee at Hendrick Motorsports was put together so everyone involved in building the cars can adhere to NASCAR’s allowed adjustments and give the teammates a chance to prepare for a gritty race.
“We have a lot of bars built in on the right side to be able to hit the wall and the car not fall to pieces like you see in some races where the cars are built so light to go around,” Fugle explained. “The cars are meant to maintain some hits. The spoiler NASCAR has given us is narrower and taller, so has the same amount of downforce most likely, or maybe a little more in the rear, the spoiler won’t be the first thing to hit the wall.
“The biggest change are the tires. Obviously, we are on a treaded tire, a dirt-style tire. It’s fairly narrow and doesn’t have a ton of grip, and that is going to be something to get used to is how to make those tires work well.”
Though Fugle has been focused on the details surrounding the track and the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, he hasn’t forgotten that Sunday’s race will be making history. When the Cup Series ran a race on dirt during the 1970 season, the engineering, cars, strategies and everything in between was vastly different.
“I think, is going to be wild,” Fugle said. “It’s just a totally new atmosphere. Our people are excited. You never know what you get until you get there. Bristol, just going for a regular race, once you walk into the coliseum, it’s pretty cool and then you put dirt on it. It’s just going to be pretty exciting and unreal until you get there.”
The inaugural dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway will kick off Sunday, March 28 at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.