Michael Waltrip to drive the #55 car at Daytona

Michael Waltrip, the owner of the #55 Toyota currently driven by Brian Vickers, will drive the car in the Budweiser Duels on February 19 and the Daytona 500 on February 22. Vickers will miss the Daytona and Atlanta race weekends as he recovers from his December heart surgery. If Waltrip does not race into the 500, he should have enough owner points from the #55 in 2014 to make the show. Waltrip won "The Great American Race" in 2001 and 2003 driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc., the team with which he enjoyed his greatest success in NASCAR's top series. Waltrip has led laps in the race even in the past few years.

Chase Elliott to replace Jeff Gordon in the #24 car

The speculation has turned out to be true. Chase Elliott will be the driver in 2016 to take over the #24 Chevrolet at Hendrick Motorsports made famous by Jeff Gordon. Gordon, who is retiring from full-time competition after the upcoming season, has taken the #24 car to 92 race wins and four series championships. He has driven it in every race since his series debut in the 1992 Hooters 500 at Atlanta, which was also the legendary Richard Petty's last race.


Elliott is the defending Xfinity Series champion and currently drives the #9 Chevrolet Camaro full-time in the series for the Hendrick-aligned JR Motorsports. In 2015, Elliott will drive a #25 NAPA Auto Parts-sponsored Chevrolet in five races in preparation for his 2016 rookie campaign. The #25 is also a famous car in the history of Hendrick Motorsports, and today that car is now Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s #88. Although it appears Elliott will keep the #24, some sources are reporting that the team is trying to get the number 9 or 94, which are two of the numbers driven by his father Bill Elliott. Richard Petty has even offered to give up the number 9, which he inherited from Ray Evernham (Gordon's former crew chief and former owner of that Petty car, which Bill Elliott once drove as an Evernham Dodge) for Chase to drive at Hendrick. But Elliott has said that no one will truly replace Gordon, even if the number 24 is indeed kept.

Yeley driving for BK Racing full-time; Bowman rumored to Tommy Baldwin

J.J. Yeley announced Tuesday on Twitter that he has re-signed with BK Racing to drive one of their Toyotas, possibly the #83, in the 2015 season. Yeley, who first joined the Sprint Cup circuit in 2006, was a development driver for the team in a few races in 2014. Meanwhile, 2014 rookie Alex Bowman, who drove BK's #23 entry this past season, is currently rumored to be headed to Tommy Baldwin Racing to replace fellow sophomore driver Michael Annett in the #7 Chevrolet.

David Pearson had a stroke in December

It has been made public that legendary NASCAR driver David Pearson, nicknamed "The Silver Fox," suffered a stroke on December 9. The stroke, which occurred on the left side of his brain, was only a mild one, Pearson's family said on Wednesday. They say he is "80 to 85 percent recovered" but is still undergoing therapy for his left arm and leg. A full recovery for Pearson is expected soon, to the delight of the NASCAR community.


Pearson, 80, has the second-most wins of any driver in the Sprint Cup Series, with 105 visits to victory lane between 1963 and 1980. The only driver with more wins is 200-time winner Richard Petty. Pearson and Petty had something of a rivalry in the 1960s and '70s, finishing first and second with each other a total of 63 times (with Pearson having the edge 33-30), and even crashing with each other off the final turn of the 1976 Daytona 500, which Pearson won with a damaged car. Pearson earned 43 of his wins in the Wood Brothers' #21 car. That car and the Petty #43 car are regarded as the most famous NASCAR cars in the sport's history. However, Pearson's success has been largely overshadowed by Petty's, but that didn't prevent Pearson from getting into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2011.

Moffitt to drive #55 MWR Toyota at Atlanta; Annett signs with HScott

Brett Moffitt will drive the #55 Toyota of Michael Waltrip Racing as a substitute for Brian Vickers, who will return to Sprint Cup competition on March 8 at Las Vegas following his December heart surgery. Moffitt is signed with Identity Ventures Racing, who is aligned with Waltrip's team, and drove the #66 Toyota under the IVR banner in seven Cup races in 2014.

Also, Michael Annett has moved from the #7 Chevrolet at Tommy Baldwin Racing to a second car at HScott Motorsports, making him teammates with the driver of the #51 car, Justin Allgaier. Annett's 2014 teammate, Reed Sorenson in the #36, is also believed to be leaving TBR and the #36 could become a part-time car with Jay Robinson Racing, who has an affiliation with the MWR-IVR partnership.

Gordon, Harvick, Keselowski join NASCAR on Fox Xfinity team

Sprint Cup drivers Jeff Gordon, defending champion Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski will serve as guest analysts during some of Fox's Xfinity Series races during the first half of the season. This will be Fox's first time broadcasting the series since 2006. This also coincides with Jeff Gordon's announcement on Thursday. Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds and Darrell Waltrip will remain on Fox as commentators. Also joining Fox as pit reporters are Jamie Little and Chris Neville. Meanwhile, Dale Jarrett and Kyle Petty have joined the new NASCAR on NBC broadcasting team that will begin its coverage later this year along with commentators Rick Allen, Steve Letarte and Jeff Burton.

Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson help Ganassi entry to Rolex 24 victory

Sprint Cup Series drivers Jamie McMurray (#1) and Kyle Larson (#42) helped take Chip Ganassi's #01 Chevrolet to victory in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona sportscar endurance race on Sunday. The race is sanctioned by the United SportsCar Championship. Larson and McMurray were joined by Ganassi's IndyCar drivers Tony Kanaan of Brazil and Scott Dixon of New Zealand. McMurray is now just the third driver in motorsports history to win both the Rolex 24 and NASCAR's Daytona 500, joining open-wheel legends Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt. McMurray won the Great American Race in 2010 in his first race reunited with Ganassi after leaving following the 2005 Nextel Cup season. Meanwhile, Dixon won the Indianapolis 500 in 2008 and Kanaan in 2013.

Rolex 24 at Daytona going on right now

The United SportsCar Championship is currently holding its first race of the season, the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, at none other than Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. The event, which features rotating drivers from several teams driving four classes of sports cars with the leader and his teammates at the 24-hour mark winning, is held on the road course configuration of the track. The differences of this configuration from the NASCAR tri-oval are the usage of the infield road course section, whose entrance and exit are between the start-finish line and stock car turn 1, and a chicane along the backstretch slightly closer to stock car turn 3. As always, this year's Rolex 24 has featured a lot of exciting action just a few hours in. This is the USCC's second season after merging with a previous sports car sanctioning body after 2013, as well as what is regarded by some as the beginning of Budweiser Speedweeks, the series of races at Daytona that concludes with the Great American Race, the Daytona 500.

Brian Vickers will only miss the first two Cup races

Michael Waltrip Racing driver Brian Vickers, who had heart surgery last month after another reoccurrence of the blood clots he first suffered from in 2010, has been cleared to return to racing on March 8 at Las Vegas. This means he will only miss the first two points races of the season, the Daytona 500 on February 22 and Atlanta on March 1. Vickers' spot in the Sprint Unlimited at Daytona on February 14 will be filled by the #15 Toyota of teammate Clint Bowyer. No driver has been named for Vickers' #55 Toyota for Daytona and Atlanta, although drivers like Brett Moffitt and Jeff Burton have been speculated as subs for these races.

2015 will be Jeff Gordon's final full-time season

Jeff Gordon has announced that 2015 will be the last year he plans to compete for the Sprint Cup championship, perhaps a year or two earlier than expected. Gordon is one of the most accomplished drivers in the sport's history with 92 Cup wins and four series championships. He has driven the #24 Chevrolet at Hendrick Motorsports since the 1992 season finale at Atlanta. Gordon's announcement further fuels speculation that Hendrick development driver Chase Elliott will replace him, although it is not known whether the number 24 will be kept. Some rumors point to Elliott using #94, his father Bill's number from 1995 to 2000. Whatever ends up happening, there's no doubt that Jeff Gordon has had a huge impact in NASCAR and he will be missed on the track.

Ron Hornaday returning to Sprint Cup to drive for The Motorsports Group

Ron Hornaday Jr., a four-time Camping World Truck Series champion, will be returning to the Sprint Cup Series for the first time in over a decade this year. Hornaday has signed with The Motorsports Group to drive their first Cup car, the #30 Chevrolet SS. Before this announcement, it was rumored that a younger, less experienced driver, most notably former Swan Racing driver Parker Kligerman, would land the ride. Hornaday will attempt the Daytona 500 in February via the Budweiser Duels and will also be entered in several other races.

Hornaday has won 51 truck races, more than any other driver in the 20-year history of the series, and last visited victory lane in 2011. He won his first two championships in 1996 and 1998 driving for Dale Earnhardt, and his second two in 2007 and 2009 in a truck owned by Kevin Harvick. He lost his ride with the recently defunct Turner Scott Motorsports when their #30 truck team suddenly shut down. Hornaday has also driven in what is now the Xfinity Series for Earnhardt and Harvick as well as Richard Childress, a brief stint with Rick Hendrick and several other teams. Hornaday ran for the Rookie of the Year award in what was then the Winston Cup Series in 2001 driving for A.J. Foyt, to date his only full-time season in NASCAR's top series. Hornaday's most recent Cup start was at Homestead in November of 2003 in a research and development car for Richard Childress.

Richard Childress could have up to five cars in the Daytona 500

Richard Childress Racing has announced that Brian Scott will attempt the Daytona 500 in a #29 Chevrolet SS. Xfinity Series driver Ty Dillon is also attempting the race in the #33 Cheerios Chevrolet, meaning RCR could have five cars competing in the Great American Race next month. RCR's three full-time cars - the #3 of Austin Dillon, the #27 of Paul Menard and the #31 of Ryan Newman - are all locked into the Daytona 500 because they all have owner points to fall back on in case they don't make the race via the Budweiser Duels (each Duel qualifying race has a transfer position that determines which drivers, excluding the two locked-in fastest drivers during initial qualifying, automatically qualify for the 500 at the checkered flag).

Drivers travel across the country to promote Daytona 500

NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers have traveled to various cities across the United States to promote the upcoming 57th Daytona 500 on February 22. Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the race last year and is looking for his third win in the event. This Daytona 500 promotion was similar to a media tour in 14 American cities and one Canadian and Mexican city done by all 16 Chase drivers back in September to promote the Chase for the Sprint Cup and its new format.

The two drivers I would most like to mention are Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski, who both attended hockey games, Gordon in Washington, D.C. (home of my Capitals) and Keselowski in Tampa, Florida, down the road from Daytona Beach. A.J. Allmendinger, Clint Bowyer and Ryan Newman went straight to Daytona, while Matt Kenseth was sent to nearby Orlando, Joey Logano traveled to Miami, and Kyle Larson and Tony Stewart joined Keselowski in Tampa. Series Champion Kevin Harvick was in Boston, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Denny Hamlin both went to New York City. Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards were in Atlanta and Chicago respectively. Finally, out west, Danica Patrick went to Phoenix and Jimmie Johnson to Los Angeles.

I got some new NASCAR diecasts

Last week I ordered five 2014 Sprint Cup 1:64 scale diecast cars from NASCAR.com. These cars were:

• #2 Brad Keselowski Alliance Truck Parts Ford Fusion
• #3 Austin Dillon Dow Engineering 2014 Daytona 500 Pole Winner Chevrolet SS
• #24 Jeff Gordon Pepsi Max Chevrolet SS
• #31 Ryan Newman Caterpillar Chevrolet SS
• #41 Kurt Busch Haas CNC Chevrolet SS

The diecasts were all shipped together and arrived today, three days earlier than the estimated arrival date of Tuesday. They each came in their own individual boxes. The Austin Dillon diecast also came screwed onto a little plastic platform because it commemorates an inaugural pole. I removed the platform after a bit of work and then took a lot of pictures of the diecasts.

This yellow Brad Keselowski diecast also has yellow tires.

My Austin Dillon diecast commemorates his Daytona 500 pole.

Jeff Gordon's latest Pepsi scheme promotes the zero-calorie Pepsi Max.

Ryan Newman's Caterpillar machine will apparently look different this year. (sorry for bad lighting)

Kurt Busch's Haas CNC car will have more red this year.

The five diecasts together.

The cars before unboxing along with their specs.

Cole Whitt going to Front Row Motorsports after all

After a tweet in November that Cole Whitt was replacing David Ragan at Front Row Motorsports was revealed to have no truth to it, Whitt is going to FRM after all. It was officially announced on Friday that Whitt is moving from the #26 Toyota of BK Racing to the #35 Ford at Front Row. The #35 took most of 2014 off, save for Eric McClure's unsuccessful Daytona 500 attempt and David Reutimann's handful of races behind the wheel of the car.

Whitt's arrival will once again give FRM three full-time cup cars. David Ragan and David Gilliland are staying in the #34 and #38 cars for at least another year. Ragan gave FRM its first win at Talladega in May of 2013. Since then, he has been considered somewhat as the team's top driver, which is why the false tweet that Whitt was replacing Ragan was a shock to the community.

NASCAR gets new pit road technology

NASCAR has implemented a new mass video camera system for monitoring pit road activities at all national series races.

Is Kurt Busch headed for another downward spiral?

Kurt Busch experienced a comeback in his Sprint Cup career this year, with a return to victory lane in the spring at Martinsville that put him in the Chase, and a sixth-place finish in the Indianapolis 500 in May before flying to Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600. But that could be overshadowed by the allegations that surfaced during the Phoenix race weekend in November that Busch assaulted his ex-girlfriend Patricia Driscoll at Dover International Speedway on the weekend of the September first-round Chase finale, and the subsequent court hearings that have been conducted in Delaware. One of Busch's latest statements is that he insists Driscoll is a "trained assassin" and tried to compare her to a certain female action movie character as proof of this bizarre accusation. Some members of the jury reportedly even agreed with Busch, while others simply think he's crazy.


After enjoying a rebound of sorts in his racing career in 2014, is Busch headed back into another low period? He's had several of them in the past, perhaps most notably in 2011 and 2012, his last year at Team Penske and sole season driving for James Finch, when he couldn't seem to control his temper. Some fans are using this case as evidence that Busch's temper hasn't improved 100 percent. However, that doesn't mean he'll start losing it on the track again. I for one hope Busch is past all of that, but at this moment things are once again doubtful for him.

Cole Custer to drive a truck for Dale Earnhardt Jr.

JR Motorsports is expanding into the Camping World Truck Series. Cole Custer will drive a #10 Chevrolet owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. this year. Custer, who is about to turn 17 years old, became the youngest winner of a NASCAR national series race when he won at New Hampshire in September driving the #00 Chevrolet, a development truck fielded by a division of Stewart-Haas Racing. JR Motorsports' truck entry will be part-time and Earnhardt will continue to focus on his three-car Xfinity Series team, which includes series champion Chase Elliott in the #9 Chevy Camaro. Earnhardt is also off his best Sprint Cup season in a decade, and his #88 Chevrolet has a new crew chief in Greg Ives (Elliott's crew chief in 2014) and new sponsor Nationwide insurance, the former title sponsor of the Xfinity Series. With all of this, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has plenty to look forward to in 2015.

Drivers show support for Carolina Panthers in playoffs

Many NASCAR teams have their headquarters and shops in the Charlotte, North Carolina area, and a lot of drivers, most notably Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the RCR Dillon brothers, have their homes there. So naturally, several drivers are fans of the Carolina Panthers of the NFL. The Panthers, despite their losing record, won the NFC South division and defeated the Arizona Cardinals in the wild card round. Drivers like Cup champion Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Burton have shared their experiences at Panthers games on social media such as Twitter and Instagram, and did so last week.


The Panthers ultimately lost to the Seattle Seahawks, whom driver Kasey Kahne from Washington state is a fan of, on Saturday in Seattle. But the drivers have still proven that they care about sports other than their own. They also helped put the Panthers, who aren't usually considered a top NFL team, into a somewhat bigger spotlight.

Dylan Kwasniewski to run part-time this year

Dylan Kwasniewski will only run a part-time schedule in the Xfinity Series this year. The 19-year-old former K&N Pro Series East champion will split the #42 Chevrolet Camaro with Cup Rookie of the Year Kyle Larson at HScott Motorsports with Chip Ganassi. Kwasniewski's rookie season in the series was mostly average, with a handful of bright moments, and it has been speculated that this is why he is not running full-time again this year.


Kwasniewski's old team, Turner Scott Motorsports, recently merged with Ganassi, who Larson drives for in Cup. They also shut down the #31 Xfinity team that Kwasniewski competed with during most of 2014, and their remaining truck team, also the #31. Turner Scott formed an alliance with Ganassi when Larson, who was under contract with TSM in Xfinity and trucks, signed to replace Juan Pablo Montoya in the #42 Cup car toward the end of 2013. Harry Scott, who also owns a Cup team formerly run by James Finch, and Chip Ganassi will run the team as a joint venture. Ganassi has not fielded his own Xfinity cars since 2008.

What my future race posts will look like

I am planning to start adding more information to my race write-ups here, such as finishing orders and points standings after each race in all three top series.

Jeff Gordon's car was almost the #46

It has been revealed by Jeff Gordon's first Cup crew chief Ray Evernham on Twitter that Jeff's number at Hendrick was originally supposed to be #46, instead of #24 as it ended up being. The number 46 was used by Hendrick on a Chevrolet sponsored by real car dealership City Chevrolet in a couple of races during which scenes were filmed for the 1990 movie Days of Thunder starring Tom Cruise. The green and yellow #46 is still a well-known car in motorsports popular culture today.


But Days of Thunder created a licensing problem for Gordon and Evernham, who had wanted to use 46 as the number on the DuPont Chevrolet in the Winston Cup Series beginning in 1993. When they were made aware of the problems, they looked through a series of available numbers and decided to go with #24, which had achieved very little success in NASCAR's top series up to that point. Gordon drove the #24 to his and the number's first Cup win in the 1994 Coca-Cola 600, and now he has given the #24 a total of 92 wins, one of the most in the sport's history. Now we know that it was almost the #46 instead of the #24 that became one of the most famous NASCAR numbers ever. But that didn't happen thanks to Days of Thunder, although you could now say that the #24 evolved out of that movie-famous (but not competition-famous) #46 car.

Tommy Baldwin's #36 could be transferred to Jay Robinson

Tommy Baldwin Racing is not expected to run the #36 Chevrolet full-time in the Sprint Cup Series this year. The team could be making a deal to hand the car over to owner Jay Robinson to run it under that team's banner. Reed Sorenson drove the #36 in 2014 and finished 34th in points. His teammate Michael Annett is expected to remain in TBR's #7 Chevrolet for a second season in Cup. The Robinson team also has an affiliation with the #66 Toyota that started last year as a part-time rebrand of Michael Waltrip Racing's #56 team, in a partnership also including Joe Nemechek known as Identity Ventures Racing.

Changes could come before Daytona 500

A number of changes to the Sprint Cup Series are rumored to be lined up before next month's Daytona 500. The series has already undergone some modifications, including the removal of some testing sessions throughout the year. There have been talks that the 16-driver, four-round Chase for the Sprint Cup might undergo some tweaks before the new season begins, which wouldn't be surprising given the mixed feelings that drivers and fans have expressed about it since the format was announced around this time last year. NASCAR makes changes to all of its series during every offseason, although these changes vary in type and complexity.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. ready for Daytona 500

Dale Earnhardt Jr., two-time and defending champion of the Daytona 500, has said that he is ready for the 57th edition of the race on February 22. Earnhardt is looking to defend his race win and to become one of the few NASCAR drivers with three wins in the Great American Race. Earnhardt is coming off his best Cup season in a decade, in which he picked up four wins including a season sweep of Pocono and a Chase spoiler at Martinsville. He is now entering his eighth season in the #88 Chevrolet at Hendrick Motorsports, this time with new crew chief Greg Ives and new sponsor Nationwide Insurance, who has moved from NASCAR's number two series, now officially known as the Xfinity Series. Speaking of which, Dale Jr. has also encountered some changes within his Xfinity team JR Motorsports. Earnhardt believes 2015 is shaping up to be another good year in his career.

Goodbye Nationwide Series, hello Xfinity Series

The Nationwide Series is no more. The insurance company that replaced Anheuser-Busch as the title sponsor of NASCAR's number two series after the 2007 season has made a move into the Sprint Cup Series to expand its role in the sport. The series is now officially known as the Xfinity Series. Xfinity is a digital cable, home phone and internet service from Comcast, that competes with similar services such as Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-Verse. Comcast notably has an alliance with NBCUniversal, the owner of the NBC and NBC Sports Network television channels, which will play host to the second half of the Cup and Xfinity seasons for the next ten years. Meanwhile, the Cup Series will also soon go through yet another name change, as Sprint has plans to pull out of NASCAR's top series after 2016, a move that could lure cellular phone sponsors back to race teams.