Tyler Bare, Ricky Weiss capture victories at the inaugural Bristol Dirt Showcase

A powerful doubleheader of Late Model dirt racing action kicked off the 2023 dirt racing season and served as the warmup for NASCAR’s visit to The Last Great Colosseum on Easter Sunday.

The inaugural Bristol Dirt Showcase, featured The Steel Block Bandit Late Model Series and the American All-Star Series sharing the spotlight on the high banks of the dirt-transformed Bristol Motor Speedway for a full day and night of Late Model racing action. The race was also the season-opening race for the American All-Stars and the second race of the season for the Steel Block Bandits.

On the line for the drivers, $325 to start the race and $5,000 to win in both series

Of the competing Dirt Late Models, the Steel Block Bandits Pro Late Model Series had 37 entries while the American All-Star Series had 39 entries for the Bristol race.

After a series of qualifying heat races, the field was set for the first of two 30 laps features. The first race featured 24 Dirt Late Models in the Steel Block Bandits Series.  Austin Neely of New Tazewell, Tenn., would start from the pole position and lead the field to the green flag. Tyler Bare from Rockbridge Baths would drive his racecar on the outside, force the point and take the lead from Austin Neely with 14 laps to go before a caution would come out with 11 laps to go for Chase King of Seymour, Tenn., whose car slowed on the front stretch going into turn one.  King would bring his car to the pits, finished for the night.

Bare would extend his lead and pole sitter Austin Neely began to fade as the race reached five laps to go and would not be a factor in the rest of the race. Bare would cross the start/finish line to claim the victory in the first 30 lap feature at Bristol Motor Speedway.

“I knew that right away if I got out in cleaner air, It would be hard for somebody to pass,” replied Bare following the race. “We had a good car all night but midway through the race I knew we had to do something and it worked out.”

Bare made a daring move late in the race to take the lead. “I’ve had some wins on big tracks, but nothing like this one right here. To win here in front of all those people, it just means more.”

Seymour, Tenn., driver Ryan King finished second and Honaker’s Tyler Arrington claimed third place in the first 30 lap feature.

In the second feature, Ricky Weiss of Manitoba, Canada, picked up the 30-lap American All-Star Series win to pick up his second victory at Bristol Motor Speedway, a track where he’s ran well in the past. He earned $5,000 for the victory.

Starting from the pole, Weiss led the majority of the race and finally pulled away in the closing laps to finish in front of Dillon Brown of Gaffney, S.C., and Mount Airy, N.C.’s Benji Hicks, who were second and third, respectively.

“It’s huge for me, anytime you can run at a big facility like this and there’s so many people watching it’s great,” said Weiss, who won the Late Model portion of the World of Outlaws Bristol Bash at Bristol one year ago. “I definitely never thought I’d be here, I just thought it was awesome to come down and watch a NASCAR race here. Talk about having success here, this track just suits my driving style, the high-banked tracks we go to I tend to do super good at.”

Racing was halted in the second race with a big crash with 10 laps to go. Seven cars were collected in the incident, which brought out the red flag as officials cleared the track. Weiss picked up where he left off when it went back to green.

The race was the inaugural race at The World’s Fastest Half Mile and also gave BMS officials a glimpse of their dirt-covered high banks in action a week before the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series comes to town for the Food City Dirt Race on Easter Weekend.

Steel Block Bandits Results

1. Tyler Bare – Winner
2. Ryan King
3. Tyler Arrington
4. Dustin Mitchell
5. Austin Neely
6. Derick Quade
7. Robbie Emory
8. Derrick Rankin
9. Layne Clifton
10. Cody Lear
11. Jeff Parsons
12. Brad Lowe
13. Dan Breuer
14. Matt Glanden
15. Samuel Bryant
16. Jeff King
17. Chase King
18. Wayne Bryant
19. Matt Whitten
20. Will Perrell
21. Daniel Garrett
22. Dale Moore
23. Matt Shockley
24. Michael Alderman

American All-Star Series Results

1. Ricky Weiss – Winner
2. Dillon  Brown
3. Benji Hicks
4. Logan Wallas
5. Jacob Brown
6. Bradley Lewelling
7. Justin Hudspeth
8. Garret Paugh
9. Colby Quick
10. Tim Maupin
11. Duke Lowe
12. Derek Fisher
13. Joshua Chesney
14. Chub Gunter
15. Ronnie Martin Jr.
16. Jordan Koehler
17. Jordan Hedger
18. Terry Poore
19. Seth Wimpey
20. Chase Oliver
21. David Grass
22. Josh Dietz
23. Trey Bayne
24. TJ Salango