NASCAR MEETS HOLLYWOOD IN UPCOMING 'LOGAN LUCKY' FILM

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Better slow down on the highway -- Kyle Busch has traded his fire suit for a state trooper's uniform.

(Disclaimer: It's not permanent.)

Busch is one of the drivers who will make cameo appearances in the upcoming filmLogan Lucky, a heist movie set at a NASCAR track. Under the watch of multi-time Academy Award winning-director Steven Soderbergh, the film features a star-studded cast including Daniel Craig, Channing Tatum, two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank, Seth MacFarlane and Riley Keough. Academy and Emmy Award winner Mark Johnson -- who also produced "Rain Man," "Breaking Bad," and "The Notebook," among others -- will serve as one of the film's executive producers.

The production team was on the ground during a rainy Bank of America 500weekend shooting for the film. The crew also shot during Coca-Cola 600 weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, as well as at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

"It’s a movie that's designed to be a lot of fun," Johnson said Sunday at Charlotte, prior to a day of shooting at the track. "It's designed to be very, very commercial, where I joke we're not out to win Oscars -- we're out to win the Bank of America award ... (Viewers) should laugh and they should have fun with the intricacies of the robbery itself.

"It's a robbery that couldn't really take place, but (it can) in our world, and it's very important to us that the world of NASCAR be real."

What's more real than casting an actual NASCAR driver in a racing film? In addition to Busch, Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski,Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson will all be popping into the film for brief roles.

"We wanted to make sure that NASCAR was treated in a positive light, was the big, world-class, glossy event that it is," said Zane Stoddard, NASCAR Vice President of Entertainment, Marking and Content Development. "The thing that we worked closely with Mark and the production on was getting drivers into driver cameo roles. We thought that would fun for the fans, sort of Easter eggs throughout the film with these drivers in these roles for our fans.

"But it's also a bit of a wink and a nod that we’re on the inside of the fun of this film. So, we think the fans are going to love these roles that these guys are in."

Part of Stoddard's role in the production process was to help marry the worlds of NASCAR and Hollywood, a process that he says has been seamless on both ends.

"The general audience wouldn't have too much trouble buying into the authenticity of this," Stoddard said. "For us, the most important sort of a litmus for us is that it passes the smell test with the core fan because they know the sport so much better. These guys -- we haven't had to push at all in terms of getting them to want to be as authentic as possible. They are the best in the business and so it’s been a collaboration on making sure everything is right.

"… It’s amazing the detail that exists in our sport just on the race car, not even taking into consideration the tracks or the teams and everything that happens in our universe. These guys have been meticulous about all of that."

That starts with shooting at the track and getting into the garage. For Johnson, authenticity came from that hands-on research, where he spent about a week and a half simply observing NASCAR’s version of Hollywood Blvd.

"I produced two baseball movies, The Natural and The Rookie and those taught me a lot about baseball and you have to do the research and understand the world and NASCAR was not a world I understood," Johnson said. "I was fascinated by it, but I really didn't know how it worked.

"Look at this big all-access pass," he said with a smile, gesturing to his hot pass. "I can go into the garage and watch how people work and I ask stupid questions about cars and it's great because I will have spent a concentrated amount of time learning about NASCAR."

He echoed Stoddard's sentiment about this movie working for the core fan.

"We would be very upset if this movie doesn’t work for the NASCAR fan," Johnson said. "So we want to make sure the NASCAR fan, no matter who he or she is, that they see the movie and say 'They got it right.'"

But just who is the typical NASCAR fan? Not whom you would think, Johnson says.

"It's interesting -- any preconceptions I had about who the NASCAR fans were, were all wrong," Johnson said. "They come from all walks; surprising number of women. Quick revelation."

"Logan Lucky" will debut in theaters October 2017.

BUSCH,EDWARDS SEEK CHARLOTTE WIN AHEAD OF LOOMING 'DEGA

MORE: Live radar | Friday on-track action canceled due to weather

CONCORD, N.C. -- Kyle Busch has celebrated in Victory Lane at 21 different race tracks in the Sprint Cup Series, from superspeedways to short tracks to road courses.

But in his 13-year Sprint Cup Series career, two tracks have eluded the No. 18 driver: Pocono Raceway and Charlotte Motor Speedway, site of Saturday's Bank of America 500 (7 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

"It would certainly mean a lot," Busch said on reaching Charlotte's Victory Lane on Thursday at the 1.5-mile speedway. "We've been trying here for a long, long time and we've been close a few times and it just hasn't all quite worked out the way we would have wanted it to I guess at the end of some of the races. So certainly we feel as though there's no better opportunity to win a Charlotte race than in the Chase."

A win at Charlotte would do more than check a box off Busch's lengthy list of racing accomplishments: It would punch his ticket to the Round of 8 drivers in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

With wildcard Talladega looming at the end of the three-race round, that security is especially coveted.

"Somebody's going to leave here really happy and I hope it's me," Carl Edwards said Friday at Charlotte. "This round I believe is probably the toughest one just with Talladega out there and these mile-and-a-halves. It's so competitive right now. We saw it with the first round. You'd think that making the 12-out-of-16 would be easy. It's actually -- it was a pretty good battle there, so we hope to get a victory here."

One of the biggest competitors for the Joe Gibbs Racing duo? The JGR-affiliated car of Martin Truex Jr., who has won three of the last five Sprint Cup races. His three recent trips to Victory Lane equal the four-car JGR's total Sprint Cup wins in the last 10 races.

For Edwards, the No. 78 success foreshadows Joe Gibbs Racing's performances to come in the Chase.

"If we didn't know what engines and chassis and setups those guys had, it'd be really easy to say they've got something (that) they've got something special that we don't have," Edwards said.

"But knowing what they have and knowing what they're able to do with it, that's a motivator and I've been telling people this week I really believe you're going to see … the four JGR cars really step it up because Martin (Truex Jr.) is … that rabbit out there that we're all chasing and we know it can be done and I think in the end that's a gift to have somebody in your camp or close to you that can do that."

The four Joe Gibbs Racing cars also have access to the No. 78 team's notes from their dominant Coca-Cola 600 win, something Busch believes is an advantage with limited practice time due to inclement weather.

"They were really, really good," Busch said on the No. 78's winning Coca-Cola 600 run. "So we feel like we've got a good baseline to base ourselves off of."

"If we could get Cole (Pearn, crew chief for Truex Jr.) to tell us everything, that would help," Edwards said with a smile. "But I mean seriously those guys are so good that it gives us a lot of optimism, because there's no -- everybody's looking up, looking forward."

STEWART'S FATHEAD MAKES POST-RACE PRESSER CAMEO

New Hampshire winner Kevin Harvick and crew chief Rodney Childers had some company during their post-race winners press conference.

Harvick's son Keelan, a couple cans of beer and Stewart-Haas Racing co-owner and driver Tony Stewart's Fathead.

No, literally. There was a cardboard Fathead of Stewart -- identical to the ones several fans held up in the grandstands at New Hampshire Motor Speedway -- sitting humorously in front of the beer.

Let it be noted that good dad Kevin removed the beer from Keelan's reach. Guess that means more for "Smoke" -- cheers, Tony!