Local Look: Subway 400

Event: Subway 400

Date: Feb. 22

Location: North Carolina Speedway

Local papers covering: Fayetteville Observer, Winston-Salem Journal, Richmond County Daily Journal

Rescue crews taking a cautious approach

The deal: Thomas Pope of the Fayetteville Observer says Hamlet fire chief David Knight, who heads the emergency response teams that will work this weekend's NASCAR events at North Carolina Speedway, believes his crew is ready for anything.

	Michael Waltrip waves to the crowd after his accident last Sunday at Daytona. Credit: AP

Knight said his crews train annually for their race-weekend duties. They use discarded race cars as practice vehicles on which to hone their skills, and International Speedway Corporation, NASCAR's parent company, also provides training for rescue crews.

"We want to make sure we've exhausted all resources and all options before we'll compromise somebody's injury," Knight told the paper.

Why we care: Michael Waltrip expressed anger over rescue workers tactics after his accident last weekend at Daytona.

"When the car stopped, I was pinned way bad," Waltrip said. "I felt like I was in a box and I couldn't get out. I didn't appreciate the way the safety crews were going about it and I was trying to tell them just to turn the car over.

"I'd already flipped 10 times or five times or two times -- I don't know how many times. All they had to do was flip it back over and I could get out. They were cutting bars.

"The whole car was on top of me. I don't know what bar they thought they were going to cut that would have alleviated the hole I was in."

For more on Michael Waltrip, click here.

Rival drivers out to defeat Junior

	Dale Earnhardt Jr. will try for back-to-back wins this weekend at Rockingham. Credit: Autostock

The deal: Mike Mulhern of the Winston-Salem Journal says it's back to reality for Dale Earnhardt Jr. this weekend at Rockingham, and back to a track where he's a mere mortal.

And to say that some of his NASCAR rivals are coming in here with chips on their shoulders, well, that might be an understatement.

Why we care: Earnhardt's win was a heartwarming story, but stock-car racers can take just so much sentimentality before they want to get back to the heat of the battle. And North Carolina Speedway is one of the best tracks on the tour for old fashion stock-car racing.

For more on Earnhardt Jr, click here.

Riggs ready to make home state comeback

The deal: Steve Sanders of the Richmond County Daily Journal in Rockingham reports that Lifelong Tar Heel State native and Nextel Cup rookie Scott Riggs didn't get off to the best of starts last week at Daytona, but he expects that to change this weekend in his home state.

	Scott Riggs was 34th in last weekend's Daytona 500. Credit: Autostock

"I went to Rockingham a couple of times with my dad when I was little," Riggs told the newspaper. "I remember one race especially -- it was a wild one. I couldn't tell you who he was battling, but I remember Bobby Allison winning it that year.

"Sitting and watching those cars race around the track, it never occurred to me that I'd be doing the same thing one day."

Why we care: Riggs, one of six drivers in this year's Nextel Cup rookie class, came to NASCAR's top series after a stellar career in the Busch Series that was highlighted by six victories and two top-10 points finishes in two seasons.

In his Nextel Cup debut last weekend at Daytona, he struggled mightily, finishing 34th.

For more on Riggs, click here.

Fate of the Rock remains uncertain

The deal: Mike Mulhern of the Winston-Salem Journal wonders could this be the last weekend of racing at the Rock? It may all depend on the size of the crowd for Sunday's Subway 400, and if it's 65 degrees and sunny, as predicted, not cloudy and cold as it is too frequently this time of year.

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Why we care: The much-ballyhooed 10-race chase for the championship has spawned speculation over the shape of the fall 2005 schedule, which NBC presumably would like to see filled with more major markets.

Rockingham lost its fall date for this season to Los Angeles, and there is speculation that it could lose its remaining date to Texas Motor Speedway.

For more NASCAR news from around the country, click here.