- Annual Urban Youth Racing visit Atlanta-bound … Four students from Philadelphia's Urban Youth Racing School will spend a portion of next week at race shops and at the track. They begin Monday at NASCAR Craftsman Truck shops in the Charlotte area and conclude their visit in the garage and on pit road at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The Craftsman-sponsored initiative previously coincided with May's race at Lowe's Motor Speedway. The interns (and their respective teams) are Daniel Colon, (No. 14 Circle Bar Racing, Rick Crawford), Shawna Stanton, (No. 12 and 17 Darrell Waltrip Motorsports, Joey Miller and David Reutimann), Nkosi Harmon, (No. 11 Red Horse Racing, David Starr) and Khristopher Fuller, (No. 47 and 85 Morgan-Dollar Motorsports, Kraig Kinser and Dennis Setzer). From welding on a race truck to loading the hauler to go to the track, the UYRS students will gain knowledge about the inner mechanics of a race shop. With the garage as their classroom, they will help with everything from pushing the truck through inspection to setting up pits for the race.

- ETC.  …Mike Mittler, co-founder and president of Mittler Bros. Machine & Tool and owner of MB Motorsports, Inc. (J.R. Patton, No. 63 Dave Porter Truck Sales Ford), was recently installed as chairman of the board of the National Tooling & Machining Association (NTMA). The NTMA is a 1,700-member trade association representing the precision and machining industry. … Orleans Racing (Brendan Gaughan, No. 77 Orleans Hotel Dodge), located adjacent to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, will host its annual open house Friday in conjunction with the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400. The event drew 600 to 700 attendees in 2005. … The recent Racetickets.com 200 at California Speedway drew an average rating of 1.1 according to Nielsen Media Services, an increase of 10 percent from 2005 making it the series' second-highest-rated, non-Daytona series on SPEED. … Jack Sprague (No. 60 Con-Way Toyota) will travel to West Yellowstone, Mont.; this week for the 2006 West Yellowstone Snow Blast presented by Arctic Cat. A personal sponsor of Sprague, Artic Cat will introduce its 2007 line of snowmobile sleds at the annual event. "It will take my mind of the fact that we are not at the track for the next few weeks," Sprague said. "Behind the wheel of my Con-Way Toyota is where I want to be but being on a sled with fresh snow is the second best." … Richie Wauters, crew chief of the No. 15 ditech.com/National Land Liquidations/Krud Kutter Chevrolet driven by Kyle Krisiloff, underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee last week to repair ligament damage. Wauters, back at the race shop on crutches, was Kyle Busch's winning crew chief at Atlanta in October.

Fast Facts
What:  John Deere 200 (Race 3 of 25).
Where:  Atlanta Motor Speedway
When:  9:15 p.m. ET, Friday, March 17.
Track layout: 1.54-mile  banked paved speedway.
Race length:  200 miles/130 laps.
Posted awards: $514,269.
TV:  SPEED Channel, 9:15 p.m. ET.
Radio: MRN, XM Satellite.
2005 winner:  Ron Hornaday Jr.
2005 polesitter: Rick Crawford.

Top 10 drivers: 1. Mark Martin 380. 2. Todd Bodine 350. 3. Ted Musgrave 335. 4. Jack Sprague 320. 5. David Reutimann 303. 6. Rick Crawford 289. 7. Mike Skinner 282. 8. Erik Darnell 280. 9. Johnny Benson 268. 10. Jon Wood 258.

Pre-race schedule (all times local): Friday - Practice 8:45 a.m. - 9:50 a.m. Rookie practice 10:15 a.m. - 10:45 a.m. Final practice 11:00 a.m. to 12:05 p.m. Qualifying 5:10 p.m. Trucks impounded after qualifying.