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! Well, it's June, the time that some of us like to grill out, spend time with family or just have a good time! But the times we have during the summer are nothing compared to what will happen on Labor Day weekend right here at Atlanta Motor Speedway!  When NASCAR returns to Atlanta Motor Speedway, it won't just mean that night racing is back in Atlanta. It'll mean that finally, after months of waiting, it will be time for the biggest Labor Day party in the USA! If there's one thing that we saw last September, it's that there is far more to a weekend at the track than the racing alone..

The overall experience is what makes a race weekend fun for our fans! We saw it last year with our fans starting to arrive nearly two weeks before the race itself. These fans were here not just for a race, they were here for all that comes with being at the track on a race weekend – the gathering around a grill where all of your friends are cooking up their favorite foods, making new friends and seeing some old ones and just have a great time all around!

Last September, our fans sent a clear message that they just enjoyed being at the track. So in response to that, we've made the weekend bigger and better! On Friday, we'll have a fan event that will include a concert, interactive activities for fans and a 150-lap late model race! We want to make race weekend as much of a fun experience for our fans as possible. Staging Friday's event is just another part of our goal of doing that. Plus, admission to Friday's event is free if you have tickets to either the Great Clips 300 or the Sprint Cup Series race. Otherwise, fans can get in for just $10!

Here at Atlanta Motor Speedway, we see our Labor Day race weekend as not just a race, but as an event. Of all events throughout the country, this is the one going on that you cannot afford to miss out! You won't want to be sitting around on the Monday following our race weekend wishing you had been a part of it! Plan to join us for the biggest Labor Day party in the USA!

And it's easier than ever to be here! Sprint Cup Series tickets start at just $39!

Last week, we announced that Foreigner would be playing at the pre-race concert prior to the Sprint Cup Series night race. We spent some time with the band last week and I'll tell you this much – from what we saw from them, they will be putting on one heck of a show on Labor Day weekend! Plus, these guys are pretty big race fans as well! You won't want to miss it!

We are placing a lot of emphasis on creating atmosphere around the racing on Labor Day weekend. Having a band of the caliber of Foreigner here will undoubtedly play a big role in doing that!

Fans can watch the pre-race concert from stagefront and get a close-up view of driver introductions with a pre-race party pass for just $49! This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to not only see a legendary rock band from a great point of view, but also see your favorite driver from a pretty close vantage point as well!

In case you can't tell, we're all very excited about the Labor Day night race weekend! We hope that you, like all of us, are making big plans for the weekend just like we are. We are continuing to make this the largest event in the history of Atlanta Motor Speedway and hope that you will join us for the Largest Labor Day Celebration in the USA!

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

It takes so many things to make Atlanta Motor Speedway work. From the ticket takers and security staff to the safety workers and even those in the corporate offices, so many people play a role in making AMS function each day. Here's a chance to get to know one of them, Ted Austad!

What is your job title?
Special Events & Promotions Coordinator

How long have you been at Atlanta Motor Speedway?
I've been here for four years full-time and for three years part-time.

Briefly describe what you do at the track.
I develop special events or lease the facility for special events, as well as coordinate in-market promotions for the speedway

What was your first race at Atlanta Motor Speedway?
1998 NAPA 500 when I was working for 600 Racing which is now known US Legends Cars International.

How did you end up at Atlanta Motor Speedway?
I worked with the speedway in the late 1990's developing the Legends Car Series, Thursday Thunder and introducing the Bandolero Car.  I then returned to the speedway as a part time announcer for the Thursday Thunder in summer of 2003 and then also for the NASCAR weekends in fall of 2004.

What's your most vivid memory of Atlanta Motor Speedway?
Opening night of Friday Night Drags in July 2006. We were expecting around 1,000 and we stopped counting at 4,000. It was pretty crazy!

What's the favorite thing about your job?
Watching family and friends enjoy an event at the speedway. There is not a better feeling than seeing someone enjoy an event that you helped create, promote or plan.

What's something that typical fans may not know about Atlanta Motor Speedway?
There are two graveyards within the 872 acres which encompasses Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Do you have any hobbies or other activities that you take part in away from the track that you'd like to share?
I play ice hockey on a regular basis and also collect beer cans.

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