Dale Earnhardt Jr. News

Every once in a while we get a rookie who gleefully walks it to the veterans of the sport and turns heads along the way.

NASCAR longest show, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, will take place on the 1.5-mile quad-oval track with 24 degree banking Sunday, May 26 in Concord, North Carolina.

It could be argued that there's no track on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series circuit Ryan Newman feels more at home than at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Edwards is an active member of the President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition , for goodness' sake.

Purchase, N.Y.-based PepsiCo brands Pepsi and Mountain Dew announced their summertime promotion, "Iconic Summer," which will offer fans the chance to win prizes and exclusive experiences.

Even kids who usually squirm in their car seats might jump at the chance to sit in the lap of a superhero like Batman or such cartoon characters as Dora the Explorer or SpongeBob SquarePants.

At the height of his father's success at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Tom Sorensen has been a columnist at The Observer for 20 years and has been at the paper for 25, writing about nearly every sport in the Carolinas.

STAR RACE A GREAT PLACE TO GET MARRIED: When John and Monica Russell decided to get married, they knew exactly where to do it.

Jamie McMurray took care of business in the Sprint Showdown Saturday night winning the race handily to propel him into one of the three available spots for the Sprint All Star field to race for a potential $2 million payout.

At the height of his father's success at Charlotte Motor Speedway , Dale Earnhardt Jr.

At the height of his father's success at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Carl Edwards won the pole for the Sprint All-Star race by completing three laps and a four-tire pit stop in 1 minute, 51.297 seconds.

Hunched a bit from a childhood fall, Dick Trickle would hold a cigarette in one hand and a coffee in the other.

Trickle, a long-time Lincoln County resident, was found dead next to his pick-up truck just after noon.

Track: Charlotte Motor Speedway Event: Sprint Showdown and All-Star Race Date: Saturday, May 18 Time: 7:30 PM ET TV/Radio: FOX Sports SPEED / MRN Radio All-Star: Last year, Bobby Labonte transferred into the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series All-Star race by the way of the Sprint Fan Vote.

By no means set, the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field does seem to be taking shape.

STAR RACE: Dale Earnhardt Jr. qualified for the All-Star Race by winning a NASCAR Sprint Cup event during the 2012 season.

It's race month in Charlotte, but yet another indication of NASCAR's diminished fortunes can be seen in a new ranking of the highest-paid American athletes.

There are two ways Danica Patrick can qualify for the Sprint All-Star race on Saturday at the Charlotte Motor Speedway: She can either finish first or second in the Sprint Showdown qualifying race or she can win a fan vote.