BRISTOL, Tenn.
&ndash In hopes of having a true legends race where fans can see drivers of the past duke it out on the Bristol Motor Speedway concrete, the track will bring back its legends race in 2010 but with different rules. The race will include past winners at the track, but a driver must not have competed in a Nationwide or Sprint Cup Series race in the past seven years. That means that last year’s top-two finishers &ndash Sterling Marlin and Rusty Wallace &ndash won’t be eligible. The 12 drivers will use cars prepared by USARacing Pro Cup teams instead of building their own Late Models. Among those who have committed to the 2010 event &ndash likely to be run on the same day as the Nationwide Series race in the spring &ndash are Cale Yarborough, Harry Gant, Jack Ingram, Phil Parsons, L.D. Ottinger, Larry Pearson and Charlie Glotzbach. “I go to a lot of car shows, and everywhere I go, I can’t enjoy the show because people want to talk about that race,” said Ottinger, who finished third in the event last year. “It was great. A lot of the fans, they enjoyed it. [Marlin] had a different class car than we had. &hellip It wasn’t bad racing with those guys, and I don’t mind racing with those guys, but I’d like to be on equal terms.” The 35-lap race will not include a celebrity portion, which was tried in the inaugural event earlier this year. Drivers will be racing for $2,500 to $3,500 in charity apiece. Many details of the event, including the balance of drivers who will compete, are still in development. New rules that will hopefully bring the old Legends back to racing. Watching Sterling Marlin and Rusty duke it out for the win this year was nice, but they aren’t exactly “old legends” considering Sterling still races and Rusty’s only been retired 4 years tops.
Which of these drivers, currently 11th through 16th in the standings, is most likely to make the field for NASCAR’s Chase For The Sprint Cup