It’s NASCAR time once again and the new season unofficially begins this Saturday with the star-studded Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway. Like everything else that is NASCAR this season, it too will see changes.
Towards the end of last season Anheuser-Busch announced that the lineup for the Shootout would not be determined the same way it had been for many years.
Budweiser is no longer the official beer of NASCAR. Coors Light took its place in every form except for the Shootout and sponsorship of the No. 9 Richard Petty Motorsports Dodge driven by Kasey Kahne.
In what used to consist of all the pole winners from the previous season and former shootout winners not already locked in as a pole winner, Budweiser changed it up a bit. Since Coors Light is a rival of Anheuser-Busch, Budweiser decided that in order for a driver to “qualify” for the Shootout, they’d have to be in the top six of owner points per manufacturer (Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford and Toyota).
That set the field at 24, but earlier last month, another twist was added to the eligibility — a wild card for each manufacturer. This was done, many believe, as a way to satisfy the fans and allow the fan favorites who otherwise weren’t eligible because of team reconstruction, among various other things, to be entered into the race and expanded the field to 28.
The size and eligibility isn’t the only thing that will change with this year’s Shootout. The format has been extended as well. Instead of two segments, one consisting of 20 laps and the other of 50 laps, now there will be an additional five laps during the first segment to equal 75 laps.
As for team reconstruction, there will be many teams with new faces and some with old ones. Some things were known before the season ended in November.
Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman have formed an alliance. Newman is the second driver in Stewart’s newly formed Stewart-Haas Racing, a team he was given more than 50 percent of by the previous team owners of Haas-CNC Racing. Stewart himself will fill the seat as the other driver.
Joey Logano is filling the shoes left by Stewart to drive the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. And with Newman’s departure, David Stremme would return to the Sprint Cup series and to Dodge to drive the Penske Racing No. 12.
Mark Martin is coming out of semi-retirement to give the Championship one more go. He’ll make this venture driving Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet and join Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Casey Mears, the former driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet, joined Richard Childress Racing to drive the No. 07 Chevrolet. Clint Bowyer switched to the new fourth RCR No. 33.
Chip Ganassi Racing merged with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. to form Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing with Martin Truex Jr., Juan Pablo Montoya and Aric Almirola as three of the four teammates. EGR is partnering with Front Row Racing to field the No. 34 driven by John Andretti.
What wasn’t known was enough to fuel the media, fans and naysayers for the entire off season.
With the economy down, several teams cut back by resolving their organization, merging with other organizations or downsizing. One was Petty Enterprises.
Petty Enterprises has been in NASCAR since 1949 when Lee Petty started the organization. It is the winningest organization in NASCAR with 10 championships, 268 wins with 200 belonging to the “The King.” Despite its long and successful history in NASCAR, the economy was tearing them down.
In June 2008, an investment firm, Boston Ventures, bought a majority interest in the organization and then the inevitable happened — Petty Enterprises shut their doors weeks after Bobby Labonte announced he would not return.
Fortunately, depending on how one looks at it, Gillett-Evernham Motorsports began negotiating with the organization and Richard Petty Motorsports was born. The merger allowed GEM, now RPM, to gain a fourth car — No. 44 Dodge — and allowed the iconic No. 43 and the Petty name to remain a stable in NASCAR for years to come.
As for the rest of the mergers, changes and downsizes there is simply not enough time, or space, to list them all at this time.
As the charismatic Darrell Waltrip says, “Boogity, Boogity, Boogity! Let’s go racing boys!”
Don’t miss:
From Daytona
- Budweiser Shootout (Sprint Cup), Saturday at 8 p.m. on FOX
- Gatorade Duels/Daytona 500 qualifying, Sunday at 1 p.m. on FOX
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