Back on the dirt ring

Time to attach the mud flaps. NASCAR is set for an off-road detour through the dirt. The Truck Series is headed for the Eldora Speedway half-mile dirt track for a one-night only special designed to reconnect NASCAR with its early roots and give fans raised on asphalt and stock cars a taste of the wild races run in the dust. The last time one of NASCAR’s top touring series competed on dirt was Sept. 30, 1970, when Richard Petty won a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (called the Grand National Division at that time) race at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds. The dirt drought ends when the trucks race tonight ( 6:30, Speed) at Eldora in Rossburg, Ohio. – AP