Viewer's Guide: Nashville

With all the talk these days about Carl Edwards and Reed Sorenson, it's a bit strange but true that reigning Busch Series champion Martin Truex Jr. is lurking in the weeds rather than standing in the spotlight.

No problem, says Truex.

"It was like this last year," he says. "It's a real comfortable position to be in, to not always be, you know, under everybody's microscope.

	Inside the Numbers Martin Truex Jr. through five races last season and this season Year Wins Top-10s Laps Led 2004 1 3 204 2005 1 2 45 Note: Through five races in 2004, Truex was third in the Busch Series standings. Through five races this season, he sits fifth.

So far this season, the defending champ has had a bit of a roller-coaster existence. He finished fourth at Daytona and won the much-publicized Mexico race, but he finished 30th at Fontana, 16th at Las Vegas and a middle-of-the-road 11th last weekend at Atlanta.

"So far everything's been going OK," says Truex. "We've had some good races; we've had some bad. That's to be expected."

The same can be said of Truex at Nashville Superspeedway, the site of Saturday's Pepsi 300. He won the Busch Pole for both events there last season, but finished 23rd in last year's version of this race.

However, a runner-up finish there in June gives Truex reason to be optimistic.

"It's definitely a tough track," he says. "It changes. It gets really slick during the race.

"It's the kind of track I like. We've run well on concrete in the past, got a few wins on it. We ran really well at Nashville last year. I'm looking forward to going there."

As far as defending his championship goes, Truex said comparing last year to this year is kind of like comparing apples to oranges.

"Obviously, it's going to be tough," he says. "We've got some great competition. I think it's probably going to be even tougher than last year.

"We've got a little bit of different rules this year with the tire rule and the new tire, impounding all the races, so it's a little bit different for us, but we're getting used to it.

"I think here in the next couple weeks, we'll grab hold of it pretty good and we'll be in some good shape."

Speaking of Truex, he and Edwards will be featured on FX's pre- race show Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET from Nashville.

Nielsen Media Research reports that last weekend's Golden Corral 500 scored a slightly lower rating than the 2004 event. The race garnered a 4.9 overnight rating and an 11 share for FOX.

Last season's Golden Corral 500, which was held a week earlier and did not conflict with the NCAA basketball tournament, scored a 5.3 overnight number.

The basketball tournament averaged a 7.1 rating Sunday.

A rating point represents 1,096,000 homes. A share is the percentage of the households watching television at any given time.

In this week's "Ask The Producer," Mike Hoosic of Columbus, Ohio, wonders why the FOX pre-race show has seemingly gotten so much longer this season.

NASCAR on FOX producer Neil Goldberg said on the whole, it's been a popular addition.

"Most fans seem to like the longer pre-race show format," said Goldberg. "Last year with commercials and race start times, the half-hour format seemed a bit short.

'NASCAR on FOX' producer Neil Goldberg

"I think that you will find most of the pre-race shows will run between 40 and 50 minutes before on track opening ceremonies commence. For most this seem to be a good fit.

"Keep in mind, the race start times have not been changed to accommodate the pre-race show, we have just moved our on-air time to a half hour earlier."

Each week, we'll choose one fan's question to ask a NASCAR on FOX producer. Does something on the broadcast leave you shaking your head? Have you always wondered how or why the TV crew does something? Use the link to the right to e-mail your question and you just might read the answer right here.

Ron Litz of Parts Unknown has a message for NASCAR and Tony Stewart in this week's version of "The Rant."

"Count me as one NASCAR fan who is very tired of Tony Stewart's childish on-track tantrums. I find his behavior completely unacceptable, and wish NASCAR would take action against him.

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

"The only way NASCAR is going to get his attention is to start docking him Cup points, which is what they need to do -- and soon. If NASCAR thinks the fans enjoy watching a grown man act like a spoiled brat, they are very wrong."

I agree with you in some respects, Ron. Still, Tony Stewart is hardly the only driver that has a tendency to act a bit under his age from time to time.

On the subject of docking points, I'm sure that will happen to several drivers soon enough.

Now to this weekend's schedule:

Busch Series: Pepsi 300

Track: Nashville Superspeedway

• 1.333-mile trioval
• 14-degree banking in turns
• 9-degree banking on frontstretch
• 6-degree banking on backstretch
• Length of frontstretch: 2,494 feet
• Length of backstretch: 2,203 feet

Race distance: 225 laps/300 miles

TV schedule (All times ET)

• Busch Pole Qualifying: 11:30 a.m. Sat., SPEED
• Race: 3:30 p.m. Sat., FX

A five-lap shootout leads to a wild finish in Nashville Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

One year ago, Michael Waltrip avoided a crash that took out the top four drivers with two laps to go, and won the Pepsi 300 at Nashville Superspeedway.

The most recent checkered flag went to Carl Edwards, who took the lead with 11 laps to go and held off a late charge by Tony Stewart to win the Aaron's 312 on Saturday at Atlanta.

Keep an eye on qualifying -- but not for the reason you might think. No polesitter has ever won a Busch Series event at Nashville Superspeedway.

Mark Spoor is an interactive producer for NASCAR.COM. The Domino's Viewer's Guide runs each race week.