The Sharpie 500 is a NASCAR Nextel Cup stock car race held at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee. It is one of two NASCAR Nextel Cup races held at Bristol, the other being the Food City 500, but it is by far the more popular of the two. Since 1977, the race has been held in late-August on a Saturday night, and is considered among the most difficult ticket to obtain in sports, with waiting lists for this event one of the longest in sport.

There will be a television issue in 2007 for this race. As ESPN will be taking back the race, and a conflict with the Little League World Series is taking place, the race could be moved earlier or later, or moved to ABC or ESPN2 - as NASCAR announced the date will not change. No decision has been made as of this time. Alternatively, the LLWS could be moved to ESPN2.

Bristol Motor Speedway is a NASCAR short track located in Bristol, Tennessee. It was constructed in 1960, and held its first NASCAR race on July 30, 1961.

One of the most popular tracks in NASCAR, this all-concrete construction is similar to Dover, except far shorter. The advertised banking of 36 degrees in the turns makes Bristol the most steeply banked track used by NASCAR (but see the "Trivia" section for a differing opinion on the turns). However, the track is so short that speeds here are far lower than is typical on most NASCAR oval tracks, but very fast compared to other short tracks due to the high banking, making for a considerable amount of "swapping paint". Also, the initial starting grid of 43 vehicles extends almost halfway around the track, meaning that the slower-qualifying cars begin the race almost half a lap down. Another anomaly is that the short overall length means that there are two sets of pits. Until 2002, slower starters were relegated to those on the backstretch. In 2002, the rules were changed to form essentially one long pit road. During caution periods, cars wishing to pit must enter pit road in turn two, drive all the way down the back stretch, through turns three and four and down the front stretch, exiting pit road in turn one. This rule eliminated the inherent disadvantage of pitting on the back stretch. Pit stops under green flag conditions have different rules. Cars with pits on the back stretch enter the pits in turn two and exit in turn three; Cars with pits on the front stretch enter the pits in turn four and exit in turn one. Confusion has occurred from drivers thinking that even during green flag runs, that they would have to drive through both pit roads.