The 2012 season is clearly over, and now we have lots of 2013 stuff to talk about. New cars, new tracks, new surfaces! Sure it might be more than 2 months before Daytona testing starts but does it really matter?

SCHEDULES
Cup: http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2013/data/schedule.html
- No real changes, I believe it went back to the 2011 order (switched two tracks around, no new additions).

Nationwide: http://www.nationwide.nascar.c ... ries/races/2013/schedule/
- Montreal is out, Mid Ohio is in.

Trucks: http://www.nascar.com/races/truck/2013/data/schedule.html
- Atlanta out, second Kentucky race out, Eldora in, Mosport in.

TEAMS

• Penske switches back to Ford. Roush/Yates engines.
  
• EGR will now run Hendrick engines.
  
• SHR expands to 3 cars.
  

DRIVERS

• Sadler leaves RCR for JGR (?) and stays in Nationwide. Possible 4th car in cup for select races.
  
• Danica moves up to Cup in the #10 for SHR
  
• Regan Smith full time #5 JR Motorsports Nationwide car
  
• Joey Logano to Penske #22 Cup
  
• Matt Kenseth to JGR #20 Cup
  
• Ricky Stenhouse to Roush #17 Cup
  
• Trevor Bayne to Roush #6 Nationwide
  
• Travis Pastrana to Roush #60/99 Nationwide
  
• Cole Whitt (?) to JR Motorsports #7 Nationwide
  
• Brian Vickers to JGR Nationwide
  
• Kyle Busch to JGR Nationwide (splitting with Darrell Wallace Jr)
  
• Jeb Burton to Turner Truck / Part-time Nationwide
  
• Ty Dillon / Danica to #33 RCR Nationwide
  
• Parker Kligerman/Kyle Busch/Kurt Busch to KBM #54 Nationwide
  
• Dale Jr / Danica to #88 JR Motorsports Nationwide
  
• Todd Bodine out, John Wes Townley in #7 RHR Truck
  

CUP CARS

• The new cars will have 100 pou ... the left side of the car.
  
• Parts of the body will be carbon fiber.
  

TRUCKS

• Eldora Test video
  

Good start to the 2013 season from me.

Going to be weird not seeing Matt in the #17

#17 Ricky Stenhouse in bed with #10 Danica Danica

#bottas!

Quote from CrAZySkyPimp :

#bottas!

not sure if trolling, idiot or wrong thread

That truck testing video looked more promicing than I anticipated, but I'm not so sure that they should run splitters for that race, alot of debris cautions for those things falling off

More trucks could make it more packed and thus like a paved track, but I hope not

If it works, a Cup and Nationwide race or 2 on dirt would be pretty sweet (won't happen too soon though probably)

Stenhouse and Patrick to fight it out for the Rookie of the year, my pick is in the 17 car

Quote from JackDaMaster :

not sure if trolling, idiot or wrong thread

No front splitter for Eldora I believe. 30 trucks only seem to be the plan. Safer barriers will not be installed. Race format is still to be determined, could be heat races. Other drivers from different series are even interested in it, from dirt trackers to Tony Kanaan. Extra seating will come if demand is there. Pits look to be getting an upgrade too.

Quote from PMD9409 :

Race format is still to be determined, could be heat races. Other drivers from different series are even interested in it, from dirt trackers to Tony Kanaan.

This is the kind of stuff I don't like about this race. This isn't some exhibition or charity race, this is a series race. Just don't want to see it turn into some joke when there are guys competing for a championship.

Yeah that creates a huge bottleneck. Normal truck fields are 36 trucks. Supposedly 30 are locked in. So what will they do at Eldora if only 30 allowed on track? Just top 30 in owners points? I would make it just like cup for the Daytona 500. Qualifying should determine front row. The heats should design the next 14 rows. Therefore it should allow up to 60 trucks to show up. It would never happen but honestly its not different when we see so many cars qualifying for the 500. Basically what I am saying is that if it is just an addition of trucks I won't mind. If drivers are losing their seat for a race for another driver then I think that's wrong.

In other news, Chevy has given us the SS: http://jalopnik.com/5964327/th ... the-2014-chevy-ss-kind-of

Looks way better than the street version at least. The actual car is so bland looking.

The nose of the new cars remind me of a mix between V8SC and BTCC.

I like the SS more than I thought I would (apparently the checkers made it ugly rather than pretty )

The dirt race will be strange, but I think they need to pick a 3/4 mile track and let 36 race like typical

Has travis actually signed with roush? Or just speculation? He is always a pleasure to watch though

I like the look of the SS, also like how in the 4 show cars at the reveal (the ones with liveries) the shark fin was clear plastic

I'd prefer it without those fake lights

Quote from Flame CZE :

I'd prefer it without those fake lights

no

Quote from Mustangman759 :

Has travis actually signed with roush? Or just speculation? He is always a pleasure to watch though

Full year. It's really old news.

Heh: http://espn.go.com/racing/nasc ... favorites-2013-sprint-cup

Good news for David Stremme.

Yup, a new team for the Sprint Cup too

Hopefully not a start and park, but we'll have to see.

Same team, new owner. Not S&P for now.


Matt Kenseth's new ride.

Www.jayski.com

New paints look pretty sick so far on the new bodies.

Carls is really nice

Travis wannabe.

Quote from CrAZySkyPimp :

Travis wannabe.