Viewer's Guide: Martinsville

There is no one currently running in the Nextel Cup Series that knows Martinsville Speedway any better than Rusty Wallace.

To mark his final trip there, NBC will air a career tribute to Wallace during Sunday's pre-race show.

	Inside the Numbers Rusty Wallace at Martinsville Starts 43 Wins 7 Top-5s 17 Top-10s 25 Poles 3 Avg. Start 7.5 Avg. Finish 11.8

In 43 career starts at NASCAR's smallest track, Wallace has seven wins, 17 top-fives and 25 top-10s. He leads active drivers in all three categories.

His most recent Cup win also came there in Spring 2004.

"We always come into Martinsville with the attitude that we can win the race and that's certainly the case for this weekend," Wallace said. "A lot is on the line as far as the Chase goes and that is what's most important.

"But, I've personally been looking at this race as my big chance to break those records for leading laps. It's a great opportunity for us to do that this weekend."

Wallace has led 3,632 laps at Martinsville, 101 fewer than all-time leader Cale Yarborough.

Perhaps more importantly, Wallace will attempt to put last weekend's ugliness behind him. A late-race wreck in last Saturday night's UAW-GM Quality 500 at Lowe's dropped him from fourth to seventh in the Chase.

"The car was just flying there at the end and I got caught between the 25 car [Brian Vickers] and the 09 [Johnny Sauter] and around she went," said Wallace, who benefited from three different "Lucky Dog" free passes to make up three laps and finish on the lead lap.

"It was a shame, too, because we were storming up through there passing cars right and left."

• Also in Sunday's pre-race show, WWE champion John Cena will be Wally Dallenbach's guest for "Wally's World."

Darrell Waltrip, Ryan Newman and Jeff Gordon are among the guests scheduled for a live edition of Trackside on 7 p.m. ET Friday. If you're planning to be at Martinsville, the SPEED stage will be located outside Turn 4 in the souvenir area.

Also coming up on SPEED, the late entertainer Johnny Carson participated in it. So did three-time NASCAR champion Cale Yarborough and NASCAR president Mike Helton. Heisman Trophy winners Paul Hornung and Pete Dawkins and actor Frankie Muniz also were among those who have experienced the thrill of the "Greatest Amateur Racing Event in the World" -- Soap Box Derby.

Derby Dreams, airing at 8 p.m. ET Saturday, is a documentary narrated by Jimmie Johnson that chronicles the story of four families looking for glory in the All-American Soap Box Derby in Akron, Ohio.

The ratings news was a bit better for NBC this weekend.

The network got a 4.8 overnight national rating and 8 share for Saturday's race at Lowe's. The number is up slightly from 4.6/8 last year.

In this week's "Ask the Producer" question, several users wanted to know how everything came together to allow the start of Saturday's race to be delayed when the Notre Dame/USC game ran long.

	NBC/TNT producer Sam Flood
	EMAIL Send Mark your take for "The Rant" or your question for "Ask The Producer"

"We knew going in that Notre Dame football games have a tendency to run long," Flood said. "So we and NASCAR decided to delay the start if it ran long so that the maximum amount of people could see both events."

Each week, we'll choose a fan's question to ask a NASCAR on NBC/TNT producer. Send your puzzler by e-mail using the link to the right.

In this week's version of "The Rant," Cliff Carmack of Bristol, Tenn. goes to bat for his hometown track.

I want Bristol in the Chase. Fit it in sometime in mid or late October. The weather is usually in the low 70's during the day and around low 60's at night. Great camping and racing weather.

It would make a great Halloween race. There is nothing any scarier than some of these drivers near the end of the race at BMS.

Now on to this weekend's schedule.

Nextel Cup Series: Subway 500

Track: Martinsville Speedway

• .526-mile oval
• 12-degree banking in turns
• No banking on straights
• Length of frontstretch: 800 feet
• Length of backstretch: 800 feet

Race length: 500 laps/263 miles

TV Schedule (All times ET)

• NASCAR Live: 2 p.m. Fri., SPEED
• Bud Pole Qualifying: 3 p.m. Fri., SPEED
• NASCAR Live: 5 p.m. Fri., SPEED
• Trackside: 7 p.m. Fri., SPEED
• Final practice, 11 a.m. Sat., SPEED
• NASCAR Performance: 6:30 p.m. Sat., SPEED
• NASCAR Live: 7 p.m. Sat., SPEED
• NASCAR This Morning: 11 a.m. Sun., SPEED
• Pre-race: 12:30 p.m. Sun., NBC
• Race: 1 p.m. Sun., NBC

Chasing the leaderPenske mates struggle while Johnson gets the win Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

One year ago, Jimmie Johnson pulled away from Rusty Wallace and Ryan Newman on a restart with seven laps to go to climb four spots in the season-ending title chase.

The most recent checkered flag went to Johnson, who survived dead batteries, alternator problems, even a flat tire to win the UAW-GM Quality 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Keep an eye on Mark Martin. He left Talladega Superspeedway trailing points leader Tony Stewart by 138 points. After his win at Kansas Speedway, Martin was only 113 points out of the lead. At Lowe's Motor Speedway, Martin's fifth-place finish moved him up to fifth place in the standings, just 51 points behind Stewart and Johnson, who each have 5,777 points.

Busch Series: Sam's Town 250

Track: Memphis Motorsports Park

• .75-mile oval
• 11-degree banking in turns
• 4-degree banking on straights
• Length of frontstretch: 1,100 feet
• Length of backstretch: 1,100 feet

Race length: 250 laps/187.5 miles

TV schedule (All times ET)

• Busch Pole Qualifying: Noon Sat., SPEED
• Race: 3:30 p.m. Sat., TNT

One year ago, Martin Truex Jr. extended his Busch Series points lead, holding off Greg Biffle in a green-white-checker finish

King of MemphisTruex Jr. cruises to the checkers at Memphis. Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

The most recent checkered flag went to Ryan Newman, who won the Dollar General 300 for his record-tying fifth Busch Series win in a row.

Keep an eye on Stephen Wallace, the 18-year-old son of Rusty Wallace. Stephen will make his Busch Series debut in Saturday's race driving his dad's No. 64 Dodge.

He has had plenty of success in a short period of time, claiming a win at Michigan along with a fourth-place finish at Chicago and a seventh-place at Toledo in four ARCA races this year.

Craftsman Truck Series: Kroger 200

Track: Martinsville Speedway

• .526-mile oval
• 12-degree banking in turns
• No banking on straights
• Length of frontstretch: 800 feet
• Length of backstretch: 800 feet

Race length: 200 laps/105.2 miles

TV schedule (all times ET)

• Race: 1 p.m. Sat., SPEED

The hat trickMcMurray gets his first Craftsman Truck Series victory Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

One year ago, Jamie McMurray held off Dennis Setzer on a restart with 12 laps to go and won for the first time in the Craftsman Truck Series, completing a career hat trick.

The most recent checkered flag went to Todd Bodine, who had the dominant truck all night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Oct. 1. Still, he had to pass Ted Musgrave on the final lap in a green-white-checker finish in order to get his second Craftsman Truck Series victory of the season and Toyota's sixth win of the year.

Keep an eye on Darrell Waltrip, who will make his final NASCAR racing appearance in Saturday's race.

Mark Spoor is a senior producer for NASCAR.COM. The Domino's Viewer's Guide appears each Thursday during race weeks.