Saturday Night Under the Lights...Richmond

The NASCAR boys have rolled into Richmond, Virginia for this weekend's race. The Nationwide Series races tonight under the lights and the Sprint Cup series takes the green Saturday night.

Two of the series best are tied at three wins at this particular track. Dale Jr. has three wins in 17 starts and Tony Stewart has three in 18 starts. This race marks the two year anniversary of Dale Jr.'s last race win. The .75 mile oval also is the track where two drivers got their first ever career win... Tony Stewart Sept 11, 1999 and Kasey Kahne on May 14, 2005.

So far Dale Jr. is pacing Friday's practice. We shall see if that helps come qualifying time. In the past 10 races at Richmond, the winner has come from within the top ten qualifiers.

ESPN is up against airing playoff basketball and the Nationwide race tonight. The Nationwide race will air on Speed and ESPN Classic at 7pm and ESPN2 will pick it up at the conclusion of the basketball game. It will then re-air in its entirety immediately following the race.

Some other notes...Ken Schrader will be filling in for the injured Dario Franchitti...Tony Stewart was as excited about Morgan Shepard's 13th place finish last Saturday as he was about his Talladega victory in the Nationwide series. Shepard was a surprise call-in guest to Tony Stewart Live on SIRIUS Satelitte radio when Stewart and co-host Matt Yockum told him they would be his tire sponsors for this weekend. Tony told him not to worry, "We'll make sure you have plenty of tires for the weekend." How cool is it that a legend of the sport continues to race late into his sixties?!?!