Ray Evernham
Rusty Wallace is coming back to the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
OK, maybe the former series champion isn’t coming back the way many of his fans would like, but Wallace recently announced his intentions to partner with Ray Evernham and run one more time with his famed No. 2 this year at Bristol Motor Speedway as part of the track’s March 21 Saturday Night Special charity event, according to a press release on Wallace’s Web site, www.rustywallace.com.
Wallace, a nine-time winner at Bristol, will drive a Chevrolet Impala SS in the March 21 race, his first career start behind the wheel of the Chevy, according to the press release.
“When the opportunity to run this race first came about, of course I was interested, but I just didn’t really pay it a lot of attention. But then, when I saw all of these guys signing up to run, there was no way I was going to let Junior Johnson, Harry Gant and those guys get another chance at Bristol’s Victory Lane without me,” Wallace said. “I’ve been in Victory Lane there a lot of times before, and you can bet that Ray and I are going to be trying like heck to get there again.
“Everyone’s acting like this thing’s just going to be for charity, but you better believe that we’re all in it to win it. Ray and I are bringing a bad little hot rod painted up just like my old Miller Genuine Draft cars, and we’re going to try to take it to them one last time at Bristol.”
According to Evernham, who had quite a lot of success at Bristol when he was current Sprint Cup championship points leader Jeff Gordon’s crew chief, working with Wallace to win the race, even a charity race, is something he’s looking forward to doing
“When you look back at it, Rusty and Jeff [Gordon] were really the guys to beat at Bristol for a long, long time. Through all of those races, I’d like to think that I’ve learned a few tricks about how to get around Bristol. Believe me, we’re going to use all of them that Saturday night.”
POCONO BLUEGRASS
Fans planning on staying the weekend at this year’s Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway will be treated to more than just a weekend of racing.
They’ll also get a front row seat for a weekend-long bluegrass festival, slated for the Friday and Saturday prior to the race, according to a recent news story published on the Long Pond track’s Web site, www.poconoraceway.com.
Billed “The Music on the Mountain,” the festival will include such bluegrass acts at Ricky Skaggs, Steep Canyon Rangers, Charlie Sizemore Band, Dailey & Vincent, Del McCoury Band, Cherryholmes, Blue Highway and SteelDrivers and is free to all fans camping out in the track infield for the race weekend.
“For the past nearly 40 years, in addition to outstanding racing, we’ve always endeavored to provide a fan experience like no other, and this year’s Pennsylvania 500 will be no different.” Pocono Raceway CEO Dr. Joseph Mattioli said. “Two days of top-flight bluegrass music, to an already exciting race weekend, provides our fans added value for their entertainment dollar — an outstanding weekend at the track.”
A pre-concert, 30-minute “red-carpet” event will also be broadcast live online prior to the start of the festival.
The event is sponsored by Yabutz.com. For more information, go to the Yabutz Web site at www.yabutz.com/bluegrass.
The Pennsylvania 500 race is on Aug. 2.
MORE ON POCONO
Pocono Raceway also recently announced the completion of a multi-million dollar parking and seating improvements project.
According to published reports on the track Web site, Pocono Raceway recently completed construction on a new parking entrance, complete with additional parking, as well as the addition of bucket seating in the terrace platinum and concourse gold seating areas.
Mattioli called the improved seating, “the first of many improvements” at Pocono Raceway, but did not disclose what other improvements are on the way.
The new entrance and parking area will be located just off Route 115.
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Rank…Driver…Points…Behind
1.…Jeff Gordon…459…---
2.…Clint Bowyer…441…18
3.…Matt Kenseth…419…40
4.…Greg Biffle…419…40
5.…David Reutimann…408…51
6.…Kyle Busch…405…54
7.…Tony Stewart…379…80
8.…Carl Edwards…377…82
9.…Bobby Labonte…360…99
10.…Kevin Harvick…351…108
11.…Michael Waltrip…346…113
12.…Kasey Kahne…338…121
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