Sprint Cup stars at Eagle Raceway Thursday

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BY CURT McKEEVER / Lincoln Journal Star

When Kenny Schrader’s long, successful run in the NASCAR Cup Series comes to an end, he’ll head to race at the tiny dirt-track bullrings that he grew up on.

But it won’t be anything like a return to his roots. The ever-popular Schrader, raised in Fenton, Mo., near St. Louis, never left them.

“I never left the bullrings,” said Schrader, who will join fellow Sprint Cup drivers Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer and Sterling Marlin for tonight’s Bootleggers Run Race of Champions at Eagle Raceway. “I’ve done Cup racing for 20 years, but I’m not doing anything different than I’ve done for the last 35.”

The 53-year-old Schrader isn’t one of those living-off-his-popularity guys who shows up for a quick autograph session, runs a few laps and then cashes out before the local racers run their feature.

Last year, the first time since 1984 he was without a full-time ride in the Cup Series, Schrader raced his own dirt car at 66 events.

So while it’ll be fun for him to drive someone else’s late model and turn 16 laps in a race with the other NASCAR stars tonight, Schrader’s biggest thrill will come when he climbs into his IMCA modified and takes on the locals.

If the weather cooperates, he’ll have gone through that routine four times this week.

“I do some of this stuff to drive somebody else’s car, but that’s not what I prefer,” Schrader said. “This one worked out because I was in the Midwest.

“We usually have a pretty good time of it, because they know we’re not there just to pick up an appearance fee.”

The 29-year-old Bowyer, who built his resume racing around his hometown of Emporia, Kan., also will drive one of his IMCA modifieds tonight.

After 19 races in the Sprint Cup Series, Bowyer sits 13th — one spot from where he needs to be after 26 events to qualify for a championship run over the final 10.

Kenseth, who won the crown in 2003, is eighth.

There is no Cup race this weekend (the next one is the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 27), but Bowyer will be at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Ill., trying to retain his lead in the Nationwide Series standings.

Marlin, the 1983 Cup Series rookie of the year, and Schrader, who earned that title in 1985, have run just five Cup races in 2008. But their schedules are still busy.

In addition to driving, Schrader has ownership in three racetracks.

Marlin, the only driver to have his first two Cup Series wins come at the treasured Daytona 500 (in 1994 and ’95), is racing more events closer to his Columbia, Tenn., home.

Though he’s never driven at Eagle, Schrader has a good idea of what he and Bowyer will be in for. And he can’t wait.

“It’s more competitive than it was, because there’s more guys that have got the same stuff,” Schrader said about today’s small-track racing. “We’ve had a lot of tracks close up, but that’s just because the public wants better service. The real dusty, real dirty track that runs ’til 2 in the morning, they aren’t making it. The ones that were stepping up are doing good.

“There was a load of people at Muskogee, Oklahoma, the other night, and it just made you happy to be there.”

Briefly

* The four NASCAR stars will sign autographs from 7 to 8 tonight at a designated area.

Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.