Two words for this Sunday - “Thunder Alley”

Today, the Nascar Sprint Cup Series racing takes place at Bristol Motor Speedway, aka Thunder Alley.

If you don’t know, Bristol is the best of the best when it comes to short track racing.

The lineup was based on owner points,

POS CAR DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR
1 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe’s
2 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont
3 07 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet Jack Daniel’s
4 17 Matt Kenseth Ford DISH Network
5 5 Casey Mears Chevrolet CARQUEST / Kellogg’s
6 20 Tony Stewart Toyota The Home Depot
7 77 Sam Hornish Jr.* Dodge Mobil 1
8 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet AT&T Mobility
9 99 Carl Edwards Ford Office Depot
10 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Shell / Pennzoil

Click here for the complete lineup.

Coverage of the Food City 500 @ Bristol Motor Speedway is on FOX Sports, and begins 1:30 P.M. Stick with Nascar.com or FoxSports.com for all the latest.

We also bid a fond farewell to a great driver, Dale Jarrett, after 24 years, 668 races, will take his final laps today.

Title alone no indicator of Jarrett’s impact in sport
Veteran to make final Cup start in Sunday’s Bristol race

BRISTOL, Tenn. — They stood in a circle, about 20 of them, in the driver motor coach lot at Daytona International Speedway hours after the track’s annual July race had come to an end. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was celebrating with friends after an emotional victory at the place where his father had been killed only five months before. Almost certainly clutching a Budweiser, the then-26-year-old driver turned to his right and suddenly saw a familiar but unexpected face.

Dale Jarrett’s daughter had a basketball game on the coast of North Carolina the next day, so he had decided to spend the night in Daytona Beach. He had long been a friend to the elder Earnhardt, and become something of a mentor to the younger Earnhardt in the wake of the Intimidator’s death. It was maybe 2 in the morning when Jarrett wandered over to the impromptu party, wanting to help Earnhardt Jr. celebrate the most significant victory of his young career.

“I asked him what he was still doing there, why aren’t you on your way home,” Earnhardt remembered. “He said, ‘I wouldn’t miss this. That was the coolest thing I have ever seen you do.’ That was just, I don’t know, it showed me a lot about his character right there. At that time in my life, it meant a lot to me for somebody to care and want to experience that with you. Obviously there was a void there for me, and it meant a lot to me that he understood that. That was just a great moment for me.”

Read it all here

A few fun Facts: Dale Jarrett
Career Statistics

From 1984-2008, DJ has had 667 starts, 32 wins, 163 top-5 finishes, 260 top-10 finishes.

For your reading pleasure, awesome 35 year old story of Nascar’s racing history:
Yarborough only driver to lead Bristol start to finish