Not going to lie, I was a bit confused when I read what the title sponsor was going to be for this week's race. The History Channel, which will not be broadcasting the race mind you, will be on board to bring you the History 300 this week Live from Charlotte, NC.
Charlotte is not just the home of The Nature Boy Rick Flair, who will most likely be on hand this week, it is also considered the home of Nascar in general. The Nascar Hall of Fame is located there, as is Charlotte Motor Speedway. Charlotte is a bit of a gamble on what type of racing you will see. The shear number of Sprint Cup Regulars in the field complicates that even more. What we will most likely see is the big hitter from Sprint Cup battling it out and the Nationwide Regulars trying to stay out of the way. I would love to see Nascar try for one year to not have any race with more then three Sprint Cup drivers entered. It would be fantastic.
Entry List and More after the Jump!
Entry | Car# | Driver | Sponsor | Manu | Owner |
1 | 00 | Angela Cope * | Highland Wealth Advisors and Luichiny Shoes | 12 Chevy | SR2 Motorsports |
2 | 01 | Mike Wallace | Restaurant.com | 12 Chevy | JD Motorsports |
3 | 2 | Elliott Sadler | ONE MAIN FINANCIAL | 12 Chevy | Richard Childress |
4 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Bass Pro Shops | 12 Chevy | Richard Childress |
5 | 4 | Danny Efland | TBA | 12 Ford | JD Motorsports |
6 | 6 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr (PC) | Roush Fenway Racing | 12 Ford | Roush Fenway |
7 | 7 | Danica Patrick | GoDaddy.com | 12 Chevy | JR Motorsports |
8 | 08 | Kyle Fowler | TBA | 12 Ford | Randy Hill |
9 | 10 | Start and Park Driver (S) * | TBD | 12 Toyota | TriStar Motorsports |
10 | 11 | Brian Scott | Dollar General | 12 Toyota | Joe Gibbs |
11 | 12 | Sam Hornish Jr | Alliance Truck Parts | 12 Dodge | Roger Penske |
12 | 14 | Jeff Green (PC) | Hefty/Reynolds Wrap Toyota Camry | 12 Toyota | TriStar Motorsports |
13 | 15 | Blake Koch (S) * | RWR | 12 Chevy | Rick Ware |
14 | 17 | J J Yeley (i) * | New Gulf Resources | 12 Toyota | Berryhill Racing |
15 | 18 | Denny Hamlin (i) | SportClips | 12 Toyota | Joe Gibbs |
16 | 19 | Tayler Malsam | G-Oil | 12 Toyota | TriStar Motorsports |
17 | 20 | Joey Logano (i) * | GameStop | 12 Toyota | Joe Gibbs |
18 | 21 | Joey Coulter (i) * | Shewin Williams Chevy | 12 Chevy | Richard Childress |
19 | 22 | Brad Keselowski (i) (PC) | Discount Tire | 12 Dodge | Roger Penske |
20 | 23 | Robert Richardson Jr | N TX Pipe | 12 Chevy | R3 Motorsports |
21 | 24 | Casey Roderick | West Virginia Minors Baseball | 12 Chevy | SR2 Motorsports |
22 | 30 | James Buescher (i) | ABF | 12 Chevy | Turner Motorsports |
23 | 31 | Justin Allgaier | Brandt | 12 Chevy | Turner Motorsports |
24 | 33 | Kevin Harvick (i) (PC) | Hunt Brothers Pizza | 12 Chevy | Richard Childress |
25 | 38 | Kasey Kahne (i) | Great Clips | 12 Chevy | Turner Motorsports |
26 | 39 | Josh Richards * (ps) | NSW Kids | 12 Ford | Go Green Racing |
27 | 40 | Erik Darnell | Strutmasters LLC | 12 Chevy | The Motorsports Group |
28 | 41 | Timmy Hill | Poynt.com | 12 Ford | Rick Ware |
29 | 42 | Josh Wise (i) (S) * | Curtis Key Plumbing | 12 Chevy | The Motorsports Group |
30 | 43 | Michael Annett | Pilot/Flying J | 12 Ford | Richard Petty Motorsports |
31 | 44 | Mike Bliss | TBD | 12 Toyota | TriStar Motorsports |
32 | 46 | Chase Miller (S) * | Curtis Key Plumbing | 12 Chevy | The Motorsports Group |
33 | 47 | Scott Speed (i) (S) * | Curtis Key Plumbing | 12 Chevy | The Motorsports Group |
34 | 50 | T J Bell * (ps) | TBA | 12 Chevy | MAKE Motorsports |
35 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Clements Automotive | 10 Chevy | Jeremy Clements |
36 | 52 | Start and Park Driver (S) * | TBA | 12 Chevy | Jimmy Means |
37 | 54 | Kyle Busch (i) (PC) | Monster Energy | 12 Toyota | Kyle Busch |
38 | 70 | Johanna Long | Wish For Our Heros | 12 Chevy | ML Motorsports |
39 | 74 | Mike Harmon (S) * | Koma Unwind | 12 Chevy | Mike Harmon |
40 | 75 | Scott Riggs (i) (S) * | RWR | 12 Chevy | Rick Ware |
41 | 81 | Jason Bowles | American Majority | 12 Toyota | MacDonald Motorsports |
42 | 87 | Joe Nemechek | AM/FM Energy Wood & Pellet Stoves | 12 Toyota | NEMCO |
43 | 88 | Cole Whitt | Ingersoll Rand | 12 Chevy | JR Motorsports |
44 | 89 | Morgan Shepherd * (ps) | TBA | 12 Chevy | Faith Motorsports |
45 | 98 | Reed Sorenson * | Carroll Shelby Motors | 10 Chevy | Biagi-DenBeste Racing |
46 | 99 | Travis Pastrana | Boost Mobile | 12 Toyota | RAB Racing |
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(S)- Start and Park Driver |
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(ps)- Possible Start and Park Driver |
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(i)- Not Running for Title |
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* - Must Qualify on Time |
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(PC)- Past Champion |
There are, count 'em, 46 teams entered this week! Three teams will go home. As every week, I have listed the known Start and Park teams and I have also included two teams that may or may not start and park. After qualifying is over, try and see if the teams that miss the race are ones noted with a (S) after the name. If they are not, that means that someone went home who was going to try to run the whole race. This is the worst part of allowing teams to pocket money by running just a handful of laps. Just a few notes this week:
- #00- Well, Look who's back for another chance to give female drivers a bad name. Angela Cope will ride a second SR2 Chevy this week. Say what you will about Danica Patrick, but at least she stands a chance every week.
- #2- Elliott Sadler failed post race inspection and was docked six points. This only furthers the gap between Sadler and Stenhouse and the Nationwide Series has yet to have a Chase to wipe the slate clean.
- #14- Eric McClure is still out this week so we get another chance to see the 2000 Nationwide Champ Jeff Green run a full race. By the way, Did you know that the first recorded "Start and Park" entry was Neil Bonnett in the Sprint Cup Series in 1993? That year Dale Earnhardt entered the final race of the year only needing to finish 34th out of 42 cars. Neil Bonnett was entered in the event so that if something were to happen to Earnhardt before the drop of the green he could hop into Bonnett's #31 Chevy and run the race. Nothing did, Earnhardt finished 10th, one lap down to win the title and Bonnett dropped out on lap three. This lesson brought to you by the History Channel. Also, that race was won by Rusty Wallace where he and Earnhardt did a Polish Victory lap, carring Alan Kulwicki and Davey Allison flags respectively.
- #21- Joey Coulter will make a start for Richard Childress Racing this week. Of the two Truck Series Regulars that Childress has, Coulter would not have been my choice to run a Nationwide Race this week. Not only will Coulter have to qualify on time, but he will have to deal with a stacked field of Sprint Cup Stars.
- #38- Kasey Kahne can't get enough Nationwide Racing apparently.
- #54- Fresh off the rumor that Kyle Busch is telling anyone who cares that Joe Gibbs should replace current teammate Joey Logano with Kurt Busch in the #20 Sprint Cup team next year, Kyle will make a run for his first win of 2012. By the way, Did you know that Monster Energy, a favorite of mine is Monster Rehab, was created in 2002 by Hansen's Natural Sodas? Hansen's was a top selling brand in California in the 1970 and has been making Juices for Studios since 1930. This lesson brought to you by The History Channel and Wikipedia.
- #98- Reed Sorenson will make a start this week for the returning Biagi-DenBeste Racing team. Biagi-DenBeste began in 2001 as a part time team and went full time in 2003. Mike Wallace ran the #4 team with Geico as the sponsor for a few years and won the teams only victory in 2004 at Daytona in the Winn-Dixie 250. In 2005 and 2006 the team had a multitude of drivers before lack of funding caused the team to close in 2007. The owner points and assets were purchased by Ginn Racing before being sold to Kevin Harvick Inc as the #4 team. After Richard Childress merged with Kevin Harvick Inc, Fred Biagi was removed as listed owner. Biagi-DenBeste will now return for a few races this year with plans to jump back full time next season.This lesson brought to you by The History Channel and Racing-Reference.info.
Tune in this Saturday live at 2:30 pm Eastern on ABCfFor the running of the History Channel 300 from Charlotte, NC! Enjoy!