Yes, NASCAR will be having a Sprint Cup race in the middle of the NCAA tournament's first weekend. The venue is one of the more hallowed ones in auto racing: Bristol. It's so hallowed that fans were already at the track last Sunday. It's so hallowed that folks like David Pearson come back in their golden years to race on this track again. It's so hallowed, in fact, that you'll be lucky to hear this race's official name (the Food City 500) a half-dozen times between now and the checkered flag. As you decide who should get into the People's Pitstop lineup for this race, here are some points to ponder.
Track basics: Bristol Motor Speedway in eastern Tennessee is officially 0.53 miles long. It just feels smaller than that. The front stretch and back stretch are each 650 feet long, so drivers will be using the brakes at least as much as they use the accelerator.
Recent winners: Kyle Busch (2009), Jeff Burton (2008), Kyle Busch again (2007)
Who wins here a lot: Jeff Gordon has five Sprint Cup wins on this track. He's tied for the lead among active drivers with the other Busch, Kurt. (You remember him? He was the guy who won that Atlanta race while everyone else was discussing the whole "Carl Edwards vs. Brad Keselowski" thing.)
So, why do they love this place so much? Well, even in the best of times, this track, with its tight turns and narrow lanes, is known to get drivers' blood boiling. And with the light punishment Edwards got for his actions in Atlanta, NASCAR has to be prepared for the possibility of something similar this week, particularly since Keselowski has had run-ins on this track before.
For a more extensive preview of this race, click here to download a PDF from Yahoo Sports. For a long-delayed look at the recent developments in football, read the post below.
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