Doubleheader weekend has Crocker's attention

ARCA and Busch races on tap for driver during Nashville weekend

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- We're headed to the country music capital this weekend in Nashville, Tenn., where I'll run my first doubleheader of the year in the Busch and ARCA Series.

	Credit: Autostock
	Erin Crocker Year-to-date NCTS statistics Race Start Finish Daytona 24 27 California 33 27 Atlanta 30 26 Martinsville 34 25 Average 30.2 26.2 Career Busch Series statistics Race Start Finish Richmond 42 39 Dover 9 35 Memphis 41 29 Phoenix 13 40 Average 26.2 35.8

I'm not a huge music person, but I do like country music. I like the traditional stuff, the George Strait, Garth Brooks, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw stuff.

We were offered the option of appearing at the Grand Ole Opry. I told them I'd like to do it another time because we're running two races and I really want to have a good weekend.

We want to keep the media stuff to a minimal. Not because I don't want to do it, but because I really want to have a good weekend and I don't want to be distracted.

There's very little time between the events. I'll be running from one garage area to the next. I've never really had to do that before. I ran the Trucks and ARCA car at Daytona, but there's a week in between them. I've never run both in the same weekend.

I've raced two or three Sprint cars in the same weekend, but they were on separate nights.

The stuff that gets to be a distraction is when you get out of the car in practice and you want to talk to your crew chief for a minute before you run over to the other garage area, but there are the people that want autographs or the interviews you have set up.

You're there to perform. Friday, I'll have to practice both cars and qualify the ARCA car. Then Saturday morning I've got to qualify the Busch car, run the 130-lap ARCA race and then the 225-lap Busch race.

I want to get a good night's sleep, so that's why I turned down Friday night at the Opry. I heard I turned down a chance to meet Dierks Bentley, which I would have loved to do. Maybe I'll have the opportunity to do some of those fun things one day.

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How's a girl from the Northeast get to become a country music fan? Country music is bigger than you think it is in the Northeast. A lot of people are closet country music fans. My dad always listened to it. My brothers did.

Somehow I just wound up listening to it. It doesn't mean I don't listen to other stuff. I like listening to a lot of stuff, hip-hop that all my college roommates listened to.

When I'm riding down the road in the car I listen to a variety of things. Sometimes I listen to '80s stuff. I'm all over the map.

But I like country a lot. I also like this track a lot. We were on the pole for this race a year ago and I should have won that race. I was making a pass for the lead with 30 laps to go and got a little anxious and spun out and ended up 12th.

The second race I finished third there. It's definitely the track I have the most experience on. When you go somewhere new there's things you have to figure out. Like anything, the more you do it the easier it becomes.

It'll be a different weekend. I don't feel any more pressure running the Busch race than the Truck races. I feel like in some ways there is more pressure in the Trucks. We have a Nextel Cup team that's behind our Truck team, and we don't have the best truck out there.

We've changed a lot of things and each race it gets better, but there is a lot of pressure there because we're not performing the way we thought we should have out of the box. Part of that is me. Part of that is the truck.

I feel the Busch car will be good. Because Cup guys have an off week, there won't be as many of those drivers in the Busch race. It's a plus for me, but at the same time everybody knows who they're racing against.

It would be more of an accomplishment if I ran a good race against those Cup guys than if I run good on an off weekend.

My mom's coming down for the race and to spend Easter with me. I'm on my way right now to get some tax stuff done at the very last moment.

More than anything I would love to leave Nashville with my first win. It would be great to get that first stock-car win under my belt.