Speedweeks


Date Event

Feb. 7	Budweiser Shootout
Feb. 8	Daytona 500 qualifying
Feb. 12	Gatorade Duel
Feb. 13	Truck Series race
Feb. 14	N'wide Series race
Feb. 15	Daytona 500

Bud Shootout: Who's in? Read between the lines

Here's the skinny on the 2009 Budweiser Shootout (tentatively, of
course; this is just an educated guess until the behind-closed-doors
maneuvering is complete and the official entry list is filed): Tony
Stewart is in. What, you thought owner/driver Smoke -- in a Chevrolet,
no less
-- would not be in the first "race" of the year? He'll drive the No. 14 Chevy, formerly the No. 70.
Bobby Labonte is in. The car owner points for Yates Racing's No. 38
Ford will be moved to Hall of Fame Racing's No. 96, which was a Toyota
in 2008.
What, you thought "alliance" was something different than
"merger"? Robby Gordon is in. Apparently there was more room at the
Toyota Inn for the Dodge defector rather than for Scott Speed's then-No. 84/now-No. 82, which actually was
a Toyota in 2008. Sam Hornish Jr. is in. Benefiting from Gordon's
manufacturer switch as well as the contraction of a few cars, ol' Sammy
gets to take the green flag in Penske Racing's No. 77 Dodge. And the
Gillett Evernham's No. 10 makes the cut, though no driver has been
officially named to fill the seat. (A.J. Allmendinger remains the choice du jour.)As previously reported, the Shootout format has changed for 2009:
The top six teams in owner points from each manufacturer earn berths in the season-opening exhibition race at Daytona. (complete list) On Friday, two caveats:• Any owner outside of the top six in year-end owner points whose
driver
is a past Cup Series champion that attempted to qualify for all 36
races (only one position will be filled per manufacturer and will be
based on the most recent past champion per manufacturer). • If an
owner/manufacturer does not have a past champion driver, the next
highest eligible owner outside the top six in year-end owner points
from
each manufacturer will be eligible to compete in the event. So using
the best information available, the lineup looks something like:
2009 Budweiser Shootout

Chevrolet How he gets in...

Jimmie Johnson	Finished first in owner points; first Chevrolet car
Kevin Harvick	Finished fourth in owner points; second Chevrolet car
Casey Mears	Replacing Clint Bowyer as driver; third Chevrolet car
Jeff Burton	Finished sixth in owner points; fourth Chevrolet car
Jeff Gordon	Finished seventh in owner points; fifth Chevrolet car
Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Finished 12th in owner points; sixth Chevrolet car
Tony Stewart	Wild card: past Cup Series champion

Dodge How he gets in....

Kasey Kahne	Finished 15th in owner points; first Dodge car
David Stremme	Replacing Ryan Newman as driver; second Dodge car
Kurt Busch	Finished 19th in owner points; third Dodge car
Reed Sorenson	Replacing Bobby Labonte as driver; fourth Dodge car
Elliott Sadler	Finished 24th in owner points; fifth Dodge car
TBA	No driver officially announced for No. 10 car; sixth Dodge car
Sam Hornish Jr.	Wild card: seventh-highest Dodge car

Ford How he gets in...

Carl Edwards	Finished second in owner points; first Ford car
Greg Biffle	Finished third in owner points; second Ford car
Matt Kenseth	Finished 11th in owner points; third Ford car
David Ragan	Finished 13th in owner points; fourth Ford car
Jamie McMurray	Finished 17th in owner points; fifth Ford car
Travis Kvapil	Finished 23rd in owner points; sixth Ford car
Bobby Labonte	Wild card: seventh-highest Ford after No. 38 car points applied to No. 96

Toyota How he gets in...

Denny Hamlin	Finished eighth in owner points; first Toyota car
Joey Logano	Replacing Tony Stewart as driver; second Toyota car
Kyle Busch	Finished 10th in owner points; third Toyota car
Brian Vickers	Finished 20th in owner points; fourth Toyota car
David Reutimann	Finished 26th in owner points; fifth Toyota car; points moved to No. 00
Michael Waltrip	Finished 29th in owner points; sixth Toyota car
Robby Gordon	Wild card: Finished 34th in owner points; moving to Toyota in 2009

Let's call the two newly-instituted caveats the "Tony Stewart
Amendment." (Hey, other drivers have been undeservingly thrown under
the bus ...) • 2003: Matt Kenseth clinches the Cup Series championship on, like, Memorial Day. Voilà: The Chase is born. • 2005-06: Fan faves Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. fail to make the Chase in 2005; Stewart follows in '06. Voilà: The Chase field expands from 10 to 12.

Now Sprint ahead to August 2008: No longer the sponsor of the Coors
Light pole award for Cup Series qualifying, Anheuser-Busch influenced
changes to the criteria for entry into the Budweiser Shootout. And now,
realizing the five-month-old criteria is already out of date (read:
economic recession continues to kick Detroit's tailpipe), an Olive
Garden branch -- NASCAR's new official branch of goodwill -- is
extended to the struggling manufacturers to allow one additional driver
per make into the Shootout. The cynics among us would point to
Dec. 19, when General Motors renewed its sponsorship of Daytona
International Speedway and the Daytona 500 -- coincidentally the same
day President George W. Bush announced the $17.4 billion automobile
industry bailout. Certainly no one from Chevrolet asked that its
biggest Speedweeks storyline -- Smoke returning in a Bowtie -- be
somehow guaranteed a spot in the season's first event ... In NASCAR's eyes, the automakers and
the fans win before the first checkered flag of the season. I guess
that's one way of looking at it ... unless you're Scott Speed and just
got thrown under the bus.

interesting!

Someone get that man a razor.

New look Johnson! Three-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson showed up for Fan Fest with a beard that was a cross between Tony Stewart's
often-worn scruff and a full mat. While the look is something that was
often seen on drivers during testing in the past, the neat thing about
Johnson's was, he said there was probably a permanent record of it."I typically grow it out in the winter and just decided to kind of
stick with it a little longer," Johnson said. "Technically, I haven't
been in a Cup car so the season hasn't started for me yet. I did tape a
commercial the last two days with it, so it might stick around a little
longer."

He's cute no matter how scruffy he is. Tony, on the other hand........

yea I agree

Richard Petty Motorsports born out of GEM merger

Four-car team will include Allmendinger in the 44 Dodge


CONCORD, N.C. -- Richard Petty's
name will remain active in NASCAR under a rebranding of the new team
created by the merger of his organization with Gillett Evernham
Motorsports. The new team will be called Richard Petty Motorsports
(RPM), capitalizing on the seven-time champion's marketability.

"To continue Richard Petty's
legacy is without question the most important factor in this
relationship," team co-owner George Gillett said. "Our goal is to win
not one championship as Richard Petty Motorsports, but to win multiple
championships." The two race teams agreed to merge earlier this month in a partnership that keeps the sponsor-strapped Pettys in racing. Reed Sorenson will drive the famed No. 43 Dodge for RPM this season."This begins the next great chapter for the Petty name in NASCAR,"
Petty said. "It was very important to us, not only to see the Petty
name out on the race track, but also to be competitive and get all of
our cars back into Victory Lane and competing for Sprint Cup Series
championships on a regular basis." Richard Petty Motorsports will field four cars in 2009: Kasey Kahne in the No. 9, Elliott Sadler in the No. 19, and A.J. Allmendinger in the No. 44 Dodge will join the 43 under the RPM umbrella."To bring the No. 43 and 44 together under the Richard Petty
Motorsports banner means a lot to both me and my family," Petty said.
"And then to pair with the No. 9 and 19 and their history really shows
the spirit of this partnership. We are bringing two winning
organizations together to take a competitive step forward for many
years to come." Richard Petty Motorsports will operate out of the GEM race shops in Statesville, N.C. and engine shop in Concord, N.C.

Petty is eager to give Sorenson, who succeeds Bobby Labonte in the No. 43, any help or advice he's asked to provide. "Right now, he's 22 years old, so he's pretty open-minded," Petty said
of Sorenson. "So he's never set in his ways about how things are
supposed to be done. I think he's a quick learner--we'll find out." Allmendinger, who will compete in the first five races of the season
and selected races thereafter, impressed the brass at GEM last year
when he posted an average finish of 16.4 in a fill-in role for the
final five races of the season. "I don't think you can say
enough about A.J., both as a talent and as a professional, said Mark
McArdle, vice president and managing director of competition for RPM.
"He's a phenomenal competitor, he's a wonderful teammate, and he's
certainly going to be a sparkplug in our organization." In late December, GEM tried to negotiate a buyout of Sadler's contract with an eye toward putting Allmendinger in the No. 19.Sadler, however, filed notice of intent to sue for breach of contract,
naming GEM, Ray Evernham Enterprises, owner George Gillett and
Allmendinger in the action. The sides settled, and Sadler kept his seat.Allmendinger, who met with the principals in the deal for three hours
Monday morning to hammer out details of his No. 44 ride, says the two
can move past their plaintiff-defendant relationship and oexist as teammates.
Allmendinger "I have no problem with Elliott," Allmendinger said. "I just wantteammates that are fast, that I can go out there and learn from."Kahne and Sorenson attended Monday's announcement, but Sadler, who was
married during the offseason, was still on his honeymoon.Richard Petty Motorsports will operate out of the GEM race shops in Statesville, N.C., and engine shop in Concord, N.C. Petty said Boston Ventures, which entered a partnership with Petty Enterprises last summer, would play a minor role in the new organization. Gillett said he had no qualms about what amounts to taking his name off the door. "It was the right decision," Gillett said. "I don't think anyone ever contemplated anything else. The name made a lot of sense, and it was something we were very proud to do -- and we look forward to trying to live up to the great expectations."

What's in a name? For Gillett and Petty, plenty

GEM, Petty merge leads to Richard Petty Motorsports

CONCORD, N.C. -- Before the marriage with Gillett Evernham Motorsports could become a reality, Richard Petty
had a list of demands that had to be met. Strange that a man getting bought out would be in a position to make demands, but he is Richard Petty, and in NASCAR circles he still carries an almost unparalleled degree of cachet. So he wanted the car numbers from his old shop, the 43 and 44, and he didn't want them associated with alcohol. He wanted a place for the Petty blue color, and positions for a few of his best people. And most of all he wanted the name. He had to have the name.
Because for the Pettys, the name is everything. If George
Gillett had resisted? "We wouldn't have gotten to the second step," says the King, smiling behind trademark sunglasses and beneath a spotless white cowboy hat.

Petty name remains
Richard Petty stole headlines the first day of the Sprint Media Tour when he announced Petty Enterprises' merge with GEM created Richard Petty Motorsports.

But Gillett didn't resist. How could he? In the short time since he's ventured into the NASCAR arena, the sports tycoon and Petty have become friends.
Gillett's team supplied engines to Petty Enterprises, fostering a close
working relationship between Mark McArdle and Robbie Loomis, the chief technical men at their respective shops. Gillett and Petty even talked about merging two years ago, but the time wasn't right. So when the economy tanked, and Petty Enterprises was left without any sponsors, and the King finally called a few months ago offering to sell -- with certain stipulations, of course -- all the pieces fit into place."The merger itself was a relatively easy process," said Foster Gillett,
George's son, "since it had already been working that way for years."The official announcement of the merger between GEM and Petty Enterprises, which had been a wholly-owned team in NASCAR's premier division since the sport's inception six decades ago, came earlier this month. But Monday, the opening day of the NASCAR Sprint media tour hosted by Lowe's Motor Speedway, was when the rechristened organization was presented to the world -- quite clumsily, actually, when Foster Gillett accidently knocked the veil off the sign proclaiming Richard Petty Motorsports. Same colors as the old Petty Enterprises, nearly the same logo, same prominent last name. Just who was buying whom again?Plenty of people have approached Richard Petty over the years about
buying his team. The name was always the hang-up. Not this time. "That was one of the first stipulations, before we talked about money or percentages or anything. That was at the top of my list," Petty said. "I had eight or 10 things where I said, 'OK, if you agree to this, we'll talk a little further.' That was at the top of the list. He had no qualms at all. He'd bought the hockey team and then bought a soccer team and didn't change any of that, because those people had
already had continuity, OK? And he's not been here with Gillett
Evernham long enough to get continuity. What, three or four years? So then he takes a company that's been there 60 years and he plays off of that. I think he looked at that real strong."

Now George Gillett, who already owns the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League and a piece of the English soccer club Liverpool, adds another historic name to his portfolio. Petty Enterprises wasn't exactly in a
position to be demanding, given that former majority owners Boston Ventures, a private equity firm, had been unable to secure any new sponsorship, and lost what little existing backing it did have. The team that had won 10 championships and 268 races was on the brink of complete ruin. Now it's been rescued by a larger, more successful organization that won two races last year, and in the process somehow
kept the legacy of its last name intact. "We would have erred
greatly had we considered anything else," said Foster Gillett, who oversees the family's soccer, hockey and concert holdings, and is working with race team CEO Tom Reddin to learn the motorsports business. "It was the only thing that ever came to our minds. I talked to my father about it, and he'd already thought of it. Richard was obviously very, very pleased that it went forward." So now the Petty name graces not a struggling, one- or two-car organization, but a
four-car team with realistic goals of winning races -- something a Petty-owned car hasn't done since 1999 -- and making the year-end championship Chase. Kasey Kahne, who won twice last season, is in the flagship No. 9. Elliott Sadler is in the No. 19. Reed Sorenson takes over Petty's old No. 43, and A.J. Allmendinger slides behind the wheel of the ex-Petty No. 44, which replaces GEM's old No. 10. All are slated to run full seasons with the exception of Allmendinger, who as
of Monday had backing only for the first five event of the Sprint Cup schedule, and seven or eight total. But that's a minor headache combined with the battle for existence Petty has fought the past few years.

"I think we have 40 people in engineering up there," said Loomis,
the new team's director of race competition. "At Petty, we were sitting at about 10. There's a lot of strength in those numbers, and they've had a lot of on-track success with the [No.] 9. I told somebody the other day, the key is to not stir up too much dust there, and help those other two teams to where we can push the 9 into the Chase."Petty employees thinking Chase? That would have been unheard of until a
few weeks ago. No, it's not the same old Petty organization, the one Lee Petty founded up in Level Cross, N.C., where his initials can still be seen scrawled in the concrete foundation of the original A-frame shop. Monday, Richard Petty
didn't seem too broken up about it. He says he'll have more of a voice in day-to-day decision making than he did at Petty under Boston Ventures, which will retain a sliver of ownership in the new team, but won't wield any real influence. He's been around long enough to know that things change. He's seen Junior Johnson, Bud Moore, North Wilkesboro Speedway, and now his own team come and go."Basically when we went in business with Boston Ventures, we went into
a different stage, not a wholly-owned situation, not a full Petty situation with a bunch of Petty people," he said. "... But how many companies are still solely owned by the people that started them after 60 years? We were in business 60 years. Very few privately owned businesses stay in business 60 years. They might stay longer than that,
but they usually go into a corporation. Just the economy, and even the trend of time before the economy changed, NASCAR is getting to be such a big business that it's hard for just an individual to make it work." “

You'll see no Budweiser decals or any beer decals on those particular cars because my mother would come back and haunt us all.
” -- RICHARD PETTY
The possibility of winning
again seems to make up for it. The King is clearly jazzed. "They've got four or five top teams [in NASCAR]. I think we're the sixth one now.
We're not the 15th, 20th team, which I was before joining up with George," Petty said. Reddin can see it. "He's very excited about working with the 'kids' as he says," said the team CEO. "He's got a lot of kids now he can coach. He's big on the difference between drivers and winners, and helping the drivers figure out how to become winners,
and not just be great drivers." Gillett, of course, gets plenty
out of the deal, too. He adds a fourth car, meeting the NASCAR-mandated limit. And to court potential sponsors, he has Petty, that iconic figure in boots and a light blue shirt. Until the recession, the Pettys were so good at attracting and retaining sponsors that they were the
only team in NASCAR able to find backing without putting competitive cars on the track. Of course, economic reality cut a huge hole in that safety net. But being associated with the King, and all those championships and all those race wins and all those fans won over one by one, still means something. "We don't come to racing to see our name, we come to win and enhance our chances of being victorious,"
Foster Gillett said. "I think it's a great honor. Richard's a wonderful man, and Richard and George have a wonderful friendship, and that's part of why this is happening the way that it is." Just please, keep those beer logos away from the 43 and 44 cars. Although Budweiser
backs Kahne's vehicle, the longstanding Petty rule of no association with alcohol remains intact -- sort of. "You'll see no Budweiser decals or any beer decals on those particular cars," Petty said, "because my mother would come back and haunt us all." He's still a Petty, after all.

Thanks icecoffee...glad Nascar is finally back, it's been a long winter.

I joined a fantasy racing league at Yahoo sports last year and it was fun to do.

If anyones interested in doing this it's free (you don't win anything but still fun to do). I joined a private league ID#472 the password is daytona.
Kind of fun to see if you can beat some of the Survivor Sucks people.

Daytona
Partly Sunny 57°

Crazy night... four cautions so far. I thought Gordon and a few others were really in for it but they pulled through okay. That could have been really bad.

Wow! It was more like a demolition derby last night! Exciting to the very end!

Won't see today's race, unfortunately.

thanks ice for keeping this thread going.
I do check it each and everytime there is a post.

I love Nascar and have been a racing addict my whole life.
Starting with watching my uncle race cars Saturday night at the old track in Vegas, to watching Dick trickles nephew race(until he was murdered) and then again watching the Bush brothers try and beat their father.

I attended many Nascar races up until 2000 when I attended the last race of the year at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

I just cant get into it like I used to. Something has changed. There arent many reasons to watch when the same drivers win each week, the same owners win each week, and there isnt alot of drama that there used to be.
I always look forward to Daytona, but my attention seems to dwindle as the season goes along.

Daytona
Partly Cloudy 67°

current conditions