Viewer's Guide: Atlanta

As well as the season has gone so far for Matt Kenseth, Sunday's Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway may be the true litmus test of his 2006 campaign.

	Inside the Numbers Matt Kenseth at AMS Year Start Finish 2000 4 40   23 9 2001 38 37   23 17 2002 32 4   9 9 2003 24 4   37 11 2004 30 6   39 41 2005 23 31   23 5 Average 25.4 17.8

Expect Kenseth to get plenty of love during Sunday's FOX broadcast (1 p.m. ET). After all, he won at California, had the dominant car in a runner-up effort last week at Las Vegas and very well could have contended for the win in the season-opener at Daytona had it not been for that little skirmish with Tony Stewart.

However, Atlanta has not been kind to the No. 17 bunch. In 12 previous starts, Kenseth average finish is a less-than-heartstopping 17.8. That said, he did finish fifth in October.

Regardless, the 2003 Cup champ says Atlanta is high on his list of favorites.

"I feel good about going to Atlanta. I love going there," he said. "Probably, for what we have left on the circuit, with Rockingham being lost, Atlanta is probably the most fun track to race on as a driver.

"You can run all over -- the bottom, the top, anywhere. The surface is real wore-out and the car changes a lot from the beginning of the run to the end of the run. I'm looking forward to going there.

"Of course, I'm looking forward to going anywhere with the way our stuff's running right now."

Ditto for crew chief Robbie Reiser.

"Right now, this team has a lot of confidence," Reiser said. "It's a night-and-day difference between the start of last year and the start of this year. We'll be looking to keep it going in Atlanta this weekend."

Jamie McMurray and Clint Bowyer are the scheduled guests for this week's edition of Trackside from Vegas (11 p.m. ET). If you're going to Atlanta, the show will be taped at 5 p.m. The SPEED stage will be outside the Main Grandstand near the souvenir area

The ratings news didn't get much better for FOX last weekend at Las Vegas. Sunday's race drew an overnight rating of 5.4 with a 10 share. That number is nearly 7 percent lower than the 5.8/12 from a year ago.

In this week's "Ask the Producer" question, David Hess asks a question that several fans have inquired about recently.

	NASCAR on FOX producer Neil Goldberg
	E-MAIL •   Send Mark your take or an "Ask The Producer" question

Have you thought about adopting a split screen (during commercials) similar to what ABC uses during its coverage of IRL? This would be a very nice addition to the great FOX coverage.

NASCAR on FOX producer Neil Goldberg said he'd love to do it, but it's not possible.

"Split screen have been talked about for some time in the racing world. You have to have all the sponsors buy into it and frankly that is just not the case with the NASCAR sponsors," Goldberg said.

"The IRL has had ratings issues and needed to do something to try to counteract ratings that were slipping. It was something that was easier to sell to the sponsors in that series. NASCAR does not have that problem and the sponsors enjoy taking full advantage of the premium time they buy.

"The split screen is a great idea, and as a producer I would love the chance to do something like that, it is just not that simple."

Now on to this weekend's schedule.

Nextel Cup Series: Golden Corral 500

Track: Atlanta Motor Speedway

• 1.54-mile oval
• 24-degree banking in turns
• 5-degree banking on straights
• Length of frontstretch: 2,332 feet
• Length of backstretch: 1,800 feet

Race length: 325 laps/500.5 miles

TV schedule (All times ET)

2005 FlashbackRelive the day Carl Edwards became a star Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

• NASCAR Live: 4, 6:30 p.m. Fri., SPEED
• Bud Pole Qualifying: 7 p.m. Fri., SPEED
• Trackside: 11 p.m. Fri, SPEED (tape)
• Practice: 9 a.m. Sat., SPEED
• NASCAR Live: 10 a.m. Sat., SPEED
• Final Practice: 2 p.m. Sat., FX (tape delayed)
• NASCAR Raceday: 11 a.m. Sun., SPEED
• Pre-race: 1 p.m. Sun., FOX
• Race: 1:30 p.m. Sun., FOX

One year ago, Carl Edwards edged Jimmie Johnson to the line to get his first Nextel Cup Series win. .

The most recent checkered flag went to Jimmie Johnson, who pass Matt Kenseth on the final turn of a green-white-checkered restart win the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400.

Keep an eye on the owner points. The top 35-ranked Nextel Cup teams in car owner points are guaranteed starting positions for all 36 races. Through the season's first five events -- Daytona, California, Las Vegas, Atlanta and Bristol -- those top 35 positions are based off final 2005 car owner points. Beginning with the season's sixth event at Martinsville, top 35-ranked teams will be based off 2006 car owner standings.

Brent Sherman current holds the No. 35th position. He is trailed by David Stremme in 36th, Bobby Labonte in 37th, Kevin Lepage in 38th, Sterling Marlin in 39th and Travis Kvapil in 40th place

Busch Series: Nicorette 300

Track: Atlanta Motor Speedway

• 1.54-mile oval
• 24-degree banking in turns
• 5-degree banking on straights
• Length of frontstretch: 2,332 feet
• Length of backstretch: 1,800 feet

Race length: 195 laps/300.2 miles

2005 FlashbackWatch Carl Edwards flip over his first win Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

TV schedule (All times ET)

• Busch Pole Qualifying: 1 p.m. Sat., SPEED (tape)
• Race: 3 p.m. Sat., FX

One year ago, Edwards introduced the victory backflip to the Busch Series after taking the checkers in the Aaron's 312.

The most recent checkered flag went to Kasey Kahne, who Kasey Kahne held off Kenseth in a green-white-checkered finish to win the Sam's Town 300.

Keep an eye on Cup regulars -- again. Five of the seven drivers attempting a Busch Series and Nextel Cup "double" in 2006 are in the top six in the point standings. Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin and J.J. Yeley are first through third while Clint Bowyer and Carl Edwards are fifth and sixth, respectively.

Craftsman Truck Series: John Deere 200

Track: Atlanta Motor Speedway

• 1.54-mile oval
• 24-degree banking in turns
• 5-degree banking on straights
• Length of frontstretch: 2,332 feet
• Length of backstretch: 1,800 feet

Race length: 130 laps/200.2 miles

TV schedule (All times ET)

• Qualifying: 5 p.m. Fri., SPEED
• Race: 9 p.m. Fri., SPEED

2005 FlashbackGet another look at Hornaday's victory at Atlanta Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

One year ago, Ron Hornaday beat and banged Bobby Labonte to the line by .008 seconds to win the World Financial Group 200. It was the closest superspeedway finish in NCTS history.

The most recent checkered flag went to Mark Martin. Facing a second consecutive two-lap shootout, Martin once again held off Toyota teammates Todd Bodine and Ted Musgrave to win the racetickets.com 200 at Fontana.

Keep an eye on Terry Cook. Friday's race marks the 200th consecutive start for Cook. He's the second competitor to reach that milestone and is on track to break Rick Crawford's record of 209 in a row on July 8 at Kentucky Speedway. Ironically, Crawford missed last year's Kentucky race after suffering injuries in a qualifying accident.