Laps: 500
Track length: .533 miles
Race length: 267 miles

Qualifying record: Steve Park, 126.370 mph, 2000
Race record: Cale Yarborough, 100.989 mph, 1977

DRIVERS TO WATCH

Johnny Benson -- Solid start this year with four straight top seven finishes; comes off another seventh place finish at Darlington Raceway; highest finish was fourth at Las Vegas; nearly ran down Rusty Wallace to win this race last April, but settled for second place; third in the Winston Cup standings is highest ranking of his six years on the circuit; co-owns the Valvoline-sponsored car.

Jeff Burton -- Despite an improved 18th place finish at Darlington, is still in early season slump; did well at the short track of Bristol with ninth in the Food City 500 and sixth in the GoRacing.com 500 in August; best performance in four wins last year was the start-to-finish run at New Hampshire in September.

Ward Burton -- Pretty efficient at the short track of Bristol, Tennessee; was third in the Food City last year and 11th in the August event; the previous year finished ninth in both races.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- Always ran well in the Busch series at Bristol, but suffered from bad luck in both Winston Cup races last year; in the spring race, was swept into a multi-car crash on lap two; was able to continue until a second accident on lap 401 knocked him out; in the fall night race, he was in the top-10 all evening until a late spin left him one lap behind the leaders for a 16th finish; was second at Daytona 500, in which his father died.

Jeff Gordon -- Winner of this race four straight times between 1995-98 (never won the night race at Bristol); went in front by lap 52 last year and led five times between laps 52 and 386; on lap 287, hit a tire when exiting pit road and made repeated stops to fix the problem; ended up with an eight place finish; this past Sunday at Darlington, he led 72 laps before an overheated engine caused him to finish 40th; lost points lead to Dale Jarrett and dropped to fourth place, 95 points behind; victory in Las Vegas earlier this month was 53rd of career.

Kevin Harvick -- Highest finishing rookie for the fourth straight race following his 14th place at Darlington; 13th in the series points standings, 192 points behind leader Dale Jarrett.

Dale Jarrett -- Able to hold off Steve Park over the final seven laps for his first victory of the season and for new sponsor UPS at Darlington Raceway; it was his 25th career victory and the first for Ford manufacturer this season; win gave him top spot in the Winston Cup standings by 65 points over Sterling Marlin and Johnny Benson; finished third in the Food City 500 in 1998 and 1999 before a 21st last season; his first career short-track triumph was here in the fall of 1997; captured his first Winston Cup championship in 1999.

Bobby Labonte -- The 2000 Winston Cup champion is having a tough time early this year; three of four races were finishes of 29 or lower; best result was second in the Dura Lube 400 at North Carolina Speedway; was sixth last year in the Food City 500.

Terry Labonte -- Won races at Bristol in the fall of 1995 and 1984; 32 top-10s in 45 starts at Bristol; finished fifth in the Food City 500 last year; best result this season was fifth in Atlanta.

Sterling Marlin -- Consistent runs early in the season puts him second in the standings, 65 points behind Dale Jarrett; posted four top-10 finishes including fifth at Darlington last Sunday, third in Las Vegas, eighth at Rockingham and seventh at the season-opener in Daytona.

Mark Martin -- A good short-track racer; the team will bring a brand new Ford for this race; has 28 starts at Bristol, including two wins and an impressive 20 top-10 finishes; in the past six years he has earned eight top-fives and 11 top-10 finishes; was third in the second race last year; slow start to the season, with sixth as best effort in Las Vegas.

Jeremy Mayfield -- Third-place finish at Darlington was his second top-10 of the season; made the points leap from 400th to 28th in the Winston Cup standings.

Steve Park -- Had the best car at Darlington but after late caution could not pass Dale Jarrett and settled for second; led four times for 164 laps for his third top-10 finish in five races; climbed from 13th to fifth in the Winston Cup points standings; won pole last year with record mark of 126.370 miles per hour in his Chevrolet; finished seventh in the race and improved that to fifth in the GoRacing.com 500 later in August.

Ricky Rudd -- Has been running at the finish the last 20 races, a streak that began at Indianapolis in August 2000; his 700th Winston Cup start last week at Darlington was a respectable eighth place finish; only the fifth driver to reach milestone, joining Richard Petty (1,177), Dave Marcis (878), Bobby Allison (717) and Darrell Waltrip (809); also has the longest active streak of consecutive starts at 613; up to sixth in the points with 609.

Tony Stewart -- Started from top six positions in three of four races at Bristol including one pole since joining the Winston Cup circuit in 1999; led a total of 358 laps and finished in the top five twice; runner-up in the second race last year; one top-five this season by way of a fourth place finish at Rockingham; 1999 NASCAR Rookie of the Year; has nine wins and four poles entering his third Winston Cup season.

Rusty Wallace -- The master of short tracks; two-time defending champion of this race at the "World's Fastest Half-Mile"; swept both events at the track last year; the win in the spring race was the 50th of his distinguished career (has won three other races since); leads all active drivers with seven poles at Bristol; also won fall race in 1994 and 1996; led series with nine poles last year and posted four wins; tied with Jeff Gordon for eighth in the all-time win list (53); won at least one race in 15 consecutive seasons.