This is an across-the-board off-week for NASCAR’s three national series and the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series.

Next week, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series return at action at Bristol Motor Speedway. The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series returns the following week at Martinsville Speedway, while the sports cars are off until an April 10 event at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

One Week Off Before Two Weeks Of Short Tracks

After this off-week, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will have back-to-back short-track races, at Bristol Motor Speedway and Martinsville Speedway.

One’s a .533-mile oval, the other a .526-mile.

Bristol is shaped like a cereal bowl. Martinsville’s layout is likened to a paper clip.

Both are trouble waiting to happen. Stay tuned.

RCR Still Going Strong.

Heading into this off-week, the atmosphere is one of optimism at Richard Childress Racing headquarters.

Kevin Harvick leads the series standings, while Clint Bowyer is fifth and Jeff Burton sixth. And this comes despite the fact that none of them have won a race yet this year.

Busches And Bristol: A Tough Combination

Looking for a safe bet to win at Bristol? Pick Busch. Kurt or Kyle, doesn’t really matter.

Kyle swept last year’s two Bristol races, bringing the family victory total at BMS to eight. Kurt has five BMS wins, including a run of three straight (2003 sweep, 2004 spring race).

Menard, Speed Surprise Top 12 Residents

Paul Menard is ninth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings. Scott Speed is 12th. Collectively, those two are THE surprise of the season thus far.

Kenseth 2nd At The Break

Matt Kenseth had a great start to the 2009 season, winning the season’s first two races, the Daytona 500 and the Auto Club 500.

After four weeks this season, he doesn’t have a win but he does have a second-place standing in the points. An uncharacteristic fade, such as what Kenseth suffered last season en route to missing the Chase for the first time, looks highly unlikely this time around.

Earnhardt Hanging Tough

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is 13th in points, only 12 behind Speed, an encouraging start to this season. Earnhardt had the pole at Atlanta, his second front-row start of the year. He qualified second for the Daytona 500 and went on to finish send in the race.

With the spotlight on Earnhardt even brighter than usual, after a disappointing 2009 season, to be on the cusp of the top 12 is good news for his team.

Top 35: Cut-Off Time

Bristol is the fifth race of the season. Coming out that event, the CURRENT car owner standings will determine the top 35 guaranteed starting spots at each race. For the first five races this year, the top 35 in the final 2009 car owner points determine the guarantees.

Teams not receiving a guaranteed spot must qualify on speed each week, to get into a race. Going into Bristol, some guys in the “danger zone” include both of Roger Penske’s drivers: Sam Hornish’s No. 77 Dodge is 31st in owner points while Brad Keselowski’s No. 12 Dodge is 33rd.

Test At Talladega

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will hold a test March 16 at Talladega Superspeedway. Goals will be to determine the shock-spring combination and the gear ratio for the April 25 race there, along with the size of the restrictor-plate openings.

NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES

Edwards, Keselowski Also NNS Rivals; Fans Come Through For Riggs

While their increasingly contentious rivalry makes news in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, they also have top billing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. After three races, Carl Edwards leads the standings by 41 points over second-place Brad Keselowski.

Additionally, 146 points separates first place from 10th, where three series-only regulars are ranked –Justin Allgaier (fourth), Steve Wallace (sixth) and Scott Riggs (10th).

Riggs is in his first season with RAB Racing, an independent series team. The 2002 NNS Raybestos Rookie of the Year spent two full seasons in the series from 2002-03, posting four wins. Until this year, he hadn’t competed in the NNS since 2007. His 14th-place finish at Las Vegas is the best ever for the organization, one of two top-15 finishes for the team among the first three events.

An independent team, RAB funded Riggs through the first three races and will do so again in two weeks at Bristol. However for the April 3 event at Nashville, it’s the fans that are coming through for Riggs. His No. 09 Ford will be fan-sponsored for that event, with much of the support being garnered via social networking channels.

Oscar Night Special For McClure

Eric McClure is used to being in the front seat during competition. Sunday night, he happily took a back seat to a family member during another race – the Oscars.

McClure was rooting on his cousin, Scott McClure Cooper, who wrote and directed the film “Crazy Heart.” Nominated for three Academy Awards, the film captured two: Jeff Bridges won Best Actor while “The Weary Kind,” won Best Original Song. Maggie Gyllenhall also was nominated for Best Supporting Actress.

Beat Goes On For Steve Wallace

Steve Wallace came into the break on a career-best streak of five consecutive top-10 finishes dating back to last season. Last Saturday at Atlanta, Wallace kept that streak alive, garnering his sixth straight top-10 finish, albeit in a different series. He made his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut in successful fashion, finishing fourth.

To start his fourth full season in NNS, he put up finishes of 10th at Daytona, sixth at Auto Club Speedway and 10th at Las Vegas. He’s sixth in the standings, by far the best start of his series career. He registered back-to-back results of 10th and eighth, respectively, at Phoenix and Homestead last year before starting 2010 in the same fashion.

NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES

Short-Track Time For Trucks

The Kroger 250 is the first of five races to be run on tracks measuring less than one mile in 2010. Ron Hornaday Jr. was the only multiple short-track winner (two) in 2009 but does not have a victory at Martinsville Speedway.

Points Lead Fine For Bodine

Todd Bodine, the 2006 NASCAR Camping World Truck champion, is the early points leader by four over Timothy Peters. Bodine never has won a series short track race. Peters, who considers Martinsville his home track, won there in October.

Skinner, Setzer Have Some History At Martinsville

Mike Skinner and Dennis Setzer are Martinsville Speedway’s only multiple winners. Each has won three times. Both are expected to compete in this year’s Kroger 250.