Drivers realize Nashville means great racing
Nashville is one of the highlights of the Busch Series schedule. Drivers love its long straights and "U" shaped turns, writes Rupen Fofaria.
Sitting just 30 miles from downtown Nashville, Tenn., is a 1.33-mile stretch of concrete where NASCAR stages some of its best racing.
Lacking the luster of a prime-time Nextel Cup event, Nashville Superspeedway has nonetheless staged exciting racing and become a favorite of the Busch Series racers who visit it regularly. In an era of aero-push and anemic passing, Nashville is one of those places where side-by-side racing is the norm and passing's made difficult only by poor setups or driver error, not racing surface or car design.
"It's going to be an exciting race," said Busch Series points leader Carl Edwards of this Saturday's race (ESPN2, 3 p.m. ET), making a promise not hard to keep.
Adds Jason Leffler: "There's plenty of room for passing so there is a lot of good side-by-side racing, which makes it a lot of fun to race."
Fun to watch, as well. In the past two years, drivers have combined for more than 1,000 passes each race. Most of it has happened on the straightaways, where the backstretch rolls for more than 2,200 feet before a mere 14-degree banking escorts drivers into a tight "U" around to the frontstretch, which bows out and carries on for nearly 2,500 feet.
"From what I understand, it's a track with multiple grooves for racing," Dave Blaney said. "It's got straightaways like a speedway or a mile-and-a-half, but it's got tight corners like a short track."
"I think it is the perfect size racetrack for our cars," Scott Wimmer said. "It's just over a mile, it has banking and it is concrete which seems to help the racing. I really like going to tracks that size and I think the racing is always good."
The size of the track, however, can fool a driver if he's not careful.
"Nashville Superspeedway is deceiving in that it looks a lot faster than it really is," Leffler said. "The long front and backstretches carry you into tight corners where you have to slow it down. It's nothing like the other concrete tracks where you carry a lot of speed into and out of the turns with barely any straightaways."
With the course's long straightaways and tight corners, the driver is more of a factor at Nashville than many other tracks.
That's an exciting prospect for drivers -- but a worrisome one, as well.
"It's concrete, so that always makes it a little more fun since there is a lot of grip," Todd Kluever said. "The driver can affect the car there, but it's easy to overdrive the corners which can hurt your exit off the corners. It's a lot of fun for a driver because you can contribute as a driver and your team contributes with a good car."
Hornish stocking up
Sam Hornish Jr.'s stock-car education has included a lot of cram sessions trying to learn tracks -- their layouts, quirks, lines. On Saturday, he'll be on familiar territory, though. Though this was one of the few ovals on the IndyCar circuit at which Hornish has not win, he did post runner-up IndyCar finishes in 2004 and 2005. As for the elusive win?
"Maybe it just takes a different kind of race car to make it to Victory Lane," he said.
Burton taking weekend off
Despite the free weekend in his Nextel Cup schedule, Jeff Burton's going to take it easy this weekend and let Scott Wimmer follow up on his ninth-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway in the No. 29 Chevy.
The two have been splitting time in the car and after back-to-back wins by Burton, Wimmer stepped in seamlessly with a top-10. Combined, the two have the Richard Childress Racing rig ranked third in the owner's points standings.
Rupen Fofaria has covered NASCAR for ESPN.com since 2002. He can be reached at rupenisracin@yahoo.com.
