Viewer's Guide: Food City 500

If your car is nice and shiny when you take the green flag at Bristol Motor Speedway, it's unlikely that it will stay that way for very long.

	Bristol Motor Speedway has torn up more than its share of race cars. Credit: Autostock

Whenever you put 43 cars on a .533-mile oval, there's not a lot of real estate for each car, so many races at the Bristol bullring look less like races and more like demolition derbys.

FOX's pre-race show Sunday will focus on the toll that 500 laps at Bristol takes on a car and its driver.

Nextel Cup rookie Brian Vickers is up for the challenge.

"To me, Bristol provides the greatest sensation of speed of all the tracks we race at," Vickers said. "It's a place where you really have to hustle the car and experience a lot of 'Gs' (G-force) because it seems like you're always in the corners due to the short straight-aways.

	Brian Vickers has plenty of experienced people to draw from before his first Nextel Cup race at Bristol this weekend. Credit: Autostock

"You use every bit of the track exiting the corners and run so close to the outside walls that you see the fence posts just zipping by, making it feel like you're going extremely fast."

Filling the field: FOX will also examine how slower cars impeed the progress of faster cars on race day. The topic has gotten a lot of attention recently thanks to the Andy Hillenburg/Jeff Gordon incident at Darlington last week.

"I'll tell you what, there's a bunch of cars out there than don't belong," Gordon said after the incident. "They're way off the pace and in the way."

Hot spots: Darrell Waltrip will give viewers another installment of his "Hot Spot" feature this week, outlining a part of Bristol Motor Speedway that could present drivers with some problems.

Ask The Producer: This week's question comes from Gary Thompson of Hendersonville, TN:

Why is your pre-race show longer for Busch Series races than it is for Nextel Cup races? I'm not sure if it is every week but it was last weekend at Darlington.

NASCAR ON FOX  Visit FOXSports.com for NASCAR news

NASCAR on FOX producer Neil Goldberg explains:

"FX is able to program in a longer prerace show due to the fact that the Busch races are shorter races. Also, being a cable network FX has great flexibility with their programming time because they do not have to worry about affiliate stations. On FOX you have longer races that are programmed between time that the local affiliates have programming content."

Let your voice be heard: Each week, we'll pick one question to ask the producer of the FOX telecast. Why did they do things this way? Why did they talk to that driver? Any question that eats at you could be answered right here in the Viewer's Guide.

Send your questions to the e-mail box in this piece.

The Rant: This week, Adam Dunn says Dale Earnhardt Jr. is getting too much attention during telecasts.

"The coverage would be great if you didn't have to hear about Dale Jr. 50 times a race. My god, I heard "and junior is behind the wall again" so much during the Vegas race I heard it in my sleep for three nights.

	Dale Earnhardt Jr. remains a topic of discussion throughout NASCAR. Credit: Autostock

"I don't dislike the guy at all I wish him the best, although I'm not his fan. I'm a Harvick fan. All I'm saying is there are a lot of sponsors that pay a lot of money to see their car on a national broadcast. But, if they're not either running in the top five or being passed by the 8 car on his way into the pits for another set of shocks, they don't get any air time.

"If I paid millions of dollars to a race team to paint "shut up about Junior" on the car, then I better see it on T.V. on Sunday, whether their in first or 43rd. And we wonder why everyone is having sponsor trouble."

Adam, I have to disagree with you. For starters, like him or not, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the most popular driver in NASCAR. Ratings and advertisers can tell you that. Therefore, whatever he's doing on the track is going to be followed.

Also, let's not forget that in Vegas, Earnhardt Jr. was the points leader and had just swept both the Cup and Busch Series races at Daytona. He was relevant then, as he is now.

As far as every car deserving air time, it would stand to figure that a top team can demand more money than a second-tier team. For that premium, advertisers should and do get more exposure.

It's simple. If you want air time, run up front -- or wreck.

EMAIL Send Mark your take for "The Rant" or your question for "Ask The Producer"

Get in on the action: In "The Rant," we'll pick e-mails each week to argue about a TV coverage issue, be it a commentator's comment, a driver's comment, a pre-race feature -- basically anything you want to spout off about.

Come with an intelligent, passionate argument and you may see your take on NASCAR.COM.

Again, since we're into the season now, please keep your e-mails to television coverage issues.

On to this weekend's schedule:

Nextel Cup Series: Food City 500

Site: Bristol, Tenn

Track: Bristol Motor Speedway (.533-mile oval, 36-degree banking in turns. Frontstretch: 650 feet. Backstretch: 650 feet)

Race distance: 266.5 miles, 500 laps

TV: Bud Pole Qualifying: SPEED 3 p.m. ET Friday. Happy Hour: FX. Noon ET Saturday (tape delay). Race: FOX, 1 p.m. ET Sunday.

Last year Busch holds off his teammate to take the checkers Play video Kyle Petty is taken to a local hospital after a hard crash Play video Jerry Nadeau is upset after a crash on lap 219 Play video

Last year: Kurt Busch led 112 of the 500 laps for his fifth career win and second consecutive in the spring race at Bristol.

Last race: It was another great finish at Darlington. This time, the battle was between Jimmie Johnson and Bobby Labonte -- and Johnson pulled out his first Darlington win. Johnson became the third different Hendrick Motorsports driver to win at The Lady in Black in the past four races.

Potential storyline: Other than the field-filler discussion continuing, look for Mark Martin and Rusty Wallace to get some play. Both drivers have seven poles at Bristol and have combined for 11 wins.

Also, Kurt Busch will be going for a third straight Bristol win. He swept both races there last season.

Oh, and there will probably be a few short tempers this weekend, but you knew that already.

Point to ponder: The last person to win the Bristol spring race from the Bud Pole was Rusty Wallace in 1999. In 43 spring events there, 10 pole-sitters went to Victory Lane.

Busch Series: Sharpie Professional 250

Site: Bristol, Tenn

Last year Harvick holds off Raines to get his ninth Busch win Play video Wimmer and Riggs hit passing a lapped car Play video It doesn't take long for the yellow flag to fly at Bristol Play video

Track: Bristol Motor Speedway (.533-mile oval, 36-degree banking in turns. Frontstretch: 650 feet. Backstretch: 650 feet)

Race distance: 133.25 miles, 250 laps

TV: Busch Pole Qualifying: 1:30 p.m. ET Friday. Race: FOX, 1 p.m. ET Saturday.

Last year: Kevin Harvick survived the caution-filled Channellock 250, fending off Tony Raines after a late restart to claim victory at Bristol Motor Speedway. It was Harvick's third career Busch win at Bristol, and ninth victory of his Busch career.

Last race: Greg Biffle overcame a slow pit stop and led teammate Jeff Burton to the checkered flag at Darlington. The win was the first top- five finish of the year for Biffle.

Potential storyline: Kenny Wallace may get some attention. In his 21 career NASCAR Busch Series starts at Bristol Motor Speedway, Wallace has finished out of the top 10 just four times -- and the last time he did so was in 1995's fall race due to an accident.

Point to ponder: It's been 10 years since one of the most bizarre finishes in NASCAR Busch Series history. On April 9, 1994, Mark Martin was leading at what was then known as Bristol International Raceway under caution when he pulled off the track in Turn 4 and headed to Victory Lane. Only one small problem ... there was still another lap to go.

A surprised David Green, running second at the time, maintained his course and went around the .533-mile layout one more time to collect the win. It would be the only win of the year for Green, who went on to capture the 1994 NASCAR Busch Series championship.

Mark Spoor is an interactive producer of NASCAR.COM. The Domino's Viewers Guide appears each Thursday during race weeks.