FanHouse Bristol

Thoughts, ramblings and more from a 500 lapper in Thunder Valley.

Marcos Ambrose is certainly making a name for himself in the Sprint Cup Series, and the way he's doing it is just mind-boggling.

His Michael Waltrip Racing-prepared cars aren't on level with Hendrick, Roush or Gibbs and the guy truly has less experience in NASCAR-style stock cars than just about every driver out there. Yet, he's compiled 4 Top-5s and 7 Top-10s with a team that has obviously worked quite hard.

I'd say he's a shoe-in for the 2010 Chase.

Where: Bristol Motor Speedway
Time: Saturday night 7:00pm/EDT
TV/Radio: ESPN, Motor Racing Network
Twitter: Updates @ FanHouseRacing
Forecast: Mid-60s, 30% chance rain
Distance: 500 laps (266.5 miles)
Pole Winner: Mark Martin
2008 Winner: Carl Edwards

To see Kyle Busch desperately chasing a spot into NASCAR's 12-driver championship lineup with just three races until the cutoff is certainly a surprise.

A surprise, of course, because just one year ago heading to Bristol, the NASCAR Sprint Cup world was on a string attached to the index finger of Driver No. 18 thanks to a commanding point lead and wins coming easier than a rain delay at a recent race.

The 2009 story is much different for Busch thanks to a 70-point deficit from his point standings spot in 15th to the 12th-place cutoff, though fortunately next on the race menu is a track that Busch has had no shortage of success at.

It's been a long time coming for Joe Gibbs Racing at Bristol Motor Speedway, but Sunday afternoon driver Kyle Busch dusted off a tough run of bad luck for the team at the track to score his second victory of 2009 in the Food City 500.

Where: Bristol Motor Speedway
Time: Sunday 2pm/EDT
TV/Radio: FOX Sports, PRN Radio
Forecast: Sunny, 68
Distance: 500 laps (266.5 miles)
Pole Winner: Mark Martin
2008 Winner: Jeff Burton


If you need a better idea of how racing is being impacted by the economy look no further than Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol. For 13 straight years, the 165,000-seat facility in quiet, rolling hills of east Tennessee has been mecca for race fans -- and sold out each of its two Sprint Cup events without batting an eye.

Friday afternoon, ESPN's David Newton drafted a story with Sprint Cup Series veteran and pole-winner for Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway talking about how he wanted to hang around as a full-time NASCAR driver in 2010.

Mark Martin, back in his first full-time gig after choosing to go for a part-time schedule in the past few years, apparently wanted to take what was originally a plan for going back to part-time in 2010 and make it a plan to run the whole 36-race schedule.

But after winning the pole for Sunday's race, Martin again met with the media and downplayed -- or denied -- such a plan was in place to go full time for Hendrick Motorsports again in 2010.

Less than five races into the 2009 season, the talk regarding Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s crew chief Tony Eury Jr. has already reached the front burner.

And if we're lucky, the talk will subside sometime after the 2009 season ends -- barring two things: Earnhardt wins the championship or Eury Jr. finds a new role.

But Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway, Earnhardt Jr. made one thing crystal clear ahead of Sunday's Food City 500: crew chief Tony Eury Jr. isn't going anywhere.

Mark Martin must have been tired of not winning poles in the Sprint Cup Series.

Just two weeks after Martin scored his first pole in 7 years -- remember that lap at Atlanta made the 50-year-old Martin feel like a rookie? -- the driver from Batesville, Ark., scored his second-straight pole Friday afternoon at Bristol Motor Speedway for Sunday's Food City 500.

Martin's lap of 125.773 mph gave him the top spot on the same weekend that news indicated he wants to stay in No. 5 full-time in 2010, rather than a partial schedule as was originally expected.

A little off-week fishing turned into a big headache -- or rib-ache, if you will -- for Roush Fenway Racing's driver Greg Biffle.

Biffle, slated to drive in both the Sprint Cup Series' Food City 500 on Sunday and the Nationwide Series' Scotts Turf Builder 300 on Saturday for RFR, will now sit out the Saturday event to rest a sore set of ribs after the No. 16 Ford driver fell awkwardly -- he termed it a "freak accident" -- while trying to get off a boat Tuesday night.

Judging from his remarks Friday afternoon at Bristol Motor Speedway's half-mile, Biffle wasn't too proud of the way he injured himself.

After taking the outside pole in the season-opening Daytona 500, the rejuvenated and ageless Mark Martin was the talk of the NASCAR garage area.

Martin, it seemed, was ready to vie for his first Sprint Cup title during his first full season with Hendrick Motorsports after taking a part-time role for the past few seasons.

Now, after a third-straight finish lower than 30th, it's hard to believe that the driver of the No. 5 is the same guy the NASCAR world was abuzz about just four weeks ago.