Happy Friday everyone. Habbajeeba, we made it through the week! March 19, 1967: David Pearson wins the Southeastern 500 for his first victory at Bristol. Cale Yarborough is 7 seconds back, the only other car on the lead lap. Darel Dieringer finishes third, three laps back. In 20 Cup starts at Bristol, Pearson wins five times and 10 times finishes in the top 10. Picture yourself cruising in Tony's 2010 Camaro Coupe 2SS. It's a "Summit White", list price at over $35,000! Tony asked Will Castro of Unique Autosports to work his magic and add a few customizations! Buy a ticket for $50 – you'll be entered to win the Grand Prize including the Camaro, A VIP Trip to Stewart-Haas Racing and a personal meet & greet with Tony!!! 70 Early Bird prizes starting March 15th. Get 'em while you can!!!! Just go to www.smokescamaro.
Bits and Pieces No plans for payback by Brad K: #12-Brad Keselowski says "the slate is clean," and anticipates no escalation of the feud that has festered between himself and #99-Carl Edwards when they line up again this weekend at Bristol. "I don't have any hard feeling; it's over as far as I'm concerned," Keselowski said Thursday during a media luncheon at the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum to promote the April 3 NASCAR Nationwide race at Nashville Superspeedway. Keselowski has been in the news for the past two weeks including an appearance on Good Morning America after taking an upside-down airborne ride at Atlanta Speedway. Keselowski, who was not injured, was sent sailing after being intentionally tagged in the rear by Edwards. Keselowski earlier in the race had wrecked Edwards. Keselowski said he has had no communication with Edwards since the crash. The Sprint Cup Series had an open date last week. Their next meeting will be at Bristol on one of the toughest, most physical races on the circuit. While track's close-quarter racing often has tempers flaring, Keselowski said he doesn't expect any "carryover" from the Atlanta incident. He added, however, that he won't change his aggressive driving style. "This is how I race," he said. "It's what got me where I am today, and I think the fans appreciate it." (Nashville City Paper) ESPN Publishing to Release Dale Earnhardt Commemorative Bookazine: As NASCAR prepares to welcome the inaugural class into its Hall of Fame, ESPN pays tribute to Dale Earnhardt, the sport's greatest hero, with a collector's edition commemorative bookazine: "Dale Earnhardt: The Legend Lives" available nationwide March 30 for $9.99. The 100-page book celebrates every step of Earnhardt's rise through NASCAR's ranks, from turning a wrench on his daddy's late-model sedans to showing his youngest boy, Dale Jr., the quickest way around a track. The stories and rich photography show sides of Earnhardt rarely seen by fans, told by those who knew him best: his son, Dale Jr., his team owner, Richard Childress, his gas man, Chocolate Myers, and NASCAR's CEO, Brian France; along with a team of the most respected motorsports writers in the business Ed Hinton, Ryan McGee and Marty Smith, to name a few. (ESPN PR) Scotts EZ Seed Showdown: the Scotts EZ Seed Showdown, a 12-car, 35-lap event at Bristol Motor Speedway, is scheduled for Saturday, March 20th after the Scotts Turf Builder 300 Nationwide Series event. Drivers scheduled to run the race are David Pearson, Larry Pearson, Harry Gant, Rick Wilson, Cale Yarborough, Charlie Glotzbach, Dave Marcis, Tommy Houston, L.D. Ottinger, Jack Ingram, Phil Parsons and Jimmy Hensley. Tickets are available, starting at $45, which includes both races. To purchase tickets, please visit www.bristolmotorspe Gordon Goes Back To School In Martinsville: It's been a while since Jeff Gordon last attended elementary school, but on Thursday he got a refresher course from the students at Patrick Henry Elementary School in Martinsville. In town to help promote the March 28th Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway, Gordon spent a couple of hours with third and fourth graders at Patrick Henry Elementary School. It was an eye-opener to say the least. "Things have changed a lot, a whole lot since I was in school," said Gordon, who has a four-year-old daughter and a second child on the way. "Especially now that I'm a parent it's an education for me to see what I'll be going through in a few years, seeing what the kids are learning these days. It's been a while since I've visited a school & don't think I have since I've been a parent and I see it in a whole different perspective now." Patrick Henry principal Dr. Joan Montgomery led Gordon and a large media contingent on a tour of the school, making stops along the way in classes outfitted with electronic and computer learning aids that would rival the electronics in Gordon's race shop. Patrick Henry Elementary School is a 2009 Distinguished Title 1 School and a School of Excellence, according to the Virginia Board of Education. Martinsville Speedway tickets may be purchased by calling 1.877.RACE.TIX or online at www.martinsvillespe ESPN Motor Sports Coverage Earns Five Sports Emmy Nominations: ESPN's coverage of motor sports earned five Sports Emmy Award nominations, among an industry-leading 54 nominations earned by ESPN, Inc., it was announced today by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. For the ninth time in 10 years, ESPN earned the most nominations of any submitting company. The winners will be announced Monday, April 26. The five nominations in motor sports included both NASCAR and the Indianapolis 500. HARVICK SAYS CARL EDWARDS IS "FAKE AS HELL" captainthunderracin Kevin Harvick had no intention of holding back when asked about the Carl Edwards Brad Keselowski Atlanta incident on Wednesday's "Bubba The Love Sponge" radio show (www.BTLS.com) Harvick had strong words for Edwards, but supported NASCAR's decision to place Edwards on a three-race probation. Harvick said, "I'll be honest with you, I'm not a huge Carl Edwards fan. I think he's fake as hell. But, for me the whole situation is, I think NASCAR handled it good. I wasn't critical of it, I just said that I guess I grew up getting in trouble in NASCAR in the wrong era because it cost me a hell of a lot more money than it did these guys. But, that's OK. It's a new era and new things and new restrictions and I agree with letting the drivers handle things between themselves." "I still think if Carl had to do it over again he would do it a little bit differently. You can make life hell on somebody for a long time and they can think your going to wreck them for a year, so it's all how you want to use it. It's all just how you want to use that and for how long you want to use it before you get even. Either way, you at least wait until the corner, you don't crash them in the middle of the straightaway. I wouldn't have handled it that particular way, I would of at least waited until the corner." - John 'Captain Thunder' Nevins Darrell Waltrip Tips NASCAR's Hand on Twitter Rebecca Gladden/insiderraci For the past two weeks, the NASCAR Nation has been in a state of continuous debate regarding the Carl Edwards / Brad Keselowski incident that took place in the Cup race at Atlanta. There are really two parts to the discussion and a wide array of opinions -- first, about the incident itself, and second, about NASCAR's response to it. Predictably, those who took Carl Edwards' side in the argument -- that his on-track actions were justified and fell in line with NASCAR's new 'have at it' policy -- were equally supportive of the very light penalty he received: probation for three races with no money or points fines. Fans who felt that Edwards had crossed the line, intentionally wrecking Keselowski to teach him a lesson (as per Edwards' self-described "code"), considered NASCAR's slap-on-the- Many also contend that the ruling was grossly inconsistent with previous penalties leveled by the sanctioning body for, arguably, much less blatant and risky moves than the one Edwards pulled at Atlanta. Regardless of where you fell on the spectrum of opinion, however, NASCAR's ruling was widely seen as proof that the sanctioning body was standing by its preseason message to drivers and fans -- that it was "putting things back in the drivers' hands" and telling them to "have at it" on the racetrack. But, now comes word from former three-time Cup Champion Darrell Waltrip, currently a race commentator and columnist with FOX Sports, that NASCAR will be changing -- or at least clarifying -- its hands-off approach -- starting this weekend at Bristol. On his Twitter page Tuesday, Waltrip wrote in a series of tweets: "When the drivers meeting is over Sunday, new deal, no more getting even … I think Mike Helton will 'splain to the boys, if you're racing and make contact, we understand, if its a pay back, woo (sic) be unto you! … If you fix your car and come back on the track and wreck someone intentionally, Driver, crew chief and owner are all in big trouble, not just 1." Waltrip emphasized that harsh future penalties for similar occurrences would befall not just the drivers, but the crew chiefs as well, tweeting: "Thats the one question I have for Bob Osborne, Carl's crew chief, did you have any idea Carl was going to do what he did, was he surprised! … one more thing, the crew chief is responsible for any action that involves his car, crew members, anyone that works on that car, driver too." Whether Waltrip has real inside knowledge of the situation (as I suspect), or was simply postulating, is unclear. But, as his Twitter messages clearly indicate, if you took the soft penalty on Edwards as proof positive that things have changed in NASCAR, you are probably mistaken. When the penalty against Edwards was announced last week, NASCAR President Mike Helton -- foreshadowing this weekend's pending announcement -- said, "Historically, if you look back at NASCAR's reaction to things, we may react to the first incident differently than we react to the third or fourth or fifth incident. So, it's how much interaction or reaction does NASCAR have to have to turn the tide back in the direction where it should be." Helton's statement is the closest thing yet to an admission that NASCAR is guilty of the very thing that drives fans crazy: by stating that it reacts differently to one infraction than it does to another, Helton confirmed that NASCAR is, indeed, inconsistent in its rulings. Consistently inconsistent. And that's one thing that hasn't changed and probably never will. Helton said that NASCAR will continue to crack down on drivers who cross the line -- but, when asked where that line was, replied, "We see it when we see it." Ah, ambiguity at its finest. So, if you've been riding a high since last week under the mistaken assumption that the Carl Edwards' ruling indicates a true transformation in NASCAR's thinking -- think again. One penalty does not a paradigm shift make. Junior Johnson's son following in dad's footsteps Jeff Bobo/timesnews. KINGSPORT — Junior Johnson began his Hall of Fame NASCAR career banging around little short track bullrings across the Southeast, and now six decades later his son is literally following in his footsteps. Robert Johnson, a 16-year-old high school sophomore, competed in his first career Late Model race this past Sunday in the UARA-Stars touring series at the historic Hickory Motor Speedway in North Carolina. That's a track where his father, now 78 years old, first won in what is now called the NASCAR Sprint Cup series in 1955, and won seven times overall. Robert Johnson's Hickory debut impressed his crew chief Ed Berrier, who won at Hickory in 1998 in the Nationwide series. On Sunday, Johnson finishing eighth after qualifying 25th in a 30-car field, and he earned an award for passing the most cars during the 150-lap race. "He started 25th and kept the fenders on it and came home with a top 10," Berrier said. "That was pretty impressive for a rookie. He hasn't driven many of these cars. He did a good job. We just gotta get him some experience racing against these guys. He's got to learn how they race, and he's got to learn some of these tracks. We're doing a lot of testing. I don't think it's out of the question (that he could win a race in 2010)." On Thursday, Junior Johnson was making personal appearances around the Tri-Cities in preparation for acting as grand marshal of Saturday's NASCAR Legends race at Bristol. Meanwhile Robert Johnson spent Thursday making preparations for a different type of race. Johnson will compete in his second career Late Model race a week from Saturday, on March 27 in the UARA-Stars 150-lap event at Kingsport Speedway. The UARA-Stars series tours the Southeast and is composed of an interesting mix of veteran local short track aces, young up-and-coming drivers, and second- and third-generation drivers. A few examples include Steve Grissom's son Kyle, Robert Pressley's son Coleman, Larry McReynolds' son Brandon, and Richard Childress' grandson Ty Dillon, who finished third at Hickory on Sunday. And with his start Sunday at Hickory, Johnson added his name to that list. By the time Johnson was born, his father had been retired from driving for nearly three decades and was closing in of the end of his career as a car owner. Still, Junior Johnson's fame hasn't wavered since he left the competitive side of NASCAR, and Robert Johnson knows that means there will be a lot of eyes on him as his driving career begins this year. "Coming from Dad's history there's kind of a long shadow cast over me," Johnson said. "It's great that he's getting into the Hall of Fame. It's good to see him get rewarded for all the stuff he's done for the sport." Johnson added, "There's always a certain amount of pressure as far as anything I do in racing. Dad's been sort of teaching me how to handle it. There was a lot of pressure on him when he was driving, and he's got some good ways to handle it. I just need to relax. Take it easy. Just focus on what you're doing at the racetrack." Robert Johnson has spent a lot of his life following his dad around racetracks, although it wasn't until a couple of years ago that he decided he wanted to be a driver. He spent last year competing off and on in lower divisions at a couple of North Carolina short tracks before making the leap to a full season in the Late Model touring series in 2010. He said his goal for 2010 is to win UARA Rookie of the Year, gain some experience and maybe win a race or two. The biggest challenge will be figuring out all of the little bullrings he'll be competing at this year for the first time. And as he figured out Thursday, there might not be a track harder on rookies on the circuit than Kingsport Speedway with its tight, hairpin corners. "It's tough," he said around midday. "Long straightaways and tight corners. I haven't quite got it figured out yet. I'm using a lot of brake. We'll get it." Johnson used to play lacrosse in high school. He said he gave that up after making the decision to race. He said racing is his main focus now. Does he want to make a career out of it like his father did when he started nearly 60 years ago? "Definitely," Johnson said. Can Busch keep momentum going at Bristol? Jeff Hammond/foxsports. You know, I really wish we were running the rear spoiler this weekend at Bristol. I think it would help the cars now. I think it would make them more competitive. If we are going to a track with multi-grooves, I would love to see them utilized to the max and I think the spoiler is better suited for that than the wing. The one thing I am looking for from Bristol is whether Kurt Busch can keep the momentum going. This has always been a good race track for him so there's no reason to think he won't be a frontrunner. Bristol has always been a good track for Kevin Harvick too. Can he and crew chief Gil Martin continue the resurgence of the No. 29 car? For that matter, I expect the whole stable of RCR drivers to be strong there. They continue to make believers out of folks this year that RCR is back and for real. NASCAR needs a shot ... of whiskey Allen Gregory | Sports Writer / Bristol Herald Courier The red clay roots of stock car racing can be traced to the hills of North Carolina and northern Georgia. Under the dead of night, moonshine runners relied on guts and cunning to outrun the law. Those same wild-eyed ruffians took their talents to far-flung dirt It was wild, dangerous and dirty. The not-so-glorious stock-car game was eventually organized into something called NASCAR. Track promoters such as Russ Catlin and Humpy Wheeler recognized that folks needed an escape from the ordinary, so they devised all sorts of catchy Many of the promotions centered on the derring-do of drivers such as Fireball Roberts, Tiny Lund and Curtis Turner. These self-made guys captivated fans with For whatever reason, the art of promotion seems to have vanished in NASCAR. Instead of focusing on the gritty and heroic nature of racing, fans are treated to an endless reel of fluff. Frustrated by generic cars and robotic drivers, traditional fans have been leaving the sport for a couple years. Want evidence? Check the lackluster television ratings and empty seats for events at the top three levels of NASCAR. It's time to show the real side of stock-car racing. Forget the soap opera. Show us some grit. Call it redneck or wrestling on wheels if you want, but racers The mesmerizing crash and bitter wordplay involving Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski at Atlanta Motor Speedway could not have unfolded at a better time Yes, the national economy is lousy and average folks have to worry about paying their light bill. True racing fans should still be to make sacrifice because the There may not have been as many wrecks since the track was resurfaced and widened in 2007, but where else can you see 43 cars zoom around a concrete bowl at 120 mph. That's gritty stuff, even without the typical Bristol carnage. The various Fortune 500 sponsors, which fuel NASCAR, hate to see conflict. The stockholders would much rather see their toothy corporate spokesmen Judging from the preseason speeches, NASCAR leaders have gotten the message that fans want more action and reality. Witness the lack of penalties following the Edwards-Keselowski clash. The promotional staff at Bristol Motor Speedway deserves credit for playing up the rowdy history of their track. This sport needs more real drama. NASCAR could even use the services of a few carnival barkers roaming the streets with signs heralding "the fighting, fussing and wrecking" elements of NASCAR. Since the first chase through the hills between the whiskey runner and the revenuer, racing has been a diversion for common people who enjoy a fast ride on the wild side. The suits in the suites might revolt, but NASCAR needs a shot of whiskey. A big shot. Hamlin latest hotshot to falter early David Newton/espn. CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Denny Hamlin was the talk of NASCAR before the season. The confidence and maturity he showed in 2009, particularly winning three of the final 11 races, turned heads. Many predicted he was the chosen one to knock Jimmie Johnson off the top of the Sprint Cup hill and win his first championship. Hamlin seemed to embrace the role, too, shrugging off comparisons to Carl Edwards, who fell flat after being picked to win the title in 2006 and 2009 coming off stellar seasons. "I've been compared to Carl before," Hamlin said during the preseason media tour. "He had a really good rookie year and then had a sophomore slump and didn't make the Chase. "But I am not Carl Edwards and I am not with Roush Fenway [Racing]. I am Denny, I am with Joe Gibbs Racing and with an organization that does a really good job of minimizing the peaks and valleys. So I don't foresee any of the expectations being too far off." Maybe not. But Hamlin, like many before picked to follow a great season with a championship one, is off to a rocky start. He is 22nd in points with no finish better than 17th, although to be fair he did have a potential winning car at Atlanta before two blown tires left him 21st. We've seen this before. Edwards had four wins and was tied with teammate Greg Biffle for second in the standings in 2005. He had no wins and was 12th in points the following year. In 2008, Edwards had a series-high nine wins and was second in points. He finished 2009 with no wins and in 11th. Other favorites have gone through this, as well. Mark Martin had a win and 22 top-10s while finishing second to Tony Stewart in 2002. He followed that with his worst full season in Cup, finishing 17th with no wins and 10 top-10s. Kyle Busch won eight races in 2008. Like Edwards, he was picked by many to succeed Johnson. He missed the Chase in 2009 and was in such disarray that crew chief Steve Addington was replaced with three races remaining. Jeff Gordon won six races and finished second to Johnson in 2007. He followed that with no wins and a seventh-place finish in 2008. The examples are endless. It seems the only one not affected by the favorite role is Johnson, the four-time defending champion. Maybe it's pressure. Maybe it's rotten luck. Maybe Johnson simply is better than everybody else. "We talked a lot about it before the season started last year," Edwards said. "Everybody said, 'Hey, what about all this pressure?' I learned in 2006 it doesn't matter what you did the year before. It doesn't matter what everyone expects of you. "This sport comes down to how fast your race car is and how your luck goes. You can have all the hope in the world, and 2006 proved it to me. The 2009 season galvanized it. You have to go to the job and you have to be fast." Edwards admitted he got somewhat wrapped up in his own press clippings prior to the 2006 season. It happens to a lot of young drivers who never have been in the center of the spotlight. Not being able to produce made the struggles tougher to swallow. "It screwed up my head," Edwards said. "When I first realized it wasn't going to be the type of season it looked like it should have been, I kind of had to scramble. Eventually I thought, 'OK, wait a second. You need to be more realistic here.' "Some of that was based on you're a young guy, you see your name there, people are saying this is the pick for the championship. You don't want to get ahead of yourself is what I'm saying." Edwards isn't saying that has happened to Hamlin or any other driver who falls short of expectations. He's just saying it happens. And when it happens, until you realize why it did, you often make up excuses. Hamlin already has experienced that to a degree, saying "Toyota is behind on their motors" in a recent USA Today diary. "If you buy into that stuff people say, then you're setting yourself up for possibly bigger disappointment, "I started feeling maybe a little bigger than I should have in 2006. This sport will humble you very quickly. That season we did not meet the media's expectations, the fan's expectations. We were so far off of that it really did teach me a good lesson." Edwards tried to warn us prior to 2009 not to base predictions on what he did the year before. Many did anyway. It's as natural as picking the Super Bowl or World Series runner-up to win it all the following season. There are plenty of examples of failure there, as well. "I remember telling you guys, 'Hey, this could go either way, there are no guarantees,' "Again, I'm not speaking about Denny, but for a driver who hasn't been through that, it can be a little bit overwhelming when you're not having the kind of success you can." The good news for Hamlin is he still has time to recover. He's only 73 points out of the 12th and final spot for the Chase with a lot of drivers a lot less experienced and talented ahead of him. He's also gotten off to slow starts before and rallied to make the Chase. He was 14th at this point a year ago, 19th in 2008, eighth in 2007 and 20th in 2006. He's also coming up on a couple of short tracks -- Bristol and Martinsville -- where history tells you he can make up ground quickly. So will he become the one to knock Johnson off? Or will he become another statistic of favorites who failed? Stay tuned.
Memo: Love Not On Drivers' Itineraries At Bristol Jim Pedley | Managing Editor, RacinToday.com Let's see what's in the Morning Memo today: If there is anybody out there who thinks that Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski will be letting bygones be bygones this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, you need to adjust medication. If you think air-clearing sessions with NASCAR officials, sponsors, team owners or clergyman is going to rewire either of these two race car drivers, forget it. Their mutual dislike runs deep. This is not short track stuff of bump fenders at the track and then share beers in the parking lot. These are two single-minded competitors who are as good as they are because they are single minded and right now, those minds are not focusing on doing things to make the other guy like them. A couple of weeks ago, I was a guest on a radio show – Michael Knight's superb Wednesday night "Race Reporters" on Power Up – and Keselowski was the guest. He was quite willing to answer all questions we threw at him. At that time, Keselowski's feud of the week was with Denny Hamlin – he would not get back to Edwards for another week or so – but what he said gives you a pretty good look into Keselowski's thought processes when it comes to racing. I suggested to Keselowski that a whole lot of people have been describing his driving style for him in recent weeks, and I asked him if he would describe it himself. He said, "I would say very aggressive but also very passionate. I have a lot of passion for what I do. I really enjoy it. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't wake up and think how lucky I am to drive race cars for a living. Certainly not an average job, that's for sure. I take it very seriously. It's something I want to do for a long time. "The passion and aggressive I have is from a desire to win and a desire to give back to those who have given to me." Keselowski was also asked if if there is somebody after whom he patterns his driving style. Nope. Not Earnhardt Sr., not Ernie Irvan. He said, "I race the way I would want to be raced and I race the way I would want to watch. That's what's fun to me. Racing is still fun for me. To keep it fun I have to do things that entertain me and entertain the fans. To race hard and to push the competitors around me to race hard, that's fun to me. I think the fans enjoy that." Keselowski's answers were thoughtful, sincere and spring water clear – he's in the driving business, not the forgiving business. Memo to self: Sure would be fun to be in the motorhome parked between Edwards' and Keselowski at Bristol. — RIP, Ayrton: Last weekend, the IndyCar Series opened its season with a race in Sao Paulo, Brazil. That's the place where Ayrton Senna, perhaps the most revered driver in the history, was born. Senna, viewed by many – including fellow drivers – as the best wheelman ever, died in a freakish crash while leading the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994. At least one current driver took the opportunity of being in Sao Paulo to pay his respects to Senna. Japanese driver Hideki Mutoh of Newman/Haas/ "Senna has always been my idol," Mutoh said. "I watched him race when I was a little boy and I am still amazed at his ability to this day. Since I was in Brazil for the first time and so close to Morumbi I wanted to go there and pay my respects to him. "I have been asked before, 'If you could meet anyone and ask them a question, who would it be?' My answer was Senna. He won three World Championships and was still racing. I would ask him what it was that motivated him." Memo to self: Plus one on all that. — Thanks, Danica: Danica Patrick did not win the ARCA race at Daytona Motor Speedway back in February. Or did she? Bobby Gerhart, the guy who took the checkered flag at the end of the race said this week that he might not have been able get the victory had Patrick not been driving an ARCA car that weekend. "I really need to thank Danica Patrick," said Gerhart. "All the eyeballs were looking somewhere else. I'm not saying they're all on me anyway, but I usually get quite a bit at Daytona. I didn't do one interview while I was there. No picture, nothing. It was the first time I went there and didn't get derailed on my thought process. It worked out very well for me." Memo to self: Ask Mr. Hendrick if that his his plan as well. — Another migration?: Might NASCAR drivers begin emigrating to another form of racing the ala open wheelers to NASCAR in recent years? Nah. But two NASCAR stars have shown recent interest in the NHRA this month. Kurt Busch actually raced a Sportsman Dodge in last weekend's NHRA Gatornationals. And Michael Waltrip paid a visit to the race to watch friend and NAPA stablemate Ron Capps drive his nitro Funny Car. Both Busch and Waltrip came away smiling. Said Waltrip of watching – and feeling – 8,000 horsepower cars, "It's just amazing. I can't imagine that, the way the sound hits you and bounces off of you…Standing there and feeling it, I can't describe it. I'm just so thankful that I'm here." Waltrip's visit came on his weekend off from NASCAR. It came as an unplanned side trip. "Being here was funny because we woke up this morning in Daytona and had every intention of flying home with my buddies, back to North Carolina. Our luggage was on the plane and we were about to get on and I asked Brian, my friend, and I said 'We're pretty close to those drag races, we probably should go, don't you think?' So we grabbed our luggage off the plane and got a rental car and drove over. "I'm certainly thankful I did because watching the NAPA car just then was one of the coolest things ever. I know y'all are used to it, but I've got a permanent grin on my face. Just trying to explain it to people. It's incredible. I would like to know what it feels like to be Ron, to do it. But I don't want to know bad enough to actually learn how to do it." Memo to self: Knowing Waltrip, the real reason for de-planing may have been the fee for extra baggage. By the Numbers: Bristol Winning at Bristol: Kyle picks up where Kurt left off By NASCAR.COM Race No. 5: Food City 500 from Bristol Motor Speedway (1 p.m. ET Sunday on FOX). Green at 1:13 p.m. ET. 0 -- Wins at Bristol for Jimmie Johnson, who has won eight of the past 19 short-track races overall. Johnson has made 16 starts at Bristol, with three top-fives and eight top-10s. He finished in the top 10 in both races in 2009, including a career-tying- 1 -- Top-10 finishes in 11 spring races at Bristol for Tony Stewart. He has six top-10s in 11 summer night races. 1 -- Teams to post a 1-2-3 finish at Bristol: Richard Childress Racing's Jeff Burton-Kevin Harvick-Clint Bowyer in March 2008. Seven times a team has finished 1-2, most recently by Joe Gibbs Racing in March '09: Kyle Busch-Denny Hamlin. Hendrick Motorsports (1996, '98) and Roush Fenway Racing ('98 and '03) each have accomplished it twice. 2 -- Season sweeps in 2009: Kyle Busch won both races; Mark Martin started on the pole both times. Busch became the first driver to sweep Bristol since Kurt Busch in '03. There has been 15 season sweeps in 49 years of racing at BMS. 3 -- Drivers who have combined to win seven of the past nine races at Bristol: Kyle Busch (March 2007 and both races in '09), Matt Kenseth (August '05 and '06), Carl Edwards (August '07 and '08). Other winners during that stretch: Kurt Busch (March '06), who won four of five races at BMS from March '02 through March '04, and Jeff Burton (March '08). 3 -- Consecutive spring races extended past the scheduled distance for a green-white- 5 -- Wins at Bristol for Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch, most among active drivers. Darrell Waltrip is the all-time leader with 12. 6 -- Drivers to finish in the top 10 in both races at Bristol in 2009: Marcos Ambrose, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin and Ryan Newman. Hamlin has four consecutive top-10s at BMS, the longest active streak. Ambrose has only the two starts there. 6 -- Consecutive lead-lap finishes at Bristol for Clint Bowyer, the longest current streak. 7 -- Most top-10 finishes in the past 10 races at Bristol: Greg Biffle, Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Biffle has four of his five top-fives during that span. Busch has three victories and two runner-up finishes during that span. Junior has 11 top-10s in his past 16 starts at BMS, including his only win in August 2004. 22 -- Races won from the pole, most recently by Matt Kenseth in August 2006. The spring race has not been won from the pole since Rusty Wallace in 1999. 22 -- Times Jeff Gordon has started on the front row in 34 races at Bristol. He has started on the pole five times, his most recent in March 2007. His most recent front-row start was in March '08. He qualified 33rd this past August, his worst starting position there. 38 -- Starting position for Elliott Sadler in March 2001, the worst of any winner at any short track in Cup Series history. It was Sadler's first victory and the only win at Bristol for the Wood Brothers (No. 21 Ford); the team hasn't won a race since. 43 -- Percentage of race laps led by Kyle Busch the past two years at Bristol: 868 of 2,007, including 415 laps in August 2008 and 378 in March '09. 62 -- Lead laps needed for Jeff Gordon to become the fifth driver to lead 2,500 laps at Bristol. Gordon has led only 53 laps combined the past four years and didn't lead any in 2009, the first time he failed to lead a lap in a season series at BMS since his rookie year of 1993 and just the third time he has gone back-to-back races without leading a lap (just one lap the past four races). Gordon has led 62 laps at Bristol since August '03 (179). • Powered by Racing Recall NASCAR ON TV THIS WEEK
All times Eastern Well, that's all for today. Until the next time, I remain, Your Nascar Momma Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"
"Don't come here and grumble about going too fast. Get the hell out of the race car if you've got feathers on your legs or butt. Put a kerosene rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up there and eat that candy ass." -Dale Earnhardt - 1998 |
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