FanHouse BristolMotorSpeedway

There was much ado about nothing leaving Bristol Motor Speedway last Sunday. The top 35 owner points in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series were reset for the first time this year following the Bristol race, guaranteeing a starting spot to the top 35 teams this weekend at Martinsville Speedway and forcing the outsiders to race their way in on time.

So, for those locked into the top 35, relief reigns at least for the next week. But my contention is the top 35 shouldn't even exist. Get rid of the whole system. I've thought that since the rule's inception but became even more incensed when things became completely convoluted entering the 2009 season.

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.

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.

Bristol Motor Speedway's public relations department got a nice kick this week thanks to a few NASCAR Whelen Modified Series drivers putting down some impressively fast laps at on the high banks of the half-mile east Tennessee track.

The laps, according to the track, were "record-breaking" because they eclipsed Ryan Newman's 2003 lap of 14.908 seconds (128.709 mph) during Sprint Cup qualifying at the track.

It turns out, thanks to the ever-mindful Jayski, that the laps might not have been so record-breaking after all.
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Looking for that ultimate gift for the NASCAR fan on your list with just hours left until Santa gets things rolling?

Well, Bristol Motor Speedway -- thanks to the oh-so-glorious state of the economy -- actually has tickets available for its Sprint Cup events in 2009.

Sure, any other track on the NASCAR schedule having empty seats is nothing to raise an eyebrow at, but Bristol has been sold out for years upon years upon years despite its capacity of over 160,000 folks. News of this comes courtesy of the track, of course, who's trying to find a way to sell the tickets they surely aren't used to having.

The track says that the season tickets -- the ones that give fans automatic rights for their same seats in the news season -- are still available, and earlier today, I was able to find a pair of tickets for $93 plus applicable fees in the track's third turn for the Spring Food City 500 at the track on Ticketmaster.

A word to the wise, however, would say that these tickets probably won't be available until, say, race time because as the season kicks back in high gear (it's only like 50-some days away!) fans will be falling in line to secure some seats to one of NASCAR's most exciting tracks.

So what are you waiting for? We're not talking about California, we're talking about Bristol tickets!

NASCAR had to rain on its own parade, but thankfully they didn't induce a downpour.

The sanctioning body placed Sprint Cup point leader Kyle Busch and last Saturday night's winner Carl Edwards on probation Wednesday morning for their post-race antics following the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway:

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Aug. 27, 2008) – NASCAR announced today that it has placed Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards on probation for the next six races in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, as a result of their on-track incident last Saturday at the conclusion of the race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Busch, driver of the No. 18 car and Edwards, driver of the No. 99 car, both violated Section 12-4-A (actions detrimental to stock car racing; hitting another competitor's car after the race had concluded) of the 2008 NASCAR rule book.

The probation takes effect beginning with this weekend's event at Auto Club Speedway.

Prior to 2008, the typical penalty for such post-race encounters included a monetary fine and seemed much steeper, but this penalty falls more in line with NASCAR's pledge from the beginning of the season to let the rough side drag a little more in the sport.

And can you blame them? The biggest news from Bristol was Busch & Edwards, not anything else.