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Monday, November 9, 2026Nov 9

Get a Grip: Harvick loves new Bristol Motor Speedway

Kevin Harvick, right, celebrates after winning a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race with Bass Pro Shops founder John Morris, center, and Jeff Hall, manager of Bass Pro Shops of Bristol, Sunday, Aug. 21, 2016 in Bristol, Tenn. The race was delayed Saturday night due to severe weather. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)
Kevin Harvick, right, celebrates after winning a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race with Bass Pro Shops founder John Morris, center, and Jeff Hall, manager of Bass Pro Shops of Bristol, Sunday, Aug. 21, 2016 in Bristol, Tenn. The race was delayed Saturday night due to severe weather. (AP Photo/Wade Payne) Kevin Harvick, right, celebrates after winning a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race with Bass Pro Shops founder John Morris, center, and Jeff Hall, manager of Bass Pro Shops of Bristol, Sunday, Aug. 21, 2016 in Bristol, Tenn. The race was delayed Saturday night due to severe weather. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)

BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) – Kevin Harvick believes Bristol Motor Speedway is on to something. Now, he wants similar tracks to follow that lead.

Bristol officials used a tacky resin to “polish” the track and improve grip on the bottom lane so racers would have a two-groove layout and be able to pass down low.

Harvick used the lower groove several times to stick and move past drivers on the way to winning the rain-delayed, water-logged Sprint Cup race Sunday night.

The past few years, Harvick said there was no use taking the low side of the high-banked, concrete track because cars were three-or-four tenths of a second slower.

“Tonight, you could hold your ground, you could get past lapped cars,” he said. “It gave everybody an option to do something different and, as a driver, that’s what you want.”