A NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national championship was not something Zach Bristol foresaw in his future before 2024.
An elevator mechanic from Snohomish, Washington, the 35-year-old is a third-generation racer who competes mainly at Washington‘s Evergreen Speedway. He grew up watching his grandfather Paul Townsend, his father Tim Bristol and sisters Nikki and Breanna race at Evergreen hoping one day he, too, would be able to compete at the NASCAR Home Track.
“I grew up living in the grandstands at Evergreen watching all the racing,” Bristol said. “It was my whole childhood.”
For the last 16 years, he‘s lived that dream, competing mainly in Evergreen’s Hornet division, where he just captured his second straight track championship.
That alone would have been plenty for Bristol, but his success during the 2024 season was enough to win the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Division V national championship, as well.
“It feels like a dream almost, because getting state championship and regional championships, I see it all the time at my track,” Bristol said. “A national one just seems way out of the realm.
“Just the thought of somehow pulling that off this year, I‘m still kind of pinching myself. I‘m still kind of shocked I managed to pull it off this year.”
The plan was never to try and win a national championship. In fact, the plan wasn‘t even to race in the Hornet division this year at Evergreen.
After winning the Hornet championship one season ago, Bristol had planned to move up to the Mini Stock class at Evergreen for the 2024 season. A mix of issues ultimately prevented that, so Bristol changed his plans.
Instead of racing in the Mini Stock class, he returned to the Hornet division to try and become just the second driver in track history to win back-to-back titles.
“I‘d been battling engine issues in (the Mini Stock) the last two or three years. It was a mix of that and being very busy with work took time away from me getting the car ready,” Bristol said. “I still had my Hornet car because I was the 2023 Hornet champion at Evergreen.
“There has been only one other driver in our division to go back-to-back. So, I said, ‘OK, that‘s the only goal I have. To go back-to-back.‘”
The pursuit of a second Hornet championship was not easy. Because his job required him to be on call many Saturdays during the season, he was never sure if he would be able to race until the green flag waved for his feature.
Work kept him busy during the week, too, so he requested the help of Tommy Hibbs, the man who sold him the car. Bristol needed Hibbs’ assistance preparing the ride each week.
“We came to the agreement to where if he could just keep the upkeep on the car, I would show up and race Saturday,” Bristol said. “No promises that I might get a phone call, and I‘d have to leave right there, and you might have to jump in for me. We came to that agreement, went out for the first race and had a clean sweep.”
That night set the tone for what became incredible season, but it wasn‘t until the halfway point of the year when Bristol realized he was in contention for the Division V national title. The news was delivered by the staff at Evergreen.
“I think it was mid-July, the track came to me,” Bristol said. “They keep tabs on the regional points since last year I won the Division V West region championship. They were like, ‘Hey, you‘re leading the West region.‘
“OK, cool. That‘s the cherry on top. Then they also said, “Also, we want to let you know you‘re leading the national points right now.‘”
Bristol remained in the thick of the national championship fight for the rest of the year, but a bad night on Sept. 1 nearly derailed everything.
“We had a bunch of car trouble and had to borrow a car for a race and didn‘t really get the finish I wanted,” Bristol said. “The other race, we thankfully got a podium to kind of make up for it. But that dropped us down to like third or fourth. I was like, ‘Well, it‘s kind out of the realm.‘”
He clinched the Hornet track championship on Sept. 14, so he accomplished his primary goal for the year by going back-to-back. However, he was two points shy of the Division V national title.
“I was like, ‘Oh, OK, we‘re a little short,’” Bristol said. “Then come to find out that the next weekend we were running a money race (at Evergreen) and it was going to be for national points.
“I had no plans on running it. Usually, the postseason races that Evergreen runs, I‘ll put my buddy or my car owner in the car to have some fun. I called my car owner and was like, ‘We need to run, and I need to be in the car, and we need to run somewhere good.””
Bristol did exactly what he needed the next weekend at Evergreen. He started 16th, got spun, raced his way to the front and watched as the leaders crashed to hand him the lead and, ultimately, the championship-clinching win.
“I was making my way forward and got spun out,” Bristol said. “Then I slowly but surely made my way back up there and was running third and the leaders took each other out. I was like, ‘OK, thank God.‘
“I wasn‘t sure exactly where we needed to finish (to win the national championship), but I knew winning would be the easiest way to win it all.”
In all, Bristol won five times during the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series season. He also scored 12 top-five and 13 top-10 finishes in 15 races, which gave him a 34-point edge on Adams County Speedway regular John Berg in the final Division V standings. He also claimed the West Region Division V championship.
It‘s the first national championship for Bristol and by far the biggest racing accomplishment he‘s secured. It‘s also the first Weekly Series national championship for a driver from Evergreen.
“It means the world,” Bristol said. “(My family) has raced all these decades, and over these 35 or 40 years that my family has been racing, before I came along, we had maybe two or three main event wins. We were never really the fastest, just there enjoying the racing life.
“We can‘t believe we pulled this off. Everybody was just so overjoyed.”
After winning the national title, Bristol wasn‘t sure he and his family would be able to make the trip to Charlotte, North Carolina, for the annual championship celebration.
A fundraiser was organized to raise the money to make it happen, and within three days, their goal was met. According to Bristol, that just shows the strength of the racing family at Evergreen.
“My sister Morgan, she‘s my biggest supporter. She started a GoFundMe,” Bristol said. “Within three or four days, a lot of people donated from the race track to where it covered airfare, staying at an Airbnb in Charlotte and getting enough money to go check out some sights.
“One of the things I love about the class I run, it‘s low budget, and it‘s a bunch of guys and gals who can‘t really move up. They don‘t have the funds for it. So, we‘re all living the dream together. Just the fact that they‘re all donating anything to all this, it makes me love the class but my whole track as a whole for the kind of family they are.”
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