For generations of fans, the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway has been more than a race. It is a family tradition, a spring reunion and a shared rite of passage where memories are passed down as naturally as stories around a campsite fire.
That tradition returns April 10-12, when fans from across the region and beyond, including all 50 states and a dozen countries, gather once again at Bristol Motor Speedway for the 35th running of the Food City 500. As Food City marks its 35th year of partnership with the event, the weekend remains one of the most beloved on the NASCAR calendar — a place where grandparents, parents and children come together at The Last Great Colosseum to celebrate racing, family and the unmistakable energy of Thunder Valley.
At Bristol, family traditions take many forms. Some families travel together every spring and make a full weekend of it. Others have grown up around the sport, watching loved ones compete or work behind the scenes. Still others reunite with friends year after year in campgrounds, tailgates and grandstands, picking up right where they left off. By race day, those individual traditions blend into one larger Bristol tradition — a community of fans bound by loyalty, memories and a love for one of NASCAR’s most iconic stages.
Steve Smith, CEO and President of longtime race sponsor Food City, has watched that tradition grow for decades and has seen firsthand how deeply it connects with teammates, customers and communities across the region.
“It’s really about our teammates and the community and our customers,” Smith said. “They embrace it, they enjoy it. They love that their grocery store is involved in a sport that they really like. It’s been a great relationship. Any time you can have great partners it makes it so much better. To see the changes that have gone on in NASCAR and at the track here, the entertainment value it brings to Bristol and this whole region, it’s just a great partnership.”
Food City’s relationship with Bristol traces back to the company’s Family Race Night events in the 1980s, when NASCAR drivers visited local stores to sign autographs and meet fans. What began as a hometown promotion grew into one of the sport’s most enduring sponsorship relationships, with Food City becoming entitlement sponsor of the spring Cup Series race in 1992. Today, it stands as Bristol Motor Speedway’s longest-running sponsor and one of the longest-running race sponsorships in NASCAR.
“This has been going on a long time,” Smith recalled. “I remember years and years ago when I went in to talk to my dad (the late Jack Smith) about sponsoring the race. I was fully prepared to get thrown right back out the door. But he said that’s a heck of an idea and embraced it. Our teammates have embraced it. Our communities have embraced it. We went from 60 stores when we first started sponsoring the race to more than 160 stores today. It’s been a good relationship for our family. It’s almost instantaneous recognition of the Food City name wherever we go in the south because so many people follow NASCAR. It’s opened a lot of doors for us over the years. And we’ve had a great group of people to be partners with along the way.”
For Smith’s daughter Katie Penny, Food City’s Executive Vice President of Operations, Bristol memories are personal as well as professional. She grew up coming to the speedway with her father and extended family, building the kind of memories that still define race weekend for so many.
“My dad and I were bopping around the speedway and ran into Richard Childress and asked if Dale (Earnhardt Sr.) was around and could we talk to him for a bit,” Penny recalled. “Richard said he was available in his bus. We always loved following Richard Childress Racing and Dale through our associate sponsorship with the team back then. When we went in to speak to Dale he was watching a fishing show. He had his feet all propped up. I remember him talking about education and that was the one thing no one could take away from you. He said just to make sure to get your education and it will serve you well. He really drove that point home and that’s something I’ve always remembered from meeting him and it always stuck with me.”
That same family thread runs through the garage.
Austin and Ty Dillon, grandsons of legendary team owner Richard Childress, grew up coming to Bristol as children while Richard Childress Racing built its own history at the high-banked half-mile. Today, both are back as Cup Series drivers and fathers, now creating a new generation of Bristol memories with their own families. Their recent appearance at Bristol for the track’s family-traditions media event underscored just how deeply the weekend is woven into racing families as well.
“It was spending time with my grandfather and my dad (Mike Dillon) being up here,” said Austin Dillon, driver of the team’s No. 3 Chevy. “When you come to Bristol, this place is like one of the eight wonders of the world. You walk into this place, it’s a gladiator dome. It’s always a privilege to come race here and be a part of the big races that they have.
“As a kid, I got to go through a lot of those memories of watching RCR do great things at Bristol. Hopefully in a couple of weeks we can do the same thing here in Bristol and bring some heat to the track.”
His younger brother Ty, who drives the No. 10 Chevy for Kaulig Racing, says Bristol always stood apart.
“When I was a kid coming here, for the longest time I thought that Food City store logo with the blue square and red FC was the Bristol logo,” Ty Dillon said with a laugh.
“It’s a special tradition of being here for our family, this is like a home race for us. This is one of the ones that always means so much. Just the tradition of NASCAR, you feel it so strongly when you come here to Bristol.”
Daniel Hemric also grew up with Bristol as part of his own NASCAR memories. Now competing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Hemric, who pilots the No. 19 Chevy Silverado for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing, returns to one of the sport’s marquee venues carrying the same appreciation many fans feel when they arrive at Bristol.
“My earliest memories as a child were watching Dale Earnhardt and Terry Labonte go at it in the 1990s in the Bristol Night Race,” Hemric said. “There are certain marquee events on the schedule that have iconic trophies that you just want to win. It’s incredible to have new trophies to race for and also keep all the traditional things around here that have always made this place so special.”
This year’s Food City 500 weekend offers families even more reasons to make memories together. The action begins Friday, April 10, with the Tennessee Army National Guard 250. Saturday features the Suburban Propane 300 in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, Bush’s Beans Qualifying for both Cup and O’Reilly teams, and a full day of on-track activity. Sunday’s Food City 500 headlines a packed race day that also includes Trackside Live with Kenny Wallace and John Roberts in the Fan Zone and a pre-race concert by rising country artist Graham Barham before the green flag waves at 3 p.m. ET.
Beyond the racing, Bristol’s Fan Zone will be filled all weekend with music, interactive games, driver appearances, sponsor activations, surprise entertainment and family-friendly attractions, including performances by fan-favorite acrobat Red Panda. There will be post-race concerts each night, with Non-Stop Nineties and the Bristol Glow Party after Friday’s racing and on Saturday night after the Suburban Propane 300, NASH Country will take the stage to keep the party going till Sunday. It is all part of what makes Bristol more than a seat for a race — it is a full weekend experience built for fans of all ages.
For many, that is the real magic of the Food City 500. The race delivers the speed, drama and intensity Bristol is famous for. But it is the people who return year after year — the families in the campgrounds, the children seeing Bristol for the first time, the longtime friends picking up old conversations, and the racing families writing new chapters of their own — who make the tradition endure.
Fans can purchase tickets for the Food City 500 weekend of races and additional event experiences by visiting BMSTix.com or calling the BMS Ticket Sales Center at (866) 415-4158. For families, the value is amazing as children’s tickets are free for racing on Friday and Saturday and only $10 for kids 12 and under for Sunday’s Food City 500. There are also interest free flexible payment plans available for families. For the ultimate convenience, fans can also purchase tickets at participating neighborhood Food City locations while supplies last.
