The Backstretch Blog: My Old Kentucky Home

July 07, 2011|By HEATHER WILLIAMS | Eyewitness Sports

When I think of Kentucky, I think basketball, whiskey and that other kind of racing that uses real horse power. I don't really think NASCAR. But believe me, the great people of the Bluegrass State fought long and hard to get a cup race in their great state.

So now that they have it, what will they do with it? The track regularly sold out stand alone Nationwide events, so expect them to pack it in for a cup race. Drivers say the track is a lot like Kansas, but it's also a night race.

Also keep in mind some of the young drivers might actually have an advantage at this track because they have raced it before in Nationwide.

"I think a small advantage," said last week's race winner David Ragan. "We've got that open test there, so guys like Jeff Gordon, and Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson who might not have many laps there, they are going to get up to speed pretty quick."

Ahh yes, the open test. The great equalizer. It will also give the drivers an idea of what to expect, so they aren't going into the thing blind.

"That's certainly going to help us get a lot of information," said Gordon. "I try not to go with too many expectations. We try to play from say out last mile and a half track and the things that we've learned from the cars up to this point and then a little bit of what we learned from the tire test that Mark Martin did."

The coolest thing about this race that will, at least this time around, make it more exciting than your average mile and a half, is that it's the first. And there will never be another one of those in Kentucky.

"The inaugural event is always cool," said Jeff Burton. "Every driver always want to win the first one because there is only one of those."

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