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Bristol Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returns to Bristol action in the Food City 500 for the first short track racin' of the 2010 season on Sunday, March 21. Last year, Kyle Busch held off Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin by .391 seconds in a green-white-checkered finish, taking the race to 503 laps.

This is one of the top events of the season, the early Spring battle on the high banks of "The World's Fastest Half-Mile."and one of the proudest, having been a staple of the NASCAR calendar since 1961. And where premier NASCAR drivers on the planet compete at a world-class venue. Past winners of the event in Tennessee include Jeff Gordon and Rusty Wallace, and the field for this race is as competitive as any on the circuit.

Bristol is home to other NASCAR events in the Nationwide and Craftsman Truck Series. The grandstands, which overlook an oval track about half a mile in length, can hold approximately 165,000 people to watch live the chase for the Nextel Cup, to take in a venue that's as famous as any in NASCAR.

2010 Bristol Food City 500 Winner

Jimmie Johnson got his 50th career Sprint Cup victory as he took first in the 2010 Food City 500 from Bristol Motor Speedway. Johnson weaved his way through the leaders on the final restart, then cruised to victory in Sunday's Cup race, the Food City 500, at Bristol. It was Johnson's first win at the half-mile oval.

The decision to take four tires on the final stop was crucial for Johnson. When the restart came with ten laps to go, Greg Biffle led the field to green next to Matt Kenseth. Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart restarted third and fourth respectively. Kurt Busch and Jimmie Johnson, the first cars to take four tires on the final stop, lined up fifth and sixth, but Busch got trapped on the inside and bogged down by Kenseth's slow restart and Johnson was able to find the openings he needed.

It was Johnson's third win of the season and his 50th career victory at the Cup level, moving him into a tenth-place tie on the all-time winners' list with Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson. Johnson is the fourth-fastest to 50 wins, reaching the milestone in 296 starts, behind Jeff Gordon (232 starts), Darrell Waltrip (278) and Junior Johnson (293). Johnson is now winless at just five tracks -- Chicagoland, Homestead, Michigan and the two road courses, Infineon and Watkins Glen.

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Each year, Bristol Spring Race Food City 500 provides Tennessee with a taste of NASCAR action when the annual race invades Bristol Motor Speedway as part of the Sprint Cup Series schedule.. The Food City 500 is one of two Sprint Cup races held each season at the famed Bristol Motor Speedway, with the other being the Sharpie 500. The 500-lap race is also considered to be one of NASCAR's best, having been won by the likes of Jeff Gordon, Jeff Burton, and Kyle Busch, to name a few.

2010 Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway

Having been a constant on the NASCAR calendar since 1961, the Food City 500 is not only one of the top events of the season, but also one of the proudest to be held on the half-mile oval at the legendary Bristol Motor Speedway. The 2007 Food City 500 was the first ever NASCAR event in which the new Car of Tomorrow was used, resulting with Kyle Busch taking the checkered flag.

The 2.5 miles oval with just 9 degrees of banking first opened in 1911 as a track built for formula cars. In 1993, Nextel Cup cars ran its inaugural Brickyard 400 which was won by Jeff Gordon. The famed track is located in Indianapolis, Indiana.

In the 18 years since officially becoming known as the Food City 500 in 1992, the race has had four multiple-race winners, accounting for 13 of the victories over that period, and with three of those drivers having chalked up victories in consecutive years. Leading the list is Jeff Gordon with four consecutive wins from 1995 to 1998, followed by Kurt Busch with four wins – three consecutive (2002-04, 2006), Rusty Wallace with three wins – 2 consecutive (1993, 1999-2000), and rounded out by Kyle Busch's two wins in 2007 and 2009.

Since this is NASCAR's favorite venues, every Sprint Cup fan should make it a point to experience a race at the Bristol Motor Speedway; a track which always provides some of the best and most thrilling action of the NASCAR season, making the next Food City 500 as good a place as any to begin that experience. NASCAR's favorite venues, at this year's Food City 500.

AIR DAM

 A strip that hangs under the front grill, very close to the ground. It helps provide down force at the front of the car.

BALANCE

When a car doesn't tend to overseer or under steer, but goes around the racetrack as if its on rails, it's said to be in balance.

DRAG

The resistance a car experiences when passing through air at high speeds. A resisting force exerted on a car parallel to its air stream and opposite in direction to its motion.  more Nascar Terms here