Intro songs add personal touch at Bristol

C'mon NASCAR fans, raise your hands up!

Last fall at Bristol Motor Speedway, a new tradition was born. The 43 racers participating in that day's Sprint Cup race choose their entrance music for driver introductions. As each driver emerged through the walkway set up in Turn 3, the song of his choice blared over the speakers. Fun for drivers and fans, Sunday's race, the Food City 500, gives drivers the opportunity to pick a new round of songs.

The choice of song adds a personal touch to a standard, fairly ho-hum part of pre-race ceremonies. To see the full song list as compiled on sbnation.com, click here. I like to look at the drivers' selections for a couple different reasons.

Sometimes a driver chooses a song that describes his personality. That would be the case with Brad Keselowski, who picked "Won't Back Down" by Tom Petty. Keselowski's aggressive driving style has been under a microscope since Carl Edwards wrecked the young driver at Atlanta, seeking payback for an earlier incident in that race as well as for past run-ins between the two. Keselowski's reaction? Yup, the song title says it all.

Other drivers pick music from a band or a genre of music they like. Bobby Labonte is a country music fan, like myself, so I liked when he chose "Chicken Fried" by the Zack Brown Band for the fall race. This time he'll come out to "People Are Crazy" by Billy Currington, another popular country song.

On the other hand, I had no idea what Matt Kenseth's musical tastes were until I learned of his song choices. Kenseth is a fan of the heavy metal group Godsmack. For the fall race he choose their song "The Enemy" and on Sunday he'll be introduced to "Whiskey Hangover."

Clint Bowyer, an Elvis Presley fan, picked "CC Rider" last fall. On Sunday he'll make his entrance to one of my favorite songs by the King, "Burning Love" (hunka hunka!).

For his song selection, Ryan Newman is supporting an artist he signed for his burgeoning music label, MPR Entertainment Group. The singer is Bridgette Tatum, and Newman will walk out to her single "Hillbilly Rockstar."

Some drivers go with songs that are typically crowd pleasures and get the audience pumped up (as if they weren't already!). Usually any song by AC/DC or Guns N Roses accomplishes this mission.

In the AC/DC department, Aric Amirola will be introduced by "Back in Black" and Marcos Ambrose will come out to "Thunderstruck." Ambrose may have picked the song in honor of Bristol, nicknamed "Thunder Valley." Although the song works for Ambrose, who has one top 5 and one top 10 in two starts at the track, I preferred his song for the fall race, "Men Down Under," a fun reference to the Australian driver's roots.

As for Gun N Roses, Jeff Burton and Greg Biffle will walk out to "Welcome to the Jungle" - perhaps letting us know how they feel about racing at Bristol? - while Paul Menard chose "Paradise City."

Two drivers are promoting their sponsors with their song choices. Martin Truex Jr. will emerge to the tune of the "NAPA Know How" jingle (as if you weren't sick of the commercials already!). Kevin Conway, driver of the Extenze car, picked "Big Time" by Peter Gabriel. Extenze, "Big Time" ... get it? Conway is becoming a master of the double entendre.

A few drivers are using the same songs they picked last year. Elliot Sadler will be introduced by the "2001: A Space Odyssey" theme, which wrestling fans may recognize as "Nature Boy" Rick Flair's theme song. Tony Stewart will rock out to "Bawitdaba" from good friend Kid Rock. And Kyle Busch is sticking with Kanye West's "Amazing." If Busch is referring to his track record at Bristol, it is pretty amazing: he swept both races last year, accounting for two of his three wins at the track. Altogether he has five top 5s and seven top 10s at Bristol.

Then some songs just amuse and even mystify me. Like Scott Speed's choice of "Love Shack" by the B52s. I just have to laugh at that one! Speed's got a great sense of humor that he shows on Twitter - maybe he'll let us in on the joke?

And Kurt Busch with the "Dukes of Hazzard" theme. Is Busch that big a fan of the TV show? Is he envious of the General Lee? I loved his choice for the fall race, Cake's "Going the Distance," which Juan Pablo Montoya will be using Sunday. This one I don't get, but the show did feature a fast car, so I'm willing to let it slide!

The songs for a few drivers, including Dale Earnhardt Jr., have yet to be determined. If Junior is looking for ideas, I have a few. He appeared in the music videos for all three of the following songs: "The Road I'm On" by Three Doors Down; "Rock Star" by Nickelback and "Show Me What You Got" by Jay-Z (which also features future JRM driver Danica Patrick). If I had to pick just one, I'd go with "Show Me What You Got" - let's see what Jr. has for Bristol this weekend, one of his best tracks.

Photo of Bristol Motor Speedway from NASCAR Media

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author.

What do you think of the drivers' choices for their intro songs? Leave your comments below.

Spoiler coming to Martinsville

NASCAR has finally come out and announced an actual date for the new spoiler's debut. All the speculation was correct -- the wings will be removed from Sprint Cup cars and replaced with spoilers for the March 28 race at Martinsville Speedway.

NASCAR announced back in January that the Sprint Cup Series would transition from wings to spoilers sometime during the 2010 season but held off on announcing a date for the move. A test was held at Talladega Superspeedway on Tuesday, and NASCAR officials left that test feeling good about the new spoiler, good enough to announce the following day that they would be used as soon as March 28th at Martinsville.

A four-inch spoiler will be on the cars at Martinsville and other short tracks. The size of superspeedway spoilers has yet to be decided.

To read the rest of this article, go to Cup Series News and Notes.

Photo of the No. 48 car at Tuesday's test at Talladega courtesy of NASCAR Media.

NASCAR announces all-star change

On Wednesday, NASCAR revealed the format for the Sprint All-Star Race, slated for May 22 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. While there are slight changes, many things stay the same in the race to the checkered flag and a $1 million payout.

The first segment of the race will consist of 50 laps, and teams will be required to pit for four tires on lap 25. Teams will also have the option of making a second pit stop when the yellow flies at the conclusion of the first segment.

Segments two and three are both 20-lap segments. Just like with segment one, the caution will come out at the end of segments one and two to allow teams the opportunity to make optional pit stops.

There will be a 10-minute break at the end of the third segment, during which teams can make normal adjustments to their cars. Cars will then line up behind the pace car in the order they finished the third segment to make one lap behind the pace car. After that one lap is when the most noticeable change to the All-Star Race format comes in.

All cars will be required to make a four-tire pit stop after following the pace car for a lap prior to the start of the final 10-lap segment. The order the cars come off pit road will determine the starting order for the final 10 laps.

To read the rest of the article, visit Cup Series News and Notes.

Harvick looking for piece of history (Nationwide Series)

When the Nationwide Series returns to action Saturday after a couple of weekends off, many eyes will surely be on Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski to see whether or not the two drivers have put their differences aside after their brush up in the Kobalt Tools 500 Sprint Cup Series event at Atlanta Motor Speedway a couple of weeks ago. Meanwhile, Kevin Harvick will attempt to quietly improve his already stellar record in Thunder Valley and maybe grab a little piece of history along the way.

Harvick is already the Nationwide Series win leader at Bristol with five trips to victory lane. If he can get number six in Saturday's Scotts Turf Builder 300, or at least finish in the top-five, he'll tie series legend Tommy Houston for all-time top-five finishes in the series at 123.


The rest of this story can be read at NASCAR Nationwide Series Examiner.

Photo of Kevin Harvick courtesy of NASCAR Media.

Spoiler undergoes test at Talladega

NASCAR may have planned its Talladega Superspeedway test primarily to collect data to determine gear specifications and restrictor plate size for next month's Aaron's 499 at the track. However, most eyes seemed to be on the spoiler that was also put to the test at the track on Tuesday.

NASCAR's Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton said that it was "an opportunity for teams to work on their handling packages as we transition to the spoiler."

NASCAR announced prior to the start of the season that sometime during 2010, the wing currently on the rear of the Sprint Cup car would be done away with and the series would return to a rear spoiler. No official announcement has come from NASCAR regarding the date of the spoiler's return to competition, but speculation is that the spoiler will make its return for the March 28 race at Martinsville Speedway.

The rest of this story can be read at Cup Series News & Notes.

Photo courtesy of NASCAR Media.

Why My Family Will Always Love Carl Edwards

Let me start off by saying I'm a Brad Keselowski fan. When Carl hit Brad in Atlanta, I was in a bit of a haze coming off a nap and thought I was dreaming and couldn't believe what happened. When I finally realized what really did happen, I was in shock. How could Carl Edwards, the sweetheart of NASCAR who just became a dad, do such a horrible thing? After rationalizing the action versus what happened (we all know it wasn't his intent to make Brad's car fly...), and looking back at his past actions and that racing will always have an element of payback, I got over it – sort of.

But Carl Edwards has a sentimental value in my family. And since this is a website by women and somewhat for women, I feel I can share my story with you.

I was already a NASCAR fan when I was living in Michigan when the August 2008 race was coming up. My mom, not much of a fan, wanted to visit for her birthday, which happened to be the weekend of the race. I told her she could either come to the race with me or come a different weekend. She said she was interested in experiencing a race and we went all out, booking a travel package with RaceTravel, staying in a hotel with other fans and getting garage passes.

At this time, she hadn't picked a driver but I was a Dale Jr. and Brad fan, decked out from head to toe. She didn't even have a smile on her face when we got to the track. But that all changed the moment we stepped out of car in the parking lot. The tailgating, the camaraderie, the different festivities in the fairgrounds … she loved it all. She bought a plain Michigan International Speedway shirt to not “brand” herself and wore a Bon Jovi hat.

We went into the garage, a first for the both of us. We saw all the haulers and drivers walked by us here and there. Then a driver walked towards us who didn't have much of a crowd around him. My mom asked who he was and I told her it was Carl Edwards. She said “he looks nice, I want his autograph.” So she went up to him and asked for an autograph. He said “sure, how are ya doin?” She felt like a rock star. At the end of our garage visit, she picked him as her driver. When we took our seats in the stands to watch the Nationwide race, she opened the program and found out they shared the same birthday. She said it was meant to be that he became her favorite.

He went on to win the race and do his back flip in front of us. Thanks to our passes and Michigan's rules, we were allowed in to Victory Lane to celebrate with my mom's new favorite driver. We drove back to the hotel and she couldn't stop talking about how much fun she had that day and how excited she was for the Cup race the next day. She hit up the Carl souvenir hauler and decked herself out in his then-sponsor Office Depot gear. Again we took our seats and watched Carl win the Sprint Cup race. My mom cheered as loud as she could. She left that weekend a changed woman – she was a NASCAR fan. More importantly, she was a Carl Edwards fan.

A few weeks later, I received a call that my mom had been rushed to the hospital back home and they didn't know what was wrong. I immediately flew back and would find out she had a brain tumor. It had been there for a while but went undiagnosed. She spent 16 long days in the hospital, going from floor to floor, different ICUs and in and out of consciousness and eventually had the tumor removed (it was benign, thank goodness). When she was awake, her one demand was the TV in her room carried the NASCAR races. She watched two races while in the hospital – one while in the ICU and one while in rehab.

Watching a NASCAR race while in the ICU is like having to watch it in the library. And what race did we get to watch there? Talladega Fall 08 – yes, the one with the Tony Stewart vs. Regan Smith ending. At this point, my mom's heart had been effected by the tumor and she couldn't really focus so I sat next to her and would tell her what was happening. I was like her private DW! In rehab, her roommate was a NASCAR fan and they both put on their TVs and felt like they had surround sound. At this point, she had already had the tumor removed and was going through some tough rehab days so the race kept her going.

She was finally released and I moved back home. Then was allowed to go back to work, during the offseason. One day, a few weeks after she went back, a package arrived for her from Roush Fenway Racing. It was a personalized autograph from Carl saying “To Fern, Feel Better, Thanks for being a fan, Carl Edwards.” See, what none of us knew was that when my mom was sick, my dad had written RFR about her situation and asked for a phone call. Obviously, they were in the heat of the Chase and couldn't do that, but the letter was enough. I had it framed for her as a reminder of what she lived through.

When the Vegas race rolled around in the beginning of 2009, she had managed to break her foot but that didn't keep her from running around the garage. She had a special moment with Carl in the garage but what really made her happy was getting to have a conversation with him right before the Nationwide race and him remembering her as being his “birthday twin.” (That's where the above picture comes from.) She said if she died that day, she had done everything she wanted. She doesn't even remember that race (honestly, neither do I...) because all she could think about was having met Carl.

On her next birthday, one year after she had visited me in Michigan, we had a surprise NASCAR-themed party, including a life-size cutout of Carl (he had a birthday hat for himself, too!), fake pit passes, and a cake with the picture of her and Carl on it, which she ate in her own “Victory Lane.” And as my surprise to her was a memorabilia piece from his MIS 08 win (one of those you can buy on nascar.com that include a piece of the tire). It not only a reminder of the race we shared, but it reminded her of the fact that she survived the year.

So I might get mad at Carl for hitting my favorite driver, but I can never be mad at him for giving my mom the strength to carry on during the hardest fight of her life. It sounds cheesy, but my mom's love for NASCAR – and her favorite driver – truly got her through that dark period of time. In the hospital, while recovering, and any bad day she still has … she looks at the picture of her and Carl or thinks back to that first day in the garage, and she is thankful for every day she has.

When I asked my mom if she was mad at Carl for hitting Brad last week, she said “I can't. I just can't.”

I want to dedicate this post to my mom, the strongest person I know.


Photo courtesy of Farrah Kaye.

The opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and do not reflect those of this site or its other contributors.

TwoCents and Five Questions with Brian Vickers

Brian Vickers, driver of the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota in the Sprint Cup Series and the No. 32 Dollar General Toyota in the Nationwide Series, has been racing since he was 8 and made his NASCAR Nationwide (then Busch) Series debut in 2001. In 2003, he landed a Busch series ride with Hendrick Motorsports and eventually moved up to their Cup program, driving their No. 25 car and finishing the car in the best points position in a decade. He was definitely making a name for himself and in 2007, headed over to newly-formed Red Bull Racing. It was a tough start, but in 2009, Vickers found his pace, getting his first win and making the Chase for the Sprint Cup (he ended 12th in points – last place). But the future looks bright.

When he's not driving at nearly 200 mph every weekend, he is participating in Red Bull adventures like skydiving and scuba diving and enjoys going to live sporting events. And now, I suppose, you can add acting to that list, after his guest spot on the TBS series My Boys. Vickers was nice enough to speak with TheTwoCents about his role on the show, what sports he enjoys, things he likes about Chicago and more.

Read the entire article at thetwocents.com.

This post also appears on thetwocents.com and has been republished with permission from the author.

Photo courtesy of nascarmedia.com.