Travel Tips: Bristol Motor Speedway – Aug. 18-22, 2015

credit: NASCAR Media

NASCAR’s top three series head to “Thunder Valley,” a.k.a. Bristol Motor Speedway, the quintessential Saturday night short track, for the five-day Irwin Tools Night Race event. The Whelen Modified and Southern Modified Tours also joins the Sprint Cup, Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series in Tennessee.

On Wednesday, the Food City Race Night and Antique Tractor Show comes to the Knoxville Expo Center from 4-8:30 p.m. ET – find out more about the event here. On Thursday, another Food City Race Night takes place on State St. from 1-9 p.m. ET. State St. runs from Bristol, Tennessee to Bristol, Virginia. There will be plenty of music, show cars, vendors, driver appearances, food sampling and more – get all the details here. Tickets for both events are $5 in advance, $6 at the gate.

The Bristol chapter of Speedway Children’s Charities has a number of events going on during this week’s events, including a live memorabilia auction, a charity cornhole tournament and  the Night Race 5K. Find out more about the events here.

Key on-track times:

Tuesday, Aug. 18 –

• Gate 10 will be the only gate open – opens at 1:30 p.m. ET
• Camping World Truck Series practice – 2 p.m. ET

Wednesday, Aug. 19 –

• Gates open at 9:30 a.m. ET
• Whelen Modified Tour practice – 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. ET
• Camping World Truck Series practice – 11 a.m. ET
• Whelen Modified Tour qualifying – 3 p.m. ET
• Camping World Truck Series qualifying – 4:45 p.m. ET
• Whelen Modified Tour Bush’s Beans 150– 6:15 p.m. ET
• Camping World Truck Series UNOH 200 presented by ZLOOP – 8:30 p.m. ET

Thursday, Aug. 20 –

• No action on track.
• Food City Race Night in Bristol from 1-9 p.m. ET

Friday, Aug. 21 –

• Gates open at 8:30 a.m. ET
• Xfinity Series practice – 9 a.m. ET
• Sprint Cup Series practice – 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. ET
• Xfinity Series qualifying – 3:45 p.m. ET
• Sprint Cup Series qualifying – 5:45 p.m. ET
• Xfinity Series Food City 300 – 7:30 p.m. ET

Saturday, Aug. 23 –

• Gates open at 1 p.m. ET
• Pre-race concert with Steven Tyler – 5:45 p.m. ET
• Sprint Cup Series IRWIN Tools Night Race – 7:30 p.m. ET

Find a full weekend schedule here. 

Get tickets and more information about this week’s races at http://www.bristolmotorspeedway.com/.