NASCAR Cup Series

For defending race and Sprint Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski, this weekend’s action at the Bristol Motor Speedway arrives at just the right time. Sitting...

The Gen-6 program, NASCAR’s most comprehensive overhaul since 2007, took a giant step toward meeting program goals on Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway. The goals of the Generation 6 program were “to re-establish brand identity among automotive manufacturers, and to provide competitive upgrades in an effort to improve competition in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series.”

In spring of 2007 at Bristol Motor Speedway, NASCAR held the first race for the brand new Gen-5 or “COT” race car as it was known as then. Jeff Gordon sat on the pole that day with a speed of 125.453 mph.

Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion, has started the 2013 season with three straight top-five finishes and is coming off a season-best third at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last weekend. The defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion spoke about his start, along with a variety of other issues.

Going to Bristol last August, hugely changed my perspective of that track and why fans love the Bristol Motor Speedway so much. Bristol isn’t just a race track, it’s a community.

Kyle Busch captured the Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Food City 500 Coors Light Pole Award with a lap of 129.535 mph, 14.813 seconds at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday. The qualifying lap also broke the previous track record of 128.995 mph, held by Ryan Newman (2003).

Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Great Clips Chevrolet SS, put down the second-fastest lap of the day and will start Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on the outside of the front row. His lap time of 14.875 seconds and 128.995 mph was also above the previous track qualifying record set by Ryan Newman in 2003. This is Kasey’s fourth top-10 start of 2013 and his 10th in 19 races at Bristol.

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M's Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - Starting Position: 1st - How are you so good at Bristol? "It's just kind of gone that way for me. After a couple of years of getting used to wrecking here, it sort of all fell into place. I've never sat on a pole here at Bristol and qualifying is not everything here."

CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Kellogg’s Ford Fusion – “It was an OK lap for me. We were just a little tight, but that’s faster than we went in practice. It’s OK and it’s a good starting spot. We’re gonna be good. We’ve got the fastest pit crew in the world here, so it’s gonna be good.”

Country music star Sara Evans, who has gained popularity with five No. 1 singles on the country charts, will headline the Great American Pre-Race Spectacular at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday, April 13 prior to the NRA 500 NASCAR Sprint Sup Series race.