BUSCH: Virginia 500 will be busy weekend for Compton

Stacy Compton knows things were hectic for him in Daytona, Rockingham and Las Vegas. He also knows the Virginia 500 weekend at Martinsville Speedway will be much more chaotic.

Compton has taken on the daunting task of running fulltime on both the NASCAR Winston Cup and Busch Grand National circuits this season. That meant during three of the four Winston Cup weekends so far, he ran races on back-to-back days, not to mention hopping back-and-forth from division-to- division for practice sessions.

But at Daytona, Rockingham and Las Vegas he only had to walk a few hundred yards from one garage to another. When the Virginia 500 weekend rolls around on April 12-14, he'll be a few hundred miles between garage areas.

"It's going to be a little tricky," Compton said of the Virginia 500 weekend.

And here's why: while the Winston Cup cars are in Martinsville, the Busch Grand National Series will be in Nashville for the Pepsi 300 at the Nashville Super Speedway.

Compton plans on practicing and qualifying the Conseco Pontiac Winston Cup car at Martinsville on Friday, fly to Nashville to race the Kingsford/Johnsonville Chevrolet on Saturday and then return to Martinsville for the Virginia 500 on Sunday.

"We going to come to Martinsville, we're going to qualify the Cup car and then we'll probably miss Happy Hour in the Cup car," Compton said recently.

"But that's OK because fortunately we run pretty decent up there. But Martinsville is going to be one of the trickier race weekends for us."

Actually, it could have been even more hectic for Compton. "We really wanted to run the truck race up there on Saturday (the Advance Auto Parts 250), but we just couldn't get everything worked out."

The only thing that could ruffle Compton's plans is weather. If the Busch race on Saturday were to be bumped to Sunday by rain, Compton would return to Martinsville for the Cup race.

"The Cup car is my priority. Whatever we do, we'll make sure we're there for the Cup race," said Compton. "From the get-go, the folks with my Busch car, Kingsford and Johnsonville (his Busch sponsors) have understood the Winston Cup was the initial deal and what we have to do. Hopefully we won't have a weather problem and we can run them all."

And on the weekend of the Virginia 500, Compton has more reasons than his ride to be in Martinsville. He was born and reared about an hour from his track ... the track he considers home.

"It's hometown. I'm excited," said Compton. "That's where I feel I got my start, the reason I'm standing here right now. We'll have a lot of people up there pulling for us on race Sunday."

Action kicks off at Martinsville Speedway on Friday, April 12 with MW Windows Pole Day. The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competitors will time trial for the Advance Auto Parts 250 at 1:30 p.m. while qualifying for the Virginia 500 is set for 3 p.m. Tickets for qualifying are $15 for adults and children under 12 get in free.

The Craftsman Truck Series racing action begins at 2 p.m. on April 13 when the green flag waves on the Advance Auto Parts 250. Tickets for the Advance Auto Parts 250 Craftsman Truck race are $30 for adults and $5 for children ages 6-12. All seats are unreserved.

There still are great seats available for the Virginia 500 NASCAR Winston Cup race for $40-$70 each. To purchase tickets call the speedway ticket office toll free at 877-722-3849 or online at www.martinsvillespeedway.com.

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