The unofficial stopwatches caught Andretti¿s No. 14 ppc Racing Ford at 181.751 mph, just a tick faster than the lap he recorded to top the NEXTEL Cup speed chart during Tuesday night¿s testing session.

¿We thought we¿d come here and kind of fly under the radar, but obviously that hasn¿t happened,¿ said Andretti, who has been without a full-time ride this season. ¿I¿m really pleased. We are running one car in qualifying trim and the other in race trim, and they are both really good.¿

The record purse of $6,236,982 represents an 11.6-percent increase over the prize money posted just one year ago and is $2.5 million greater than what was paid for the October races in 2000.

¿There¿s no place like ¿home sweet home¿,¿ said H.A. ¿Humpy¿ Wheeler, president and general manager of Lowe¿s Motor Speedway. ¿With October¿s purse exceeding $6.2 million, we¿ve paid competitors more than $20 million to race in their backyard this year.

After 12 of 14 races, two-time champion Kevin Cywinski leads Mike Garvey by 52 points.

¿If we are able to get the third one, it would be huge,¿ said Cywinski, a native of Wausau, Wis., who captured ASA titles in 1997 and 2003. ¿More so than three, it would be back-to-back and it has been a while since anyone has done that.¿

Under Plessinger¿s guidance, the half-mile dirt track annually hosts one of the country¿s most diversified schedules. With a season stretching from late February to the end of October, Hagerstown Speedway¿s weekly schedule features late model stock cars, but its array of special events ranges from flat-track motorcycles to Monster Trucks to World of Outlaws sprint cars.

¿Frank Plessinger¿s tireless efforts at Hagerstown Speedway have created one of this country¿s most unique motorsports destinations,¿ said H.A. ¿Humpy¿ Wheeler, president and general manager of Lowe¿s Motor Speedway.

Now in his second season of ASA competition, Sorenson started competing in Lowe¿s Motor Speedway¿s Hardee¿s Summer Shootout at age 12. The Hardee¿s Summer Shootout is a 10-week series of Tuesday night races run each summer on the track¿s frontstretch quarter-mile oval where Sorenson claimed two Legends Car Pro division championships before advancing to the ASA circuit.

The 26-year-old nursing student and mother of three was not about to let Hurricane Ivan ruin her first trip to the Food Lion AutoFair.

¿At 7 o¿clock yesterday morning, my husband started talking about doing something else this weekend because of the weather,¿ Marion explained. ¿I said, ¿no way, we¿re going to Charlotte!¿¿

Totaling nearly 26,000 horsepower, feature displays in the massive Food Lion Pavilion will include: The History of the American Muscle Car; a tribute to the 35th Anniversary of Richard Childress Racing featuring several No. 3 race cars driven by the legendary Dale Earnhardt; a collection of Modern and Exotic Muscle Cars; plus outrageous ¿Monster Garage¿ creations as seen on TV¿s Discovery Channel.

Now in its third season, ¿Monster Garage¿ debuted on the Discovery Channel with one goal¿turn ordinary cars into extraordinary machines. Food Lion AutoFair will showcase four such creature features including the Cop Car Donut Shop, a 1998 Ford Crown Victoria police cruiser converted into a mobile donut shop complete with coffeemaker and pastry display case.

The high-octane octogenarian from Charlotte instead kicked off his second childhood with a search for his dream Corvette, one he plans to show during the Sept. 16-19 Food Lion AutoFair at Lowe¿s Motor Speedway.

In the fall of 2002, Ahrens and his son-in-law logged many hours surfing the Internet for an older, low-mileage sports car before finally finding his dream machine on eBay. After outbidding a car collector, Ahrens and his son-in-law drove to Tennessee to pick up the two-tone metallic silver and dark claret red Corvette. It was love at first sight.

¿It had all the power, mirrored-glass tops, aluminum wheels and extra-sized tires,¿ said Ahrens proudly.

Back in the days when NASCAR drivers raced ¿stock¿ cars with factory chassis and engines, Ford, GM, AMC and Chrysler spent millions of development dollars turning out a thousand or so special models annually in order to homologate an aerodynamic body or brutally powerful engine that ordinarily would not be sold to the average citizen.

For example, a limited run of Ford¿s 1969 Mustangs was turned into monsters when the company¿s racing 429-cid V-8 was squeezed under the hood, creating the Boss 429.

Richard Childress first showed his entrepreneurial spirit while selling peanuts at Bowman-Gray Stadium, a legendary race track in his hometown of Winston-Salem, N.C. By the time he was 17, Childress had earned enough money to purchase a race car, a 1947 Plymouth, and he moved from the grandstand to the track.

Competing on both dirt and paved tracks throughout the Carolinas, Childress struggled to make ends meet while climbing the racing ladder.

He finally made it to the big leagues on Sept. 14, 1969, at Talladega Superspeedway. His 23rd-place finish attracted little attention that day, but it became the cornerstone for a team that would take NASCAR racing into the next century.

It sounds like something straight out of NBC¿s popular reality television series ¿The Apprentice,¿ featuring Donald Trump.

It¿s hard to believe now, but H.A. ¿Humpy¿ Wheeler, the newly elected National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame promoter, was ¿fired¿ from his first job at Lowe¿s Motor Speedway.

¿I certainly know how folks feel when they lose their job,¿ said Wheeler, now president and general manager of the 1.5-mile superspeedway. ¿I¿ve lost at least three.

¿The first time, believe it or not, was in 1963 when the track was known as Charlotte Motor Speedway. The track was in bankruptcy protection and times were tough,¿ Wheeler continued.

Displays in the massive Food Lion Pavilion will include: The History of the American Muscle Car; a tribute to the 35th Anniversary of Richard Childress Racing featuring several of the NASCAR team¿s No. 3 Chevrolets driven by the late Dale Earnhardt; a sampling of modern high-tech Muscle Cars and a collection of ¿Monster Garage¿ vehicles including the Hot Dog Cart Dragster and the Cop Car Donut Shop.

Food Lion AutoFair is the nation¿s largest show of its kind. In addition to the attractions in the Food Lion Pavilion, the event includes a car show featuring various makes and models from some 50 clubs, thousands of parts and memorabilia vendors and a collector car auction. A car corral, located on the 1.5-mile superspeedway, features nearly 2,000 vehicles of all makes and models that are available for sale or trade.

On the New Format

¿Our playoffs¿and that¿s what I call them¿will shock the world. While we don¿t have 300-pound linemen or 100-mph pitchers, we do have 10 wild-eyed drivers loaded with 800 horsepower chasing $5 million at 10 diverse speedways.

¿This is the real ¿Survivor¿ show with the participants running almost a football field a second. Boiling the championship down to 10 races will result in great drama and that¿s the essence of sport.

Queen started second in the 27-car Dirt Crate Model feature, took the lead on the opening lap and held off Marty Reid to win the division¿s debut at The Dirt Track. The victory was the first of Queen¿s stock car racing career.

Reid settled for second with Pat Lindsay next under the checkered flag.

Green entered the 20-lap feature for the Cabarrus Family Medicine Bandolero Young Guns with a 28-point advantage over Jake Crum and cruised to a third-place finish to capture the division title after Crum suffered engine problems.

While the Concord, N.C., resident put the icing on his championship cake, Bret Hylton, son of NASCAR Busch Series crew chief Butch Hylton, recorded his second feature victory of the season. Brandon McReynolds, son of FOX commentator and former NASCAR crew chief Larry McReynolds, made it a clean sweep for the ¿NASCAR Kids¿ with his runner-up finish.

¿The motorsports industry is an important economic engine for the state of North Carolina, bringing in more than $1.5 billion each year and employing more than 10,000 hardworking North Carolinians,¿ said Easley. ¿These two bills send a strong signal that North Carolina is committed to this industry and its future here in our state.¿

Senate Bill 3 amends House Bill 1414 (Appropriations Bill) to increase the appropriation from the General Fund from $2 million to $4 million for the N.C. Motorsports Testing and Research Complex. This facility will be owned and operated in conjunction with UNC Charlotte¿s automotive and engineering program.

The most unique vehicles in motorsports, Monster Trucks are typically 11-feet tall and tip the scales at nearly five tons. Their custom-built, fuel-injected engines produce between 1,500 and 2,000 horsepower and the gargantuan machines can jump 110 to 115 feet¿a distance greater than 14 cars side by side¿and up to 25 feet in the air.

Charlotte drivers are being encouraged to proceed with caution because if a speed camera catches them exceeding the posted limit, they will receive a $50 ticket.

There will be no such worries Tuesday night as drivers participating in the One-on-One Spectator Races presented by Critter Control will be encouraged to put the pedal to the metal in order to take home the four-foot-tall winner¿s trophy.

Andrew Rogers, an 18-year-old Charlotte resident, is attempting to follow in Sorenson¿s tire tracks, but Rogers is gunning for his two championships in the same season.

Rogers has won races in the Quaker Steak & Lube Thunder Roadster and Raceape.com Legends Car Semi-Pro divisions this season and is in contention for both championships as the 10-week series of Tuesday night races heads into the homestretch.

As the world¿s most popular Extreme Sport, Freestyle Motocross has literally developed its own vocabulary. Those breathtaking aerobatic stunts are known as tricks and are often described with such adjectives as ¿awesome dude,¿ ¿stoked,¿ ¿sweeeet¿ and ¿sick.¿

Over the last decade, not only have the tricks been cleverly named, but they have also spawned variations. For example, the No Footer, a trick where both feet are removed from the motorcycle¿s foot pegs, led to the Nothing, a trick where both the hands and feet are removed from the bike in mid-air.

Freeman, a second-generation Hardee¿s Summer Shootout competitor from Huntersville, N.C., emerged from a torrid four-car battle that was truly a ¿wing ding¿ to win the 20-lap Quaker Steak & Lube Thunder Roadster feature.

Freeman battled with Steve Zacharias and Michael Van Wingerden for much of the five-mile race before Ryan Zeck, who started last in the 20-car field, joined the fray. Van Wingerden was leading when the white flag was unfurled, but Freeman moved to the inside and took command in turn three. Freeman beat Van Wingerden to the stripe by less than a car length with Zeck settling for third.

Each Tuesday night through Aug. 17, famous racing names such as McReynolds, Blaney, Lajoie, Johnson, Nelson and Wallace take to the frontstretch quarter-mile oval at Lowe¿s Motor Speedway not only with hopes of winning, but also of carrying on a family tradition.

Brandon McReynolds, 13, is the son of FOX and SPEED Channel commentator and former NASCAR NEXTEL Cup crew chief Larry McReynolds. The younger McReynolds is in his fourth season of Hardee¿s Summer Shootout competition, driving in the Cabarrus Family Medicine Bandolero Young Guns division. And according to his father; Brandon was destined to be a race car driver.

After running out of gas while leading Saturday¿s NASCAR Busch Series race near Chicago, Wallace was involved in a torrid three-bus battle during the closing stages of the 10-lap School Bus slobberknocker presented by The Window Pro¿s.

Often wheeling the behemoth creations three wide through the corners of the tight quarter-mile oval, Wallace battled with Jeff Marshall representing the U.S. Air Force Reserves and veteran SCCA sports car racer Dave Berry.

Gravity Games silver medalist and X Games 10 qualifier Ronnie Renner, X Games veteran Trevor Vines and rising stars Derek Burlew and Adam Jones are among the 10 riders scheduled to participate in one of the world¿s most popular Extreme Sports.

Performing such radical high-flying tricks as the Can Can, the Heel Clicker, the Nac Nac, the Superman and perhaps even a back flip, riders will be scored on a series of radical aerobatic performances during the freestyle competition. A motorcycle high-jump contest and a big-air showdown are also on the card.

¿People are still talking about the Road Hawgs¿ first Hardee¿s Summer Shootout appearance,¿ said H.A. ¿Humpy¿ Wheeler, president and general manager of Lowe¿s Motor Speedway. ¿Fans told us the Road Hawg race was one of the wildest and most entertaining they had seen in years, and I fully expect a repeat performance.¿

Ken Deese of Monroe, N.C., charged from ninth starting spot to win the Road Hawgs¿ first race on Lowe¿s Motor Speedway¿s quarter-mile frontstretch oval during round two of the 10-week Hardee¿s Summer Shootout. That race resembled a demolition derby as nary a fender remained unscathed after 15 laps.

Morgan started from the pole in the 20-lap feature for the Stock 4-Cylinder stock cars and was never seriously challenged en route to the $1,000 victory.

¿I love this race track,¿ said the Easley, S.C., driver. ¿We had back luck here last year, but we made up for it tonight. We had a really good car.¿

Shannon Barnhill started sixth in the 24-car field and was up to second by the third trip around the four-tenths mile clay oval. But the Shelby, N.C., driver was no match for Morgan and settled for runner-up honors in a race slowed by only one caution flag.

Timothy Smith charged from the 12th starting spot to take third with Stacy Brock and Joey Wiley rounding out the top five.

McReynolds, the 13-year-old son of former NASCAR crew chief and FOX television analyst Larry McReynolds, added his name to the list of feature winners in the Cabarrus Family Medicine Bandolero Young Guns division while Bond drove his GMC Syclone to victory in the One-on-One Spectator Races.

McReynolds of Mooresville, N.C., started sixth, took the lead on lap 11 and cruised to his first checkered flag in the 20-lap run. Jake Crum, who lined up 22nd, claimed runner-up honors, edging Jordan Penninger at the stripe.

The extended ticket office hours will continue through the UAW-GM Quality 500 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series event on Saturday night, Oct. 16.

Starting at just $19, tickets for the UAW-GM Quality 500 are available in a wide variety of price ranges. Tickets are also on sale for the Lowe¿s presents The SpongeBob SquarePants The Movie 300 NASCAR Busch Series race on Friday night, Oct. 15, and the Mopar Sprint Car Nationals on Wednesday night, Oct. 13, at The Dirt Track.

For tickets or information, call 1-800-455-FANS.

There will be no orange barrels; no temporary concrete barriers; and speed cameras are definitely out of the question as motorists hustle their personal passenger cars in a series of one-on-one single-elimination races on the frontstretch quarter-mile oval.

Taking advantage of the additional traction provided by the all-wheel-drive of his Eagle Talon, John Shepherd of Concord, N.C., drove to victory on a rain-soaked track in last season¿s final spectator event. Shepherd is expected to be on hand Tuesday night to defend his title.

Fluharty, a 39-year-old resident of Concord, N.C., competes in the Thunder Roadster division of the Hardee¿s Summer Shootout on Tuesday nights at Lowe¿s Motor Speedway.

Driving race cars is Fluharty¿s hobby, but photographing them is his occupation. The soft-spoken native of Fairmont, Va., has worked as the photo editor for NASCAR Scene and NASCAR Illustrated, two of motorsports¿ most widely circulated publications, for more than 10 years.

Fluharty transitioned from taking pictures of race cars to driving them in 1996 when he began competing in the street stock division at Concord Motorsports Park.

Designed to put the ¿stock¿ back into stock car racing, the Road Hawg division is open to domestic or import vehicles with a 100-inch wheelbase. The car must remain stock with only safety modifications, such as the addition of a roll cage, fuel cell and racing seat, allowed.

Lowe¿s Motor Speedway reserves the right to claim any vehicle in the Road Hawg division for $750 less the fire extinguisher, fuel cell, seat, seat belts and window net.

However, with school out for the summer, the finish line will be the destination when school bus racing returns to Lowe¿s Motor Speedway Tuesday during opening night of the 10-week Hardee¿s Summer Shootout.

Tipping the scales at nearly 13 tons each, the behemoth school buses will battle window-to-window and bumper-to-bumper, often entering the turns three abreast, on the tight frontstretch quarter-mile oval. The buses will be driven by an array of local media personalities and motorsports celebrities.

The first component of the plan is the announcement that ¿The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie¿ will be the title sponsor for the 300-mile race nationally televised on TNT Friday, Oct. 15, at 8 p.m.

¿Lowe¿s Presents The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie 300¿ will be the first race of its kind where children at the track will be able to listen to a special radio broadcast of the event. The broadcast, with announcers to be named later, will give children the opportunity to enjoy listening to live action just like their parents, but in a ¿kid friendly¿ manner.

¿This sounds so cool,¿ said NASCAR NEXTEL Cup driver Jimmie Johnson who will join Kyle Busch in driving special ¿The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie¿ paint schemes during the race.

Balzano chased Jeremy Miller during the closing laps of the O¿Reilly Southern All Star Racing Series event and it appeared as if he would have to settle for second. But going into turn three on lap 49, Balzano trapped Miller behind a lapped car and went on to score one of the biggest victories of his career.

¿I probably couldn¿t have gotten around Jeremy if we hadn¿t gotten into traffic,¿ Balzano said. ¿He had the line and we were fortunate to get in the right spot.

¿That was a heck of a show,¿ Balzano continued. ¿This is a beautiful place to race and it¿s definitely one of my best wins.¿

Pearson Jr. lined up sixth in the 26-car field of O¿Reilly Southern All Star Series late models and needed only three trips around the four-tenths-mile oval to take command for the first time. He persevered through eight caution flags for inconsequential incidents and held off three-time series champion Clint Smith to claim the $10,000 first prize.

¿This track was in great shape and I hope all these fans enjoyed that,¿ Pearson Jr. said after climbing from his No. 1 late model. ¿We got to the front early and were able to stay there."

Driving the No. 64 Braun Racing Dodge, Hemphill circled the 1.5-mile superspeedway at 180.517 mph to earn his second pole of the season.

Brent Sherman was second fastest at 179.778 mph in the No. 44 Dodge with former Charlotte Motor Speedway Legends Car champion Reed Sorenson, making his first ARCA start, third at 179.772 in the No. 77 Dodge.

The Quaker Steak & Lube 100 is part of CTC Pole Night which also includes NASCAR NEXTEL Cup qualifying for the Coca-Cola 600. Tickets are available at the gate or by calling 1-800-455-FANS.

To some 1985 seems like only yesterday, while others consider it ancient history.

That year compact discs were introduced to U.S. consumers, eggs sold for 66 cents a dozen and ¿Cheers¿ was the No. 1 television show. Michael Jordan earned NBA rookie-of-the-year honors, the average cost of a movie ticket had yet to break $3 and a group of recording artists known as USA for Africa introduced the blockbuster hit ¿We Are the World.¿

In racing, a 29-year-old Bill Elliott was the hottest thing on four wheels and a 13-year-old prodigy named Jeff Gordon was racing winged sprint cars on Midwestern dirt tracks.

The event started as a simple concept with a goal of bringing added attention to a sport that was struggling to expand from its Southeastern roots.

Plans for a NASCAR all-star race were announced in December 1984 at the NASCAR Winston Cup Awards Ceremony in New York City. The race, introduced as The Winston, would run the day before the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May and would feature only the sport¿s top stars. The winner would take home $200,000, an unprecedented amount at the time.

Those in attendance at the New York banquet had no idea they were being introduced to a race that would evolve into the largest all-star event in professional sports.

The event, which features NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race winners and former series champions, is scheduled for Saturday night, May 21, 2005. The 2005 edition of the special event will mark the 20th time in 21 years the race has been run at the 1.5-mile superspeedway.

¿We¿re delighted NASCAR has done this,¿ said H.A. ¿Humpy¿ Wheeler, president and general manager of Lowe¿s Motor Speedway. ¿We¿ve worked very hard to establish the NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge as one of the most popular events in sports.

Driving the No. 44 Serta Mattress/Hickory Farms Ford, Sherman recorded a best lap of 176.702 mph around the 1.5-mile superspeedway. The 29-year-old North Barrington, Ill., native is in his second full season of ARCA competition and is still searching for his first victory.

Reed Sorenson, a former Hardee¿s Summer Shootout Legends Car champion at Lowe¿s Motor Speedway and now a regular on the ASA circuit, was second fastest on the unofficial stopwatches at 176.528 mph.

It¿s been 38 years since a Petty Enterprises No. 43 has started from the pole for the Coca-Cola 600, but Green showed the team will once again be a contender during CTC Pole Night qualifying on Thursday, May 27.

Shortly after sunset, the unofficial stopwatches caught Green with a lap of 29.602 seconds, 182.420 mph, to top the 16 NEXTEL Cup Series drivers making final preparations for the May 30 Coca-Cola 600.

It is these types of memories that have built the NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge, formerly known as The Winston, into the most thrilling and unpredictable all-star event found in any sport. And what better time than the eve of the event¿s 20th anniversary than to have members of an expert panel vote for their favorite moments in the history of the race.

The panel consisted of NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series drivers Bill Elliott and Terry Labonte, who have participated in 18 of the 19 all-star races; drivers Rusty Wallace and Ricky Rudd, who have competed in 17 of the events; Lowe¿s Motor Speedway President H.A. ¿Humpy¿ Wheeler, who has hosted and promoted 18 of the races; NASCAR President Mike Helton, who hosted and promoted the only all-star race not held at Charlotte (Atlanta, 1986); and former Charlotte Observer motorsports writer Tom Higgins, who has witnessed every one either in person or on television.

Busch Series cars will be on the track Monday and Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. with NEXTEL Cup Series teams running from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. both days.

IPOWER DASH Series teams take to the track Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with ARCA RE/MAX Series teams testing from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Fans will be admitted free to the main grandstand throughout the testing sessions. Please enter through Gate 5, located next the ticket office on the second floor of Smith Tower.

The two-night racing spectacular features the late model stock cars of the O¿Reilly Southern All Star Racing Series along with a 45-minute concert each night by miniKISS, one of the most unique musical groups to ever perform at a motorsports venue.

Founded in 1969 and based near Dallas, Texas, Jani-King has over 10,300 franchise owners worldwide. Through 100 regional offices in 17 countries, Jani-King contracts commercial cleaning services for a variety of facilities including office, hotel/resort, manufacturing, restaurant, retail and sporting venues.

Duvall, 54, races his famous Flintstone Flyer weekly at Carolina Speedway in Gastonia, N.C., and Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, S.C., in addition to making occasional starts on the Xtreme, Southern All-Star and Carolina Clash series circuits.

The Cowpens, S.C., resident also operates one of the most prestigious dirt-track driving schools in the country, training drivers and crews from a 24-page book that for many has become the bible of dirt-track late model racing.

Earnhardt, who co-owns Chance 2 Motorsports with his stepmother Teresa Earnhardt, will be on top of the pit box Saturday afternoon, May 29, when his 23-year-old driver, Martin Truex Jr., competes in the CARQUEST Auto Parts 300 at Lowe¿s Motor Speedway.

¿I¿m learning a lot,¿ Earnhardt Jr. said about his ownership role in the No. 8 Kraft Chevrolet. ¿One of the things that has been really beneficial is the respect I¿ve gained for the (crew) guys on Sunday. Being in the pits, I¿ve learned about what is going on in there.

¿I thought they just ate ice cream in between stops¿that they didn¿t really care about what was going on. It¿s opened my eyes to a whole other side of the sport that I didn¿t really understand. It¿s been awesome for me.

NASCAR¿s annual all-star event features a special, non-points race format of 90 laps run in three segments: 40 laps, 30 laps and 20 laps. Caution flags will not count in the final 20-lap shootout, guaranteeing a green flag-finish for participants and fans.

Celebrating its 20th year, this exciting event has seen its share of controversy through the years, but not because of a yellow-flag finish.

¿With its unique format, the NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge allows NASCAR officials a little more latitude from normal race procedures,¿ said H.A. ¿Humpy¿ Wheeler, president and general manager of Lowe¿s Motor Speedway. ¿It¿s a race designed to entertain the fans. That¿s what all-star events are supposed to do.

In addition to the free extra-large shirt, fans will save 20 percent on tickets for this two-day racing spectacular. If purchased before May 12, adult reserved seats for both nights of the Jani-King Southern Showdown can be purchased for just $16 per night. That¿s $8 off day-of-event pricing and guarantees fans the same seats for both races.

The front of the white T-shirt features The Dirt Track @ Lowe¿s Motor Speedway logo with the words ¿Gave me this shirt!¿ underneath. The back features a dynamic full-size graphic that includes a sideways dirt late model along with the complete Month of May-Hem racing schedule for both The Dirt Track and Lowe¿s Motor Speedway.

The SAFER barriers, which utilize foam blocks positioned behind rolled steel tubing for a total thickness of 30 inches, will cover approximately 6,150-linear feet of concrete walls around the 1.5-mile, high-banked superspeedway.

As the most extensive installation of the SAFER barriers to date at any speedway, the Lowe¿s Motor Speedway project will include placing the energy-absorbing barriers in front of approximately 4,000 feet of outside retaining walls in the turns; 1,351 feet along the frontstretch quad-oval; and 796 feet on the insides of Turns 2 and 4.

And, for a limited time, race fans can save 20 percent on tickets for this two-day racing spectacular. As part of an Early Bird Special that runs through May 12, adult reserved seats for both nights of the Jani-King Southern Showdown can be purchased for just $16 per night. That¿s $8 off day-of-event pricing and guarantees fans the same seats for both races.

Run in conjunction with the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series weekend at Lowe¿s Motor Speedway, the Jani-King Southern Showdown promises to be one of the most entertaining short-track events of the season.

When Edwards, now 24, returns to Lowe¿s Motor Speedway Friday night, May 21, for the Infineon 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race, the Columbia, Mo., native will be well on his way to living that dream.

¿I came down to Concord that summer and worked for Ken Schrader in his shop,¿ said Edwards. ¿I¿d bug him by trying to talk him into letting me drive one of his cars. I did everything from sweeping floors to trimming weeds. I was like a lot of young racers, I was doing everything I could to chase my dream.

As a little-known driver in the NASCAR ranks at the time, Gordon took the sport by storm as he went outside tradition to achieve huge success both on and off the track, making the Rainbow Car one of the most recognizable symbols for NASCAR racing in the 1990s.

With the colorful paint scheme, Gordon won 52 races, 33 poles, three championships, The Winston Million and tied or broke numerous records starting with his rookie-of-the-year season in 1993 through the 2000 millennium season. Having contributed greatly to the success of the organization, the rainbow car will also commemorate Hendrick Motorsports' 20th Anniversary in NASCAR.

Elliott has been competing in the big-block DIRT modifieds for nearly 15 years, but the $10,000 triumph was his first victory in an Advance Auto Parts Modified Super DIRT Series event.

¿This is a brand new team and we¿ve only been out four times this year,¿ Elliott said. ¿The motor was just flawless, but we lost a cylinder with two to go and I¿m like, oh my God, it¿s going to get away from us.

¿This is just great¿here in Charlotte in front of all these fans,¿ an emotional Elliott continued. ¿I¿m tickled to death.¿

The 45-year-old Sussex, N.J., veteran collected $3,000 for winning the season opener for DIRT Motorsports¿ Turning Stone Casino 358-Modified Super DIRT Series. The victory was Hearn¿s 444th in nearly 25 years of DIRT-sanctioned racing.

¿We had a good enough car to come from the back,¿ was Hearn¿s summation of his charge. ¿I got the lead from Matt (Sheppard), but I got a little lazy and let him get back in front of me. Then, he got tangled up with a lapped car, and we got lucky and got back in front."

The car, one of three originally commissioned by Dodge to showcase the company¿s performance capabilities, is owned by Frank Spittle of Cornelius who has spent six years meticulously restoring it.

During the winter of 1963, Jim Nelson¿s Dragmaster Co. in Carlsbad, Calif., transformed a trio of Dodge 330 sedans into the most radical street machines the world had ever seen. Nelson¿s modifications followed his successful formula for building Top Gas Dragsters and each car featured a 426-wedge engine that was increased to 480 cubic inches and fitted with a GMC supercharger. Horsepower was estimated to be between 850 and 900.

Created by New Jersey artist and sculptor Jim Gary, "Twentieth Century Dinosaurs" is the ultimate expression of automotive art¿a collection of nearly life-size dinosaur skeletons comprised of used car parts in a rainbow of brilliant colors.

Twelve of Gary's gentle giants, including a 44-foot Brontosaurus, a 27-foot Tyrannosaurus Rex, bright yellow Velociraptors and a Pterodactyl with an eight-foot wingspan, will stalk the speedway grounds throughout the four-day Food Lion AutoFair.

The Charlotte Tailgate 200 display will offer a bumper-to-bumper look at a representative truck from each participating series manufacturer along with the opportunity to get autographs from four of the top series drivers.

Defending series champion Travis Kvapil¿s new Toyota Tundra, Andy Houston¿s Dodge Ram 1500, Rick Crawford¿s Ford F-150 and a Chevrolet Silverado race truck will be on display.

¿Starting with the idea of bringing rules uniformity and increased sponsorship to modified stock car racing at a trio of Upstate New York dirt tracks, Glenn Donnelly built one of the most successful sanctioning bodies in the motorsports industry,¿ said H.A. ¿Humpy¿ Wheeler, president and general manager of Lowe¿s Motor Speedway. ¿It is only fitting that he is the first sanctioning body official to be inducted into our Walk of Fame.¿

Even though he has finished outside the top-10 only once in the six DIRT big-block modified features run at The Dirt Track, Johnson is taking a conservative approach as he becomes acclimated to his new role as driver of the No. 14j Troyer entry fielded by H&H Motorsports of Cheshire, Conn.

¿Our race cars are good enough to be in victory lane,¿ said the 46-year-old resident of Phelps, N.Y. ¿But, realistically, I think if we can finish in the top-10, or more importantly in the top-five, we would all head home pretty happy.¿

NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series regular and truck team owner Kevin Harvick was among those in action, testing a pair of No. 6 GM Goodwrench Chevrolets alongside his full-time truck series driver Matt Crafton. Harvick, who finished fifth in the inaugural truck race at Lowe¿s Motor Speedway last May, is expected to be among the entrants for this year¿s event.

Other drivers testing included Dennis Setzer, Jack Sprague, David Starr, Ken Weaver and Shane Sieg.

Teams will be back on track today at 3 p.m.

This year, the event (formerly known as The Winston) has a new name for its 20th running: The ¿NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge.¿ On May 22, it returns to Lowe¿s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. for the 18th consecutive year, once again featuring an exclusive field of 2003-04 race winners and past champions of the event, which will be televised live on FX (7 p.m. ET). The NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge events will have a total purse of $4,095,000, an increase of $225,000 from the previous year. The winner will receive $1 million.

Running under the lights for only the second time in its 45-year history, sparks will fly during this 500-mile fall classic which is expected to play a pivotal role in NASCAR¿s new Chase for the Championship.

A wide variety of tickets are still available, ranging from the $19 reserved seats in the South Grandstand between turns one and two to the $119 reserved seats in the upper rows of the General Motors, Ford and Chrysler Grandstands.

The extremely popular SUPER Ticket also returns for Lowe¿s Motor Speedway¿s October events, offering four nights of racing for the low price of just $99.

The inaugural Southern Showdown Championship is among the highlights of the track¿s 10-event schedule that starts in April and runs through October.

Featuring the late model stock cars of the O¿Reilly Southern All Star Racing Series, the Southern Showdown Championship is set for May 28-29. The winner of the Friday night preliminary feature earns $10,000 with a possible $28,000-first-place prize awaiting the winner of the Saturday night main.

¿We are proud Lowe¿s Motor Speedway has chosen CARQUEST Auto Parts as its official auto parts store,¿ said CARQUEST President Art Lottes III. ¿Bruton Smith and ¿Humpy¿ Wheeler have built Lowe¿s Motor Speedway into one of the premier racing facilities in the world and it is exciting for CARQUEST to be associated with it.¿

CARQUEST and Lowe¿s Motor Speedway have enjoyed a long history that began with the inaugural running of the CARQUEST Auto Parts 300 NASCAR Busch Series race on May 24, 1997. The seven-year run of this event makes it one of the longest continuously sponsored races on the NASCAR Busch Series schedule.