Bump-Drafts.com

What’s this? Welcome to the first weekly edition of “On Track”, a special weekly edition of bump-drafts.com prepared exclusively for NASCAR for Dummies, one of my favorite NASCAR message boards. Each week, we will look ahead at the next weekend’s race, learn more about NASCAR terminology, and also look at all the latest headlines. Check it out! I hope you enjoy reading it as I do writing it.

Up Next: The Bass Pro Shops 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. This may provide another interesting showdown between the top two drivers in the 2007 Nextel Chase point standings. Second place chaser Jimmie Johnson picked up his second career victory at this track in Atlanta back on March 18. Front-runner Jeff Gordon has four wins here, which ranks him sixth all-time. Dale Earnhardt is the all-time winningest Cup driver at A.M.S. with nine wins, the winningest active driver is Bobby Labonte with six. The younger of the famous Labonte brothers used to own Atlanta, gathering his victories at A.M.S. between 1996 and 2003, while driving the #18 Interstate Batteries Pontiac/ Chevrolet for Joe Gibbs’ Racing, now occupied for the remainder of 2007 by J.J. Yeley.

Atlanta is a 1.5 mile oval track with 24-degree banking in the turns. Geoff Bodine owns the fastest all-time qualifying speed on the “Peach Tree State” track at 197.478 m.p.h. back in 1997. That same year, Bobby Labonte turned in a race speed of 159.904 m.p.h., which still sets the pace.

NASCAR racing began here in 1960, with Glenn “Fireball” Roberts clocking in the first victory.

Other Atlanta Trivia. One of the most famous races at A.M.S. occurred on March 11, 2001, when rookie Kevin Harvick went to Victory Lane, taking over the Mr. Goodwrench ride from Dale Earnhardt, who died on the final lap at Daytona just weeks earlier. It was an emotional win for mourners in Earnhardt Nation. Fittingly enough, Harvick just edged out Earnhardt’s last arch-rival, Jeff Gordon. The margin of victory? A mere .006 seconds.

“The Silver Fox”, David Pearson, famous for going easy on his car through much of the race so he could pounce at the end, won in Atlanta on September 17, 1961, having only led one lap! Once again, we’re reminded that the only lap where it really matters you lead is the final one. The November 7, 1982 event saw 45 lead changes- Bobby Allison took the checkered flag that day.

You won’t see this with the Car of Tomorrow…..Just 10 cars finished the first race in Atlanta in 1964. 41 finished the second race here in 2005.

Hopefully, we can expect fewer cautions this week…The track record for Atlanta in terms of cautions is 11 going into the 2007 season. That’s happened three times, most recently in 1993.

The Trucks Will Be Here, The Busch Boys…No. The Easy Care Vehicle Service Contracts 200 (say that three times real fast) will run this Saturday. The race may be seen on the SPEED channel. Milwaukie, Oregon’s Mike Bliss won the 2nd truck race here in 2006 in a Chevy.

The Busch Race will run in Memphis. This race will air on ESPN2. Last year’s Busch champion Kevin Harvick won here in 2006. Harvick has the most wins at Memphis Motorsports Park with two. The inaugural event at Memphis occured in 1999. Chevy driver Jeff Green won that day.

NASCAR Speak- A weekly primer to help you learn those NASCAR terms that will impress your friends. Definitions come courtesy of the Officially Licensed NASCAR Record & Fact Book- 2007 edition.

“Downforce”- “A combination of aerodynamic and centrifugal force (author’s note: remember physics class?- I didn’t either) at work. Downforce can be altered to improve the car’s grip or traction by adjusting the spoiler as well as other aerodynamic changes to the car and its setup. As downforce is increased, the grip/traction is increased, as well as tire wear. Increasing downforce comes at the expense of creating more drag, which will reduce fuel efficiency.”

“Neutral”-“A term drivers use when referring to how their car is handling. When a car is neither loose nor pushing (tight).”

“Bore”- (This is not a description of Rusty Wallace). “Pistons travel up and down within each cylinder, or bore, in the engine block.”

Other News

Haas CNC Racing will have new faces in ‘08. Word has it Jeff Green is out as the driver of the #66 Chevrolet. He will be replaced next season by Jeremy Mayfield, who languished in Bill Davis’ #36 Toyota this year. He joins Haas CNC next to Scott Riggs, who will take over the #70 Chevy currently driven by Johnny Sauter.

Franchitti Busch Debut. Indy Car champ Dario Franchitti will make his Busch Series debut in Memphis. He and fellow open-wheeler Jacques Villaneuve got a rude awakening in last Saturday’s Craftsman Series Truck race in Martinsville. Both drivers got knocked around pretty good and were unable to finish the event.

Team Roush Rumble. Apparently we all missed the little spat between Roush teammates Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth. Edwards made his way into a TV interview Kenseth was preparing to do. At first, it looked like good-natured shoving between the two, but Edwards appeared to start a swing at Kenseth that he pulled back on. Trouble between these two starting brewing back in Kansas, and apparently Edwards did not appreciate Kenseth’s handling of the Reed Sorenson incident in which Kenseth nudged Edwards into the stationary 41 car. Edwards said something about being affected by the heat. Edwards struggled with alternator problems and had to turn his coolers off during the race, which I’m sure was no fun. Enough to get so steamed at his teammate? I’m not so sure. I’m sure we’ll hear more, and I’m sure we’ll get plenty of sound bite from “The Cat In The Hat”- team owner Jack Roush.

Well- that’s enough for this week. Thanks for reading.

Boogity, boogity!

Special Thanks again to: The Sporting News for a great NASCAR fact book, Drew and Amanda for kicking me in the tookus to do this. Extra Special Thanks go to my inspiration: my wife Lynnae, and “the chick-lettes”- Hannah and Jonathan.