Kurt Busch is going to be in the #51 next year, I feel so bad for that team. If he can't even drive a top level car without throwing his team under the bus, just imagine how ballistic he's going to go every race when he's in sub-par equipment.

Quote from UncleBenny :

Kurt Busch is going to be in the #51 next year, I feel so bad for that team. If he can't even drive a top level car without throwing his team under the bus, just imagine how ballistic he's going to go every race when he's in sub-par equipment.

rofl karmas a b*tch. Although it will be good for that team because they might do decent now

The team might get some Hendrick equipment, but that's it. It is a very underfunded operation that at one point last year was running an 09 Ganassi car. However when Landon was driving at Michigan, he was also driving a fully prepared Hendrick car. He ran strong all day and finished 12th. That team is so much hit or miss though and Hendrick has a track record with the other Busch, so don't expect them to have some amazing performances this year unless Kurt throws in $$$.

Dinger in the 22 is a decent opportunity for him to do good. Could be his final opportunity too, never know. Ragan most likely going to the 43 (Ford afterall), which sucks as I'd like Reuttimann to get a ride.

Quote from PMD9409 :

Ragan most likely going to the 43 (Ford afterall), which sucks as I'd like Reuttimann to get a ride.

lol.

Quote from jayski :

Aric Almirola, who finished fourth in points in the Nationwide Series this season, has emerged as the leading candidate to take over the #43 Ford for Richard Petty Motorsports in the Sprint Cup Series in 2012. The deal, which has come together very quickly, will be officially announced after the Christmas and New Year's holidays and will include a sponsor announcement.

Silly season ftw (although this isn't THAT silly). Sucks for ragan because he practically had the 22 ride until AJ came along and now he has bugger all

Wow, didn't think he was going to jump out of Hendrick equipment.

that seems awkward, they must see potential in him to put him in over the Davids (if thats true)

Hey guys, just to throw in something really quick. Danica Patrick in the Daytona 500 this year, the second most random finishing order of the year usually, has performed well at Daytona (July Nationwide race, where she made a mistake, but lead towards the end).

I hope to god she doesn't win or even have a chance. Yeah, she'd give NASCAR publicity that way, but it wouldn't exactly be good publicity in my opinion.

She could be last by 40 laps at the end and she'll still be getting more coverage than the guys fighting for the lead!

Quote from Rappa Z :

She could be last by 40 laps at the end and she'll still be getting more coverage than the guys fighting for the lead!

I'd beg to differ. FOX does a much better job of showing the action that needs shown than ESPN/ABC. ESPN is the only company that has broadcasted with her involved so far. I may be proved wrong, but I doubt it.

Speed(owned by FOX) televised her first ARCA race. It was Danica-mania.

Quote from UncleBenny :

Speed(owned by FOX) televised her first ARCA race. It was Danica-mania.

It's an ARCA race . 90% of the people watching were likely watching because of her.

Like I said, I hope I'm wrong.

Winter testing begins on the 12th this year

Expect every 10 laps to have a split screen showing the leaders on one side and Danica on the other.

What's new for Daytona Pre-Season Thunder testing
More on the reduction of the r ... (some repeat information)

Radiator reduced from 5 gallons down to 2 gallons, and the openings are moved more towards the center of the car to assure than all the air to the radiator is blocked when in a tandom drafting pair.

In-take restrictions have been opened up from last year (There's no plate this year, so I'm not sure what is being said there), and the link claims that the spoiler has infact been shrunk, but there's no information on that provided

I'm all for whatever they need to do to eliminate two car drafting, sounds like they're headed in the right direction, but I still think at the end of the race you're going to see guys hooking up no matter what.

Quote from UncleBenny :

I'm all for whatever they need to do to eliminate two car drafting, sounds like they're headed in the right direction, but I still think at the end of the race you're going to see guys hooking up no matter what.

thats fine by me. Just dont want it the ENTIRE race. if for the last 5 to 10 laps they tandem draft thats fine

I still hate it at the end because if one team happens to get lucky and their guys are lined up bumper to bumper on a late restart, the race is basically over for the rest of the field because they can just take off and no one will catch them. Ex: Burton and Bowyer at Talladega this year

Quote from UncleBenny :

I still hate it at the end because if one team happens to get lucky and their guys are lined up bumper to bumper on a late restart, the race is basically over for the rest of the field because they can just take off and no one will catch them. Ex: Burton and Bowyer at Talladega this year

Yeah, but there really isn't too much that can be done about that unless they disalign the bumpers, which would cost all of the teams alot of money. NASCAR as we all know is going to do their best to keep the cost of competition down so that they can fill the 43 car field in the top 2 series's every week. That just makes it better for everybody.

I like the fact that the spoiler should make it less of an advantage to draft lock, and that the valence will make it harder to remain draft locked. It should greatly reduce the advantage that it gives, but it will still be like Talledega a few years back when people would draft away and then the pack would swallow them back up a half a lap later (at best unless more changes are made).

Edit: Bane will attempt to follow up ... ona 500 victory this year

NASCAR Pre-Season Thunder begins tomorrow at Daytona International. A few things have been clarified through a Speedtv.com article located here: http://nascar.speedtv.com/arti ... daytona-preseason-thunder

Quote :

“NASCAR has been chipping away at the tandem drafting with little rule changes. Now with even more changes this year with the smaller radiator and the pressure relief valve on the cooling system, I think we’ll see a little difference. But the biggest difference will result from drivers no longer being able to talk to each other on the radio like they did last year. That will make it tough for these guys to hook up for very long. I’m not saying it will put a complete stop to it, but it will make pairing up much more difficult.”
--Larry McReynolds

A commenter (an unreliable source of course) has stated the following:

Quote :

The way they have seemed to go about it this time is to make the cars faster and not as stable. They increased the size of the plate, they have made the spoiler smaller, which is going to produce a substantial amount of speed increase, and they have made the springs softer which will lower the back end of the car making it faster. The springs will also make the hole in the air a little bit smaller but not so much. What do you guys think about these changes and do you think they will work? I think we will see the same two car draft just at faster speeds.

Live stream of this morning's practice started about a half hour ago...unfortunately SPEED's website is down right now. I imagine they're only doing single car runs in the morning anyway though.

Edit: I just kept refreshing and it eventually worked.

http://nascar.speedtv.com/arti ... under-test-sessions-video

Quote from UncleBenny :

Live stream of this morning's practice started about a half hour ago...unfortunately SPEED's website is down right now. I imagine they're only doing single car runs in the morning anyway though.

Edit: I just kept refreshing and it eventually worked.

http://nascar.speedtv.com/arti ... under-test-sessions-video

Yes it's working for me. Jeff has the quickest lap speed of 192 mph currently. That is in single car runs mind you.

New reverse aerodynamic downforce added on the rear end to allow the vehicles to remain on the ground when turned around. Maybe they'll allow quicker speeds now with this, but lets hope that it works out for the best and doesn't have any problems.

If one of you can keep up-to-date with some of the other changes, or some things they talk about that might seem important it would be nice. I can't watch the practice from 1-5 as I have classes then.

Tomorrow and Saturday I'll be okay though.

I can't watch the afternoon session either. They don't seem to be streaming it online, its only on TV which I unfortunately do not have at work. Early reports I'm seeing on the iRacing forum say the two car tango is in full effect.

Update:

Justin.tv stream:
http://www.justin.tv/freddy49nascarr

Tandem draft looks pretty sketchy so far, 55 just spun the 15. As far as I could tell they were only the second group to try it out. Seemed like the second car had to hang WAY out off to the side to get air to his radiator, Martin came back across too far in the corner and took Bowyer out.

Martin / Bowyer incident was because they were swapping and communication failed.

Swap truly is every 5 laps or less now, and the speeds are only 6 -7 MPH speed different from alone to tandem draft, so maybe the pack racing will prevail still. We'll find out though, before the Shootout anyways.

I'm sure they'll get a big pack out there tomorrow at some point.

Looking back on it, I'm going to be kind of pissed if the only year they raced with the stupid two-car tandems for the 500 was the one year I went to the race.