by KURT BUSCH, Special to FOXSports.com

Updated: March 13, 2008, 9:06 PM EST 47 comments

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Race: Food City 500
Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Date: Sunday, March 16
Track: Bristol Motor Speedway (.533-mile oval), Bristol, Tenn.
Race format: 500 laps
Green flag: 2:00 p.m. ET
TV: FOX — 1:30 p.m. ET.

About this weekend's race

Kurt Busch ( / Special to FOXSports.com)

This weekend we are heading to Bristol Motor Speedway for the Food City 500, and I've got to tell you, all I'm looking forward to is getting back to a track that we've raced the new car on and seeing if we can't improve on where we were last year. We ended up with a top 10 run last August at Bristol, but the competition is tougher as everybody has learned quite a bit more about this car since that race.

We're looking for a nice, solid finish again because once we finish this weekend's race, that is where we are in points. Hopefully we will be back in the top 10, where we were before we gave up our points at the start of the season.

Even though I have won five times at this track, I feel like some of my edge at Bristol is gone with this new car. With the old car, I really had a unique setup and it worked really well on the old Bristol concrete surface. Now it's a new track and a new car, so there's quite a few things that are different. But one principle stays the same: You have to protect your race car. You cannot force the issue and try to pass somebody and lose track of what is going on ahead and behind you because it's real easy to get caught up in wrecks.

My No. 1 mentality going into Bristol is to just survive and stay out of the wrecks. That goes a long way when you're at the finish line.

Where it all started

This weekend marks the one-year anniversary for the Car of Tomorrow, as it made its debut here 12 months ago.

Ever since the car made its debut, I feel like the only type of questions I answer nowadays as a NASCAR driver is regarding how I feel about the car.

I'm a driver that gets paid to drive the best out of my race car, no matter what it is. If it drives terrible, we have to change some things and make it drive better. I don't really have a strong opinion one way or another about the Car of Tomorrow because they are handing out 190 points on Sunday. It's our job to go in and grab as many points as we can.

About that guy leading the championship standings

In case you all have missed it lately, my brother Kyle is on top of the Cup championship standings right now. I think it's great. He's started the season off on fire — Craftsman Truck Series, Nationwide Series, Sprint Cup Series, he's running well with all of them.

I was happy to see him carry the Toyota banner into Victory Lane for the first time in the Cup Series last weekend at Atlanta. I'm also happy that he is fitting in well with his team and that he's running strong. I remember the days where I used to help him get up to speed. Maybe I need one or two of those hints to come back my way.

Looking back at Atlanta

It seems like we just make it harder on ourselves sometimes with trying to battle back from a lap down.

We started the race at Atlanta Motor Speedway very, very loose. I think that was the loosest race car I have ever driven, and that was one of the major reasons we went a lap down by Lap 30 — that and the fact that early race leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. was just on a torrid pace.

We had to work on the car. We changed just about everything. We put in a lot of cross-weight, changed the track bar, pulled out the spring rubbers, changed air pressure — you name it, we did it.

It was a hard-fought battle, but we finally got back on the lead lap with about 30 laps to go. But when you earn the "Lucky Dog," you have to start at the tail end of the longest line, which at the time was the lap-down cars. So even though we restarted in 13th place, I was nowhere near 12th or 11th place. ... I had to reel in Bobby Labonte and Jimmie Johnson, but we still just missed out on a top-10 finish.

We finished 11th, but based off how we started, that result is as good as a win.

Behind the scenes with Kurt

We are coming up on one of our first off weekends of the season next week. It's Easter weekend, time for family. We are going to be heading to Virginia to enjoy time with family and just relax a little bit and look ahead at the season.

There's quite a bit of testing that's popping up here and there. The Miller Lite crew is heading to Kentucky the next two weeks, I think, and we are looking at getting a tire test from Goodyear at Indianapolis. The season is in full swing and we're very busy.

Question of the week

Question: When are we going to see you in some more entertaining Miller Lite commercials?
— Jeff H.

Answer: There's things in the works and I hope that we can get a commercial out there with Kurt Busch and Miller Lite in it soon. There's just small things in the works now.

Of course, if you want to see more commercials, I encourage all of our fans to visit and leave messages on millerliteracing.com.

Have a question for me? E-mail me them at kurtbuschatfox@live.com and I will do my best to answer at least one every week.

Last Call

Bristol has to be the most exciting racetrack that we race on in the Sprint Cup Series. I hope that we are able to drive the Miller Lite Dodge into Victory Lane Sunday because it's one of my favorite tracks.

It'd be a good way to get our Car of Tomorrow program on track.

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Kurt Busch, 2004 NASCAR Sprint Series champion and 17-time race winner, will be offering his thoughts and expertise before each of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.

Have any questions or comments for Kurt? E-mail him at kurtbuschatfox@live.com and check back weekly throughout the NASCAR season to see his answers.