Earlier this year, the staff at Atlanta Motor Speedway decided to pick my brain and see how much about the upcoming NASCAR season I could accurately predict. The best part about making these predictions? You are right 100 percent of the time when you make them.

The flip side, meanwhile, is that your odds of being right stand a chance to be deflated as the season goes on.

So, how on-target were the five predictions I let all of our fans in on way back in January? Well, let’s have a look:

Prediction Number One:

Wins in 2012 will matter even more than they did last season

“Wins mattered a lot in 2011, but they will matter even more in 2012. Consistency was the norm for so long but the whole paradigm has changed to where you have got to run for the win. Because wins are going to mean so much and based on last year’s results, you’ve got to run for the win instead of just a decent finish. It’s more and more become the norm and that’s something that’s going to be a huge interest to fans because that’s what they wanted to see all along.”

What Happened: This one turned out to be on-target. Whether it was Denny Hamlin’s two wins in a row in an effort to begin the Chase strong or drivers needing a win to gain a wild card spot, wins became very important as the season went on.

Think about it. If Jeff Gordon doesn’t win at Pocono, he doesn’t make the Chase. And if Kyle Busch doesn’t have a last-lap problem at Watkins Glen, he wins the race and it’s likely him, not Gordon, that gets the final wild card spot for the Chase. And remember Denny Hamlin’s furious charge through the field in July at New Hampshire? It wasn’t to get a strong finish. It was motivated by the desire for a win.

Prediction Number Two:

Dodge will contend for its first Sprint Cup Championship in several years with Brad Keselowski

“You are going to see a Dodge as a contender for the Sprint Cup Championship right to the very end with Brad Keselowski. Keselowski is going to have a multiple win season again. I think he’s got the stuff to be a two-time or three-time champion. He is destined for a big-time year. I think to do what he did in his second year was remarkable. Dale Earnhardt was a rookie in 1979 and won the championship in his second year. Good drivers don’t take long to get to the top.”

What Happened: It’s turned out to be Dodge’s final shot at a Sprint Cup title with them exiting the sport after this season, and so far they are in a very good position with Keselowski’s Chase-opening win which put him atop the standings for the first time in his career.

Don’t be surprised at all if this year’s championship comes down to Keselowski against Jimmie Johnson.

Prediction Number Three:

Speaking of championships, Carl Edwards will finally claim his first Sprint Cup title in 2012

“Carl Edwards is already one of the most determined guys to ever drive a car in NASCAR.  You know he’s thinking about the end to 2011 every waking moment. He won’t forget what happened last year and he won’t let that happen again. You don’t want to be in his way because he’s going to the front.”

What Happened: I’m eating a full plate of crow on this one. It’s been a tough year for Edwards over at Roush Fenway Racing, to say the least. Depending on what happens over the final eight races, Edwards may be in danger of career-lows for the number of top ten and top five finishes in a single season.

But here’s the thing. Carl Edwards is too good of a driver to stay down for long. Great drivers don’t forget how to drive. I keep going back to the 1992 season, when both Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Rusty Wallace were not factors in the Championship. The next year, they fought tooth and nail for the title with both winning more races than anyone else in 1993 with Earnhardt winning one of his seven championships at the end of the season.

Prediction Number Four:

As a top-ranked Googled athlete, Danica Patrick will bring a new wave of media interest to the sport

“Aside from bringing new media attention to NASCAR, Danica Patrick is going to have some competitive runs. She’s going to surprise a lot of people with some good runs. She’s going to be in good equipment and she’s going to be working with good people, including Tony Stewart and crew chief Greg Zipadelli.”

What Happened: Like any driver transitioning into NASCAR, Danica has had some good and bad runs. She was right in the thick of the hunt for a few Nationwide Series wins at Daytona, Montreal and Road America. In fact, she probably had the car to beat at Road America before being taken out of the race. On the Sprint Cup side, there’s obviously been a learning curve, but it’s very remarkable that in her first Sprint Cup race at Bristol, she was on the lead lap with less than 100 miles to go. That’s no small feat for anyone racing their first 500-mile race at Bristol. 

Prediction Number Five:

Michael Waltrip Racing will win multiple races

“Michael Waltrip Racing has every opportunity, with the new driver and crew lineups, to win races and compete at the front of the field on a regular basis. Many people may be questioning Clint Bowyer’s decision to move to the No. 15 car, but he could be a dark-horse Chase contender.”

What Happened:

The days of Michael Waltrip Racing struggling to qualify for races are long gone. They’ve placed not one, but two cars in the Chase and might have had a third if Mark Martin was running a full-time schedule. Both Clint Bowyer and Martin Truex Jr. have been consistently strong all year long. And with two wins so far this year, Bowyer’s move to MWR looks like a very wise decision. 

Well race fans, it’s finally here! After almost a year of waiting, it’s finally time for the return of NASCAR Night Racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway! I tell people all the time that for our staff, this weekend is like our Super Bowl. Pretty much all that we do year-round is centered around this race weekend.

The work of which we put in is focused on making this weekend the best of the season for drivers and of course, you the race fans! We look forward to putting our best foot forward to provide you with a winning experience here on Labor Day Weekend!

Needless to say, we’ve got an incredible weekend planned here at The Biggest Labor Day Party in the USA!

For some fans, the fun is already underway. Our first campers have been here for more than week. Talk about hard-core dedication! With each day that goes by, our facility slowly transforms into what amounts to a small city as campers, vendor displays and many other pieces take their place here at our facility in Hampton.

We’re excited of offer all of you three nights of NASCAR Night Racing this weekend!

We’ll start Friday night with the Jeff Foxworthy’s Grit Chips 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race. On Saturday night, we’ll have the NRA American Warrior 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series event. Then on Sunday, we’ll cap it off with the best drivers in all of NASCAR in the AdvoCare 500.

But there is much more to Labor Day Weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway than three races. If you have tickets to either Friday or Saturday, it includes additional on-track action earlier in the day. On Friday, get here early for Sprint Cup qualifying and practice. On Saturday, you can see two Sprint Cup practice sessions. One thing is certain – you’ll see plenty of cars on the track during those two days!

Even before you get into the grandstand gates, there are plenty of ways to have a great time while you are with us! In the Fan Zone, you’ll find numerous interactive displays in addition to the Coca-Cola Fan Stage. Whether you enjoy live music, fun games, live broadcasts from the SPEED Stage or appearances by some of racing’s biggest names, you won’t be disappointed when you’re in the Fan Zone, which is located behind the Earnhardt Grandstand, between Gates 14 and 15.

And speaking of music, don’t miss our pre-race activities! We’ll get everyone cranked up for racing with the Fast Cars & Guitars Pre-Race Concert featuring Montgomery Gentry Presented by Bad Boy Buggies before the AdvoCare 500!  Also, a Georgia-based group, the LACS, will open up the pre-race concert before Montgomery Gentry! There’s still time to ensure that you are stagefront for the concert and Sprint Cup driver intros with a pre-race party pass, which is $49!

And who doesn’t enjoy good food? This weekend, we’re debuting the Taste of Coca-Cola® Concession Stand, located near section 123, where you can purchase incredibly delicious foods made with Coca-Cola® which is headquartered here in Atlanta!

Whether this is your first time with us or you have been many times, welcome to Atlanta Motor Speedway. We are honored to have you with us! And if you’re unable to be with us this year, we hope you’ll be able to join us in the very near future!

See you at the track!

Ed Clark

President and General Manager

Atlanta Motor Speedway

Joey Logano's recent win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series may have been his first trip to victory lane this year. But for many of us, it was a very familiar site! Although his win at Pocono was the second of his career, many of us within the Legends program at Atlanta Motor Speedway are used to seeing him win and win often.

Logano’s racing success began here, and he’s part of a list of accomplished racers to have come out of Thursday Thunder, our summer racing series on the ¼-mile track at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Any time that a driver at Thursday Thunder begins to put together a string of success; a comparison to Logano is likely to be brought up. He still holds four records at Thursday Thunder in terms of winning streaks, including a staggering 14 wins in a row during the 2000 and 2001 seasons when he competed in the Bandits division in a Bandolero car.

In other words, if you were around Thursday Thunder during that time, you got used to seeing Joey Logano in Victory Lane.

And with another full-time Sprint Cup driver, David Ragan also being a product of Thursday Thunder, Logano’s win is a big statement of the caliber of drivers that have and continue to race at Thursday Thunder throughout the summer. Chase Elliott, Max Gresham and Casey Roderick are recent Thursday Thunder fan favorites who are on their way up among the NASCAR ranks. In fact, more than 50 drivers who have competed in the legends program here have moved on to compete in a higher level of racing with many doing so in NASCAR or ARCA competition.

And even today, there are no shortage of future stars of racing at Thursday Thunder. With the ¼-mile ‘Thunder Ring” being among the toughest tracks in the country for Legends racers, it attracts a high level of competition. Many legends racers know that if they can win here, they can win most anywhere else in a Legends or Bandolero car. For that reason, drivers pull into their garage stalls each week hungry for a victory.

Way back in the early 2000s, a lot of us knew Joey Logano was a guy with a lot of talent. But in racing, you need so many stars to align to even be able to race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. We’re excited for a guy like Joey, who we saw begin to build his career before our very eyes, earn a victory by passing a likely future Hall of Famer, Mark Martin. And what’s more is that we can’t wait to see what the future holds for many of our other racers at Thursday Thunder! 

Congratulations to Joey for a job well done and for fueling the fire for legends racers across America!

Ed Clark

President and GM

Hey race fans; this is Atlanta Motor Speedway President Ed Clark. I’ve been involved in racing for a long time, and it’s a sport that can be very humbling at times. For me, one of those moments comes every May when I have the honor of being part of the group that votes in each year’s class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

It is a high honor to be chosen as one of those getting to select which five nominees are voted in each year.  If there’s one thing not to like about being part of the process, it’s that we can only vote five people in per year. It’s tough to narrow it down, that’s for sure!

As for the process itself, well each nominee will have information on them displayed on a large screen and everyone in the room discusses their merits. We usually have a pretty lively debate, but no one gets personal. Obviously some people have favorites they try to promote; I do the same thing.

This year’s Hall of Fame class is one that everyone involved in racing, either recently or years ago can be proud of. You have the pioneer era of the sport represented with Cotton Owens, Buck Baker and Herb Thomas, one of the great car owners/mechanics in Leonard Wood and one of the more recent champions of our sport in Rusty Wallace.

Of those voted in, Rusty Wallace and Leonard Wood were on my ballot as well as Fireball Roberts, who was tied for fifth with Buck Baker before there was a tiebreaker vote.

I know what you are probably wondering – why Rusty? The fact is he’s got 55 wins and ranks seventh on the all-time victories list. How do you deny that? And there’s an Atlanta tie-in with Rusty, as well. His first race on the Cup level came here in 1980, coming in second behind some guy named Earnhardt who won his first race at Atlanta that day.

To me, Fireball was really the first superstar of our sport. It’s hard to keep a guy like that out of the Hall of Fame in my opinion. With him coming so close to being voted in this year, I’d say he stands a good chance to being in next year’s Hall of Fame class.

I’d love to see Fred Lorenzen get in as well. Sometimes I think it’s a little too much about stats and numbers than what the person meant to the sport.

Lorenzen was also a guy who really spent considerable time with the fans and signing countless autographs.

Are there pioneers that warrant being heavily considered? Sure. The interesting thing is that from the start, Richard Petty has maintained that we need to put the pioneers into the Hall of Fame first. But as a voting member, how are you going to not vote ‘The King” into the Hall of Fame early on?

The biggest challenge, though, is comparing drivers who competed in different periods of time.  It’s not uncommon throughout the voting process to have a lot of drivers with two championships come up for discussion.

Guys who raced in the 1970s and 1980s have resumes with more wins and championships when compared to drivers in the 1950s era. But it’s tough to distinguish between those guys.

It’s easy to penalize guys like Fireball and Fred Lorenzen because they didn’t win a championship. It wasn’t because they didn’t want to run for a championship, their car manufacturers said, ‘you’re only going to run the big events.’

Lorenzen, for example won 16 percent of the races he entered in NASCAR’s top division. Compare that to someone like Rusty Wallace, who won 7.8 percent of the races he entered on NASCAR’s top level.

The reality is that a lot of us didn’t see many of those guys from the 1950s race. I think I saw Lorenzen race twice, I never saw Fireball race.

We are in a challenging time and next couple of years is going to be the same. We’ve gone past one tier of people and now we’re onto the next tier and probably all of them deserve to get in, it’s a question of when.

It’s hard to believe that this’ll be the fourth Hall of Fame class.

I don’t think we’ve put anyone in who is not deserving; you can debate whether or not a person should have gone in at that time. But that is what always makes the process of voting on each year’s class fun for everyone. You spend time in that room mulling over the accolades of some of the greatest drivers in the history of our sport and at the end of the day, you have to whittle it down to five.

It’s a challenging, enjoyable and humbling process all at the same time.

I hope to see you at the track very soon!

Ed Clark

President & General Manager

Atlanta Motor Speedway

Right now is an exciting time to be around Atlanta Motor Speedway. Not only is the AdvoCare 500 Labor Day Night Race Weekend fast approaching, but also a handful of NASCAR drivers are showing everyone the caliber of racers, which Thursday Thunder has produced! 

Since we began to hold races on our ¼-mile “Thunder Ring” in 1998, numerous drivers have competed in Legends and Bandolero cars through the years. Some of those drivers have, vaulted by the experience gained from racing on summer Thursday nights here at the Speedway, moved up among the NASCAR ranks.

In fact, approximately 50 former Thursday Thunder racers have competed in either ARCA or a form of NASCAR competition.

Three of them, all former Thursday Thunder champions, now find themselves near the top of the pack in NASCAR. David Ragan is coming off his first career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win over the weekend in the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona, a win coming a night after another former Thursday Thunder standout, Joey Logano, claimed victory in the Nationwide Series. And with Reed Sorenson’s win last weekend at Road America in Wisconsin, three of the past four Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series races have been one by drivers whose racing careers include having raced at Thursday Thunder! And the other driver to win during that span, Kurt Busch, is a former Legends racer himself, having cut his teeth in the racing program at our sister track of Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

First of all, we’d like to congratulate all three of these former Thursday Thunder racers. Having seen Joey, David and Reed start off their careers in front of our very own eyes, it’s enjoyable to see drivers of which we saw in the very early years of their careers experience such a high level of success in NASCAR. Seeing these drivers win is a point of pride not only for the AMS employees, fans and competitors who saw them race back then, but it also gives our current Thursday Thunder fans and competitors something to be proud of.

Think about it – the summer legends series of which you support, either as a fan or competitor, has spawned three drivers who have not only advanced up the NASCAR ranks but also have found a high level of success there. It’s certainly something for everyone who has had any involvement with Thursday Thunder throughout the years to be proud of.

The great thing is that the stream of talented drivers racing at Thursday Thunder is not finished. Each Thursday night during the summer, some of the best Legends and Bandolero racers venture to Atlanta Motor Speedway’s challenging ¼-mile track, and excitement is likely to ensue when the green flag drops!

After weekend’s like this one, the question will inevitably become who the next driver in line is to move up from Thursday Thunder to eventual NASCAR stardom. The good news for fans is that you can see for yourself who that driver may be either at Thursday Thunder this summer or at the Legends Invitational on Friday, Sept. 2 during the AdvoCare 500 Labor Day Night Race Weekend!

Hope to see you at the track soon!

After nearly of year of waiting, the time has finally arrived! It's race week at Atlanta Motor Speedway! And not just any race week – it's time for NASCAR Night Racing's return to Atlanta Motor Speedway on Labor Day weekend! On behalf of our entire staff, it is my honor to welcome each and every one of you to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Largest Labor Day Celebration the USA! Whether you're young or old, come from just a few miles from the Speedway or from as far away as Australia, we're very excited that you have chosen to  or are at the moment making plans to join us for a weekend of night racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway!

As a staff, this weekend is what we work all year for – to put together a first-class event for each of our fans. One of the truly exciting things about being at the track as a race weekend gets closer is seeing how, in a matter of days, our facility, slowly and piece by piece, is transformed into one of the largest cities in the state of Georgia, filled with excited fans, competitors, and many others! We are committed to providing a first-class experience for you, whether it's your first of 50th time at Atlanta Motor Speedway!

We'll start our on-track action Friday night with the Friday Fan Fest Presented by Your Georgia Best Chevy Dealers. It'll include Q&As with Jeff Burton, David Ragan and Clint Bowyer, a concert by Drivin' N Cryin' and the Georgia Best Chevy Dealers 150 late model race on our ¼-mile frontstretch 'Thunder Ring." Best of all, admission is free if you have a Saturday or Sunday NASCAR admission ticket!

On Saturday, we'll get things going early with NASCAR Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series practice with qualifying in both series to follow. That'll set the table for that night's NASCAR Nationwide Series race, the Great Clips 300!

Then, on Sunday, it'll be the Sprint Cup Series drivers' turn! After a few days of tailgating, friends and fun at the racetrack, it'll be time for the Emory Healthcare 500! But before the racing starts, we've got a very exciting pre-race show for our fans! One of the most legendary rock n roll groups of all time, Foreigner, will take the Pre-Race Party stage for a concert, and the introduction of the field for the Emory Healthcare 500 will follow right after that! Then, it'll be time for 500 miles of Sprint Cup night racing!

On Monday, the race weekend isn't over. We're hosting a Breakfast on Bruton, a free breakfast for fans with Emory Healthcare 500 tickets in the Nationwide Series garage. It's our way of saying thanks to our fans for their support for the past 50 years!

There's just something about night racing that sets it apart from any other type of racing in NASCAR. To start with, the temperatures are cooler at night. The cars just look different. Maybe it's the way that they look as the light reflects off of them. Perhaps it's how you can see sparks very easily as cars make contact with either one another, the wall or the asphalt. Night racing gives many of us a flashback to racing on the local short tracks that many of us grew up attending. It's almost as if it's the way that racing was meant to be!

We're very excited to have each of our fans with us for not only a weekend of night racing, but here with us as we celebrate our 50th anniversary. As a facility, we have seen some of the most historical moments in NASCAR at Atlanta Motor Speedway. We not only have some of the best racing, but we also have the best fans in all of NASCAR. It's you, the fans who have made Atlanta Motor Speedway a success, and we appreciate you for it.

Travel safely to Atlanta, and get ready for lots of great racing as you are part of the "Greatest Labor Day Party in the USA."

We look forward to seeing each and every one of you at the track this weekend!

Sincerely,

Ed Clark
President and General Manager, Atlanta Motor Speedway

Each February, when the air is chilly and windy, hope springs eternal for each team in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. With the start of each season, every team feels that it has a shot at qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 10-race playoff format – The Chase for the Championship. Now, as the season works its way through the latter part of the summer, the clock is ticking for many teams looking to make their way into The Chase. And for many of those teams, the road to the Chase runs right through the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Night Race at Atlanta Motor Speedway!

As if Labor Day race weekend under lights at Atlanta wasn't exciting enough, now there' s the factor of the race being a must-run well for teams if they want to make it into the Chase. It'll make racing under the lights on Labor Day weekend all the more exciting!

The final race prior to The Chase is the one following our race, at Richmond. Teams on the bubble of either barely making or missing the Chase can ill afford to have a bad night at Richmond. For that reason, running well under the lights at AMS will be all the more important. A bad finish at Atlanta could force one driver to need to finish within the top five at Richmond to make the Chase, while a good finish by another could all but lock them into the Chase, allowing them to coast into the final ten races.

Last year, for example, we saw Kasey Kahne rebound from a tough race at Bristol to win our night race. As a result, he all but locked up a spot in the Chase.

For many teams, making the Chase can define whether or not a season is successful. These next few races could end up being some of the most exciting of the year because of how much is at stake, and we're excited to be in the middle of it here at Atlanta Motor Speedway!

There are so many things that make race weekend exciting at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Labor Day weekend. You've got the gathering of old and new friends in the parking lots, grandstands and campgrounds; the atmosphere of a night race and just getting to have a great time on Labor Day weekend. Add in the fight to get into the Chase to the mix, and you've got a race weekend that you've got to be a part of!

Our staff is continuing to work to provide a more than full weekend for our fans on Labor Day weekend, giving them an experience that they will never forget! With this in mind, we're excited to announce a great event for our fans on Friday, Sept. 3 of Labor Day weekend – the Friday Fan Fest Presented by Your Georgia Best Chevy Dealers! We'll kick things off around 6 p.m. with a NASCAR driver Q&A session hosted by Rutledge Wood of SPEED and it'll include David Ragan, Jeff Burton, Clint Bowyer and other drivers to be announced later! Then, we'll have a concert by Drivin' N Cryin' followed by the Georgia Best Chevy Dealers 150, a 150 lap late model race on the ¼-mile "Thunder Ring" featuring the Southern Superstars Short Track Series!

Best of all – this is a FREE event if you purchase either Saturday or Sunday NASCAR tickets! All other admission is $10.

Here at Atlanta Motor Speedway, we want to give our fans an experience they will never forget while they are with us. We cannot wait to have all of you with us for Labor Day weekend under the lights at Atlanta Motor Speedway!

See you at the track!

Ed

Hey everyone! This is Ed Clark, President and General Manager of Atlanta Motor Speedway! For most race fans, whether you have grown up going to your local short track or attending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events, the summertime means Night Racing! Looking ahead, the NASCAR schedule is peppered with night races, all of which will set the table for the NASCAR Night Race Weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Labor Day weekend! For quite some time, we worked with NASCAR to have a night race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and the response of you, our fans last September made the decision for host a night race one that we absolutely are glad we made!

There are few things in racing that are both as electric and magical as a night race. To begin with, you've got the atmosphere. Fans have been tailgating all day (with some having been at the track even longer) and have been having good times together. All of this builds up to that evening's activities inside the track for the night race. When you turn on the lights at the track, the feel is just different. The weather is cooler and the lights of the track reflect off of the cars as the fly around the track at the lightning-fast pace. If you look close enough, you can see sparks light up the dark night as cars either make contact with each other or the track's outside wall.

And of course, night racing tends to bring out something else – hot tempers. For whatever reason, night racing is synonymous with driver confrontations – maybe it's a throwback to racing on Saturday nights that so many drivers grew up doing and many of us fans are used to. Some of the more-famous driver run-ins have happened during night races, from Terry Labonte and Dale Earnhardt Sr. at Bristol to Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. a few years back at Richmond.

When those races were over, the action of the night before was a very hot topic. When the Labor Day night race weekend is over at Atlanta Motor Speedway, you'll want to say that "I was there. I was a part of the Largest Labor Day Party in the USA."

Labor Day weekend will be an incredible time here at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The closer it gets, the more excited we are about it. It consumes all of what our staff is doing right now and we hope you'll join us to be part of it!

For Courtney Kemp, everything really is "Better in Metter." We'd like to congratulate Courtney as the winner of our "Celebrate the 50th with 50" promotion. Courtney, of Metter, Ga., has won fifty frontstretch tickets to the Labor Day weekend NASCAR Sprint Cup Series night race at Atlanta Motor Speedway! It's safe to say that she will now have a lot of brand new "best friends" wanting one of her tickets.

We've also launched our latest fan promotion, "Best Video to Victory Lane." Fans can submit a Youtube video (consisting of video or still images) from their experience at NASCAR event at Atlanta Motor Speedway and enter at www.atlantamotorspeedway.com/50. Don't forget to include a link to your Youtube video! We're looking forward to seeing the videos that our fans will be sending in of them enjoying the racing and the atmosphere around NASCAR at Atlanta Motor Speedway!

Get ready for the fireworks! You don't have to wait until July Fourth for fireworks! Just come on out to Atlanta Motor Speedway on July 1st and 2nd for what will one of the Atlanta area's earliest and biggest fireworks displays! We'll have fireworks on July 1 sponsored by Marco's Pizza after Thursday Thunder. Then on July 2, we'll have them again prior to Friday Night Drags! We hope to see you at the track as we celebrate America's Independence!

I hope to see you at the track very soon! If you see me, be sure to say hello and feel free to pass along any suggestions of what we can do a better job of!

Hey everyone, this is Ed Clark, President and General Manager of Atlanta Motor Speedway.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is heading toward the summer with the Coca-Cola 600 in its rear-view mirror. If there’s one thing that the racing at our sister track of Charlotte Motor Speedway has shown us, it is that we may very well have a very exciting rivalry on our hands between Kurt Busch and Jimmie Johnson.

There was a time, if some recall, that Jimmie Johnson was close to unbeatable at Charlotte, with Johnson going so far once as to referring to the track as “My House.” He’s won a total of six points events there, including winning five out of six races between 2003 and 2005.

But recently, Johnson has not enjoyed the same dominance, and Kurt Busch punctuated that. A week after romping to win the All-Star Race, Busch won the Coca-Cola 600 this past weekend. Johnson, meanwhile, is enduring some rough spots. In his past five races, Johnson has finished no better than 10^th, and has been involved in accidents and also fell victim to a late-race pit road penalty at Dover.

Busch has now not only asserted himself as the driver to beat at the track that Johnson once dominated, but is also as a possible leading contender to dethrone Johnson as the four-time defending champion of the Sprint Cup Series. Remember – Busch also said earlier this season that he’d rather lose to any other car in a race except for the No. 48 car. Maybe, just maybe, there is a budding rivalry between Busch and Johnson.

Both of these drivers want to win badly. The great thing about Busch and Johnson is that although both have won a lot of races in addition to being past Sprint Cup Series champions, both still want to win very badly. It should definitely be fun to watch what happens with these two teams during the summer, as we get closer to racing under the lights returning to Atlanta Motor Speedway on Labor Day weekend!

It’s hard to believe, but the month of June is here! That means that we’re less than 100 days from Night Racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Labor Day weekend! As the summer goes on, we will be having some exciting promotions for our fans, giving them chances to win some incredible prizes! This is the 50^th anniversary of racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway, so we will be having lots of contests to thank our fans for their support through the years!  

The first of these is through the “50 for 50” promotion. One lucky fan will win 50 tickets to the Sprint Cup Series night race at Atlanta Motor Speedway! And it’s simple to enter. Just go to www.atlantamotorspeedway.com/50!

If you win this contest, odds are that you will have a lot of brand new “best friends,” you know, the people that you have not heard or spoken to for a number of years! But you won’t have a chance to be the winner of 50 tickets if you don’t enter, so be sure to enter to have the chance to host one of the biggest Labor Day parties ever!

Question of the week: A lot of us will be arriving on Thursday when the infield is opened. Will there be anything going on for the fans at the track on Friday?

This is something that we’re very excited about! We will be having a fan event at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Friday of race weekend! One of the comments we heard from a lot of fans after last September’s race was a desire of have more to do throughout the race weekend.

We have also heard from many of our fans that there is a strong desire to have a Friday night event following the very exciting open-wheel modified race this past March.

We want to create a top-of-the line atmosphere for everyone that is here on Labor Day weekend, so we’ll be having a fanfest event on Friday of race weekend.

It will include some interactive activities for fans and a 150-lap Late Model race featuring the Southern Superstars Short Track Series on the ¼-mile Thunder Ring on the frontstretch of Atlanta Motor Speedway!

If you purchase tickets to the Great Clips 300 or the Sprint Cup Series race, admission is free. Otherwise, admission is just $10!

I hope to see you at the track very soon! If you see me, be sure to say hello and feel free to pass along any suggestions of what we can do a better job of!

See you at the track!

Ed

Hey everyone, this is Ed Clark, President and General Manager of Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Major League Baseball has Cooperstown. The NFL has Canton. Now, NASCAR has its Hall of Fame in Charlotte. This past weekend, the first class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame was inducted. We’d like to send our personal congratulations out to the members of NASCAR’s inaugural Hall of Fame Class – Bill France Sr., Bill France Jr., Richard Petty, Junior Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Sr.!

Sunday was, without question a proud day for our sport, whether you are a driver, crewmember, track official or most of all, a fan of NASCAR! Not only did we recognize the lives of five men who have helped craft the sport into what it is today, but it also gave many of us a wonderful reminder of the hard work of many over time that has made NASCAR so great.

One of our staff members told me about a quote made by Kyle Petty during the weekend that really, I think, underscores the importance of recognizing the history of the sport through the Hall of Fame. Kyle was quoted at one point during the weekend that the Hall of Fame is important so that younger fans today will know that Richard Petty did more than just be in the movie “Cars.”

That is one of the best things about having a NASCAR Hall of Fame that fans can now celebrate the sport’s past and always be reminded of the sport’s beginnings. 

As for the induction ceremony itself, it did not disappoint. There were some lighthearted moments. You had Rick Hendrick recalling the meeting in Daytona Beach that was portrayed in “Days of Thunder” between himself, Bill France Jr., Richard Childress, Dale Earnhardt Sr., and Geoffrey Bodine with Childress also recalling Earnhardt’s famous line about ‘kerosene rags.’ You also had Junior Johnson’s anecdote about the difference between being committed and involved.  And you can’t forget Richard Petty ending his speech by quoting Gomer Pyle – “Thank You. Thank You. Thank You.”

But there were also some heartfelt moments. Kyle Petty’s speech about his father, Richard Petty was certainly heartwarming, as was Richard Childress’s time when he spoke about Dale Earnhardt Sr. It was very touching to see, during Earnhardt Sr.’s on-stage induction, that the entire Earnhardt family was together on-stage.

Without question, NASCAR hit the ball out of the park with this Hall of Fame. I’ve already had a handful of people tell me that they are already making plans to go to the Hall of Fame this summer. After seeing Sunday’s festivities, it’s hard to blame them!

The summer is almost here, and things are heating up both on the track and within our office here at Atlanta Motor Speedway! In June, we will start our summer legends racing series, Thursday Thunder.

In this time of families looking for economical ways to find entertainment, it’s hard to top the value of Thursday Thunder! Adults get in for $5 and kids ages 6-11 are admitted for $1. Levy Restaurants will also be here giving fans affordable food offerings while at the racetrack.

We have numerous activities for kids and families planned for Thursday Thunder this summer such as the kids candy and coin scramble on June 3! In addition, there’s also the racing itself on the Thunder Ring.

If you grew up going to a local short track, then this racing is right up your alley. At Thursday Thunder you’ve got seasoned veterans plus some of the South’s best rising stars on the track! Joey Logano, David Ragan and Reed Sorenson each started their racing careers at Thursday Thunder. You never know what future racing star you may see at Thursday Thunder, so come on out for some great family entertainment and racing all at the same time!

Question of the week: Will you be doing any contests this summer or be having some prize giveaways?

I’m glad someone has asked this, actually. We’ve got a lot of exciting contests and promotions that we are planning on for this summer in advance of night racing return to Atlanta Motor Speedway on Labor Day weekend. And yes, contests are part of that! In fact, we had a meeting last week about some of the prizes we’re giving away, and I’ve got to tell you, if I wasn’t working at a racetrack, the chance to win these prizes would have me very excited!

I hope to see you at the track very soon! If you see me, be sure to say hello and feel free to pass along any suggestions of what we can do a better job of!

See you at the track!

Ed

Hey everyone! This is Ed Clark, President and General Manager of Atlanta Motor Speedway! Without question, this is shaping up to be an exciting week if you are a NASCAR fan.

Not only do you have the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series All-Star race at our sister track in Charlotte, but this Sunday will also mark the induction of the first NASCAR Hall of Fame class. Like anything else, the first time you do something is very special. For instance, many of our employees here at Atlanta Motor Speedway still have pleasant memories of the first time they went to a race. There’s just something special about the first time that you do something.

And that is definitely the case when it comes to the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s first induction class with Bill France Sr., Bill France Jr., Dale Earnhardt Sr., Junior Johnson and Richard Petty each being inducted.

I had the high honor of being among the voters for this year’s Hall of Fame class. And I’ve got to tell you, selecting just five inductees was tough! It’s like being asked who your favorite child is – you don’t want to pick one over the other.

The experience of being able to be a part of the process was very special. Not only were we making history by voting in NASCAR’s first Hall class, but there was so much history in that room among the voters. You had a who’s who of some of the best drivers, owners and others from NASCAR history. It was a very humbling process to be a part of.

The opening of the Hall of Fame is a great day of NASCAR fans. They now have their very own Hall of Fame and it is without question something anyone associated with the sport, whether they are a fan or a competitor, can be proud of.

One of the main things that we are doing to build up as the Labor Day night race weekend approaches is doing all that we can to create a first-class fan experience for our fans that is centered around the racing going on at the track. Think about it. Being in the outdoors and grilling out, visiting with friends and just having a good time – all in the outdoors in the South. It really doesn’t get much better than that!

Last September, one thing we heard from fans was a desire to have some type of track activity on Friday. Although we are still firming up details, I can tell you that we are close to announcing some activities for fans on Friday of race weekend, ones that will serve as a great kickoff to a weekend of night racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway!

Question of the week: Will you be having a Pre-Race concert again in September?

Yes we will! Last year we had a very good response from fans that attended the Pre-Race Party with Diamond Rio and Jason Michael Carroll performing. Not only did those attending get a great view of a concert, but they also enjoyed stagefront access to driver introductions. You’re so close you can almost see the stitching on the drivers’ firesuits!

We’re excited about this year’s concert as well! While we can’t yet reveal who will be performing, I can tell you that the concert will be by someone that we are all very excited about and are sure many of our fans will be excited as well!

Fans can go ahead and purchase passes for the Pre-Race Party for $39. But don’t wait too long! After the first 200 Pre-Race Party passes are sold, the price is $49!

Thanks again for all that you do to support Atlanta Motor Speedway and we hope to see you at the track! If you see me at the track, be sure to say hello and feel free to pass along any suggestions of what we can do a better job of.

See you at the track!

Ed

Hey everyone! This is Ed Clark, President and General Manager of Atlanta Motor Speedway!

We’re excited to introduce a new way to stay in touch with our fans – The President’s Blog from Atlanta Motor Speedway! With each installment, we’ll talk some racing and also get you the latest news on what’s going on at Atlanta Motor Speedway!

During the offseason, one thing that some of us here at Atlanta Motor Speedway were asked by some fans was whether or not anyone could challenge Jimmie Johnson this year and stop him from winning a fifth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title.  

One name some tossed around during the offseason as a title contender was Denny Hamlin. But that prediction looked to be somewhat in doubt earlier this year when Hamlin announced he would undergo knee surgery. Well, let’s just say those concerns have been put to rest. With last weekend’s win at Darlington, Hamlin has now won three times this year. That’s the same amount as Johnson so far in 2010, by the way. In fact, Johnson and Hamlin are the only two drivers to win multiple races on the Sprint Cup level this season.

But while Hamlin has been hot as of late, it’s hard to say the same for the No. 48 team. They’ve been plagued by bad luck recently, failing to finish two of the past three races. Seeing Johnson experience some bad luck certainly gives other teams some hope that with the right breaks, they can dethrone Johnson as the Sprint Cup Series champion. The No. 11 team is certainly among that group.

Although it’s very early in the season, it looks as of now that the championship could come down to two drivers – Hamlin and Johnson.

The great thing is that it’s only May and so much can happen. For all we know, two drivers outside the top ten of the points standings could be battling for the championship as the season winds down.

 It seems a long time away, but Labor Day will be here before we know it! And that means racing under the lights is back at Atlanta! We had an incredible fan response to the race and the events around it last year, and we look forward to building on that this year!

While they last, we have tickets for as low as $39 in the Elliott Grandstand. Although the only view of pit road here is by way of the screenworks screen in front of the grandstand, a seat here is one of the most exciting at the track! Here, you can see cars whip their way into turns three and four – after coming to the end of the backstretch at close to 200 mph! In fact, one of our fans recently told us that the Elliott Grandstand is one of the best-kept seats in racing! To get your tickets for Labor Day, you can go to www.atlantamotorspeedway.com or call 877-9-AMS-TIX.

Question of the week: Do you have plans to build an NHRA Dragstrip?

This is a question that we’ve been asked a lot with the phenomenal success of Friday Night Drags. The answer to that is that at this time, there are no plans to build an NHRA dragstrip on our property.

Currently, the NHRA has a facility, which they own up in Commerce with Atlanta Dragway, so putting another facility here would really oversaturate the region.

The good news for fans of drag racing is that we’ve just started Friday Night Drags and that will continue through the summer months. We got off to a great start with the largest opening night crowd we’ve had for Friday Night Drags and an incredible number of participants. We’re very excited about what the summer holds as we move forward!

If you have not been out here in person for Friday Night Drags in person, come join us! We’ll be back on the track May 14 and 21 and the points opener is June 5.

 Thanks again for all that you do to support Atlanta Motor Speedway and we hope to see you at the track! If you see me at the track, be sure to say hello and feel free to pass along any suggestions of what we can do a better job of!

 Ed