Daytona Testing

The second week of January. That can only mean one thing; testing at Daytona for all three of NASCAR’s top series. It’s the time when the grey, unpainted cars show up, with only numbers on the side, they hit the track and start to see just what the cars will do. There are stopwatches everywhere.

Nextel Cup cars will hit the track starting today. About half the teams will be there for testing today, tomorrow, and Wednesday. Each team will set up their car for certain situations, some for drafting, some for racing, some for qualifying, and they’ll make multiple adjustments throughout the sessions. No one knows what anyone is really capable of, though. Could someone be holding back so as not to alert the competition that they’ve found something special? Are they letting it all hang out, trying to find every ounce of speed they can?

Every year, Daytona brings with it some special circumstances. Only the top two qualifiers are guaranteed a starting spot on 500 day. The rest have to race their way into the field on the Thursday prior to the big race. Some make it, some go home. It’s hard to tell a sponsor that they won’t be on TV during the biggest race of the year. It can literally make or break a team.

In Nextel Cup, the top 35 in owner points are guaranteed starting spots in each race. In some years, that didn’t cause a problem. Last year, it meant that about 3 or 4 regular teams had to go home each week. The race for the 35th spot had just as much excitement as the race for the championship. This year things will get very crowded, though. With Toyota bringing in at least 6 new teams, there will be a lot of high dollar teams going home each week. Sponsors will be disappointed on a regular basis. Drivers will be frustrated, owners will be aggrivated, and teams will be searching for more speed like never before.

So, as testing kicks off, look for it to be more exciting than ever before. With Juan Montoya holding rookie status and Toyota trying to prove they can be ubersuccessful in any series, interesting just doesn’t seem like enough of a word. We’ll just have to see what the posted times read come Wednesday.

Cinch up the belts and let’s go racing.
JR

Welcome

Greetings race fans! Welcome to my blog on the world of NASCAR racing. I hope you get a few laughs, learn some things, and can catch up on one of the most popular sports in America through this blog. The world of NASCAR is changing at a pretty fast pace these days and I hope I can provide a little insight into those changes and place them in their historical perspective and shine a light on the future of the sport.

A little background on me and why I’m qualified to write a blog you’ll want to read. I grew up in a household with a father who was a fan of racing that dated back to the beginnings of NASCAR. He remembered the early icons of the sport such as Freddy Lorenzen, Fireball Roberts, Ned Jarrett, Junior Johnson and Lee Petty to name a few. He took me to local short tracks to stir my interest and when we moved to the south, we started going to races at Talladege and Atlanta. We watched every race, every weekend on TV.

I still remember the first race I watched on TV. It was the ‘76 Daytona 500. What could be more memorable than watching Petty and Pearson come out of turn four, side by side, racing for the win on the final lap. They touched, they spun. Pearson was able to limp his car across the finish line to secure the victory. Ahh, they just don’t race like that any more. Let’s not forget the Brawl on the Backstretch between Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough, either. Honor was meant to be defended!

So, with the exciting things coming up this year, I hope you’ll check back here periodically to check out my take on this season. Juan Montoya as a rookie, changes in the Chase for the Cup, and the Car of Tomorrow all ensure there will be plenty to talk about. I look forward to your input as we discuss this most popular of racing sports.

Cinch up the straps and let’s go racing.
J.R.