Pinty's Dirt Truck Race

In 2013, the Truck Series raced at Eldora Speedway in NASCAR's first dirt track race since 1970.[2] Known as the Eldora Dirt Derby, the event ran from 2013 to 2019; it was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was then removed from the 2021 schedule.[3]

Bristol Motor Speedway, a half-mile concrete short track, had its surface covered by clay when it hosted the World of Outlaws dirt late model and sprint car tours in 2000 and 2001. Although successful with over 85,000 in average attendance, the race was canceled after its second year due to logistical difficulties: 14,000 truckloads of materials were needed to convert the track to dirt regulations,[4] which resulted in damage to the streets outside, with 8,000 cubic feet of red clay being hauled in from a nearby farm for the surface.[5][6] The track also had to be widened from 12 to 14 feet and the banking was reduced from 36 to 23 degrees.[5]

On September 30, 2020, NASCAR revealed the 2021 Cup Series schedule, which featured a spring dirt race at Bristol that replaced the existing event on Bristol's normal concrete surface.[7] The Truck Series followed suit in its schedule release on November 19, with the Pinty's Dirt Truck Race being one of two dirt events on the series calendar alongside a July round at Knoxville Raceway in Iowa.[8] The event would run alongside the Cup Series dirt race; World of Outlaws events would also take place on the temporary dirt surface, which began to be laid down in early January 2021.[9]