ALLAN VIGIL FORD, LINCOLN, MERCURY 120—BRISTOL EDITION—500 LAPS TOMORROW @ 2 fox CH.5                                          SUPERIOR PLUMBING FASTCAR NEWSDESK

MARK MARTIN ON POLE AGAIN IN #5—NATIONWIDE RUNNING ON CH.2 WSB—OLD FART SPECIAL @ 6 2 NITE ESPN2 REPEATS SUNDAY MORNING @ 10 ON ESPN CLASSIC

The field of professional drivers has been set and so has the lineup of celebrities. Today, Bristol Motor Speedway officials announced the pairings for the Scotts Saturday Night Special, March 21 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Nine-time Bristol winner Rusty Wallace and ESPN analyst Ray Evernham announced nearly two weeks ago their intentions of an alliance. Now the other 11 teams have come together as well; some with history and a relationship, some meeting for the first time.
Junior Johnson, a 21-time winner at Bristol Motor Speedway as a car owner, is paired with ESPN analyst and former NBA No.-1 pick Brad Daugherty while Jimmy Spencer and TV/Radio personality Riki Rachtman will join forces.
Riki Rachtman has been showing up on television quite a bit lately but Saturday night Rachtman will live out a lifelong dream by strapping in to a race car and taking on the high banks of Bristol Motor Speedway. Living in Hollywood one would not think Rachtman as a NASCAR fan but that’s not the case. “I have always had a passion for stock car racing. If you looked back on past episodes of my show Headbangers Ball you would see me wearing a Richard Petty shirt or Dale Earnhardt hat. 6 years ago Rachtman started a radio show Racing Rocks. Every week he would give his own twist on NASCAR news and include exclusive driver interviews. Racing Rocks is beginning its 6th year and is now heard on over 120 stations across America. This past winter Rachtman was a dean on VH1’s highly rated series “Charm School”. Rachtman also served as host for the reunion of both seasons of “Rock of Love”, a role he will return to mid April. April 26th on VH1. This weekend however Rachtman will attempt to sift through the field of drivers as he competes in Scotts Saturday Night Special, March 21 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Rachtman’s charity will be the ASPCA. (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals).
Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer and Cale Yarborough, both multi-time champions in their respective fields, will partner as will ESPN analyst and former title-winning crew chief Andy Petree and Sterling Marlin. Hunting buddies Terry Labonte and Bill Jordan of Realtree Outdoors are teamed as are long-time friends David Green and three-time NHRA Pro Stock champ Greg Anderson. Philadelphia Eagles place-kicker David Akers and Harry Gant will partner as will Jack Ingram and NHRA Funny Car driver Ron Capps and L.D. Ottinger and Terry Bowden, head coach at the University of North Alabama. Larry Pearson, a two-time Nationwide champ and two-time Bristol winner, who this week took the place of his injured dad, David, teams with NHRA Top-Fuel dragster driver Doug Herbert. And Phil Parsons, winner of the first Nationwide Series race at BMS in 1982, and former NFL star Mike Compton round out the teams. Akers, Beamer, Bowden, Compton, Jordan and Rachtman will run the first 15-lap heat to determine the order of the inside starting row of the 35-lap pro event. Anderson, Capps, Daugherty, Evernham, Herbert and Petree will run the second 15-lap heat to set the outside starting row of the main event. The winning “team” is guaranteed $25,000 for their charities and a total of $10,000 will go to the charity or charities of the second-place duo. Every other team will get $5,000, $2,500 per driver, for their charities. The Scotts Saturday Night Special is part of a three-race ticket March 21. Tickets, which start at $45 and include the Scotts Turf Builder 300 and the 100-lap UARA event, may be purchased at www.bristoltix.com or by calling the BMS ticket office at (423) 989-6900. The Scotts Saturday Night Special will be televised on ESPN 2 at 6:00pm/et.(BMS PR)(3-19-2009)

Lysol Clean” women’s bathrooms at some races: Lysol announced that it will educate families at NASCAR races around the country about the importance of disinfection to help protect themselves from germs and the illnesses they cause. Lysol will activate its sponsorship through comprehensive marketing programs on several levels throughout the year, including customer hospitality, product promotions and at-track marketing. Fans will have the opportunity to visit five “Lysol Clean” women’s bathrooms on-site at nine race events in 2009, each cleaned and maintained by Lysol Brand ambassadors: Bristol (2 races), Charlotte (2 races, All-Star and Oct), Atlanta (Sept), New Hampshire (Sept), Infineon, Texas (2 races). Other elements of the sponsorship include exit samplers at the bathrooms, the distribution of Lysol coupons, Sprint Vision ads, bathroom signage and the Lysol logo on fan guide track maps to help identify “Lysol Clean” bathrooms. Lysol is in its eighth year as part of the racing program of Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates as an associate sponsor. The partnership includes deck lid logo placement all season long on Juan Pablo Montoya’s #42

Goodyear concluded a two-day tire test Wednesday at Lowe's Motor Speedway as the tire manufacturer prepared for the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race and the 50th running of the Coca-Cola 600.    Assisting Goodyear in gathering data for the test was a driver from each manufacturer represented in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series-Marcos Ambrose in the No. 46 Toyota, Jimmie Johnson in the No. 48 Chevrolet, Kasey Kahne in the No. 9 Dodge, and Paul Menard in the No. 98 Ford.    Each of the drivers expressed their approval of the tire compound that Goodyear brought to the famous 1.5-mile quad-oval, the same tire first introduced in competition at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in early March. 

Tire Tests planned at Indy and AMS: Goodyear is planning additional tests this year at the two tracks where its tires encountered the most criticism last year, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway. Tests are planned for April and June at Indy, the site of one of the most frustrating events in recent NASCAR and Goodyear history last year, when NASCAR had to throw the caution every 12 or 13 laps because the tires wouldn’t last. Four teams will go to the test April 20-21 and then 12 to 15 teams will go in mid-June, Goodyear director of race tire sales Greg Stucker said Wednesday during a test at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Goodyear also plans to test again at Atlanta after not being satisfied with the performance there earlier this month. Goodyear is also set with its tire choice for upcoming events at Dover, Pocono, Michigan and Infineon. It has tests planned for New Hampshire and Chicagoland coming up. It also will conduct a test at Iowa Speedway with Camping World Truck Series teams as the Trucks and Nationwide series debut at the track later this year.(

Daugherty Plans Tribute To Wendell Scott: Many NASCAR fans will realize a dream at Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend when a cast of legendary drivers returns for the Saturday Night Special. For Brad Daugherty, the 15-lap celebrity event before the legends race will have special meaning. Daugherty will pay tribute to the first African-American driver to compete full-time in NASCAR’s premier series. Daugherty’s Late Model car will feature the #34, the former number of Wendell Scott. “Wendell is one of my heroes, and I wanted to honor him,” Daugherty said. A life-long race fan who grew up in rural North Carolina, Daugherty said he wishes more fans had a deeper appreciation for the contributions of Scott.

Speedway Motorsports Inc. has requested that a Sprint Cup race be moved to Kentucky Speedway and “will consider all options” to get one there as soon as possible, according to its annual report filed Friday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. SMI bought the track in Sparta, Ky., last year for $78.3 million, including $63.3 million in assumption of debt, and wants to realign a Cup date to the 1.5-mile oval. But NASCAR Chairman Brian France has stated that the sanctioning body will not consider realignment as long as an antitrust lawsuit filed by the track's founders remains unresolved. SMI Chairman Bruton Smith said March 6 at Atlanta Motor Speedway that he had not yet requested the realignment but wanted a Cup date there in 2010. “The Company has requested realignment of a Sprint Cup Series race at the earliest possible time and will consider all options if NASCAR denies such realignment request,” the company stated in its filing. It does not elaborate whether “all options” would include legal action.

Tarrant County fan bought tickets online to the upcoming race but a stranger signed for the FedEx package. When the FedEx driver knocked on Cookie McCormick's door in TX, no one was home. Now her NASCAR family can't go to the race and they are outraged. The Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway is two just weeks away. "I just want to go to NASCAR. It's my son's 40th birthday, he's never been," said McCormick.  She paid $406 for six tickets from a third party online broker. She expected them to arrive last Wednesday. After three days, no package. So she called FedEx. In a voicemail message, an unnamed FedEx agent told her the package had already been delivered and signed for. "As he was fixing to leave, a young boy, probably in his late teens, approximately 170 pounds with a baseball cap on, pulled up in a gold Saturn. And he's the one that signed for the package," they were told. The person who signed the McCormick name, is not a part of her family.  McCormick called FedEx to complain. "He said that they would not reimburse us. It was our loss," said McCormick. In a written statement, FedEx told News 8: "The courier sincerely believed they were handing the package over to a legitimate person." McCormick is disappointed. After our call, FedEx told News 8 that McCormick could fax them a copy of her police report and file a claim. As far as the tickets go, the policy at the Texas Motor Speedway is that the original ticketholder could cancel them if they report them stolen. They could then issue new tickets. But McCormick says the original ticket holder told the online broker no