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Pepsi 300 Preview

Mar 22, 2008 - 10:21 AM

March 22, 2008
Nashville Superspeedway
Lebanon, Tennessee
Race 6 of 35 on Nationwide Series circuit

Laps: 225
Track length: 1.33 miles
Race length: 300 miles

Qualifying record: David Stremme, Dodge, 166.561 mph, April 2007
Race record: Carl Edwards, Ford, 128.051 mph, April 2007


Clint Bowyer
Team: Richard Childress Racing
Car: No. 2 Chevrolet Monte Carlo
2008 Earnings: $190,730

Scheduled to pull double duty in both the Sprint and Nationwide
series this season; took a gamble and stayed out during a rain 
delay to win at Bristol; now sits second in the standings, 49 
points behind Kevin Harvick who is not running a full slate; 
finished 19th at Atlanta after a third at Las Vegas; started the 
year with a 25th at Daytona, then rebounded with a ninth at 
California; ran a full Busch series slate in 2005 and 2006, 
finishing second and third, respectively, in the final 
standings; finished 12th last year after running just 22 races, 
winning at Phoenix and Richmond; did not compete in this race 
last season.


Carl Edwards
Team: Roush Fenway Racing
Car: No. 60 Ford Fusion
2008 Earnings: $160,440

Finished 14th at Bristol and sits third in the standings; ran 
fourth at Atlanta after being wrecked by Mark Martin at Las 
Vegas and finished 14th; opened defense of his series title 
with a 10th at Daytona and fifth at California; clinched last 
season's title at Texas, three races before the end of the 
season; was the runner-up to Harvick two seasons ago; despite 
late struggles still had a series-best 21 top-10 finishes and 15 
top fives last season; led in the series standings for 33 
consecutive weeks prior to Daytona; in 35 starts last season had 
four wins, trailing only Harvick who had six; won this race last 
season; plans to run "double-duty" slate again this season to 
defend his title.


Jason Leffler 
Team: Braun Racing 
Car: No. 38 Toyota Camry 
2008 Earnings: $173,700

Finished third in the overall standings last season; jumped up 
to ninth in the standings after running sixth at Bristol after 
an eighth at Atlanta; opened the season with a 19th at Daytona 
and 11th at California; took a hit in Las Vegas, finishing 39th; 
earned his first career Nationwide victory at Indianapolis last 
year, which gave Toyota its first series victory; started the 
season with four DNFs in the first six races, but had none after 
that; finished with seven top fives and 11 top 10s; was 
inconsistent though with eight finishes of 30th or worse in 35 
races last year; finished fourth in this race last year.


David Ragan
Team: Roush Fenway Racing
Car: No. 6 Ford Fusion
2008 Earnings: $144,345

Another driver who is running both series this year; finished 
ninth at Daytona and 12th at California to start the season, 
then posted a 10th at Las Vegas, ran 16th at Atlanta and was 
eighth at Bristol; had an impressive rookie season finishing 
fifth overall and winning the Raybestos Rookie of the Year by 27 
points over Marcos Ambrose; scored four top-five and eight 
top-10 finishes in 2007, but also had eight finishes of 30th or 
worse; finished 36th in this event last season.


David Reutimann
Team: Michael Waltrip Racing
Car: No. 99 Toyota Camry
2008 Earnings: $194,995 

Plans to run full "double-duty" schedule again in 2008 after 
finishing second to Edwards in the standings last season; 
started season with a 14th at Daytona and ran fourth at 
California; ran 25th at Las Vegas, 10th at Atlanta and third at 
Bristol; last year had better finishes than Edwards in 10 of the 
last 15 races and scored the most points in the series after the 
midseason point; earned his first series win at the second 
Atlanta race; finished with five top-fives and 12 top-10s; ran 
second to Edwards in this event last year.


2007 Top 10
-----------
 1. Carl Edwards (60), Ford
 2. David Reutimann (99), Toyota
 3. Dave Blaney (10), Toyota
 4. Jason Leffler (38), Toyota 
 5. Regan Smith, (4), Chevrolet
 6. Shane Huffman (88), Chevrolet
 7. Scott Wimmer (29), Chevrolet
 8. Stephen Leicht (90), Ford
 9. Bobby Hamilton Jr. (35), Ford
10. Mike Bliss (22), Dodge

Past Champions
--------------
2007  Carl Edwards
2006  Kevin Harvick
2005  Reed Sorenson
2004  Michael Waltrip
2003  David Green
2002  Scott Riggs
2001  Greg Biffle