Flooding Could Affect Fans’ Decision to Attend Food City 500

Following a postponement for rain on Sunday, flood-like situations have now hit Bristol Motor Speedway as surrounding camgrounds are full of rain.

Whitetop Creek is beginning to overflow into parking areas, midway areas and pedestrian bridges. This could make getting to and attending the Food City 500 tomorrow a challenge for many fans who plan to return to the track. Many fans already packed up and headed home before the race was slated to run this afternoon, and that made the already near-empty campgrounds have even less people.

One Tennessee native is already rethinking his plan for raceday.

“I always try to go and support my favorite sport and its drivers,” said Johnson City’s Nathaniel Fulkerson. “I haven’t missed a Cup race [at Bristol] in over 20 years. As far as parking goes, I usually try and park at one of my buddy’s who lives right across the track next to Volunteer Parkway. I might have to re-examine that decision as I’m not sure how flooded his land is.”

Not everyone has the short drive like Fulkerson, though.

Patrick O’ Toole made the trip all the way from New Hampshire to see the race, and that’s a long drive just to head home, so it would take a lot for O’Toole to make the trip back to the Granite State without seeing the race.

“The flooding isn’t affecting my decision. We came all the way from New Hampshire, and had a backup plan for rain,” he said. “Where I’m staying isn’t flooded, but it looks like the area we parked at on Saturday is, so we will try and park near the Bruton Smith building.”

The Food City 500 is still slated for 1 p.m. tomorrow afternoon with weather conditions improving throughout the day. Stay tuned to OnPitRoad.com for any updates concerning the schedule for tomorrow.