NASCAR REV’D UP HIGHLIGHTED BY FREE CONCERT FEATURING
GARY ALLAN AND JOSH KELLEY ON MAY 18
Third Annual Fan Favorite Event To Take Place At The NASCAR Hall of Fame

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (April 19, 2011) — NASCAR Rev’d Up, a free concert and festival put on annually by NASCAR to kick off NASCAR Sprint All-Star Week will feature performances by multi-platinum country artist Gary Allan and singer-songwriter Josh Kelley on May 18 at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C.

AUDIO INTERVIEW: KERRY CHATS WITH STEVE SWEENEY DIRECTOR OF CONSUMER MARKETING

“NASCAR Rev’d Up is a great opportunity to show our fans, both old and new, how much they mean to the sport,” said Jim Obermeyer, managing director of brand and consumer marketing for NASCAR. “We continue to be committed to bringing the NASCAR experience to our fans, and are thrilled to be able to offer this free concert and festival to our fans in celebration of NASCAR Sprint All-Star Week.”

Now in its third year, NASCAR Rev’d Up will begin at 4 p.m. ET with vendor displays and interactive activities from official partners including Sprint and SPEED. The event will be located on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard at the NASCAR Hall of Fame plaza.

Kelley will perform at 7:15 p.m. followed by Allan at 8:45 p.m.

Gary Allan
With the allure of a modern-day outlaw, Allan has won over legions of fans with his signature blend of rugged vocals, rebellious lyrics and raucous live performances.  He has sold over 7 million albums and released five platinum and gold albums in a row including two that topped the Billboard Country Albums Chart.
Allan has also topped the charts with four #1 hits at country radio and has nearly a dozen Top 10s to his credit.  He has sold out venues as a headliner from coast to coast, appeared on Late Show With David Letterman, Tonight Show With Jay Leno, CBS Early Show and has landed on the covers of Country Weekly, Pollstar and People magazine.

Josh Kelley
A native of Augusta, Ga., Kelley is a singer-songwriter who has performed as a pop and adult contemporary artist and recently embarked on his country music career. His debut single, “Georgia Clay,” recently earned a spot on the Top 20 Hot Country Songs chart.
Released on March 22, Georgia Clay features the album title song “Georgia Clay,” along with “Great Idea,” “Ain’t Letting Go,” “Two Cups of Coffee” and “Gone Like That.” Kelley’s latest project expresses the nuances of his life, from recently getting married and adopting a girl to embracing stories from his youth.
He has been on tour with Miranda Lambert since the fall 2010 and will tour with Taylor Swift later this summer.

Guest Column By Cathy Elliott

Picture yourself standing in front of a tree in the middle of a beautiful NASCAR garden.

The tree is loaded with fruit that looks so tasty it almost makes you want to actually eat fruit. There’s no serpent to tempt you, and you have carte blanche to take your pick. Each piece is slightly different from its neighbor, but each one looks delicious, and they’re all good for you, and you’re really hungry.

Now picture someone coming along and mentioning that each piece of fruit represents one month of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series calendar, and then inviting you to help yourself to one of them. Which would you choose?

It would be very difficult to argue against the month of May.

May is racing’s version of a ‘superfruit,’ combining nearly all of the things that are great about NASCAR into one tidy package.

Mid-month, NASCAR heads north to Dover, Del. One of the most memorable things about Dover could well be its trophy. I’m not sure which particular creature it was modeled after, but it kind of resembles Thing from the original “Fantastic Four,” who possessed superhuman strength and endurance thanks to his stone-like skin.

Interestingly, those two characteristics come in mighty handy for drivers hoping to conquer the “Monster Mile.” In a recent press conference, NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Ryan Truex said Dover takes “guts and determination.” Like a pomegranate, you must first find a way to crack it open before you can sample its fruit.

Rounding out the month is NASCAR’s longest race, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. This marathon event, which like an orange must be patiently dealt with section by section, is one of the most coveted wins in NASCAR. Its Memorial Day weekend date always provides a particularly emotional experience for fans, as we take time to honor the greatest American heroes, our troops.

2011 will be the last year the NASCAR Hall of Fame inductions will be held in May; the ceremony will move to January in 2012. This year’s inductees include drivers David Pearson, Ned Jarrett, Bobby Allison, and Lee Petty, and owner Bud Moore. For legions of NASCAR fans, these men are heroes in their own unique way, as robustly American as our favorite flavor of pie — apple.

On Mother’s Day weekend, NASCAR visits Darlington Raceway. Darlington is a hybrid sort of fruit, a combination of a short track, an intermediate track, an egg, and a pressure cooker. It’s difficult to compare it to anything because there really isn’t anything like it.

Since 2003, when Ricky Craven and Kurt Busch screamed across the start/finish line with their cars literally locked together, Darlington has hung its hat on being the home of NASCAR’s closest finish. The finish was so close that after the race, Craven said he didn’t even know he had won until he looked up and saw his number at the top of the scoreboard.

The margin of victory that day was .002 (two one-thousandths) of a second, a distance so inconceivably small that it seemed impossible the record would ever be broken.

In a completely different scenario, at least 10 cars were in contention to win coming around the fourth turn of the final lap at Talladega Superspeedway on April 17, 2011. An incredible drafting push from Dale Earnhardt Jr. gave the win to his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jimmie Johnson. The margin of victory? Two one-thousandths of a second.

The end of the contest may have been different, but the post-race comments were eerily similar.

“There was some mystery. I didn’t hear anything on the radio and the first voice I heard as we went into Turn 1 was Junior, and it was something like, ‘Hell, I think the 48 won.’” Johnson said. “And then I started going nuts … I didn’t know whether I had won or not.”

Talladega Superspeedway played the spoiler fruit in this instance.

NASCAR is a garden of winners and losers; it really doesn’t do ties. Bones are unusual in the world of fruit, but Darlington Raceway has one to pick this year

Almost every day, we hear some nutritional expert or another reminding us that when we eat, our plate should be half full of fruits and veggies. That all sounds fine, but the problem is that after the burger and fries are on the plate, there’s just not that much room left. ‘Good for you’ sounds a whole lot better than it tastes, right?

Not always. Fortunately for all of us, racing’s plate has room for heaping helpings of everything. NASCAR’s version of the fruit-of-the-month club allows us to enjoy as much as we want, at almost any time we want it. And in the month of May, it’s ripe for the picking.

The opinions expressed in this articles are solely those of the author and not this website.

SHOW #155 – Tony Stewart is our guest this week, and we asked him about the Juan Pablo Montoya feud with Ryan Newman, The Prelude to the Dream race next month, his Office Depot promotions and a ton more. Plus we recap Richmond and Preview Darlington. Hosted by Kerry Murphey

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CREDITS:
Hosts: Kerry Murphey & Paul Northrop
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CONCORD, N.C. (May 5, 2011) – Roush Fenway Racing’s Trevor Bayne has been released from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. after being admitted last week for testing and evaluation. The 20-year old Daytona 500 winner will continue to be monitored closely by the Mayo Clinic team. He is expected to return to his NASCAR racing duties with both Roush Fenway Racing in the Nationwide Series and the Wood Brothers in the Sprint Cup Series this season. He will not, however, be in the No. 16 Roush Fenway Nationwide Series entry this weekend at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. No timeframe has been set for Bayne’s return at this point.

“Trevor Bayne was seen by a team of Mayo Clinic specialists where he underwent a series of tests and consultations over the last week,” said Mayo Clinic neurologist Brian Crum, M.D. “He was admitted after suffering from nausea, fatigue and vision impairment. Since his admission, the nausea and fatigue have abated, and the vision impairment continues to be treated with medication, and is showing significant improvement.

“This symptom appears to be the result of an inflammatory condition. Further assessments will be made over the next couple of weeks. His condition is not life threatening or career-ending. We expect he will continue to improve, though the timeframe for his return to racing is unknown at this point. He will continue to be followed closely by his Mayo Clinic team.”

Chris Buescher, who drove the No. 16 Roush Fenway NNS entry last week at Richmond, will again fill in for Bayne this weekend at Darlington. Team officials are unsure of Bayne’s status for next week’s Nationwide Series race at Dover (Del.) International Speedway but are hopeful for his return for that race.

NEWS BITES: Is a feature of The Final Lap designed for you to get some quick NASCAR News, and go about your life faster.

Delana Harvick has been selected as one of the Top Woman in Business award winners from The Business Journal. Delana is the co-owner of Kevin Harvick Incorporated and runs the day to day operation of the business. KHI has two Truck Series championships to their credit as well as many wins in that series as well as the Nationwide Series.

The Wild-Card Chase slot seemed like an interesting idea, and now we are seeing it play out. Remember that win the Jeff Gordon got back at Phoenix, the second race of the season, it’s looking pretty crucial now as Jeff sits 16th in points but would make the chase with his 1 win. Still a ton of racing to go, but that’s just an example of why winning will become more and more important.

You may remember this past weekend Martin Truex Jr. led a bunch of laps at Richmond, even ran in the top 5 for most of the evening with a solid race car. Unfortunately for the 56 team, they finished 27th…why? A couple of mistakes on pit road, a furious Truex came over the radio threatening to fire the pit crew, and 4 members found that reality yesterday. The new over the wall crew debuts this weekend at Darlington.