BRISTOL, Tenn. - With few wrecks, only a handful of lead changes and no driver drama, it was easy to declare this past Bristol race a bore.

Many people did just that after watching winner Carl Edwards and runner-up Kasey Kahne lead 487 of the 500 laps in Saturday night’s race around the bullring.

Bristol Motor Speedway fans are used to bumping and banging from start to finish. They’ve packed the grandstands 51 consecutive times, making it NASCAR’s toughest ticket, because cars slide around the concrete and spin into each other.

The wrecks were plentiful, the emotion raw and somebody was always mad when it was over.

But forget for a minute NASCAR’s renegade years, when fighting in the pits was routine. And try not to harp on the classic 1999 finish, when the late Dale Earnhardt claimed he “just meant to rattle his cage a little bit” when he spun Terry Labonte to steal the victory.

Bristol remained electric even as NASCAR polished its corporate image by curbing the temper tantrums through penalties for bad behavior. In the past five years, squeaky clean Jimmie Johnson made an obscene gesture at another driver. Outdoorsman Ward Burton threw heel pads into Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s car window and then said he wished he had something to shoot through that window. Tony Stewart had a bout of road rage on pit road, and Kevin Harvick hurdled a car to accost Greg Biffle.

Even Jeff Gordon, who in 14 years had never landed on NASCAR’s probation list, lost his temper and shoved Matt Kenseth on pit road.

So when nobody started any intentional wrecks Saturday night and not even a heel pad was thrown, fans everywhere wondered just what had happened to their beloved Bristol.

The problem is, most drivers said the race was one of the best they’d ever seen.

“From the inside the car it was awesome,” Tony Stewart said. “It didn’t matter if we finished 10th or 15th, I was having fun. The most fun I have had at Bristol in my career.”

So what exactly constitutes a great race?

To the average viewer, Saturday night wasn’t. Sure, there was plenty of passing — NASCAR’s statistics cite 2,147 total passes, up from 991 in March — but very little of it happened at the front of the pack.

Instead, Kahne started from the pole and jumped out to an enormous lead that Edwards spent the next three hours chipping into. When he finally got there, he and Earnhardt Jr. chased Kahne for several three-wide laps before Edwards finally took over the top spot.

Meanwhile, back in 13th place, J.J. Yeley made a race-high 107 passes.

Not one will show up on a highlight reel anytime soon.

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Bristol was repaved after the March race, and the surface was so smooth, wide and improved that all 43 drivers in the field promised to produce a spectacular race. Cars could drive anywhere, in any line, and two- and three-wide was going to be the norm.

After the Truck and Busch Series put on a pair of thrillers, there was no reason to believe the Nextel Cup event would be anything short of the best ever at Bristol. When the checkered flag waved, the drivers thought they had lived up to the billing.

“I love it. I think the track is fantastic,” Gordon said. “I have never seen that much racing all over the race track.”

But why didn’t that translate?

Perhaps because fans need to see fights and wrecks and fireworks to consider an event a great race. If that’s the case, then it’s not racing they’re really looking for.

Racing is about strategy, in the pits and on the track. It’s about avoiding trouble and coaxing an 18th-place car to a top 10 finish. Knocking cars out of the way, bulldozing to the front and rattling cages isn’t racing.

It’s why NASCAR officials said Saturday night at Bristol was an event for the “pure race fan.”

“Passing was up 108 percent compared to the spring event at Bristol,” spokesman Ramsey Poston said. “Instead of just one line at the bottom of the track, the drivers were battling for position up top, in the middle and down below. When’s the last time anyone saw three wide in the turns at Bristol?

“We’re in the racing business, not the crashing business, and racing is what the fans got Saturday night.”

Maybe it’s time to evaluate what really draws crowds to NASCAR. Is it the crashing? Or is the passing?

If it’s racing they want, then they got it Saturday night. After all, 43 professional drivers can’t be wrong. Can they?