By MICHAEL BOYLAN
Sports Editor

When the end of a sports season is over, a part of every fan dies a little death, knowing that there will be a void while they wait for the next season to begin.

Both the NASCAR Winston Cup series and ARCA will have their final race weekend of the year this weekend and the season's final race will be at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

The weekend will officially begin Thursday, Nov. 18. The gates will open to the public everyday at 8 a.m. and ARCA will host two periods of qualifying Thursday, one from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and one 3:30 - 4:30 p.m. There will be a session of qualifying for spots 1-25 at 2 p.m.

Friday also will feature two periods of ARCA practice, one 8:30 - 9:15 a.m. and one 10:30 - 11 a.m. The qualifying session for positions 26-36 will start at 9;45 a.m. NASCAR practice begins at 11:30 a.m. Friday and will be followed by qualifying for the Georgia Boot Pole at 2:30 p.m.

Saturday begins with NASCAR practice at 9:30 a.m., followed by qualifying at 11 a.m. The Georgia Boot 400 begins at 1 p.m. and will be followed by the NASCAR Winston Cup “Happy Hour.” Pre-race activities begin at 9:30 a.m. Sunday with the driver and crew chief meeting set for 10:30 a.m. The Atlanta Motor Speedway's Legends of the Century Festivities begin at 11:30 a.m. and the driver introductions will start at noon. The NAPA 500 will be 325 laps and will start at 12:30 p.m. The National Anthem will be sung by Mark Willis.

Tickets are still available for all four days of racing action. Tickets for ARCA qualifying Thursday are $6, while Friday's Georgia Boot Pole Day tickets cost $15. Tickets for the Georgia Boot 400 and the Winston Cup Happy Hour will cost $35 and tickets for the NAPA 500 start at $30. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Atlanta Motor Speedway box office at 770-946-4211 or by calling Ticketmaster at 404-249-6400.

This will be the last race of the season and of the century. It will be a historic racing event with lots of excitement and incredible racing action.

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