“Dale Earnhardt: The Legend Lives” – available nationwide March 30 for .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.

Dale Earnhardt on the cover of ESPN The Magazine.

FEATURES INCLUDE:

ALONG FOR THE RIDE

Being a passenger with Dale at the wheel was anything but dull. BY ED HINTON

FIRST-CLASS DRIVERS

Junior Johnson and Richard Petty remember their Hall of Fame classmate. BY RYAN MCGEE

THE WHOLE PACKAGE

Earnhardt changed NASCAR with his mind as much as with his right foot. BY BRIAN FRANCE

FATHER KNEW BEST

Dale didn’t finish school, but his daddy gave him a true education. BY RYAN MCGEE

RIGHT BESIDE HIM

Teresa Earnhardt is the engine that’s kept DEI going. BY MIKE HEMBREE

THE DALE TRAIL

Pilgrims flock to Kannapolis to uncover their hero’s roots. BY RYAN MCGEE

SON OF A GUN

Add to the legend this tale of a boy, a dad, a toy car and a pistol. BY MARTY SMITH

TOTAL ACCESS: THE JUNKYARD DOGS

No. 3‘s infamous gas man takes us over the wall. By CHOCOLATE MYERS

THE WINNING CUT

Think Dale was intimidating on the track? Try cutting his hair. BY MARTY SMITH

“I WISH I COULD’VE RACED HIM”

Today’s top driver remembers his first encounter with Big E. BY JIMMIE JOHNSON

- ESPN Communications, Press Release

See below for your special preview

The NASCAR Foundation

• The NASCAR Day commercial will debut this weekend encouraging fans to “Get Your Pin On.” The overall message of the campaign is that with just a $5 donation, you can help support The NASCAR Foundation’s efforts to help children live happier, healthier lives

o   Numerous industry insiders are featured in the commercial including Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, Greg Biffle, David Ragan, Mike Skinner, Todd Bodine, Alan Gustafson, Darrell Waltrip, Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds and more

o   See behind the scenes photos and footage from the commercial shoot at the NASCAR Day fan page (www.facebook.com/NASCARFoundation)

o   Click here for your sneak preview of the 2010 NASCAR Day commercial

Notes for Bristol:

• The NASCAR Foundation has partnered with Speedway Children’s Charities to have NASCAR Day pins available to fans at the Speedway Children’s Charities rig in the fan midway at BMS
• NASCAR Nationwide Series driver James Buescher will be out at the Foundation’s booth at the Sprint Experience on Saturday at 11am to sign autographs for fans who have a NASCAR Day pin
• Miss Motor Speedway representatives will be out at the booth Saturday and Sunday collecting donations
• Fans can always make their donation online for a pin at WWW.NASCAR.COM/NASCARDay

General Facts About NASCAR Day:

• Started in 2004
• Has raised nearly $8 million for charity since it began
• Past celebrity spokespeople include Will Ferrell, Kelly Clarkson, Garth Brooks and Kevin Costner
• “The Big Five” projects include: renovation and race theme decoration of a portion of the Aflac Cancer Center and Blood Disorders Service of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta in Atlanta, Ga.; partnering with Bank of America for a racing-themed educational initiative at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla.; working with Sprint, Inc. for a playground build at the Kansas City Ronald McDonald House in Kansas City, Mo.; A Place for Hope project outside Charlotte, N.C., and a youth initiative at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.
• Fans are encouraged to bring their family and friends to a NASCAR Day service project and experience how together they can improve the lives of those we care about the most.

Visit WWW.NASCAR.COM/NASCARDay to register as a NASCAR Day team member, to find out about volunteer opportunities or to learn more about how The NASCAR Foundation is helping children in need.

- The NASCAR Foundation, Press Release

Talladega Superspeedway

The Easter Bunny will start the event by judging the Easter Basket competition and pose for pictures with the children.  The winner of the Easter Basket competition will get a special prize this year, a 3-foot stuffed Lucky Dog provided by Aaron’s.

When it’s time to hunt for eggs, kids will find that 17,500 plastic eggs stuffed with candy and prizes have been hidden throughout the infield.  50 eggs have special prize slips for an 18-inch stuffed Lucky Dog redeemable at the Aaron’s tent.  Many other eggs have been stuffed with prize slips for Talladega Superspeedway merchandise, redeemable at the Talladega Superspeedway TOW Unit.

“This will be our largest Easter Egg Hunt to date,” said Talladega Superspeedway Chairman Grant Lynch.  “Each year we have increased the number of eggs we hide and the number of activities we have during the day.  And, each year, more and more guests show their support for the track and attend ready to hunt eggs.  We look forward to welcoming everyone for the day and making it our best Easter Egg Hunt yet.”

A detailed list of events follows:

● Easter Basket Contest – Kids are encouraged to decorate their own Easter baskets and arrive with them ready for judging!  Everyone should arrive a little early in order to park, because the Easter Basket Contest will be held as soon as the event begins at 10 a.m.

● Egg Hunts By Age Group – The hunt for prize-filled eggs will begin at 10:30 a.m. for kids age 1 through 3. Then at 10:45 a.m., kids age 4 through 6 will participate in a hunt, followed by kids age 7 through 10 at 11:00 a.m.

● Visit With The Easter Bunny– The Easter Bunny will be available to pose for pictures with eager egg hunters during the event.

● Face Painting – Face painters from Starshine Faces will be ready to create miniature masterpieces on the cheeks of all who visit.

● Refreshments – Two of Talladega Superspeedway’s official sponsors, Pepsi and Golden Flake, will provide refreshments and snacks.

● Prizes– Talladega Superspeedway sponsor Aaron’s will have a display with prizes for the Easter Basket contest and the Easter Egg Hunt, plus handouts to be given away throughout the day.

● Displays and Games –Talladega Superspeedway Pace Cars, the Talladega On Wheels promotions vehicle, displays from the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, Dodge trucks and cars and various other special vehicles utilized by the track will be on display for all to enjoy.

The April 23 -25 Aaron’s Dream Weekend begins a new era at Talladega Superspeedway with new rules, new seats and new lower ticket prices.  For more information on tickets to Talladega Superspeedway, please visit www.talladegasuperspeedway.com or call 1-877-Go2-DEGA. For our hearing impaired guests, please call TDD 1-866-ISC-TRAK (1-866-472-8725). Tickets also are available in person by visiting the Talladega Superspeedway Ticket Office from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. CDT, Monday- Friday.

- Talladega Superspeedway, Press Release

Two-Day Session Helps Teams Prepare For Transition From Wing To Spoiler

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Logo

The two-day session is devoted entirely to spoiler work. Spoilers will replace the current wings on backs of cars beginning with the March 26-28 race weekend at Martinsville Speedway, and this test gives teams and officials the opportunity to fine-tune variables.

Approximately 24 teams participated in this week’s test at Talladega Superspeedway, where spoiler work was included among other mechanical tests for the NASCAR Sprint Cup event on Sunday, April 25 at Talladega.

NASCAR Vice President for Competition Robin Pemberton said that the Charlotte test gives teams the opportunity to test the new spoiler on a 1.5-mile track in preparation for this season’s future competition.

“It’s been quite some time since we’ve had a test of this magnitude at any race track,” Pemberton said. “I think the teams will be working hard.”

The switch from wing to spoiler was one of several rule changes announced on Jan. 21.

The wing replaced the traditional stock-car spoiler on NASCAR’s new car, now in its third fulltime season. Returning to the spoiler means on-track testing, a final step before spoilers are used in competition.

Both the Charlotte and Talladega tests are exceptions to the current testing policy. For the second consecutive season, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series teams may not test at facilities that host national-series events. This year, teams may test at tracks that host regional touring series events, but not national series events.

The Charlotte Motor Speedway test runs from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. ET on Tuesday, and from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m., on Wednesday, with a noon-1 p.m. lunch break each day.

Fans are welcome to attend, with free admission. The track’s frontstretch grandstands will be open from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Tuesday and from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. on Wednesday. Grandstand concessions will be open. Ticket-holders to any 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway have the opportunity to watch testing from an infield seating area behind pit road. Those fans also may participate in a question-and-answer session with available drivers and NASCAR competition officials, meet Miss Sprint Cup and have photos taken with the Charlotte Motor Speedway show car.

For more fan information, visit www.charlottemotorspeedway.com.

- NASCAR, Press Release

ESPN

The five nominations in motor sports included both NASCAR and the Indianapolis 500.

Outstanding Live Sports Special: The Indy 500
Outstanding Technical Team Remote: NASCAR on ESPN
Outstanding Technical Team Studio: ESPN Pit Studio and ESPN Craftsman Tech Garage
Outstanding Production Design/Art Direction: The Indy 500
Outstanding Editing: NASCAR Sprint Cup Season in Review (produced by NASCAR Media Group for ESPN2)

In addition, ESPN’s marketing department received a nomination for Outstanding Sports Promotional Announcement: NASCAR on ESPN – Feel Your Heart Race

ESPN has won 19 Sports Emmy Awards for motor sports in its history, 17 during the 1990s and one in each of the last two years since the network’s return to NASCAR. Overall, ABC has won 160 Sports Emmys since the awards were first given in 1980, while ESPN has won 128 in 21 years of eligibility.

Click here for ESPN’s motorsports latest releases, schedules and other news, plus photos, video and audio clips and more.

- ESPN Communications, Press Release

The Pepsi Max Tailgate Zone

The Pepsi Max Tailgate Zone is an all-inclusive package for race fans featuring:

• A reserved tailgate area that includes the use of a 10×10 tent, table and chairs
• A premium parking pass
• Use of a portable generator provided by Honda Generators
• Four reserved grandstand tickets to the Aaron’s 499 on Sunday, April 25

The Pepsi Max Tailgate Zone will also feature tailgate activities and contests with prizes from Pepsi Max and other participating partners.  The area is located directly behind the Gadsden Grandstands, just steps away from all the action.

“This is a new area we created for our race fans,” said Talladega Superspeedway Chairman Grant Lynch.  “With so many of our fans travelling long distances to get to the races, we want to make it simple for them to have a great tailgate party that is hassle-free.  I believe the Pepsi Max Tailgate Zone is going to be a big hit during the Aaron’s Dream Weekend.”

The Pepsi Max Tailgate Zone package is $299 and available by calling the Talladega Superspeedway Ticket Office at 1-877-Go2-DEGA or visiting the website at www.talladegasuperspeedway.com.

The Aaron’s Dream Weekend features qualifying for the NASCAR Nationwide Series, followed by the ARCA Racing Series 250 race on Friday, April 23.  On Saturday, April 24, fans will see qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, followed by the Aaron’s 312 NASCAR Nationwide Series race.  On Sunday, April 25, NASCAR’s greatest drivers face off in the Aaron’s 499 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.

For more information on tickets to Talladega Superspeedway, please visit www.talladegasuperspeedway.com or call 1-877-Go2-DEGA. For our hearing impaired guests, please call TDD 1-866-ISC-TRAK (1-866-472-8725). Tickets also are available in person by visiting the Talladega Superspeedway Ticket Office from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. CDT, Monday- Friday.

- Talladega Superspeedway, Press Release

2010 NSCS Tony Stewart - Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images for NASCAR

Hugely successful since it opened in 1961, Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway has become the best-selling track in the elite NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. And just as The Wall firmly established Pink Floyd in the public lexicon, the wall at Bristol has firmly established the .533-mile bullring as one of the toughest tracks in NASCAR.

As the series gets ready for Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol, the track’s walls will again be a subject of discussion. That’s because track officials added 160 feet of SAFER Barrier at the exits of turns two and four in an effort to increase driver safety. But the changes also will create a different transition at the exit of the turns and, while no one knows exactly how this will affect the racing, what is known is that there will be less room for error than ever before.

But for 43 of the world’s greatest drivers, that’s not a problem, right? Umm… the last Sprint Cup race at Bristol saw 11 caution periods for a total of 76 laps, and the track’s high-water mark of 167 laps run under caution was back on July 25, 1965 in the Volunteer 500.

The assembled talent isn’t what’s in question. It’s more the physics, for 43 cars lapping the half-mile oval in 15 seconds at speeds over 100 mph inevitably leads to problems – specifically, a lack of real estate.

As any good realtor will tell you, real estate is about location, location, location. And when it comes to navigating Bristol’s high banks, which vary from 26 to 30 degrees, location means a lot, which is why less room for a driver to catch his sideways racecar as he careens off the corner will be high on the minds of the drivers and the roughly 160,000 people in attendance.

Tony Stewart mastered the Bristol Stomp in August 2001 when he successfully navigated his way from 18^th to first after 500 hard-fought laps in the track’s signature night race. It’s his only win at Bristol, and in his 21 other Sprint Cup starts at the East Tennessee facility, Stewart has found more famine than feast, which is especially ironic since most of his famine has come in the Food City 500.

The driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing has a pole, a win, five top-fives, seven top-10s and a total of 1,352 laps led in 22 career Sprint Cup starts at Bristol. He should have more, but the bullring has shown its horns to Stewart more than once, leaving the man they call “Smoke” emitting as much steam as his battered racecar.

But that’s just the nature of Bristol. You’re either really happy or really mad. Middle ground is as hard to find at Bristol as it is in Congress. Yet, just like in Washington, people keep coming back to Bristol to duke it out over what they believe is rightfully theirs.

Sunday’s Food City 500 marks the track’s 99^th Sprint Cup race, and it’s Stewart who expects to be at the head of the table when the checkered flag drops and the trophy is served.

TONY STEWART, Driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing:

Do you have any concerns about less racetrack being available at Bristol because the SAFER Barriers have been extended off the corners?

“The wall is where it is. They paint them so we can see them. After all these years of doing this, it doesn’t matter where they put it. We have to stay a fraction of an inch off of it and use every bit up to it. I’m sure it’s going to make a difference, there is no doubt about it. We all use every bit of room we can get there, anyway. It will make the exits of the corners a little tighter, but I think the racing will still be good there because of it.”

Even though you have an up-and-down track record at Bristol, do you like racing there?

“Yeah, I love it. Ever since they repaved the place and added to two true grooves, it’s made it racier. We have true side-by-side racing, now. Drivers can make their way through the pack without having to wreck each other while they’re doing it. Before, guys got wrecked who weren’t even involved in what was going on, a lot of times, because you’d go to get stopped and somebody behind you wouldn’t get slowed down enough, and you’d get picked up and turned around and your day was ruined. Now, you’ve got a lot more cars finishing the race. You’ve got a lot more cars finishing on the lead lap. And it’s more exciting because of that. The drivers can pass, now. It’s not just sit there and follow the leader and when you finally run out of patience, you nudge the guy out of the way. You still can do that, but at least you can nudge a guy without wrecking him. I think, from the competitor’s standpoint, we like that a lot more knowing that if somebody has to check up in front of you and you get into the back of him, you’re not necessarily going to wreck him because of it.”

Can you summarize your history at Bristol?

“Bristol is one of those places where you’ve got to have everything kind of go your way. If you have one hiccup, it’s hard to recover from it. We’ve only won one race there and we’ve kind of been all over the board. It’s been feast or famine for us. It’s like if you have one problem in the first half of the day, it’s hard to recover from it. It makes for a very long day. We’ve had more long days than good days.”

How important is track position at a place like Bristol, where everything happens so quickly?

“It’s really important. What you’ve got to keep in mind is that every time the competition gets closer, it makes it harder and harder to start further back and pass cars. If you’re a half-second faster than the 20 cars in front of you, you’re probably going to be able to work your way through. If you’re half of a tenth of a second (faster), it’s a lot harder to make up those spots. With the sport and the competition level going up every week, passing is harder. That’s why track position is so important. The thing about Bristol is that, at the end of the day, you still have to have a good-handling racecar. You can get good track position but, if you don’t have a good car, you’re not going to be able to hold onto it.”

On that note, how important is to have a good qualifying effort at Bristol?

“It’s no different than anywhere else because track position is important everywhere we go. Obviously, Bristol is action-packed and everybody gets in a hurry and there are a lot of cautions. So, it is a little more important this week than some of the other tracks we go to about qualifying because you want to get a good starting position, but more so a good pit spot. These boxes can be tricky during the race, and it’s easy to get stuck in your pit box and lose eight or 10 spots if you get boxed in. If you can get a good qualifying run and get a good pit selection, it helps you through the whole day. No matter whether your car is good or bad, you’re going to gain spots.”

TONY STEWART’S BRISTOL PERFORMANCE PROFILE

× Race length extended due to green-white-checker finish.

† Qualifying canceled due to weather, starting position set via car owner points.

◘ Race was finished by Todd Bodine, who took over for Stewart in a relief role on lap 367.

- True Speed Communication for Stewart-Haas Racing, Press Release

NSCS Red Bull Racing Teams No. 82 & No. 83

+ FOUR DOWN, 32 TO GO

We paused and reflected during the off week. Let’s reset the first 11 percent of the Sprint Cup Series season:

82 . SCOTT SPEED DURING DOWN TIME, I …: Took a road trip to the NHRA Gatornationals in Florida. Golfed. Visited the hair salon for a black dye job with blue chunks. Made a guest judge appearance at the Red Bull 3Style competition in Charlotte.

VITAL SIGNS: Tied for 11th in points. He’s never been higher, sits 206 points ahead of 35th place in the car owner standings and owns 226 more points than at this stage one year ago.

BIG MOMENT: A strong and consistent start to his second Sprint Cup season. Speed has finishes of 19th, 11th, 22nd and 10th. He’s led 19 laps — matching his total from all of last year — and the top 10 at Atlanta is the best finish of his career at a track that doesn’t require restrictor plates.

BAD MOMENT: A 22nd-place finish at Las Vegas. “If our bad days are 22nd, then we’re doing something good,” he said. Speed ended up one lap down — the only lap he’s failed to complete.

GRIP’S HIS THING: Speed’s taken quite a liking to Bristol’s concrete high banks. The first time he ever saw the .533-mile track he won the pole and finished third in the 2008 Camping World Truck race. In round two, he finished eighth in the Nationwide race. Rounds three and four came in Sprint Cup, where he’s qualified 11th and third with a best finish of 15th in October 2009.

THE HELL WITH THE HILL: The No. 82 is one race away from a guaranteed spot in the top 35, meaning the team can have stress-free qualifying days beginning with the March 28 race at Martinsville. And if all goes as planned, never again will the No. 82 crew have to make the uphill trek to Bristol’s overflow lot for team transporters.

83 . BRIAN VICKERS DURING DOWN TIME, I …: Went skiing with some friends in Aspen and Jackson Hole. Wondered why some people prefer to exercise in the gym rather than outdoors.

VITAL SIGNS: Ranked 16th in points. But the 2009 Chase participant is only 16 points out of the top 12.

BIG MOMENT: Lap 332 at Atlanta. A multi-car wreck unfolded just ahead of Vickers during an attempt at a green-white-checkered finish. He couldn’t see anything through the smoke and described it as “straight up Days of Thunder,” but spotter Chris Lambert helped guide him through. What could have been disastrous turned into a seventh-place finish — Vickers’ first top 10 of the season. www.redbullracingusa.com

BAD MOMENT: A 31st-place finish at Las Vegas. BV described the race as perhaps the No. 83 team’s worst in three-plus years.

BULLRING BITES BACK: Bristol has never been particularly kind to Vickers. In 11 starts, he has six finishes of 20th or better. The other five times, he’s ended up 29th or worse. Bristol is one of five tracks on the Sprint Cup schedule where Vickers has failed to record a top 10 (Texas, Darlington, Infineon and Homestead).

CENTURY MARK: Vickers will make his 100th start in a Red Bull Toyota on Sunday. BV and Red Bull Racing Team were part of Toyota’s inaugural driver/team lineup in 2007. Since then, Vickers has earned one win (Michigan, August 2009), eight top-five finishes, 24 top 10s and seven poles. He was also the first driver in Toyota’s freshman class to earn a spot in the Chase.

+ TO THE CAR GOES THE SPOILER

Brian Vickers was one of three drivers to record a fast lap above 200 mph during Tuesday’s spoiler test at Talladega Superspeedway, though reports say speeds sometimes eclipsed 210 mph. His lap of 200.163 mph in the afternoon drafting session was third best, while teammate Scott Speed — driving a second No. 83 — was 20th of 25 cars (197.602).

During the test, NASCAR decreased the size of restrictor plates and later asked teams to shave down the traditional spoiler, which is expected to replace the rear wing for the March 26-28 weekend at Martinsville.

“The test went well. We tried several different packages,” Vickers said. “The racing was great … different, but great. I commend NASCAR for trying new things. I feel like the package we ended with was better than the package we started with.

“We plan to see a great race (in April) — a very strategic race — and a lot of three- and four-wide racing. It will definitely make for a great race from the fans’ perspective.”

+ SPEAKING OF TESTING …

Red Bull Racing Team development driver Cole Whitt tested at Greenville- Pickens Speedway on Tuesday in preparation for the NASCAR K&N Series East opener March 27. Whitt, an 18-year-old from Alpine, Calif., drove the No. 84 Red Bull Toyota for 162 laps around the half-mile oval in the upstate of South Carolina.

“Our test went really well, and I’m pretty excited to go back to Greenville to actually race,” Whitt said. “We focused a lot yesterday on race setup and getting our car good for long runs. We have a little bit more work to do at the race shop, but we think it will really pay off on race day.”

Whitt’s only other stock car test took place March 1 at South Boston (Va.) Speedway — the second stop on the K&N East schedule.

“Cole has far exceeded our expectations each time he’s tested,” said RBRT’s Elton Sawyer. “Both the 2008 and 2009 K&N Pro Series East champions were also at the test, so we had a good baseline for comparison. For the Greenville race, we’ll need to work on getting the car a little bit better for long runs. That race will be all about tire management and being patient.”

+ CAN YOU FEEL THE SPEED?

A race at Bristol is as much about feel as it is sound, from the thunder of a 43-car herd on the track to the roar of the 160,000 fans seated above. Ashley Fiolek will rely on feel as she takes in Sunday’s Food City 500 with Red Bull Racing Team.

Ashley’s a 19-year-old Red Bull athlete and superstar motocross racer. And she’s been deaf since birth, but that hasn’t stopped her from achieving the ultimate in motocross.

Nicknamed “The Fastest Woman in Motocross,” Ashley won back-to-back WMA Pro national championships in 2008-09. She won her first X Games gold medal in women’s moto X super X in 2009 (right) and also received an ESPY nomination for “Best Female Action Sports Athlete.”

“Before a race, I can’t hear people talking smack to me or bothering me at the line,” she once told ESPN The Magazine. “If somebody is coming up behind me, I don’t have the pressure of knowing they’re there. But if I’m coming up on someone, they have that pressure.”

Ashley, who reads lips quite well, often relies on her mother, Roni, to translate. Ashley will take a pace car ride Sunday morning and follow drivers Brian Vickers and Scott Speed through their race day routines. She’ll watch the Food City 500 from atop the Red Bull Racing Team pit boxes.

- Red Bull Racing Team, Press Release

NASCAR Returns to The Spoiler at Martinsville Speedway - Photo Credit Harold Hinson Photography

“Quite frankly, the wing wasn’t accepted as widely as we had hoped it would have been by competitors and fans alike,” said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR’s vice-president of competition. “After much effort we started looking and decided to go back to the spoiler.”

Monday morning NASCAR shipped out more than 80 of the new spoilers to all of the NASCAR Sprint Cup teams allowing plenty of time for them to be installed before the Martinsville event.

“I think it was a great move by NASCAR, especially for the fans,” said Martinsville Speedway President W. Clay Campbell. “I think that was the one thing about the new car design that just didn’t connect with fans. I think we will see a really good response from our fans with the move back to the spoiler.”

While teams are just getting the official version of the new spoilers, most have been testing with a version of it for quite a while. There was an open NASCAR test of the spoiler Tuesday at Talladega Superspeedway and there will be another test next week at Charlotte Motor Speedway. And teams have made their own trips to shorter tracks for unofficial tests to get ready for the Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500.

“My first reaction is that it looks better,” said Michael Waltrip Racing’s Martin Truex. “Every car I’ve ran in my entire life except the last two years had had a spoiler on it, so I feel more comfortable with (the spoiler) on the car.

“Everything we’ve done with the spoiler has gone really well. We had the Talladega test yesterday. That went very well. We actually ran it about two months ago down in New Smyrna (FL) on a short track.”

The return of the spoiler is one of several changes NASCAR has made to help increase the excitement level of the sport, including a move to multiple green-white-checkered finishes to help make sure races finish under green and the decision to let competitors be “self-policing” when it comes to on-track incidents.

“As a fan I’m excited about what we’re going to see here at Martinsville next week,” said Campbell. “NASCAR has worked hard to make things more interesting for the fans. The excitement level has always been high here at Martinsville, so I can’t imagine what it may be like with these changes.”

Tickets for the Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 on Sunday, March 28, the Kroger 250 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on Saturday, March 27 and the Duracell Battery Kroger Pole Day on Friday, March 26 are on sale and can be purchased by calling 1.877.RACE.TIX. Tickets may also be purchased online at www.racetickets.com.

Tickets for the Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 begin at just $25.

- Martinsville Speedway, Press Release

Infineon Raceway

Fifteen people participated in the St. Patrick’s Day Sobriety Challenge at Infineon Raceway on Wednesday, a controlled wine and beer tasting demonstration that graphically illustrated the dangers of drinking and driving, even at levels below the legal limit of .08-percent.

The raceway teamed with the CHP and the Jim Russell Racing Drivers School’s Highway Survival Program on the event, which was held purposely on St. Patrick’s Day, one of the top days each year in terms of alcohol consumption.

“This event was a great demonstration of the dangers of drinking and driving, even at levels well below the legal limit,” said CHP Officer Jaret Paulson.  “It’s also a reminder to drivers that if they are impaired, even below the legal limit, they could be arrested for a DUI.”

Of the 15 people who took the Sobriety Challenge, 14 failed the driving test, further illustrating the dangers of drinking and driving.

“It was scary because I really thought I did better the second time (after drinking),” said Kellie Fuller of Napa.  “I failed the sobriety tests, so I knew I was in trouble, but I had no idea.  Now I really know I shouldn’t ever drink and drive.”

Fuller was joined a variety of Bay Area residents, including Tim Sbranti, city of Dublin mayor; Captain Tom Cullen, Deputy Commander, United States Coast Guard, Sector San Francisco; Brendan Moylan, owner of Moylan’s Brewery and Restaurant in Novato; Captain Rich Cairns, retired San Francisco Police Officer; and two students from Sonoma State University, among others.

Testers were given anywhere from one-to-three glasses of wine or Moylan’s beer before submitting to a field of sobriety tests, including a breathalyzer analysis administered by the CHP. Once they reached approximately half the legal limit (.04-percent), they tested their driving skills on a pre-determined course at the raceway. All drivers were accompanied by an instructor from the Jim Russell Racing Drivers School, and tests included lane changing, parallel parking, turning radius and speed drills.

“It’s amazing that everyone was below the legal limit, but even with a few drinks, they were different people behind the wheel,” said Paul Gerrard, director of global training for the Jim Russell Racing Drivers School.  “In just about every case, everyone thought they did better while intoxicated, but that certainly wasn’t the case.”

Statistics reflect the need for continued focus on drunk-driving prevention.  Between 1991-2002, drivers statewide were 23-percent more likely to be killed or injured in an alcohol-related crash on St. Patrick’s Day, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California.  And, in 2009, two people were killed and 60 people were injured in 118 alcohol-involved collisions statewide on St. Patrick’s Day, according to the CHP.

- Infineon Raceway, Press Release

2010 NSCS Kyle Busch - Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images for NASCAR

Kyle, just to open up, only four other drivers have won three consecutive Bristol races in the Sprint Cup Series. It would be pretty cool to become the fifth obviously. How do you feel about your chances of doing just that?

KYLE BUSCH: We hope our chances are good. We have a great team led by Dave Rogers on the M&M’s Camry looking forward to going back to Bristol, a place where we’ve been pretty successful in the past. We’re looking forward to it. We feel like we’ve got a good baseline setup that runs well there. We’re hoping for some magic to come back and hopefully get us back into Victory Lane.

Audio: 2010 Food City 500 NSCS Pre-Race Conference with Kyle Busch
The way we know how to run around there, it should be fun, yet it should be challenging now with Bristol making some changes to the retaining wall and making the racing surface a little narrower and the way the competition has picked up. Everybody has been really, really close on the short tracks. Certainly won’t make it easy.

HERB BRANHAM: Thanks a lot for that opener. We’ll go to the media now for questions for today’s guest, Kyle Busch.

Q. I know you’re focused on Bristol right now, but I did want to ask you about Darlington coming up in a few weeks. What, in your opinion, makes that track so tough for drivers to handle?

KYLE BUSCH: Well, I think the biggest thing about Darlington is it’s just so narrow and so tight and there’s basically one specific groove that everybody tries to race in because that’s the fastest way around. When you get to race side-by-side, you have to pick and choose your way around them. It makes it difficult. It’s been tougher with this new car, with the way it’s a little bit more especially difficult with just having to try to find your way around the cars in front of you because you get a little aero tight or loose depending on how your car is that day.

There’s been a lot of work done to it in the past few weeks to hopefully make that scenario better. We’re looking forward to seeing how that plays out and how the Goodyear tire test went down there. Won there in the past in 2008. Looking forward to getting back there to do it again.

Q. Where would you rank Darlington on a difficulty scale compared with other tracks? Is it the toughest track on the circuit or not?

KYLE BUSCH: To me, no. I’ve had some pretty decent luck there. I’ve been pretty decent there. To me it’s not all that difficult. I mean, some of my more difficult tracks are places like Pocono or Loudon, stuff like that, even though I’ve won Loudon before, too.

It is a very difficult track. It is very challenging. But as long as you respect it and understand how fast you need to be going, what particular time in the race, you can do pretty well.

Q. Robin Pemberton today said the spoilers will be on the cars for Martinsville. Do you feel are you ready for it? After yesterday, are you ready for it at Talladega as well?

KYLE BUSCH: You know, I feel like it’s a change, something that’s to the betterment of the sport to try to make these cars a little bit better. I’m looking forward to it. I definitely think that NASCAR wouldn’t have done it if they didn’t think it was for the better. We’ll see how it goes.

Being as though the first race will be at Martinsville with the new spoiler, shouldn’t make that big a deal ’cause there’s not a really lot of aerodynamics there. Once we get to places like Texas, Talladega, some other racetracks that are really, really fast, like the All-Star Race at Charlotte, the 600 there, too, it should bring out hopefully what the drivers were looking for, that’s a better ability to run side-by-side and produce some better racing.

Q. What did you think of the test yesterday?

KYLE BUSCH: I wasn’t there, so I’d have to lead you on to talking to some other drivers about that. From what I hear, it kind of put the car back a little bit more like what the old car was. Sometimes when you’re in only a five, six, seven-car pack, trying to pass, it makes it a little bit difficult to pass. It seems to lose the draft just a little bit. But that’s all I’ve heard so far. Until I get out there and feel it for myself, see what the characteristics are, I’d be lying to you if I said much more.

Q. Obviously there’s been a lot of talk lately about self policing and retaliation. Through your experiences of moving up the ladder to this series, was there a time when you received a lesson on the track based on what somebody did, whether it was just bumping you, spinning you out? Looking back, was that something you look back and think, That was a tough way to go through it at the time but that was a good lesson, or are there such things as good lessons in those situations?

KYLE BUSCH: There’s a lot to that question. I was racing at Loudon a few years ago with Kasey Kahne. Unfortunately on my mistake, I made contact with him off turn two, spun him out. He backed into the fence. Then a lap later when I came back around, he turned up into my racecar, kind of retaliated right then and there under caution and bent my car up pretty good while I was running fifth.

I’ve been through it. You know, I’ve never been through the case which happened last Saturday. But this series, like you said, this sport has always been self policing. The drivers try to take things into their own hands. Sometimes it gets a little too far.

The best scenario I had a few years ago when Tony Stewart wanted to get back at me for racing him too hard at Vegas. He missed his chance and got into the wall a little bit and I went on to finish second, he went on to finish 12th or 13th and was real mad at me after the race. A couple weeks later we sat down in his motorhome and had a discussion. I felt like that was probably one of the best things that I’ve done in my career. He was a veteran driver. You felt a little bit more I wouldn’t say (indiscernible), but you got more of his point when it comes from a veteran driver who has been around the sport and who has been through some of the same things I went through at that time.

Q. Looking ahead to Martinsville. You’ve had some top fives there in the past. The last seven races it’s been Denny or Jimmie who won those races. What do you see as the gap between yourself and those two? Is it a matter of luck that’s kept you away from winning those races and those guys from dominating those races?

KYLE BUSCH: No, they’ve had the dominating cars and they’ve been the dominating drivers. I’m not going to say I can get in Denny’s car. I’ve been in equipment that’s pretty close. I’ve been in equipment that’s been pretty close to Jimmie, too. I think I ran fourth to him that time. I think my best finish there was fourth twice.

It’s a difficult racetrack. It’s not easy for everyone. I mean, Jeff Gordon went through a spell of being one of the best guys there. Dale Earnhardt was one of those guys. Richard Petty back before that.

You know, I feel like I’ve gotten better there, but still I’ve never really been one of the drivers that’s been the one to worry about going into Martinsville.

I think just being able to get through there with a good solid top 10, maybe a top five finish would be good for us and our team. Where we’re at right now, we want to get through Bristol and have a good, strong run, get through Martinsville, have a good, strong run, get on to Texas where we know we can run well.

Q. After last year’s race at Bristol, what knowledge are you taking into this year’s race that will give you the edge to win?

KYLE BUSCH: Well, I don’t think there’s an edge for anybody. Sometimes it’s about circumstances, it’s about luck. For ourselves, we’re looking to take the same setup that we’ve run there in the past, maybe a couple different minor things we’re going to change. Nothing too big.

You know, the things that you learn, you can be patient. You can lead 430 something laps and not win, yet you can win the final 28 laps and go on to win. Doesn’t matter much where you’re running until after the final pit stop, see how things play out in the race, see how you position yourself at the end of the race.

We look forward to going to Bristol because I’ve been able to do all of those things. It’s been a fun place for me to race. I’ve learned how to grow accustom to the track relatively quickly since it’s been redone. Hopefully we can have the same success yet again.

Q. For those who are new to NASCAR, could you explain why you think the spoiler is going to be better for drivers?

KYLE BUSCH: Well, I mean, with the rear wing, we’ve just kind of sort of fought getting these cars to turn. It seems like we’ve over (indiscernible) downforce on the rear of the car and not enough on the front to have the cars carry the speed we need. We’re also hoping this change helps produce better side-by-side racing, being able to run side-by-side, not have the car on the inner side or outer side of you make you loose or tight when they get closer to you. It’s all about air. It’s relative to how everybody else moves it around your car.

If you’re out there running by yourself out front, we’ve seen that lead car just be able to take off and run away from everybody else because nobody is disturbing his air. When you get back in traffic, it seems like it makes it a little bit more difficult to try to chase down the car in front of you because he’s taking air that just seems to not to be able to go through cars.

Q. I want to ask you about Bristol. At Bristol, we’ve seen drivers like Darrel Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, your brother Kurt go on streaks where over a short period of time they win a bunch of races there. You won both last year. Do you think you’re on a streak like that? Why do you think this track producing finishes like that?

KYLE BUSCH: To answer your second question, I’m not sure why this racetrack produces results like that. You know, to go on into your first one, I hope I’m not on a streak. I’m hoping I’m on something that lasts for a long time and isn’t a couple-year blurb.

Bristol is one of those places where you get it figured out, you can run well there. Jeff Gordon had it figured out. He was finishing top three for a lot of times he was there. This new car came along. He’s kind of missed a little bit. I think he’s going to be pretty good this weekend. I remember last fall racing with him quite a bit. Mark Martin was really good there, too. Those are some guys we’re going to be worried about this time around as well as Denny being a good guy to race with and of course Kurt. He was real fast there last fall. I think he finished third. I’m not sure if he led the most laps or might have been in second for the most laps. He’ll be fast there, especially with Addington. They’ll know what they’re doing there. They’ll be somebody we have to worry about.

Q. Back in 2007 at Bristol you won the first race with the wing on the car. Now you have the chance to win the last race with the wing on the car. Do you allow yourself to think about that?

KYLE BUSCH: Not really. I haven’t thought about that till you just brought it up. It would be neat to
be able to get it done. It will be the last race as far as what NASCAR is looking to do in the future here with the spoiler. Hopefully we’re that guy that we can get it done. We’ll have to see how it plays out on Sunday.

Q. You’ve had to mature and learn in a public arena. What has racing taught you that you might not have learned anywhere else?

KYLE BUSCH: Just the amount of teamwork and the amount of work that goes on in this sport, whether it’s media members, TV people. I mean your team, the people behind the scenes that work in the offices, all that kind of stuff. You never really recognize how many people actually make this thing tick and make this thing go. That’s been a big deal to me, is trying to understand that, learn what everybody’s place is, learn what everybody’s position is, why they bring this up or why they say those types of things, all that.

You know, to me it’s been a big learning experience going through all that. When you grow up as a kid, for instance, seven, eight years old, you look at the sport and be like, Man, that’s what I want to do. I want to drive racecars around in circles every day, every weekend, just do it for a living. Then you get here and it’s like, Wow, there’s a lot more involved than I had no idea what happened until you get here and you’re behind the scenes and see it.

A lot of people think it’s easy and it’s the best job in the world. It very honestly could be. But there’s still a lot that goes along with it in order to make it all tick and make it worthwhile.

Q. Have your learning curves gotten drastically shorter in recent years?

KYLE BUSCH: A little bit. I mean, I’m still learning things every weekend. I’ve been doing a lot of stuff this year around Dave, trying to learn Dave as a person, trying to learn still how to work with the team. They’re not new to me. But working with the guys, being able to come back year after year, work with the same group of guys, be able to not have anything go stale, keep everybody excited about what’s ahead, what we can do next.

Q. Having a few races under your belt this season as a Truck Series owner, how do you see your season going so far this season? I know you had been trying to get Johnny Benson a spot on your team. Where are you at that point right now?

KYLE BUSCH: I mean, things have been difficult, to be honest with you. We’ve had a lot of phone calls, a lot of people interested. Just unfortunately we haven’t had things go down the way we would have liked to to get some sponsorship on these trucks to make sure everything is funded for the whole season.

We’re going to run the whole season regardless. It would be less of a financial burden on myself not having to buy all the resources, buy everything out of my pocket, to now have to run the whole deal. That was the reason we did this, because Miccosukee was here in order to make sure we could run the year. It’s been a challenge, yet it’s been something to learn off of as well.

As far as Johnny Benson being involved in Kyle Busch Motorsports, same thing. If Kyle Busch can’t find a sponsor for his own trucks, it’s challenging to find one for him. I love the guy. Would love to have him in my race trucks. Unfortunately, there’s nothing out there that’s been able to come to fruition yet. Maybe once I get my deal up and sold, we’ll be able to move forward and put a full courts press on Johnny Benson’s deal.

Q. Have you learned anything being a truck owner that you can carry over into your Cup Series team?

KYLE BUSCH: Yeah, of course. I mean, I think you recognize and you see how hard it is to get sponsors. So it’s probably just as hard to keep sponsors. It’s pretty easy to do. You do everything right, when you win a lot of races. Through tough times, there’s tough times people have to go through. You look at Kevin Harvick last year, what he was doing in the Cup Series, was struggling a little bit, not running up to par, how RCR would like to run. You’d hear the rumors that he was looking, or that Shell-Pennzoil was looking. You don’t want to put your team through those burdens. You want to make sure that everybody is achieving and striving for the right goals. In order to do that, you can’t have all that as a distraction.

Q. I know you said you weren’t at the tire test, but we get so many comments from race fans. In my opinion, sometimes I scratch my head. They say, Why are there so many tire tests all the time? Can you explain to the fans the tire test thing.

KYLE BUSCH: I think a great person for you to ask that question to would be Rick Campbell and the guys at Goodyear. As far as me being a driver is concerned in NASCAR, we work trying to make sure we get the best tire out there possible in order to race on week in and week out. Goodyear wants to make sure they have the best tire out there possible, that we feel safe on, we can race on. We don’t want to have the tire debacles we had at Indy. That doesn’t look good for us. It doesn’t produce great racing. We’re here to sell a product that is fast cars going around in circles for a few hours, it should be entertaining for people to watch. No matter if it gets strung out single file, it should be exciting and drama about how the strategy is going to play out in the race and stuff.

The way Goodyear picks people to do the tire test is just a random draw. They just decide. They need to have a team from each manufacturer, whether that’s Chevy, Ford, Dodge and Toyota. Now with only Penske Racing being the only Dodge team, they’re probably going to let up a little bit on making sure they get a Dodge to every test. If you give Penske Racing every single tire test, that’s not going to be fair to the field, giving them all the data to take back to their seven-posts, wind tunnel tests and stuff like that.

As far as just being able to go to the racetrack and test tires, it’s good for the drivers because we get a feel for what Goodyear is going to come out. We can take the information back to our teams and get some of that information down on paper and try to go through some stuff to make sure that we understand it as a group and as a company in order to make sure that we can go back there and try to win that race.

Q. This afternoon it was announced for the All-Star Race, going into the final segment, when the cars line up behind the pace cars, before they take the green flag, they all have to come in for a mandatory four-tire pit stop. What do you think that may do to the strategy of trying to win the All-Star Race and where would it be beneficial for you whether you want to be in the front or back or middle of the field?

KYLE BUSCH: Well, I mean, I haven’t heard this, this is the first I heard. Seeing as though it’s going to be a mandatory four-tire stop you want to be up front because you know it’s gonna come down to your pit crew. The pit crew is going to be under the gun, under the pressure in order to get the job done to get you out first. You need to get out I’m going to say first, second or fourth. You don’t want to be third because then you’re going to be stuck on the inside. You can probably come out second because you know the leader is going to start on the outside lane. You can try to beat him down into turn one and slide up in front of him.

The outside typically goes around the corner a lot better on the final run of a restart anyway. As far as all that’s concerned, it’s going to be a big deal on the pit crews in order to make sure they’re ready, pumped up, and not too excited to where they make a mistake.

I think it will be good. Last year I remember I think we had a break after segment three into
segment four. Some guys decided they’d take two tires, no fuel, four tires, all that stuff. To us, we restarted third or fourth. But we had taken four tires and no fuel. Well, when we did that, that tightened up our car too much. We thought about it too long. You just got to make sure you have the right adjustments to your car and you’re ready to go for that final segment.

I don’t remember whether it’s 10 or 20 laps, but it’s crunch time. You got to get out front and want to be in the first two rows for sure.

HERB BRANHAM: Thank you, Kyle, for spending some time with us. Best of luck at Bristol extending that winning streak.

KYLE BUSCH: You got it. Hopefully we can get the M&M’s Camry to Victory Lane.

HERB BRANHAM: Thanks to all the media who participated on this call and yesterday’s call we had with Jeff Gordon.

- NASCAR, Press Release

Mark Martin at Darlington Raceway Media Event - Photo Credit: Getty Images for Darlington Raceway

Martin, the 2009 Southern 500 winner, was in town to promote the upcoming Southern 500 scheduled for May 8. The luncheon was promoted to fans via the track’s social networking efforts on Twitter and Facebook. Over 300 fans from 28 different states attended the event after registering on the track’s website.

“I had a great time today with all the fans and folks at Darlington Raceway,” said Martin “NASCAR fans are so passionate. It’s fun to talk to them and hear their stories. It was a great event.”

Audio: Mark Martin Answers Media Questions From Darlington Raceway’s Winner’s Circle

“Mark has been great to work with on this event and we appreciate him spending some time with our fans,” said Darlington Raceway President, Chris Browning. “Mark is a fan-favorite with our fans because he is an old school racer who respects the history and tradition of our sport and Darlington Raceway.”

Fans were given the chance to ask Martin questions and the hot topic of the day was Darlington Raceway and the 2010 Southern 500.

“I can’t wait to get back to Darlington,” said Martin. “Winning that race last year was huge for me and the whole team. Every driver wants to say he won the Southern 500, and I feel fortunate to say that I’ve won it twice now. Doing it back-to-back would be very nice, so hopefully we’ll be able to do that in May.”

Martin and the rest of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series field will return to Darlington Raceway for the Southern 500. See your favorite driver earn his Darlington Stripe when the green-flag drops at 7:30 p.m. on May 8, 2010.

You can keep up with all of the latest news from Darlington Raceway at DarlingtonRaceway.com, on Facebook at Facebook.com/DarlingtonRaceway and on Twitter at Twitter.com/TooToughToTame.

Free Shipping on over 11,000 products!

Don’t miss any of the paint-scraping action at Darlington Raceway in 2010. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series will visit the track on Mother’s Day Weekend, May 7-8, for the Southern 500® and Darlington 200. The Camping World Truck Series will make its return to Darlington Raceway for first time since 2004 on August 14 for the Too Tough to Tame 200. Tickets for all three events are on-sale now. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Darlington Raceway ticket office at 866-459-RACE or online at http://www.darlingtonraceway.com/tickets/.

- Darlington Raceway, Press Release

Bristol Motor Speedway Logo

The 26-year-old Keselowski, who was involved in an on-track incident at Atlanta Motor Speedway at NASCAR’s last Sprint Cup event, has never been one to walk away from a challenge and has been rather vocal about the run-in with Edwards. By choosing “Won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty, for his March 21 introduction at Bristol Motor Speedway, it appears to be a pretty good indication of how he is feeling these days. Edwards, by the way, has chosen “Black Betty” by Spiderbait.

Selecting the song they are introduced to before BMS Cup races has become a very serious matter with the drivers. Some know immediately which tune they want as their BMS “theme” song, while others take weeks to make up their minds. And then you have the case of Robby Gordon, who had decided to go with Blake Shelton’s “Hillbilly Bone” – until Shelton himself, in a column by ESPN.com’s Marty Smith, said that Gordon should walk out to “Some Beach,” another of his hit songs. Hours after the column ran, Gordon had switched to Shelton’s suggestion.

Ryan Newman, who is getting into the music business with the recent formation of MPR Entertainment Group, has selected a song by Bridgette Tatum, an up-and coming singer. Newman will be introduced to “Hillbilly Rockstar.”

“(My wife) Krissie and I decided to get into the music business last year because it seemed like a natural transition for us,” he said. “A lot of the same strategies that we use to promote me as a driver translate into making Bridgette a bigger star than she already is. I can’t think of a better way for me to promote Bridgette than to be introduced to one of her songs at Bristol Motor Speedway in front of more hundreds of thousands of fans.

“When we did the introductions with the music last year, the fans went wild. There was so much energy there, and the drivers and the fans all had fun. To be able to use one of Bridgette’s songs is something I am really excited about. If you talk to the fans, they will tell you that NASCAR drivers are rockstars in their own right, so I think ‘Hillbilly Rockstar’ is a good fit.”

Four-time and reigning Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson is going with a classic, “Ramble On” by Led Zepplin while teammate Jeff Gordon will walk out to “Boom, Boom, Pow” by The Black-Eyed Peas.

Kevin Harvick, a Limp Bizkit aficionado, plans to make his entrance to the strains of “Rollin’” while Clint Bowyer, a great admirer of Elvis Presley, has chosen one of The King of Rock ’n’ Roll’s classics, “Burning Love.”

Kasey Kahne seems to be comparing the tight confines of BMS and the drivers to “Bulls On Parade” by Rage Against The Machines and Bobby Labonte is going country with Billy Currington’s “People Are Crazy.” David Ragan, a Georgia boy, identifies with Charlie Daniels’ “The Devil Went Down To Georgia.”

Some drivers are standing pat, preferring to make the music they chose last August their Bristol theme songs. Kid Rock’s “Bawitada” will again be rocking the public address system for Tony Stewart, while Elliott Sadler is right at home with the theme from “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

Kyle Busch still feels that Kanye West’s “Amazing” is the perfect tune for him, while both Jeff Burton and Greg Biffle prefer “Welcome To The Jungle,” perhaps also how they feel about racing at Bristol Motor Speedway, by Guns N’ Roses.

Qualifying for the Food City 500 is set for Friday, March 19 at 3:40 p.m. The race goes green Sunday, March 21 at 1 p.m.

Tickets are still available for Food City 500 weekend. A package, consisting of Ford Fan Friday qualifying (March 19), the Scotts Turf Builder 300 and the Scotts EZ Seed Showdown (March 20) and the March 21 Food City 500, starts at only $99.

For fans who can only attend the Food City 500, single day tickets may be purchased, starting at $93. Tickets for Saturday’s doubleheader start at just $45, while fans can watch Ford Fan Friday qualifying for only $5, then attend Food City Race Night at BMS for free.

A season ticket package featuring nine events during the March and August NASCAR weekends starts at only $199. The package includes the two most popular Sprint Cup

races in the sport, along with a pair of Nationwide events, a Camping World Truck Series race, the Scotts EZ Seed Showdown, a Whelen Modified event, qualifying and Food City Race Night.

For more information concerning tickets, please visit www.bristoltix.com or call the BMS ticket office at 423-BRISTOL (274-7865).

Speedway Motorsports is a leading marketer and promoter of motorsports entertainment in the United States. The Company, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates the following premier facilities: Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Infineon Raceway, Kentucky Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway. The Company provides souvenir merchandising services through its SMI Properties subsidiaries; manufactures and distributes smaller-scale, modified racing cars and parts through its 600 Racing subsidiary; and produces and broadcasts syndicated motorsports programming to radio stations nationwide through its Performance Racing Network subsidiary. The Company also equally-owns Motorsports Authentics, a joint venture formed with International Speedway Corporation to produce, market and sell licensed motorsports merchandise. For more information, visit the Company’s website at www.speedwaymotorsports.com

- Bristol Motor Speedway, Press Release

2010 NSCS Regan Smith - Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images for NASCAR

The first of the back-to-back short track races will be Sunday — the Food City 500 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. The following week the circuit will be at another half-mile oval at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

“We all grew up racing on short tracks and this is what we know best,” offered Smith, driver of the No. 78 Chevrolet for Furniture Row Racing. “So when Bristol is the next race, the excitement barometer hits a new high. How can you not feel the energy at Bristol with 160,000 rabid fans? It definitely is a special place, and for me it’s even more special because this is the track of my first Cup race.”

Smith fondly recalls his debut Cup race — March 25, 2007 at Bristol’s .533-mile high-banked oval.

“I was co-driving the 01 Chevrolet with Mark Martin for Ginn Racing,” said Smith. “Mark drove the first four races and was leading in driver points. Then they turn over the car to a bare-bone rookie at one of the toughest tracks on the circuit. On the outside I tried hard to act cool and to show that this was no big deal. But on the inside, I was nervous, knowing a lot of eyes were going to be on me.”

It didn’t take long for Smith to show his talent potential. He qualified 12th for his first Cup race and finished 25th.

“I didn’t put the car in the wall and I finished the race,” noted Smith. “I wasn’t really sure how I did, but before I left the Bristol track I got a call from Mark (Martin) and he had only good things to say. That made me feel a lot better.”

Three years later, Smith continues to feel good as he readies to enter his fifth career Cup race at Bristol. He is currently positioned 26th in the driver point standings, despite an early accident and a 39th-place finish in the Daytona 500 season opener. His finishes at the last three races were: 19th (California), 21st (Las Vegas) and 14th (Atlanta).

“We’re bringing the Las Vegas car to Bristol and I look for Regan to have another strong effort for Furniture Row Racing,” said crew chief Ryan Coniam, a former team engineer and sprint car racer. “We have a plan, but we also leave the door open for an audible or two, if necessary. We’re jelling as a team, and we all feel that it’s going to get better. We know there will be a bump or two along the way, but that’s okay — we’re always ready to attack adversity.”

- DMF Communications for Furniture Row Racing, Press Release

Ride Along with Martin, Kahne, Hamlin and Earnhardt at Bristol on DIRECTV

NASCAR Hot Pass on Directv

NASCAR HOTPASS™ on DIRECTV is back, and it’s FREE to all DIRECTV customers. Four dedicated driver channels offering viewers multiple camera angles, real-time statistics and audio of the network broadcast augmented by live communication between the drivers and their pit crews is available for all 36 point-paying races during the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

The NASCAR HOTPASS lineup for the Food City 500 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway is as follows:

DIRECTV Channel 795:

Mark Martin and the No. 5 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet team of Hendrick Motorsports

Mark Martin will make his 763^rd career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start and his 43^rd at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway … The 51-year-old Batesville, Ark., native has scored 40 wins and 419 top-10 finishes in 761 Sprint Cup starts, meaning he has finished 10^th or better in 55 percent of the races he has entered … Has two wins (August 1993 and August 1998), nine poles and 23 top-10 finishes in 42 starts at Bristol … 2010 marks Martin’s 28^th season with at least one Sprint Cup start … Has run a full Sprint Cup schedule 21 times and finished a career-best second in points in 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2009 … Started fourth and finished 33^rd two weeks ago at Atlanta Motor Speedway … Ranks seventh in Sprint Cup points with two top-10 finishes.

DIRECTV Channel 796:

Kasey Kahne and the No. 9 Budweiser Ford team of Richard Petty Motorsports

Kasey Kahne will make his 221^st career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start and his 12^th at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway … Has one pole (August 2007) and four top-10 finishes in 12 career Sprint Cup starts at Bristol … The 29-year-old Enumclaw, Wash., native has won 11 races and has 79 top-10 finishes in 220 Sprint Cup starts … 2010 marks Kahne’s seventh full year in Sprint Cup with a career-best point finish of eighth in 2006 … Started sixth and finished fourth two weeks ago at Atlanta Motor Speedway … Ranks 17^th in Sprint Cup points with two top-10 finishes.

DIRECTV Channel 797:

Denny Hamlin and the No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota team of Joe Gibbs Racing

Denny Hamlin will make his 156^th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start and his ninth at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway … The 29-year-old Chesterfield, Va., native has scored eight wins and 79 top-10 finishes in 155 Sprint Cup starts, meaning he has finished 10^th or better in 50.9 percent of the races he has entered … Has five top-10 finishes in eight starts at Bristol … 2010 marks Hamlin’s fifth full year in Sprint Cup with a career-best point finish of third in 2006 … Started 20^th and finished 21^th two weeks ago at Atlanta Motor Speedway … Ranks 22^nd in Sprint Cup points.

DIRECTV Channel 798:

Dale Earnhardt Jr., and the No. 88 National Guard / AMP Energy Chevrolet team of Hendrick Motorsports

Dale Earnhardt Jr., will make his 368^th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start and his 21^st at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway … Has one win (August 2004) and 11 top-10 finishes in 20 career Sprint Cup starts at Atlanta … The 35-year-old Kannapolis, N.C., native has won 18 races and has 143 top-10 finishes in 367 Sprint Cup starts … 2010 marks Earnhardt’s 11^th full year in Sprint Cup with a career-best point finish of third in 2003 … Started first and finished 15^th last week at Atlanta Motor Speedway … Ranks 13^th in Sprint Cup points with one top-10 finish.

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- True Speed Communication for NASCAR HotPass on DIRECTV, Press Release