NASCAR rail: Food City 500 at a glance

WHERE: Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol, Tenn.

WHEN: TV Start 1:30 p.m. ET

BROADCAST: FOX, live on Sirius satellite radio, channel 128

THE LOWDOWN: Fans who want a return to the old times should be careful what they wish for, because the opening laps of the Kobalt Tools 500 looked a lot like the dominant days of Richard Petty and David Pearson. Earnhardt's No. 88 found the right setup and lapped half the field within 30 trips around the track before a mysterious "debris" caution allowed everyone to catch up. This week could be another rout for some lucky driver, since both races last year were dominated by two drivers apiece.

PREVIOUS 5 WINNERS:

2007: Kyle Busch

2006: Kurt Busch

2005: Kevin Harvick

2004: Kurt Busch

2003: Kurt Busch

LAST WEEK'S WINNER: KYLE BUSCH

History was made last week when Kyle Busch took Toyota to victory lane. It was the first time since June 13, 1954 - when Al Keller won on a temporary road course at Linden (N.J.) Airport in a Jaguar - that a foreign nameplate won a NASCAR race, and only the second ever victory for a non-American brand. There will be more to come, because Busch is the hottest driver on the circuit. Last weekend, he dominated all three NASCAR races, and if not for a blown tire in the Nicorette 300, he would have swept the weekend and taken the points lead in NASCAR's Big Three.

1. Kyle Busch

Three-year average finish at Bristol: 13.5 in six starts

Busch won this race last year in the debut of the new body style, and immediately lashed out about how bad it drove. After winning in the COT again last week, his opinions have probably softened.

2. Greg Biffle

Three-year average finish at Bristol: 8.8 in six starts

Biffle is off to a great start in 2008 with a sweep of the top-15, and he has a great shot at stretching that another week. At Bristol, he's finished that well in eight of 10 races, with a worst result of only 22nd.

3. Kevin Harvick

Three-year average finish at Bristol: 11.8 in six starts

Harvick cleared his biggest hurdles of his season with three consecutive top-10s on unrestricted, intermediate speedways. He's the only driver not named "Busch" to win a spring Bristol race in six years.

4. Ryan Newman

Three-year average finish at Bristol: 22.0 in six starts

A former sprint car star, Newman is a much better short track racer than he's credited, but he's struggled the last two years and finished outside the top 10 as often as in it on courses less than a mile.

5. Jeff Burton

Three-year average finish at Bristol: 15.8 in six starts

Burton is finally getting close to matching his record from the beginning of last year. In 2007, he started and ended with long top-15 streaks. Dating back to Lowe's last fall, he hasn't finished worse than 13th.

6. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Three-year average finish at Bristol: 6.5 in six starts

If not for an accident at California, Earnhardt would be battling for the points' lead. He could have it after Sunday's race, because at 6.5, he has the best three-year average finish at Bristol.

7. Kasey Kahne

Three-year average finish at Bristol: 16.5 in six starts

Except for a brief stint during green flag pit stops, Kahne was never lower than third in last fall's Bristol race. To be exact, he spent 492 of 500 laps in the top-three.

8. Tony Stewart

Three-year average finish at Bristol: 14.0 in six starts

Stewart seemed destined to win this race last year, leading 257 of the first 282 laps. At that point, however, he broke a fuel pump and finished well off the pace.

9. Brian Vickers

Three-year average finish at Bristol: 23.4 in five starts

Red Bull Racing should be looking into the cost of seeding the clouds this week to rain out time trials. Vickers has one more qualification to sweat out, and he'll get locked into the top 35.

10. Kurt Busch

Three-year average finish at Bristol: 19.7 in six starts

Busch has won four of the last six spring races at Bristol, but with a 35th in 2005 and a 29th last year, he is far from a sure thing on the concrete canyons this week.

11. Martin Truex Jr.

Three-year average finish at Bristol: 26.0 in four starts

Truex's hold on the top 12 in points is tenuous. In four career starts at Bristol, he has yet to crack the top 10 and has the worst recent record of all the drivers at the top of the standings.

12. Matt Kenseth

Three-year average finish at Bristol: 11.8 in four starts

Kenseth entered last fall's Sharpie 500 with an 11-race streak of finishes 16th or better at Bristol, and he was destined for another strong showing until Ricky Rudd spun out and collected him on lap 451.

Three-year average finish

Short tracks

Bristol Motor Speedway, Richmond International Raceway and Martinsville Speedway

Rank Driver Avg. Finish* Attempts

1. Tony Stewart 10.00 18

2. Kyle Busch 10.94 18

3. Kevin Harvick 12.11 18

4. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 12.17 18

5. Denny Hamlin 12.23 13

6. Matt Kenseth 12.67 18

7. Jeff Gordon 12.83 18

8. Jimmie Johnson 13.22 18

9. Ryan Newman 14.06 18

10. Clint Bowyer 15.50 12

11. Greg Biffle 15.61 18

12. Kasey Kahne 16.33 18

13. Mark Martin 16.93 14

14. Kurt Busch 17.33 18

15. Jeff Burton 18.22 18

16. Carl Edwards 18.44 18

17. Bobby Labonte 19.17 18

18. Elliott Sadler 20.89 18

19. Casey Mears 22.17 18

20. David Ragan 22.29 7

21. Scott Riggs 22.33 18

22. Kyle Petty 22.94 17

23. Juan Montoya 23.33 6

24. Jamie McMurray 23.50 18

25. Ken Schrader 23.53 15

26. J.J. Yeley 24.00 12

27. Dave Blaney 24.22 18

28. Travis Kvapil 24.67 12

29. Regan Smith 25.50 2

30. Reed Sorenson 26.00 12

31. Dale Jarrett 26.39 18

32. Martin Truex Jr. 27.58 12

33. Joe Nemechek 27.88 17

34. Jeremy Mayfield 28.07 15

35. Bill Elliott 29.33 3

36. Michael Waltrip 30.00 18

37. David Reutimann 30.17 6

38. Brian Vickers 30.61 18

39. Paul Menard 30.67 6

40. Robby Gordon 33.28 18

41. David Gilliland 33.67 9

42. John Andretti 36.67 3

43. Aric Almirola 39.50 2

*includes failures to qualify

Laps spent in the top 10 on short tracks since beginning of 2004

Rank Driver Laps in

Top 10 % Possible

Laps

1. Jeff Gordon 7,168 63.9% 11,210

2. Denny Hamlin 3,573 58.5% 6,110

3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 6,337 56.5% 11,210

4. Tony Stewart 6,268 55.9% 11,210

5. Kyle Busch 4,614 54.9% 8,410

6. Kurt Busch 6,150 54.9% 11,210

7. Jimmie Johnson 6,127 54.7% 11,210

8. Ryan Newman 5,527 49.3% 11,210

9. Kevin Harvick 5,478 48.9% 11,210

10. Matt Kenseth 4,864 43.4% 11,210

11. Greg Biffle 4,682 41.8% 11,210

12. Jamie McMurray 4,047 36.1% 11,210

13. Jeff Burton 3,761 33.6% 11,210

14. Kasey Kahne 3,658 32.6% 11,210

15. Elliott Sadler 3,628 32.4% 11,210

16. Mark Martin 2,823 30.7% 9,200

17. Jeremy Mayfield 2,525 29.7% 8,504

18. Clint Bowyer 1,554 27.7% 5,610

19. Carl Edwards 2,381 25.6% 9,310

20. Bobby Labonte 2,823 25.2% 11,210

21. Juan Montoya 541 19.3% 2,810

22. Martin Truex Jr. 722 12.9% 5,610

23. Ken Schrader 1,097 11.7% 9,404

24. Dave Blaney 1,020 11.6% 8,810

25. Dale Jarrett 1,089 10.1% 10,810

26. David Ragan 302 9.1% 3,310

27. Michael Waltrip 766 8.5% 9,006

28. J.J. Yeley 477 8.5% 5,610

29. Scott Riggs 881 7.9% 11,210

30. Brian Vickers 637 6.8% 9,304

31. Reed Sorenson 333 5.9% 5,610

32. Joe Nemechek 555 5.7% 9,700

33. Travis Kvapil 327 5.4% 6,100

34. Casey Mears 545 4.9% 11,210

35. Kyle Petty 379 3.5% 10,710

36. David Reutimann 35 1.9% 1,806

37. Robby Gordon 158 1.4% 11,210

38. John Andretti 15 1.1% 1,406

39. David Gilliland 17 0.4% 4,210

40. Bill Elliott 1 0.1% 1,406

41. Paul Menard 1 0.1% 1,806