The Green flag is just 21days, 19 hours, and 31minutes from this writing!! I will try to give everyone an up to date look at “who is on first”!! I will try to list all the changes that have occurred in the off-season. As I have alluded to before, drivers have switched teams, crew chiefs have changed teams, and there are some sponsors, too, that have swapped teams!! So before you sit down in your seat for the Bud Shootout, the Duel 150’s or the Daytona 500, get out your pen and paper and take copious notes on the following changes so far!!
STARTING NUMERICALLY:
1. #00 (was #44) David Reutimann drives the MWR Aaron’s Toyota
2. #07 Casey Mears is in the RCR Jack Daniel’s Chevy
3. #09 Brad Keseloski/Mike Bliss/Sterling Marlin in the James Finch Chevy
4. #5 Mark Martin pilots the HMS Kellogg’s Chevy
5. #7 Robby Gordon Jim Beam switched to Toyota
6. #8 Aric Almirola driving the EGR Chevy
7. #12 David Stremme chauffers the Penske Verizon Dodge
8. #14 (was #70) Tony Stewart drives SHR Old Spice/Office Depot/ Burger King Chevy (#14 Pics)
9. #20 has Joey Logano piloting the JGR Home Depot Chevy
10. #31 Jeff Burton drives the RCR Caterpiller Chevy
11. #33 has Clint Bowyer driving the RCR General Mills Chevy (new team)
12. #36 (new team) Scott Riggs is driving for Tommy Baldwin Racing in a Toyota
13. #39 (was #66) Ryan Newman drives the SHR U.S. Army Chevy
14. #42 Juan Pablo Montoya in the EGR Target Chevy
15. #43 Reed Sorenson drives the RPM U.S. Air Force Dodge
16. #44 A.J. Almendinger drives the RPM Dodge
17. #47 (was #44) Marcos Ambrose drives the JTG/Doughtery Toyota (MWR help)
18. #82 (was #84) Scott Speed drives the Red Bull Toyota
19. #87 ( new team) Joe Nemechek drives the NEMCO Toyota (scenedaily)(foxsports)
20. #96 Bobby Labonte drives the HOF Racing Ask.com Ford (Yates help)( points from #38)
21. #98 Paul Menard drives the Yates Menard’s Ford ( points from #28)
22. Terry Labonte will try to qualify a car for MSRP (Phil Parsons owned)(scenedaily)
23. David Gilliland out of a ride at Yates
23. Mike Wallace will attempt to qualify a car for TRG motorsports (nascar.com)
24. Ford Motorcraft will sponsor the Wood Bros. for 9 races (fordracing.com)
25. Travis Kvapil only has sponsorship for first 5 races Yates #28 Ford(scenedaily)
26. Jeremy Mayfield trying to field a new team (espn.com)(foxsports)
27. Ford to debut a new motor FR9 this season( FoMoCo)
28. Boris Said is trying to put a Daytona 500 package together (fordracing.com)
29. 2009 Team Chart (Jayski.com)
As of this writing, these are the changes that have been published. I hope that this will help you in figuring out, like the old Abbot and Costello routine goes, “who’s on first”!! For the first couple of races, the Bud Shootout and the Duel 150’s we all will be refering to our notes of “who’s on first”!!!!!! Not only did some of the drivers switch teams, but some of the sponsors did the same. So the paint schemes of some of our favoite cars have changed, possibly moved over to another team, and that will cause some confusion intially to all of us! Keep your notes handy, that will clear up some of the confusion at Daytona.
As the picture states, the Daytona 500 is the most anticpated event of the year! Starting on Thursday with the running of the Duel 150’s, the electricity builds momentum up to the bolt of lightning that strikes on Sunday afternoon, known as the Daytona 500!! The excitement is building up for me too, once again I will climb up into the Sprint Tower and watch the Duel 150’s, the Camping World Truck race, the Nationwide race, and THE GREAT AMERICAN RACE….the Daytona 500!!!!
AS ALWAYS, I LOOKED IT UP SO THAT YOU WOULDN’T HAVE TO!!!!!
GO #88
The musical driver / team / owner / sponsor dance hurts my head. I will give an update on my site of where everything and everyone is about an hour before the green flag. That way, not TOO much should change on my report. (I’ve seen sponsors added 10-15 minutes before a race!)
Quiz: This might be a trick question, but do you know who I might be referencing in regards to adding a last minute sponsor just before a race?
Clue: It seriously impacted the validity of his diecasts when in reference to the race it was added at.
Yes, Bruce, it is truly “musical chairs” this off season! I haven’t seen this much turmoil in one season in all the years that I have been following racing!! Your are probably wise in waiting till ‘ol DW says “Boogity, boogity, let’s go racin’ boys” to list the changes! But I wanted to, at least, try to give everyone a “heads up” on where everyone went after Homestead! Although all the pieces have not all fallen into place, the picture is starting to get into focus.
The musical driver / team / owner / sponsor dance hurts my head. I will give an update on my site of where everything and everyone is about an hour before the green flag. That way, not TOO much should change on my report. (I’ve seen sponsors added 10-15 minutes before a race!)
Quiz: This might be a trick question, but do you know who I might be referencing in regards to adding a last minute sponsor just before a race?
Clue: It seriously impacted the validity of his diecasts when in reference to the race it was added at.
Yes, Bruce, it is truly “musical chairs” this off season! I haven’t seen this much turmoil in one season in all the years that I have been following racing!! Your are probably wise in waiting till ‘ol DW says “Boogity, boogity, let’s go racin’ boys” to list the changes! But I wanted to, at least, try to give everyone a “heads up” on where everyone went after Homestead! Although all the pieces have not all fallen into place, the picture is starting to get into focus.
Ditto on the blog roll link!
Ditto on the blog roll link!