Nationwide heats up under the lights in Tennessee: The Food City 250 Preview

For those of you who haven’t been paying attention, I loves me some short track racing. It’s my favorite type of racing, because it’s exactly the type of track you can go to every week in your home state. Most people do not go to intermediate tracks because most intermediates do not host events year round. Now, I’m not saying Bristol is hosting your local Joe Schmoe’s out there every week, I mean that you can go to almost any local asphalt track and it’s going to be a short track. There are some exceptions, but most drivers got their starts on short tracks, yet all three schedules are littered with intermediate tracks and short on short tracks. It doesn’t make sense.

But I’ve gone into this before and you didn’t come here to listen to me complain. You came to let me pump you up for what is sure to be a great race. Short tracks seem to bring out the worst in people. We’ve seen so many fights, so many wrecked cars, and so many angry drivers that you have to feel like most drivers don’t want to return to Bristol. But that’s not the case. Most drivers love to race at Bristol. For the longest time, this was the house that Rusty Wallace built, we are still waiting to see if Steven can follow in his father’s footsteps.

Entry List and more after the jump!

48 cars entered means five will go home.

Here’s some cars to look out for:

#2- Elliott Sadler is still looking for his first win of the season. With the 2011 Championship drawing to a close in a few months, Sadler needs to make his end of the year charge to finally win a championship.

#03- Scott Riggs will attempt to qualify a start and park team for R3 Motorsports.

#04- Benny Gordon will do the same for Go Green Racing.

#6- Points leader Ricky Stenhouse is out to prove again why his car should not be blank. Ricky is trying to hold on to his narrow points lead and hopes to put some distance on the field.

#11- It’s been a tough year for Brian Scott, and if things don’t start going his way he could find himself out of another job very soon. Joe Gibbs has some talented developmental drivers who would love a shot at the Nationwide Series.

#20- Joey Logano is entered again. Logano has had to qualify on time since skipping a race at the beginning of the year. So far he’s made every attempt, but one slip up could cost the team dearly.

#22- Parker Kligerman will get behind the wheel of what should be his future ride. Penske needs to pull Special K out of this ride for the rest of the year to get Keselowski ready for the Sprint Cup Chase.

#33- Clint Bowyer is making another rare Nationwide Start. Recent talk is that Clint may be looking to leave RCR for the 2012 season. He claims he has a sponsor lined up if he jumps ship.

#38- The last time Kasey Kahne made a short track start, he ended up riding on the side of his car. Kahne is back, pushing Jason Leffler to the #30 team.

#47- Does it even matter who is driving this team? Vegas should really start taking bets on how many total laps the Key Motorsports cars run this week.

#64- David Reutimann is making another start for Rusty Wallace to tune up this team for a full time run in 2012. Reuti will have to qualify on time.

#87- Kevin Conway has managed to yet again fins his way into a ride. I expect him to drive 10 mph slower then last place. Should be a great run for him.

I sure hope you do not miss this race. Last week was a great race with a great finish. Bristol always brings out the fireworks. If you’re a fan of us, log in Friday night for the open race thread. While you’re at it, tune your TV to ESPN at 7 eastern for the live running of the Food City 250! Enjoy!