Welcome to “Fuel It Up”! The racing world is chock full of intriguing stories, but sifting through them to get a good general sense of the landscape can be challenging. In Fuel It Up, I take the biggest, more interesting storylines and present them to you in a quick, compact 300-words-or-less format.
The winner of this week’s paint scheme award goes to Austin Dillon in the #3 Bad Boy Buggies/Realtree Chevrolet. A special nod goes out to Ryan Newman in the #31 Quicken Loans Billion Dollar Bracket Challenge Chevrolet… Brian Vickers, when asked his thoughts about NASCAR’s new knockout format for qualifying said, “It’s the most dangerous thing I’ve ever done on a race track.” After hearing several driver complaints over the new qualifying rules NASCAR was quick to make an early season change to them. In reaction to these complaints NASCAR has banned cool-down laps and will allow teams to hook up cooling units to their engines on pit road… Tony Stewart’s poor start of the season may have more to do with his injury than first thought. This week Stewart was quoted as saying that he would like his leg to be at 100% , but in realty its only about 65%. Going from a three-car team to a four-car team with a new Crew Chief has a lot to do with it as well… Bristol was once the site of some of NASCAR’s most exciting races. Recently it’s been a one groove racetrack and has made for some less than stimulating action. With more age on its racing surface and the adjustments to the Gen 6 car it’s hoped the racing will return to the type of racing we’re used to seeing at Bristol. I’m guessing that the new emphasis NASCAR has placed on race victories, we’ll see lots of bumping and banging on Sunday… Kasey Kahne looks to repeat his victory at the spring Bristol race of last season. Matt Kenseth won the August race. Kyle Busch holds the Bristol track record with a lap of 129.535 mph. Darryl Waltrip has the most victories with 12… University of Tennessee football coach Butch Jones and Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer, whose teams will meet in the Battle of Bristol in two years, will serve as co-Grand Marshalls for the Food City 500 on Sunday… The weather forecast for Bristol, Tennessee on Sunday calls for rain with a high temperature of 48F (9C)… The Food City 500 can be seen in the US on FOX at 1.00pm. Canadian fans can view the race on TSN.
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