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Starting Grid

1	Jeff Gordon	24	Chevrolet 	
2	Kasey Kahne	9	Dodge 	
3	Elliott Sadler	19	Dodge 	
4	Tony Stewart	20	Chevrolet 	
5	Jamie McMurray	26	Ford 	
6	Jimmie Johnson	48	Chevrolet 	
7	Dave Blaney	22	Toyota	
8	Scott Riggs	10	Dodge 	
9	Jeff Green	66	Chevrolet 	
10	Denny Hamlin	11	Chevrolet 	
11	Greg Biffle	16	Ford 	
12	Regan Smith	01	Chevrolet 	
13	M Truex Jr.	1	Chevrolet 	
14	Ward Burton	4	Chevrolet 	
15	Ken Schrader	21	Ford 	
16	Casey Mears	25	Chevrolet 	
17	Tony Raines	96	Chevrolet 	
18	Clint Bowyer	07	Chevrolet 	
19	Mike Bliss	49	Dodge 	
20	Kyle Busch	5	Chevrolet 	
21	Sterling Marlin	14	Chevrolet
22	Ryan Newman	12	Dodge 	
23	Jeremy Mayfield	36	Toyota	
24	Ricky Rudd	88	Ford 	
25	Brian Vickers	83	Toyota	
26	Kyle Petty	45	Dodge 	
27	Kenny Wallace	78	Chevrolet 	
28	Bobby Labonte	43	Dodge 	
29	Jeff Burton	31	Chevrolet 	
30	Dale Jarrett	44	Toyota	
31	D Earnhardt Jr.	8	Chevrolet 	
32	Carl Edwards	99	Ford 	
33	David Stremme	40	Dodge 	
34	Robby Gordon	7	Ford 	
35	David Gilliland	38	Ford 	
36	J P Montoya	42	Dodge 	
37	J.J. Yeley	18	Chevrolet 	
38	Matt Kenseth	17	Ford 	
39	Reed Sorenson	41	Dodge 	
40	Kevin Harvick	29	Chevrolet 	
41	David Ragan	6	Ford 	
42	Kurt Busch	2	Dodge 
43	AJ Allmendinger	84	Toyota

My Fantasy Five

#20 Tony Stewart
#24 Jeff Gordon
#2  Kurt Busch
#19 Elliott Sadler
#01 Regan Smith

Food City 500 Preview

Bristol Preview
VegasInsider.com

This week’s race at Bristol marks the debut of NASCAR’s “Car of Tomorrow”. NASCAR will run 16 races this season in the new car, including next week at Martinsville as well. The changes to the car were all made in efforts to make the drivers safer.

There is a larger cockpit, more steel plating by the doors, and the fuel cell is a much thick container. So far the car has been met with a tremendous amount of approval from the drivers.

2007: The 16 speedways prepared to feature the new cars are Bristol (2), Martinsville (2), Phoenix (2), Richmond (2), Dover (2), New Hampshire (2), Darlington, Infineon Raceway, Watkins Glen and Talladega (fall).

"The first thing about it is the car is safer,” Kevin Harvick said. Whatever it is after that is a bonus. The drivers have more room inside. There is a lot of things built into the car to absorb energy when they hit the wall. That's just the starting point. ... The bottom line is, NASCAR has to make the best decision for them. They felt it was time to evolve the car and make it safer, and the teams will figure out the rest."

Obviously with the changes, there is bound to be some kind of change with what we have come to expect, whether it’s an increase or decrease in performance. All the past performance data that we have may be able to be tossed out the door. Or they could run very similar. We’ll have to wait and see for ourselves and trust the drivers who tested the cars in Bristol at the end of February.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. thinks the cars may even run a little better.

"The Impala SS actually drives better than our other cars do here. The car is an inch wider, it has a little more grip. I am really pleasantly surprised really. It has exceeded my expectations at this point and how the car is driving. I anticipated it to be a little more of a struggle get the car to turn, to work, to get it up off the corner. Our lap times are comparable with the other chassis we have been running here the past couple of years. I think we are ahead of the game a little bit, as far as I thought we would be, we are ahead of that."

So how do we handicap this week’s race with all the changes? To start with, I think you still have to look at the drivers and use past trends to guide you. Drivers who do well at Bristol always do well at Bristol. It’s not a coincidence that the same drivers seem to finish in the top five twice a year and that the same few drivers win in every Bristol race. They are just better. I wouldn’t imagine the changes to the car affecting the select few drivers who dominate at Bristol.

The first candidate to win this week is Las Vegas native, Kurt Busch (6/1). He has five career wins at Bristol in his last 10 starts there. He has won with Jack Roush and did it last season with Roger Penske showing that Busch can do it at Bristol in nearly any situation.

The next driver to keep an eye on is Kevin Harvick (6/1). Since his rookie year in 2001, no one has a better Bristol average finish position than Harvick. He won this race in 2005 and finished second last season.

Matt Kenseth (9/1) has won the last two Bristol night races in a row. In this race last year, Kenseth finished third. Since 2002, his worst finish has been 16th with nine top 10 finishes.

After you throw out all the wins of Kenseth, Harvick, and Busch you’re left with three other drivers that have won in the last 11 races; Tony Stewart (7/1) in 2001, Jeff Gordon (10/1) in 2002, and Dale Jr. (14/1) in 2004.

Sometime soon, some driver is going to step up and show the Bristol heavyweights that they’re ready to become chief. Kurt Busch was that guy to do it when he gave Jimmy Spencer the business in crunch time a few years ago. Greg Biffle has come close, but I believe the next in line is Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin so we’ll throw them in our top 5 this week.

Kyle Busch would seem like the logical choice not only because of his team, but because he just doesn’t care about offending anyone. Much like his brother, he just wants to win and will take whatever baggage comes with it. The short track racing is where both Kurt and Kyle got their racing experience at the Bullring inside Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The irritated plenty of people racing there as well, but the Busch brothers are the ones racing in NASCAR’s top series now. These boys definitely got something that many others don’t have.

TOP 5 Bristol Finish Prediction:

1) #29 Kevin Harvick (6/1)
2) #5 Kyle Busch (12/1)
3) #2 Kurt Busch (6/1)
4) #17 Matt Kenseth (9/1)
5) #11 Denny Hamlin (22/1)