GLADEVILLE, Tenn. - The Nashville Superspeedway will be the center of attention in the autos world this weekend.
NASCAR's Nextel Cup series is enjoying a rare weekend off for Easter, so the Nashville Superspeedway, which doesn't host a Nextel race, lobbied to move its spring Busch Series race to Saturday.
"All eyes are on the Nashville Superspeedway," track president Cliff Hawks said. "We're the only major motorsports event taking place in the nation this weekend."
The Nextel Cup resumes next week in Martinsville with the Craftsman Trucks series. The Indy Racing League is off before picking up in Japan on April 17, and Formula One doesn't race again until April 25 in Italy. Even the NHRA dragsters are parked until April 18.
But sitting out a weekend isn't easy for drivers. By Thursday, six Nextel Cup drivers had committed to Saturday's Pepsi 300 - Michael Waltrip, rookie Kasey Kahne, Robby Gordon, Greg Biffle, Kenny Wallace and Derrike Cope.
"Off weekends aren't fun," said Cope, who is trying to compete in both series this season. "We're in this to race."
And for the fringe benefits. Waltrip has said how much he wants the race's unique winner's trophy - a Gibson guitar.
At a time when the Nextel Cup series has trouble filling a 43-car field each week, Nashville has an entry list of 56 drivers.
"We have the potential on Saturday to host one of the biggest events in this track's short three-year history, and that is the result of this off-cup weekend," Hawks said.
Defending champion David Green will be back with rising star Kyle Busch and local favorite Bobby Hamilton Jr. Green passed Johnny Sauter on the backstretch of the final lap to win here last year.
