BRISTOL, Tenn. — They have seen the photographs. They understand the concept. But no matter. This is the nearly universal first impression, the first time anyone walks out of the tunnel and into the cavernous space:
“Ginormous! Ginormous!”
That was Virginia Tech defensive end Ken Ekanem on Friday afternoon. A fifth-year senior, he has been there and done that — but no one has ever done THIS.
Bristol Motor Speedway has been called a “college football stadium on steroids,” probably by too many people to mention. But in the Hokies’ locker room (a temporarily converted tire storage facility on the infield) those words are attributed to Dale Earnhardt Jr.