You might have heard some talk about television ratings being down for NASCAR races recently.
There have also been some empty seats at some of the speedways, but I don’t think there will be any trouble at all attracting television and grandstand viewers for this week’s episode of Bristol survivor.
Nestled in the middle of the Tennessee mountains, not far from the birthplace of the famous historical-hero Davy Crockett, is a small piece of land that has produced some big stories in the stock car history books too.
Bristol Motor Speedway might be one of the most popular tracks because it seems like you are right on top of the cars. Fans seem to be closer to the action. They see and smell the spins, crashes and blown motors.
It’s a half-mile track with a new concrete surface that will add an extra element of drama to a place where the term “Thunder Valley” implies to more than just the echo of the engines off the Blue Ridge Mountains.
It will always be one of my favorites for the simple fact that it is one of the few tracks still on the schedule that my mom and dad used to take me to when I was a kid. I remember even as a young boy looking forward to the ride across the mountain for the Bristol races.
The action starts early with a Wednesday night Craftsman Truck Series and Hooter’s Pro-Cup race. Time trials for the Nextel Cup drivers are set for 3:00 p.m. Friday and the Busch cars qualify and run their race following the Nextel Cup qualifying session. The Nextel Cup main event will get the green flag around 8:00 p.m. Saturday.
It’s too late to buy a ticket from the speedway for Saturday night’s race. There is a waiting list for future races at the track, just in case Bruton Smith can figure out a way to add some more seats. Tickets are available for the Wednesday night Craftsman Truck race and the Friday night Busch event.
Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon have the best records among the active drivers at the track. Busch and Gordon have won five events each at the Tennessee speedway.
Kurt Busch, still the most unpopular driver for fans in the Bristol grandstands, has claimed wins in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006.
Jeff Gordon carried home the trophies in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2002.
Matt Kenseth and Mark Martin have claimed two wins each at the speedway. Kenseth’s wins were last year and in 2005. Martin won in 1993 and 1998.
The one-time winners at Bristol include Kyle Busch (2007), Matt Kenseth (2005), Kevin Harvick (2005), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2004), Tony Stewart (2001), Elliott Sadler (2001) and Dale Jarrett (1997).
The top-five finishers of the March race were Kyle Busch, Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick and Greg Biffle.
Ten drivers traded the lead 14 times. Tony Stewart collected the bonus points for leading the most laps. The No. 20 was out front for 257 of the 500 laps. Stewart ran into trouble before the end of the race and finished 35th.
The other driver leading more than a single lap included Denny Hamlin (177), Kyle Busch (29), Kurt Busch (10), Kevin Harvick (9), J.J. Yeley (9), Jeff Gordon (6) and Elliott Sadler (5).
There were 15 caution flag events and the race took just under three hours and 17 minutes to complete.
Jeff Gordon was the Bud Pole Award winner for the March race with a lap of 125.453 miles-an-hour during time trials.
No. 8 Blues: Fans continue to call for Teresa Earnhardt to release the No. 8 for Dale Earnhardt Jr. to use when he moves to Hendrick Racing next year, but those signs, emails and even family appeals appear to all be in vain. Dale Jr. said he expected his step-mom to refuse the request as soon as he left DEI, but he had hopes she would put aside their disagreements for the No. 8 fans that would like to see their driver continue his career in the number his father picked out for him.
There should be an announcement soon on the driver Teresa picks to replace Dale Jr. in the famous No. 8 and it is a choice she must make carefully. Dale Jr.’s replacement just might replace Kurt Busch as the most-booed driver during introductions in 2008.
All the sources say the No. 81 will be the number for Dale Jr. next year and I saw one photo of a prototype car where it sported a green paint job.
AMS Testing: Kevin Harvick, Casey Mears, Robby Gordon, Scott Riggs and Jeremy Mayfield will be tire testing for Goodyear at Atlanta Motor Speedway next Tuesday and Wednesday. The sessions are closed to the public.
Nextel Cup teams will test the Car of Tomorrow at AMS on Oct. 29 and 30. The two-day test will run the two days following the Pep Boys Auto 500, scheduled for Oct. 28.
The test is a makeup session for the previously scheduled May 14-15 test at Dover International Speedway that was cancelled due to inclement weather.
The next scheduled NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series test is Sept. 10 and 11 at Talladega Superspeedway. The Sept. 10 session is open for fans that already have or purchase tickets to the upcoming Nextel Cup race at Talladega on Oct. 7th.
Georgia Boys: David Ragan had the best finish in Michigan for the Georgia delegation. Ragan started 25th and finished 18th in the rain-delayed run on Tuesday. Ragan finished 21st in the Michigan Busch race and is still ranked fifth in Busch Series points.
Bill Elliott registered a 35th-place finish for the Wood Brothers in their No. 21 in the Michigan event.
Reed Sorenson’s Dodge was giving him trouble in the Nextel Cup race. He finished three laps behind the winner in 38th place. Reed finished 20th in the Busch race at Michigan.
Winder’s Mark Gibson came out of retirement to run the ARCA/ReMax race in Illinois last weekend. The race was run on a one-mile dirt track. Gibson started 11th and finished 15th.
Saturday’s Allan Vigil Ford 120 will air from 2:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. on Newstalk 750 WSB Radio and www.wsbradio.com. For more race information visit our Fastcar Newsdesk at www.captainherb.net.
I think the whole thing with ratings is that besides Nascar being so inconsistant about what they do is that the coverage changing to ESPN and ESPN2 has not been well received. I hate both of these channels as far as the coverage of Nascar goes. They should keep the coverage on local channels such as Fox, NBC and ABC. I believe that you would see the ratings doing much better.