360 OTC Racing Event Preview
Atlanta Motor Speedway
Food City 500
Bristol Motor Speedway News and Notes
Bristol’s Buggy…The No. 36 360 OTC Toyota Camry Jeremy Mayfield is scheduled to drive this weekend in the Food City 500 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway is COT 12. This car was tested at BMS several weeks ago.
Mayfield’s Career Stats…Mayfield will make his 404th career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series start when he takes the green flag Sunday afternoon. He made his first career Cup Series start in October 1993 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway and finished 21st (qualified 25th) in his first Cup Series start in Bristol in 1994.
Mayfield at Bristol…Mayfield has made 23 starts on the .533-mile oval during his Cup Series career and has started as high as third (2002). He has earned two top-five finishes and five top-10 finishes at Bristol and has qualified inside the top 10 six times.
BDR at BMS…Competitors driving Bill Davis Racing-owned cars have been racing at Bristol Motor Speedway since 1993 and have made 38 starts. Those drivers have posted two top-five finishes and seven top-10 finishes and have completed 16,347 of 18,842 possible laps (86.8 percent).
Bristol Broadcast Schedule…Qualifying for the Food City 500 is scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m. ET Friday, March 23. The 500-lap event is scheduled to start at 2:10 p.m. ET Sunday, March 25, and will broadcast LIVE on FOX (TV), PRN (radio) and Sirius Satellite Radio.
A BDR Tidbit…Bobby Santos III will make his ARCA RE/MAX Series season debut this weekend at USA International Speedway in Lakeland, Fla. Santos will drive the No. 02 Bill Davis Racing Toyota Camry. Santos competed in a BDR ride last year at Iowa Speedway last October, where he qualified 10th and finished sixth. Veteran crew chief Gene Nead will call the shots for the team.
Quotes:
Jeremy Mayfield on Bristol Motor Speedway…“Maybe this whole Car of Tomorrow thing is exactly what this team needs right now. Something new, something different. We feel like we’re working so hard day in and day out, and we haven’t got anything to show for it. It’s tough. It’s tough to stay positive and not drive yourself crazy trying to figure out what you’re doing wrong. But I don’t think there’s anything major that is wrong right now. It’s just been a bunch of little stuff, and sometimes we beat ourselves and sometimes we just plain get beat. There’s no room for error in NEXTEL Cup racing anymore. Each and every team that shows up has a legitimate shot at making the race. The days of field fillers are over, and we need to step up our program to get where we need to be so that we’re one of the teams that makes the field every Friday. It’s just that simple; we won’t give up until we get there. We show up every weekend thinking we’ll race on Sunday, and that’s not going to change. This is a good bunch of guys, and we’ll get there because no one is going to let anyone give up.”
