So, February is half-done and that means that it won't be long now until the NASCAR season gets going. And we start this season for the first time in half a decade without Jimmie Johnson as the current Cup champ. I never saw Tony Stewart winning the '11 title after the way his regular season had gone for the most part, but he was just mighty in the Chase. Going to be interesting to see how Johnson and Chad Knaus (his crew chief) react to their first loss in a very long time.
This weekend sees the first competitive racing action of the premier NASCAR series with the Budweiser Shootout on Saturday night. The Bud Shootout field has been expanded again for this season, by the way - now it's the top 25 from the standings at the end of last season, plus anyone else who competed in at least one race last season AND is a previous winner at Daytona. So 'Awesome Bill from Dawsonville' Elliott, Mikey Waltrip, Geoff Bodine, Derrike Cope, Jamie McMurray, Terry Labonte, Ken Schrader and the fairytale winner of the 500 last year Trevor Bayne would all be eligible if they decided to run it.
So, what happened in the off-season to the Cup? We-e-ell, quite a bunch of things changed. Kurt Busch, Penske Racing and their sponsors mutually agreed to release Busch from his contract, i.e. he got fired. I guess constantly flying off the handle and insulting your own team isn't a great career move after all - who would'a thunk it? He's found a new home with Phoenix Racing to drive the #51 Chevy. Clint Bowyer has moved from Richard Childress Racing to Michael Waltrip Racing, AJ Allmendinger has moved from Richard Petty Motorsports to Penske, Kasey Kahne replaces Mark Martin at Hendrick Motorsports (Mark will run 25 races for MWR), David Reutimann is now driving for Tommy Baldwin Racing, David Ragan has signed for Front Row Motorsports, and Landon Cassill will drive a car fielded by the team that has bought all the old Red Bull kit. Danica Patrick is running a limited schedule as well for Stewart-Haas Racing (10 races) alongside a full-time Nationwide Series campaign. And Aric Almirola will be driving the #43 car for RPM - no pressure there, huh....
On the technology front, NASCAR has made two major changes. Firstly, radio communication between drivers is now banned. You can talk to your spotter and crew chief, that's it. Oh, and some little change to the engines. Nothing major, just a switch from single four-barrel carburettor to fuel injection (!). McLaren have been involved in this on the electronics side, and it's going to be interesting to see what happens at tracks that aren't flat out all the way 'round like Daytona. At the test days conducted so far, most drivers were positive about the way the new design worked and a lot of the engine builders have been quite happy as well. The change to fuel injection has required teams to upgrade the electrical systems of the cars (beefier alternators, etc) and fuel pumps (to get the required fuel pressure) as well. I believe that the Nationwide and Truck Series are staying with the carb'ed engines at least one more season, presumably on cost grounds.
The Cup, Nationwide and Truck race schedules are here, here and here respectively. I'll post up the full entry lists once they're available.
This weekend sees the first competitive racing action of the premier NASCAR series with the Budweiser Shootout on Saturday night. The Bud Shootout field has been expanded again for this season, by the way - now it's the top 25 from the standings at the end of last season, plus anyone else who competed in at least one race last season AND is a previous winner at Daytona. So 'Awesome Bill from Dawsonville' Elliott, Mikey Waltrip, Geoff Bodine, Derrike Cope, Jamie McMurray, Terry Labonte, Ken Schrader and the fairytale winner of the 500 last year Trevor Bayne would all be eligible if they decided to run it.
So, what happened in the off-season to the Cup? We-e-ell, quite a bunch of things changed. Kurt Busch, Penske Racing and their sponsors mutually agreed to release Busch from his contract, i.e. he got fired. I guess constantly flying off the handle and insulting your own team isn't a great career move after all - who would'a thunk it? He's found a new home with Phoenix Racing to drive the #51 Chevy. Clint Bowyer has moved from Richard Childress Racing to Michael Waltrip Racing, AJ Allmendinger has moved from Richard Petty Motorsports to Penske, Kasey Kahne replaces Mark Martin at Hendrick Motorsports (Mark will run 25 races for MWR), David Reutimann is now driving for Tommy Baldwin Racing, David Ragan has signed for Front Row Motorsports, and Landon Cassill will drive a car fielded by the team that has bought all the old Red Bull kit. Danica Patrick is running a limited schedule as well for Stewart-Haas Racing (10 races) alongside a full-time Nationwide Series campaign. And Aric Almirola will be driving the #43 car for RPM - no pressure there, huh....
On the technology front, NASCAR has made two major changes. Firstly, radio communication between drivers is now banned. You can talk to your spotter and crew chief, that's it. Oh, and some little change to the engines. Nothing major, just a switch from single four-barrel carburettor to fuel injection (!). McLaren have been involved in this on the electronics side, and it's going to be interesting to see what happens at tracks that aren't flat out all the way 'round like Daytona. At the test days conducted so far, most drivers were positive about the way the new design worked and a lot of the engine builders have been quite happy as well. The change to fuel injection has required teams to upgrade the electrical systems of the cars (beefier alternators, etc) and fuel pumps (to get the required fuel pressure) as well. I believe that the Nationwide and Truck Series are staying with the carb'ed engines at least one more season, presumably on cost grounds.
The Cup, Nationwide and Truck race schedules are here, here and here respectively. I'll post up the full entry lists once they're available.
, was planning to give it a good go of getting into NASCAR this year... Last time i tried i really struggled to stay interested 
