Category: Race Vault

You’re going to need them…
2009 is rolling forward, the pace car is about to exit and the green flag is about to wave on the Daytona 500. We’ve already seen the ROLEX 24 roar over Daytona, now it is time for the Stock Cars to take their turn at the high bank opening of the NASCAR season. There are, however, a few notes we should all review before we sit down with the pizza and a few cold ones. There are some changes that will confuse the casual observer.

2009 DuPont #24
2009 DuPont #24

Not only will many of the cars sport new colors, as in the #24 DuPont Chevy carrying black on the rear panel instead of the blue, but a bunch of the numbers will sport different names over the window nets. This is, by no means, to be a complete list but a “primer” to get you started.

Wood Brothers #21 Ford Fusion
Wood Brothers #21 Ford Fusion

Starting close to home, the brothers from Stuart (Woods Brothers) are currently set on a partial schedule as sponsors are hard to come by and when you find one you have to distract them as they sign the contracts. Motorcraft is on board and we can assume Bill Elliott will be inside.

#43 Dodge with the new Richard Petty Motorsports. Air Force is 1 of 3 sponsors
#43 Dodge with the new Petty organization. Air Force is 1 of 3 sponsors

Petty Enterprises has merged with Gillett Evernham Racing to form Richard Petty Motorsports. That means two things. First, the “Petty” name has new life jolted back into it after struggling on Richard’s momentum for quite some time. Yes, the Petty family has endured tragedy and hardship beyond the point where weaker bonds would be shattered.
This merger rebuilds the Petty engine form the outside in. Elliott Sadler (#19) and Kasey Kahne (#9) will now be team mates with Reed Sorenson in the #43 Air Force Dodge and AJ Allmendinger in the #44.
Dale Earnhardt Inc. plans to use driver Aric Almirola full time this year after splitting time in the #8 last year with Mark Martin. Not only that, but DEI and Ganassi are forming up a four team cooperative with Juan Pablo Montoya, Martin Truex, Jr., Almirola and a mystery person in the #41. They should have it figured out by Daytona, you would think. After all, there are drivers out there looking for seat time.

If Almirola is in the #8 full time, where does that leave Mark Martin? What if I told you Martin is set to join the Hendrick Motorsports stable and take over duties in the #5 Chevy? Well, that’s what I’m telling you. Martin wil share garage space with Johnson, Gordon and Earnhardt, Jr.

Yes, that means Casey Mears gets shuffled in the deck and comes away dealt into the hand of Richard Childress Racing joining Harvick, Burton and Bowyer. It looks like we’ll see Mears in the #07 Jack Daniels Chevrolet.

TRG Motorsports enters the Sprint Cup with Mike Wallace in the #71
TRG Motorsports enters the Sprint Cup with Mike Wallace in the #71

TRG Motorsports is coming into NASCAR Sprint Cup contention and putting Mike Wallace in the new #71 trying to qualify for Daytona. TRG has had some luck with the Trucks, which is now the “Camping World” Series, by the way. TRG is also known for sports car racing coming away with a Porsche win in the GT class of the ROLEX 24 which just ran at Daytona.

 

Tony Stewart's new Chevy. New make, number and sponsors for 2009
Tony Stewart's new Chevy. New make, number and sponsors for 2009
The #20 Home Depot Toyota has been handed over to teenager Joey Logano. They must think he can not only make laps with it, but they must have some confidence he can win with it. And then we come to Tony Stewart as he vacates the #20 to his new team (Stewart-Haas Racing). He should ask Dale Jr. what its like to see his old number, one that has some history, from the cockpit of another car… 

Stewart fans will be happy to see him back in a Chevrolet. Will Tony cut the #20 any slack for old time sake…? Don’t count on it. Granted, Tony may just be walking across the lot to “Office” Depot, but he won’t think twice about mixing red with orange if thats what it takes to win.

Ryan Newman comes to Daytona as the defending 2008 winner, but does so without the Alltel Dodge. (Or is it Verizon now…?) Newman takes charge of the #39 US Army Chevrolet as Stewart’s team mate. Newman in a new ride, US Army sporting a new number, blue is black, orange is red… 

Yeah – we’re going to need to study up a bit.

Ryan Newman joins Tony at Stewart-Haas Racing in the #39 Chevy
Ryan Newman joins Tony at Stewart-Haas Racing in the #39 Chevy

Rousch-Fenway runs in 2009 with Biffle, Kenseth, Ragan and McMurray. Waltrip is hanging around. Penske Racing is still in it to win it.  Gibbs may have lost Tony, but Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin will roll with the rookie Logano.

Don’t even try to get all the Camping World (formerly Craftsman) Trucks and Nationwide Series drivers and changes figured out just yet. The deck is probably still being shuffled to a degree. Just watch and pick up what you can. Its all racin’ and its all good.

What does it all mean for 2009? It means we need some knew hats and some new shirts and our hands on the qualifying and entry list for the Sprint Cup Daytona 500 so we can figure out just who the hell we’re supposed to be yelling at and cheering for. It means a lot of us may be watching the first few races like we’re in a game of CLUE. Mark Martin did it in the Chevy with Kellogg’s…. or was it Allmendinger in the Dodge with the rope? Dammit – Give me the list again…

735 laps. The last hour held the possibility of a win for four cars. A Lexus, two Porsches and a Ford. Ford had a rough 24 hours as the Suntrust Ford was the last one remaining even if it did shine on the lead lap. Juan Pablo Montoya had the lead up to the last pit stop when a fresh driver and tires in the #58 Brumos Porsche put him hard on the defensive. The Ganassi team with the Lexus was looking for a fourth straigh Rolex 24 win. However, the Brumos team and the #58 had history and heritage driving them as David Donahue passed Montoya shortly after the last pit. In the end, passing GT traffic and holding Montoya in the mirror, the Porsche crossed the line to victory. The #59 Brumos Porsche drove in 3rd behind Montoya.

Brumos Racing #58 Porsche driven to win the ROLEX 24
Brumos Racing #58 Porsche driven to win the ROLEX 24

See complete results and more photos at the ROLEX / Grand-Am website.
The GT class had yet another Porsche victory with the #67 from TRG Motorsports. The GT winning drivers managed 695 laps in the 24 hours. TRG is also noted as moving somewhat out of the driver’s seat of the Porsche and running a Sprint Cup entry for 2009. Don’t worry, TRG hasn’t garaged their Porsche fleet as there is a full Grand-Am season on the way starting back in April at Virginia International Raceway. However, they will be back at Daytona in a few weeks for the Daytona 500 attempting to qualify their #71 Chevrolet with NASCAR veteran Mike Wallace at the wheel.

TRG Motorsports #67 Porsche takes first spot in the GT Class of the Rolex 24
TRG Motorsports #67 Porsche takes first spot in the GT Class of the Rolex 24

Over the course of 24 hours their were broken engines, transmissions and brakes. Pit stop mistakes and an oil fire. A number of spins and taps and bumps. Close racing and wheel to wheel driving. Everything you would want to see in an automobile race… So why didn’t you watch? FOX and SPEED had 15 hours of live coverage. Is it too unfamiliar? A number of NASCAR drivers were in the cars including Jimmie Johnson, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kyle Petty, Casey Mears and a few more. Would you watch if Gordon or Earnhardt, Jr. were in it? Are left turns all you can handle? Open up a little. These cars fast. These cars are cool and there is more variety. Pontiac, Mazda, Porsche, Lexus, Ferrari, BMW and Corvettes and Mustangs. How cool is that? Plus – the drivers aren’t known for rushing past when you want an autograph.

The Grand-Am Rolex Series presented by Crown Royal Cask no16 is off to a nice start with a full season ahead. NASCAR is cranking up to go green. Teams are in garages around the world preparing for racing. Open your horizons a little and check out some of the other series of racing. What else are you going to watch…? Baseball…? C’mon! Nobody needs to be that bored.

The auto industry is in some kind of strange, financial black hole… NASCAR is shuffling teams… Race sponsors are holding close to the chest… What does it all mean to the rest of us that just like to watch’em race? Well… It means we have to step up. It means that we have to keep buying tickets even though our driver or team may be under different colors or even in a different car altogether. It means we have to expand our horizons and realize that the sport of auto racing is more than NASCAR on a Sunday. Indy, Formula 1, Grand-Am and all the series in between right down to the Saturday night race at the local track need as much support as we can throw at them.  …read more…  (more…)