NASCAR star Jeff Burton will trade in his fire suit and helmet this week for an appearance on ABC soap opera "General Hospital."
The Richard Childress Racing driver is scheduled to visit the set Thursday to take part in scenes with actor Jason Thompson's character, neurosurgeon Dr. Patrick Drake.
Drake is an avid fan of racing on the award-winning series.
"I'm excited about going to the set of General Hospital and taking on a role with Jason," Burton said. "I've been in commercials and was a guest star on a sitcom a couple of years ago, so I'm hoping those appearances prepped me for my soap opera debut. Luckily, I get to play myself and talk racing, which will help take some of the pressure off."
After Thompson teaches Burton the ins and outs of being a soap opera actor, the roles will reverse when Thompson visits Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., to watch Burton in Sunday's Auto Club 500. The driver will treat Thompson to a pace car ride before the race.
Burton's appearance is scheduled to air in mid-March.
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NEW CHASE: Following NASCAR's lead in setting up a 10-race Chase for the championship, voting for the 2009 Most Popular Driver Award will include its own version of the Cup postseason.
Voting has already begun at www.chexmostpopulardriver.com.
The big change comes after the Sept. 23 race at Richmond. The list of drivers will be narrowed to those with the top 10 vote totals, and the vote count will be reset to zero. Fans then have until Nov. 23 to cast ballots once a day.
The winner will be announced in New York in December.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the award for the sixth consecutive year in 2008.
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NEW MAN IN CHARGE: Terry Dale, a longtime International Motor Sports Association official, has been named race director for the 2009 Atlantic Championship developmental series.
Dale has been involved in racing as an official or competitor since 1963.
He was a race director for IMSA since 2005 and was also race director for the IMSA Lites Series in 2007 and 2008. Dale had the same role with the Porsche GT3 Cup Series in 2007 and for the IMSA-sanctioned Formula BMW USA Series the two previous years.
"The Atlantic series has such a great and long history, and it is truly an honor to be associated with it," Dale said. "I'm looking forward to working with the drivers and teams this year in a positive way."
The 12-race Atlantic series gets started March 20 at Sebring International Raceway.
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