Racing fans

have been looking forward to this weekend like baseball

fans look forward to opening day.

Starting

Thursday, Atlanta Motor Speedway will host the nation's

best racers for the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store 500

weekend. Jeff Gordon won last year's race and is looking

to defend his trophy.

Gen. Colin

Powell will be the grand marshal for Sunday's race.

The race

around the 1.54 quad mile oval combines the speed of

Daytona, the competition of Charlotte and the excitement

of Bristol. The favorites of both the Busch and Winston

Cup series will be on the track this weekend as well as

some newcomers from the CART series.

Many CART

racers, like John Andretti and Robby Gordon, have joined

the stock car series and are learning to handle the

differences of racing styles. The main difference between

the two styles is that drafting is much more important in

stock car racing and will definitely have a bearing on

this weekend's race.

Tickets for

Friday's qualifying will cost $15. The gates will open at

8 a.m. on all three days and the qualifying race for the

Aaron's 312 will begin at 3:30 p.m. The Aaron 312 will be

run at 1 p.m. Saturday and the Cracker Barrel Old Country

Store 500 will begin at 1 p.m. Sunday. Ticket. Prices

range from $10-$40 for Saturday's race and from $20-$100

for Sunday's race. Call 770-946-4211 or visit www.atlantarace.com on the web to

purchase tickets.