While NASCAR has kept pushing for night races — mostly to get into prime time on the networks — it’s at least been a small attempt to recreate the magic at Bristol. Copying, of course, is never the same as the original.

What makes this one of the toughest tickets on the circuit, then?

Certainly there’s the promise of action: There are no clean races at a .533-mile track. If a team brings a car home with minimal damage, whether they finished in fifth or 25th, it’s a successful night in one respect.

Moreover, tempers flare at Bristol like few other places. With that action, perhaps there will be some spillover, too — a helmet toss, a retaliatory move or something like that.

And there’s never a lull in the action. At the start of the race, the full field will take up nearly half of the track; within 15 laps, as the field gets spread out, the frontrunners will push closer to the guys at the back of the pack. So if you’re sitting pretty far down, cars will fly by you constantly.

At a track like Pocono, most cars are within five seconds of each other; if you’re on the frontstretch and they’re on the backstretch, the only thing you hear is a distant roar. (A brief anecdote: While walking along pit road at Pocono once, I heard a huge roar from the stands and, a second later, saw the nearby teams getting their equipment ready for a stop; clearly the yellow was out, but for what, I had no idea. It all came together when I saw a crumpled, smoking mess cruising down pit road. It happened to be Jeff Gordon.)

That wouldn’t happen at Bristol. The action’s never far away, no matter where you’re sitting.

The final unique thing: It was a few years ago now, but I remember seeing an old race broadcast from Bristol. Back then, there was greenery visible just outside the retaining wall. The stands, though large, didn’t look insurmountable (at least not for a fat guy like me). The photo below tells you more than my words can.

Now, of course, Bristol is known as Thunder Valley. Massive seating areas and luxury boxes surround the track. And they definitely look insurmountable (unless I was walking down).

It all adds up to the singular best stock car racing experience of the season, bar none.

(Photo courtesy of NASCAR) Bristol in 1961, featuring, left to right, Bobby Johns, Fireball Roberts and Junior Johnson. According to NASCAR, the billboard is an advertisement for a bowling alley owned by Bristol’s builder and then-owner, Larry Carrier.

(Photo by Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images via NASCAR) Last year’s Busch night race at Bristol.