"O’Reilly Raceway Park is its own animal. There’s nowhere else we race that can prepare a driver for ORP. It used to be right up by the outside wall was the fastest way around the track, now that’s kind of wore out so the groove has moved down a bit and it’s got a few bumps. It’s totally different than any track we race. I like racing at O’Reilly Raceway Park. It’s challenging for a driver. We’ve had some good finishes there in the Lumber Liquidators Tundra and we’re hoping to have a good race on Friday night," said Bodine.

Additionally, the parties announced an arrangement, under which, various Penske-affiliated brands will serve as primary sponsor of the Stremme-wheeled No. 64 in three additional events during 2008. In addition to this weekend’s event, Stremme’s car will carry Penske-affiliated colors in the August races at Michigan, California and Bristol. This occurrence marks a continuation of the long-term friendship between Team Owner Rusty Wallace and his former partner, Roger Penske.

This will be Hornish’s first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at IMS, however he is no stranger to the 2.5-mile oval — he has a total of seven IndyCar Series starts at Indy. In that series, he has one win and one pole at the famed speedway. Hornish and the No. 77 Mobil 1 team are currently 34th in the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series owner point standings following the race at Chicagoland Speedway.

Newman's best finish here came in his rookie season in the Cup Series. He started fifth and finished fourth in the Brickyard 400 that year. Newman has an average starting position of 5.1 at IMS. He has never qualified lower than eighth position in seven starts. His best qualifying effort came in 2003 when Newman scored the outside pole position and started second for the race.

Labonte, 51, the 1984 and 1996 Sprint Cup series champion, will substitute for Patrick Carpentier who is racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race that weekend in his hometown of Montreal. Labonte owns 857 starts in his career including six in 2008 with Petty Enterprises. He finished 30th at Pocono in June.

Buescher has never raced at the Indiana .686-mile short track but he has logged laps there. Just two weeks ago, he tested an ARCA RE/MAX Series car at O’Reilly Raceway Park (ORP) to gain experience and valuable track time for the Nationwide race this weekend. In addition to this weekend’s race at ORP, Buescher will pilot the No.32 at Memphis Motorsports Park in October. That will be the last of the six races he will run in the No.32 this season.

Leffler returns this weekend set to defend his title in the Kroger 200. Including his win in last season’s Kroger 200, Leffler is seventh among all time victory leaders at ORP, tied with Parnelli Jones. He has a total of seven wins with one Nationwide Series win, four National Midget wins and two Silver Crown Series wins to his name. In 2000, Leffler set the track record in the Silver Crown division that still stands today. This weekend will mark Leffler’s 175th career Nationwide Series start. The Long Beach, CA native made his first start in the series at ORP in 1999 for Joe Gibbs Racing.