Local Look: Bristol

Events: Sharpie 500, Food City 250

Local papers contributing: Bristol Herald Courier, Johnson City Press, Delaware News Journal, Winston-Salem Journal

Newman to stress: Go fish

	Inside the Numbers Ryan Newman at Bristol Race Start Finish March 2002 8 37 Aug. 2002 14 36 March 2003 1 22 Aug. 2003 6 6 March 2004 1 7 Aug. 2004 4 2 March 2005 7 30 Average 5.9 20.0

The deal: Mike Connolly of the Bristol Herald Courier says part of Ryan Newman's preparation for Saturday's Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway was a morning bass fishing trip onto South Holston Lake on Tuesday.

"It's the total opposite of what I do for a living," Newman told the paper. "It's relaxing. I enjoy the act of fishing and the act of catching fish. It's peaceful."

Newman's trip onto South Holston was his first visit to the lake, but he's fished at other area lakes on previous trips to Bristol. He can't remember what lake he fished before, but that's forgivable.

He's dropped a lure into the water at nearly every track on the circuit. Off the top of his head, he can remember fishing at Darlington, Atlanta, Homestead, Daytona, Pocono, Watkins Glen, New Hampshire, California, Texas and Phoenix.

Why we care: Unfortunately a successful day fishing has yet to correlate to a successful day on the track. He has 11 career wins, but never won at Bristol.

Although he's never caught anything before a Bristol race, he's won four poles at the track and finished second in last August's Sharpie 500.

"I've never found any patterns developing," Newman said. "They both just make me smile. That's the only correlation. It's a totally different kind of sport."

Sherman flying under radar in Busch Series

The deal: Joe Avento of the Johnson City Press says Brent Sherman has been flying under the radar this year in the Busch Series, but that's nothing new for him.

Sherman, a NASCAR rookie came to racing in a much different fashion than most of his competitors. His early adult years weren't spent around cars. Airplanes had his attention.

Sherman spent six years in the Air Force, where he was a surveillance technician on an AWACS radar plane. He flew missions over Saudi Arabia and Turkey, tracking aircraft.

"It was a good experience for me," said Sherman, driver of the No. 10 Ford. "I was able to grow up. I didn't really know what I wanted to do. I feel like that gave me time. It was a great experience."

Why we care: Sherman comes into Friday's Food City 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway ranked 27th in the Busch Series points. His initial Busch season hasn't been very smooth. He's gone through "eight or nine" crew chiefs and three teams. He's missed eight of the 25 races to date and has one top-10 finish.

"It definitely hasn't gone as good as I thought it would," Sherman said. " But I feel I finally found a team that will provide some stability."

Sherman signed with ppc Racing, the same team as veteran Kenny Wallace, earlier this summer. He's signed through next season with ppc, and having Wallace, who has won nine Busch Series races in his career, as a mentor can only help this 31-year-old rookie from Chicago.

Drivers happy with Dover track repairs

The deal: Mike Finney of the Delaware News-Journal says Denis McGlynn, president and CEO of Dover International Speedway, got just the reaction he had anticipated regarding the replacement of a small section of concrete on the backstretch of the racetrack -- none at all.

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Jeff Green, who was the first to test at the high-banked, one-mile oval since it buckled in the heat at the beginning of August, does not anticipate it being a problem for the upcoming NASCAR race weekend Sept. 23-25.

"If they hadn't told me they did it, then I wouldn't have known it, so they did a great job," Green told the paper. "I'd have never known there was anything wrong with it.

Why we care: The buckling in the concrete was attributed to the prolonged period of excessive heat over the past six weeks. There was not enough room for the concrete to properly expand, which caused the problem.

"Since we haven't had any problems in 11 years since the concrete was installed, it was a little alarming," said Jerry Dunning, senior vice president and general manager of motorsports at Dover. "But concrete has to have room to expand when it's being heated up.

"There just wasn't enough room for it to expand to."

Workers replaced the damaged area, which was only about four feet wide.

Spencer: Solid drivers few and far between in Cup

	Inside the Numbers Jimmy Spencer's Cup career Starts 469 Wins 2 Top-5s 28 Top-10s 80 Poles 3 Avg. Start 24.3 Avg. Finish 22.2

The deal: Mike Mulhern of the Winston-Salem Journal reports that There is a shortage of top-quality drivers in the Nextel Cup garage, Jimmy Spencer says, and he points to the recent moves by Roger Penske and Jack Roush to hire veteran drivers Kurt Busch and Jamie McMurray as support for his premise.

In turn, Spencer says, the push by NASCAR sponsors and car owners for ever-younger drivers may be coming to an end, and the cycle may be swinging back toward putting veterans at the wheel.

"I think car owners are trying to convince themselves they've got the next Kasey Kahne, the next Ryan Newman, the next Tony Stewart," he said. "But they ain't.

"Some of these new kids can hit the lottery for sure - the wall lottery. They're moving these guys up way too quick, and they don't have the experience. They have no clue."

Why we care: Spencer, who has been polishing his naturally outspoken nature for a new television audience, is one of several veterans basically put out to pasture the past year or so, in the push by car owners and sponsors for fresh faces, younger faces.

Bobby Hamilton is another, as are Ricky Craven and Sterling Marlin. So is Michael Waltrip, who says he wants to drive four more years.