Bristol!

There's artist Michael Atkinson's vision of Thunder Valley...

And then there's NASCAR's!

Some tidbits going into the spring Jeff Byrd 500 race at Bristol…

What are the drivers singing as they run the high-banked half mile?

• Jeff Gordon: "I Won't Back Down," Tom Petty
• Carl Edwards: "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" theme from "Cheers"
• Ryan Newman: "Good Ol' Boys," Waylon Jennings
• Clint Bowyers: Theme from "The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly"
• Matt Kenseth: "Nightmare," Avenged Sevenfold
• Regan Smith: "Welcome To The Family," Avenged Sevenfold
• Marcos Ambrose: "Fuel," Metallica
• David Ragan: "No More Mr. Nice Guy," Alice Cooper
• Greg Biffle: "Tonight's Gonna Be A Good Night," Black Eyed Peas
• David Reutimann: "Pretty Fly For A White Guy," The Offspring
• Joey Logano: "Opposite of Adults," Chiddy Bang
• Kasey Kahne: "A Country Boy Can Survive," Hank Williams Jr.
• Martin Truex Jr.: "Homeboy," Eric Church
• Bobby Labonte: "God Bless Texas," Little Texas
• Kevin Harvick: "Back In Black," AC/DC
• Jeff Burton: "Welcome to the Jungle," Guns N' Roses
• Paul Menard: "Concrete Jungle," Black Label Society
• Juan Pablo Montoya: "Ladies and Gentlemen," Saliva
• Kurt Busch: "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer," George Thorogood
• Jamie McMurray: "Burn It To The Ground," Nickelback
• Denny Hamlin: "Shipping Up To Boston," Dropkick Murphys
• Tony Stewart: "Bawataba," Kid Rock
• Kyle Busch: "Rowdy Busch," 2012 featuring Raytona500

JJ and Brian Vickers are selecting each other's songs and will keep them a secret until the introductions while Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mark Martin are also being secretive… (or just couldn’t decide)…

BTW, I looked up Kyle’s song. It’s what I’d call screaming heavy metal (a new genre?) and was recently introduced to benefit the Kyle Busch Foundation…

On another couple of notes here… What in the world is Kurt Busch thinking? Do you picture Marcos Ambrose listening to Metallica? And then there’s Logano’s pick (What’s up with that?)…
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Biffle’s got a new Gas Can Man!

You could see this one comin’ from a long way off… I suppose the new guy’s the reason they finished second in qualifying…

The pit stop wars should be very interesting in Bristol as we’ll see whether fueling with ethanol continues to be a problem or, as the teams learn to cope, it's become a non-issue.
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How long has Goodyear manufactured racing tires for NASCAR? Yeah… Just about as long as there’s been a NASCAR…

Why do they seem to constantly have tire issues? This isn’t WWII when our nation’s security depended on coming up with synthetic rubber… We’re going round and round on tracks that have been gone round and round on for years…

Here’s a look at a right side tire that came off a car after practice at Bristol this week…

Nice huh?

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Racing at Bristol is like an art form… (According to Kyle Busch)


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I’ll leave you with the latest shot of Ms. Danica Patrick who will be plying her trade this afternoon in Thunder Valley…

Evidently she wasn't a happy camper about something… I'll bet a top ten finish at Bristol would put a smile on her face!

My song for Bristol... Will It Go Round In Circles? by Billy Preston

Here we go!