Back in gear and a NASCAR Cinderella

After a rare off weekend for NASCAR, the circuit gets back in action this weekend with the Nationwide and Cup series racing at Bristol. Here's a few notes to get you week started:

 

# Yes, tickets remain available to Sunday's Cup race at Bristol. Just doing a quick check, I even found 10 seats all together that were still available (ticket start at $93). As I write this, Stubhub.com lists about 500 tickets available for Sunday's race. And, as I write this, ebay had 399 items under the heading NASCAR Bristol tickets.

 

# Looking further ahead to the following week, you can also find tickets avaiable for the race at Martinsville.

 

# Bristol has announced that Bobby Allison will serve as honorary starter and that Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer will be the grand marshal for Sunday's race.

 

# Furniture Row Racing has announced it's changing its schedule. The team is running a limited schedule with last year's rookie of the year, Regan Smith. The team has added the Texas race next month, giving it a 13-race schedule. It also dropped the two road course races and will add instead Darlington, Pocono in June and Indianapolis. The Colorado-based team is scheduled to test at Pikes Peak International Raceway on Wednesday and Thursday.

 

# Did you notice that TRG Motorsports is 34th in the car owner standings with David Gilliland? Big deal, huh? Well, the team started 14 days before the Daytona 500. After not making the Daytona 500, it has made the past three races and if it can remain in the top 35 in car owner points after Bristol, it would be guaranteed a starting spot for the following week's race at Martinsville. In this time of Cinderellas with the NCAA basketball tournament, TRG Motorsports fits that role in NASCAR.

 

This team is one of many that didn't start until January as people saw the possibility of fewer competitors in Cup because of the economy. Yet it is the only one among these low-budget teams in the top 35 in points now.  The team owned by Phil Parsons is 41st in car owner points (90 points out of the last guaranteed spot), Tommy Baldwin's team is 42nd (99 points out), Joe Nemechek's team is 43rd (130 points out) and Jeremy Mayfield is 44th (135 points out).

 

# 45 Cup cars entered at Bristol. Those outside the top 35 in car owner points entered are: Sterling Marlin (09), Travis Kvapil (28), Scott Riggs (36), Jeremy Mayfield (41), Todd Bodine (64), Dave Blaney (66), Aric Almirola (8), Scott Speed (82), Joe Nemechek (87) and Paul Menard (98)

 

# Here's what Carl Edwards says (in a team release) are the keys to winning at Bristol _ he's won two of the last three races there:

 

"The first key to winning at Bristol is qualifying.  You have to qualify well.  Secondly, your car has to handle well.  You don’t want to fight a car for 500 laps at Bristol. It seems in the end to come down to the smallest things like where you restart, a lot of times you end up rubbing on people and they do the same to you.  You see a lot of wild finishes like that.  Overall, you have to be tough all day with the grind, and you have to be able to deal with it until the end. There’s 450 laps and then there’s the sprint at the finish - hopefully my No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion will be up front at the end.”

 

# A reminder. You can follow me on twitter. Just search for dustinlong.

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