Chad Ochocinco added some hot laps with Jeff Burton to his offseason activities in 2011.

Scores of big names have joined fans for NASCAR events through the years at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Future United States President Jimmy Carter, retired four-star general Colin Powell, country music icon Charlie Daniels, Dukes of Hazzard cast member John Schneider and actor Tom Cruise are but some of the big names who have joined us during race weekends. 

Should things go a certain way on Super Bowl Sunday, a reigning Super Bowl champion could be added to that list. Among the players vying to be part of the Super Bowl champions on Sunday will be New England Patriots receiver Chad Ochocinco. 

Ochocinco got a taste of a the white-knuckled speed of Atlanta Motor Speedway last summer when he visited the Speedway. His day included some ride-along laps with NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Jeff Burton. 

Ochocinco's visit came during an NFL off-season in which he tried his hand a bullriding. 

"This ranks right up there with the bull riding, man," Ochocinco said while at the Speedway. "It's not until you actually get in a car with these guys, like today with Jeff Burton, that you realize how dangerous this sport is and the amount of skill it takes to run out there with other drivers."

Click here for some photos of Ochocinco's visit.

On each NASCAR race weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway, thousands of fans from all walks of life come together for the Biggest Labor Day Party in the USA. We cannot wait to have you join us Labor Day Weekend, where we'll cap it all off with the AdvoCare 500! 

A lot of newness fills the beginning of each season, as every team starts with a renewed feeling of optimism. After all, everyone begins the season tied for first place, giving many teams the belief that this is their chance to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship. For other drivers, there are aspirations of a first Sprint Cup Series victory or qualifying for the Chase for the Championship. 

For some drivers, it's also a time to get used to a new team. Confused with all the driver and crew chief changes? Not to worry! Here's a breakdown of who has gone where entering the 2012 season.

Atlanta Motor Speedway President and General Manager Ed Clark visited recently on Tradin' Paint on Sirius NASCAR Radio with veteran racing broadcaster Rick Benjamin and legendary NASCAR crew member Danny "Chocolate" Myers.

Click here for a link to audio of the segment!

Here we are! 2012 has arrived. During the holidays, many of us at Atlanta Motor Speedway were fortunate to be able to recharge our batteries, so to speak, and spend time with friends and family. We hope you were able to do the same! 

But now, it's 2012 and we're back at it working on making this year one of the most exciting yet at Atlanta Motor Speedway! It seems like it is a long way off right now, but Labor Day Weekend will be here very soon, capped off by the AdvoCare 500 and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing under the lights!

It'll be an unforgettable weekend, but don't simply take our word for it - see for yourself what night racing at Atlanta is like through the eyes of the fans! We hope to see at the track soon, and wish you all the best in 2012!

As visions of sugarplums dance in our heads, Christmas is nearly upon us! In the midst of the all the rush around the Holiday season, the staff of Atlanta Motor Speedway would like to take this time to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Much like an experience on race weekend, Christmas creates fond memories, which last a lifetime. Here are a few favorite Holiday memories from a few of us at Atlanta Motor Speedway!

“Each family has their own family traditions. One of my favorites is one my mother and my grandmother started when I was five years old. Each year, they would both get me a Hallmark Ornament for Christmas. That way, when I was grown up and had my own tree, I had ornaments to decorate it with. The best part is when I decorate the tree each year, I open each ornament box and I’m brought back to the year I received the ornament. It’s something I cherish every year – decorating the tree.”

Marcy Scott

Director of Marketing and Promotion

“When I was 12 years old, and in the 7th grade, my parents were in the process of building our family home.  In the meantime, we were living in a barn shaped structure that my father had built as temporary housing. 

The Barn, as we called it, was located approximately 2 ½ acres away from the road and behind the new construction.

Two weeks before Christmas, I was in the kitchen with my mother and sister washing and drying the dishes after dinner.  There was a knock at the door and I ran to see who it was.   I can remember this like it was yesterday.  I opened the door and saw Santa standing there - I immediately shut the door and went back to drying dishes.  My mother asked me who it was and I said Santa.

Mom got Dad to go to the door and he invited Santa into the Barn.  He sat in my mother’s rocking chair and told each of us that he heard we had been very good that year…working together and behaving while mom and dad worked long hours on the new house.  He asked each one of us what we wanted that year and I remember telling him I wanted a cameo choker, a mini-bike and a bb gun.  He finally got up to leave and gave us a hug.

After he left and the door was shut…I remember running to the door trying to see how he left and there was nothing for me to see or hear…he just seemed to disappear.

Christmas morning my childlike faith was rewarded - under the tree was a mini bike, bb gun and velveteen cameo choker.

To this day I believe in the magic of Santa Claus.  In our home, we stress the true meaning of Christmas, but I will always bring the magic and wonder of my childhood to each holiday season.”

Kim Culbertson

Event Credential Coordinator

“Wow, it’s so hard to come up with one memory! If there is one that sticks out, it’s Christmas at my Grandma’s house when I was younger. On my mom’s side of the family, there are five siblings, each close to my parents’ age. Factor in a few children per family, and you have more than a houseful of people – and a long wait to use one bathroom in one house after Christmas dinner!

On this side of the family, relatives live in Idaho, the Atlanta area, Macon, Valdosta, St. Louis and South Carolina, with a few of my cousins having later settled in San Francisco and Washington, D.C. But when we were all younger, everyone made it to Grandma’s house for Christmas from all over the country. It was a time for everyone to come together – and also spread what felt like two feet of wrapping paper across the living room. We often joke that a small child could easily hide under those mountains of paper.

Being together with family, with everyone together, still stands out as one of my favorite Christmas memories.”

Brad Harrison

Web Content Manager

"One year, I guess it was elementary school, my sister and I got go-karts for Christmas. We grew up in the mountains, so Christmas almost always brought chilly weather. We layered up as many clothes as we could put on and took off on the go-karts. I remember riding around our farm freezing to death but having a ton of fun. I spent a lot of that Christmas morning practicing my favorite “Dukes of Hazzard” power slides and maneuvers, and my sister and I certainly “traded paint” along the farm road. That go-kart became accessible transportation for a young kid with no driver’s license, as I would ride it to the farm, with our neighbors on their property or through the woods to my cousins’ house. And of course it was always a test to see who could make the biggest splash in the mud holes. Those were definitely some good times.”

Kaleb Frady

Marketing & Promotion Coordinator

 Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! We wish you a Happy New Year and prosperous 2012!

Wow! What a year it’s been at Atlanta Motor Speedway! Without question, there has been no shortage of memorable moments during 2011. We’ve had the honor of having thousands of fans come through our gates during the past year. In 2011, we’ve seen thrilling drag racing on grassroots level at Friday Night Drags & MCR Safety Show-N-Shine and some of the best up-and-coming short-track racers at Thursday Thunder.

Then, on Labor Day Weekend, the best drivers in NASCAR converged on Atlanta for some night racing, where a time filled with fun, tailgating, friends, racing and more was capped off by the AdvoCare 500.

What an exciting year it has been!

But of all the moments here at Atlanta Motor Speedway, perhaps the most memorable came on when Jeff Gordon took the checkered flag in the AdvoCare 500.

It was Gordon’s 85^th career victory, placing him by himself in third place on NASCAR’s all-time victories list. In fact, NASCAR surprised Gordon in Victory Lane following the race, presenting him with a framed photomontage in recognition of his 85^th win. NASCAR President Mike Helton presented Gordon with the frame.

“Yeah, everybody knows when Mike Helton speaks he has a way with words,” Gordon said after the race.  “So to be up there, get presented that beautiful plaque that they put together with all the victories, just looking back on all the people that have contributed to it from Hendrick Motorsports, different crew chiefs and crew members and guys in the engine shop.  I mean, it's a team effort.”

As for the win itself, it was anything but easy.

Gordon’s car was strong throughout the race, but he had to contend with his teammate and five-time defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson. During the final laps, both drivers battled for the lead against not only one another, but the track as well. Atlanta Motor Speedway’s racing surface can be a challenge for drivers and crew chiefs alike, as it quickly wears down tires. As a result, drivers have to work harder to avoid wrecking than at other similar tracks. It’s because of this that in the minds of many drivers, a victory at Atlanta is highly treasured.

As the race neared its conclusion, Johnson and Gordon manhandled their loose-handling racecars, slinging them into the turns as the laps wound down until Gordon pulled away to claim a hard-fought victory that ended up being one of the most memorable moments of the 2011 NASCAR season for fans, media and others within motorsports. 

“To win 85, you know, is unbelievable,” Gordon said. “And to do it here at Atlanta.  I'm not sure really where to kind of rank everything, because the significance of this win today, the timing of it, doing it here in Atlanta on such a tough racetrack, battling with Jimmie, the bonus points, the 85th win, the momentum that this team has got right now and the race cars we're taking to the racetrack.  Man, this is cool.”

Down to the final lap, the race for the win was anyone’s to claim, according to Gordon.

“I mean, it was a nail biter all the way to the end.  (Jimmie) got real loose off of turn four coming to take the white.  And I think that was the turning point.  I really do.  I think had he gotten underneath me off of turn two, I was getting so loose over there, and if he could have got to the bottom into turn 3, I don't know if I could have held him off, off of turn four.  It would have been a great battle either way.  But he got real loose off of turn two.

When that happened, it gave me a little bit breathing room where I could go down to the turn three and drive the car straight and not push the issue and not get the car real sideways.  Every time I stood in the gas off of 2 the car would step out and lose momentum.  That's where he was gaining on me.  I was able to drive it straight when he got loose off of turn four.”

As for Johnson’s perspective?

“I got inside of him a couple times.  Got to the outside once.  And just didn't have enough regroup to kind of get there and stay there,” Johnson said.  “And the time I got to be outside of him, I felt I was going to be in good shape.  But I think we had a lap car get in the way there and use me as a pick a little bit, couldn't complete the pass.”

Overshadowed by two NASCAR legends racing tooth and nail for the win was Tony Stewart, who finished third for his second top five finish of the season. The showing appeared to jump-start Stewart and his No. 14 team as it won five times in the Chase for the Championship on the way to the 2011 title.

“I will say this:  If Ed Clark decides to repave this racetrack, I'll personally shoot him myself,” Stewart said. “This place is so racy, so much fun.  Like Jimmie said, you could -- here more so than anywhere we go to, you actually have to take care of your tires and budget them for your run.  And that's what makes it fun here because guys overdrive run their cars, run too hard on the front and then they fall off the last half.”

Photo: HHP Images

Before catching fire in the Chase for the Championship, there had to be a spark for Tony Stewart's charge to winning the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title. For Stewart and his No. 14 team, that jolt came on Labor Day Weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Heading into September, Stewart's season resembled anything but the look of championship form. He had just one top five finish since the third race of the season at Las Vegas and had yet to win a race. Stewart was also mired back in the points standings in 10th place, meaning a bad race in Atlanta could contribute to him not qualifying for the Chase at all.

But something happened in Atlanta in the AdvoCare 500. Stewart ran near the front most of the race, finishing third behind an epic duel between Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. That seemed to be just the jolt Stewart and his team needed. Five Chase victories later, Stewart was the 2011 Sprint Cup champion, winning in one of the most exciting title chases in NASCAR history.

Stewart's title ended one of the most exciting races in the sport's history, but it may not have even happened if not for Labor Day Weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

This weekend, the fate of determining the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion will come down to the wire, with Carl Edwards leading Tony Stewart by a razor-thin margin. Here at Atlanta Motor Speedway, we're no strangers to intense, neck-and-neck fights for a season championship, as many titles have been decided here, and the most famous of those came in 1992 at the Hooters 500, an event still regarded by many as the “Greatest Race in NASCAR History."

Here's a look back at a day of which was unforgettable for the drivers, thousands in attendance and millions watching around the world. 

For months fans had been lining up to buy seats for Hooters 500, the final race in the storied 35-year career of the sport's all-time King, seven-time champion Richard Petty.

By mid-summer, every seat was sold, including those in the new East Turn grandstand, creating demand for temporary seats, which sold out quickly as well.

Then along came a barn-burner points contest. Under NASCAR's former season-long points formula, the outcome of the championship was much in doubt when the circuit arrived at AMS for the final race of the season. Davey Allison led the pack and needed to finish sixth or better to claim his first crown. Maverick driver/owner Alan Kulwicki was in second place, 30 points back. Hometown favorite Bill Elliott, who had won at Atlanta in the spring in the midst of a four-race win streak, had stumbled down the stretch and was third in the standings, 40 points behind Allison. Harry Gant was 97 back, one point ahead of Kyle Petty. Mark Martin, in sixth, was 113 back and still mathematically in the running.

In addition to the points race and Petty's last ride, the race also featured veteran Rick Mast claiming his first career pole and a rookie, Jeff Gordon, making his first Cup start. But both drivers' time in the limelight was short: Mast and Brett Bodine crashed on lap two, while Gordon wrecked out after 164 laps.

With a packed facility featuring a crowd estimated at nearly 150,000, the racing action seemingly surpassed the pre-event hype.

Kyle Petty and Mark Martin fell out with engine woes, and points leader Davey Allison was involved in a crash with Ernie Irvan on Lap 254, taking him out of title contention.

That left Kulwicki and Elliott to battle for the race win and the championship in what turned out to be an epic battle yet to be equaled in the NASCAR world.

In the closing laps, Kulwicki and his Paul Andrews-led crew began plotting a strategy to win the title.

Kulwicki, even with his main focus on driving the car, was a major player in the discussions.

"He could floor me with his capability of driving the car and thinking about strategy," said Tom Roberts, former Atlanta Motor Speedway PR director.

Kulwicki and his crew figured they'd need to take the bonus points for leading the most laps so they stayed on the track, even as Elliott was closing on them, until Lap 310, giving them 103 laps led. When Kulwicki stopped, the crew added fuel only and pushed him out of his stall. Because he'd lost a gear in his transmission on an earlier stop, he was slow getting back up to speed and Elliott won the race, leading a total of 102 laps, with Kulwicki second. But Kulwicki won the championship by 10 points, because he got the five extra points for leading the most laps. Had those points gone to Elliott, the two would have tied and Elliott would have gotten the title because he led the tie-breaker category, five wins to two.

But all that was news to Elliott until after the race was over.

"I never even thought about it until after the race," he said. "I won the race and lost the championship."

Looking back at the event, Elliott most remembers his respect for Kulwicki, the last owner/driver champion in NASCAR history, who died in a plane crash the next year.

"He was different, a hard guy to get to know," Elliott said. "He kept to himself. He was driven and very intense in what he did.

"He did a good job [winning the championship]. It would be virtually impossible to do it in today's world."

Michael Waltrip, owner of Michael Waltrip Racing, was in the field for the 1992 Hooters 500 and looks back on the race's storylines in admiration.

"It was incredible the way the championship played out," said Waltrip, who drove the No. 30 Pennzoil car in the 1992 Hooters 500 and finished 14th. "It was just an amazing race and the footnotes were equally incredible to have Richard Petty starting his last race and Jeff Gordon starting his first race – that's pretty hard to script and have all that come together at one. I never will forget Richard fixing his car, pulling it out and running the last few laps and waving at the crowd with his car all torn all to pieces. It was a really great day for NASCAR.

"I didn't know that anybody really, honestly could have realized the historical significance at the time," added Waltrip.

The race also marked the first event at Atlanta Motor Speedway for current president Ed Clark.

"If you ask anyone who was a fan in 1992, the Hooters 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway has a special place in their memory," said Clark, with the checkered flag from the race signed by Petty and framed behind his desk. "To have that many story lines and in-race drama, it was a once in a lifetime event and we were lucky enough to host it in Atlanta."

Danica Patrick is making a move forward in her racing career in 2012, with plans to enter at least eight NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events. And of those events, one will be at Atlanta Motor Speedway, making the AdvoCare 500 NASCAR night race weekend even more of a marquee event on the 2012 schedule.

She is also slated to run the entire NASCAR Nationwide Series season for JR Motorsports, meaning fans at AMS on Labor Day Weekend will have the chance to see Patrick race two times during the same weekend.

Atlanta will be the fourth scheduled event on Patrick's Cup slate. She'll drive a No. 10 Chevrolet fielded by Stewart-Hass Racing. The Daytona 500, Darlington and the August night race at Bristol Motor Speedway will precede the AdvoCare 500 on Patrick's schedule.

"Our goal with Danica's schedule is to try and maximize her 10 races with us so that she's as prepared as she can possibly be for a full-time Sprint Cup schedule in 2013," said Tony Stewart, co-owner of Stewart-Hass Racing. "In the GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, she'll handle short tracks, intermediate 1.5-mile ovals, and some unique tracks like Darlington and Phoenix. The point is to expose her to as many challenges as possible so that she'll know what to expect in 2013."

Patrick, however, won't be the first female to compete in NASCAR's top division at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Shawna Robinson raced at AMS in March 2002, starting 31st and finished 34th. Janet Guthrie, regarded in some circles as the most successful female to have raced in NASCAR, competed at Atlanta three times, her best showing being a finish of tenth in the spring of 1978 after qualifying 23rd.

Earlier this week marked the 100^th anniversary of Chevrolet, the Official Vehicle of Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Throughout its history, Chevrolet has enjoyed many of its greatest moments here at Atlanta Motor Speedway. With 37 Sprint Cup Series victories at Atlanta, the Chevy nameplate has made its way to Victory Lane more times at AMS than any other manufacturer. Rex White won here in October of 1962, wheeling a Chevy to Victory Lane. The first win by a Chevy at AMS proved to be the start of a half-decade of dominance at one of the favorite tracks of numerous fans and drivers.

Throughout the history of Atlanta Motor Speedway, which spans more than half a century, Chevrolet has won three races in a row on six different occasions while in three instances, Chevy has won four consecutive races at Atlanta.

Not only has Chevy won numerous times at AMS, but some of its most memorable victories have occurred here as well.

Two of the closest finishes in NASCAR history, in the 2000 and 2001 spring events at Atlanta, featured Chevy claiming the win with Dale Earnhardt edging Bobby Labonte is 2000 and Kevin Harvick holding off Jeff Gordon in 2001.

Championship moments? Chevy’s had plenty of those here as well. During the 1990s, Earnhardt Sr., Jeff Gordon and Terry Labonte each celebrated season championships at Atlanta.

And recently, this past Labor Day Weekend to be exact, Jeff Gordon held off teammate Jimmie Johnson in a thrilling late-race duel to win the AdvoCare 500 for what was his 85^th career victory.

Happy Birthday, Chevy!