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Welcome to the Cup Scene Daily for
Vol. III,No.VIXII FINAL EDITION
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2003 Season Quotes: “Good race tracks are in the eye of the beholder. What is a great track for me might not be so good for you. What is a fun race to watch for me might not be as good a track for you.”- Ken Schrader 7 DAY ARCHIVE SundayMonday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday INSIDE TODAY'S ISSUE: Crew changes for Marlin NASCAR: Sign of the times Grant of $1 million goes to Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation Restoration work under way QB Steve Young Now "Passing" In NASCAR Racing study the first of a kind New Smyrna ready for Super Stock race Racing’s Drive for Diversity taking off Bill Davis Racing is gearing up for 2004 Dale's perfect place: Earnhardt's burial site remains a secret BLOOD OF OUR HEROES It's Time to Buy a New Car When Opinion/My Word Letters to the Editor Readers Message Board(NOW OPEN!) Race Shop RACE Tickets Fantasy Garage NEW!
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TODAYS FRONT PAGE<
OKAY: BREAKS OVER
Blink and you missed it. The brief NASCAR Nextel Cup offseason ends today, when drivers and teams who finished in odd-numbered positions in last season's final Winston Cup points race hit Daytona Beach for three days of testing and shakedowns of their 2004 rides.
Many drivers have been relaxing since the last race in November. "My goal going into the off-season was to do nothing and to commit myself to nothing and so far I am on track to accomplishing my goal," said a smiling Michael Waltrip. Waltrip returns to the Speedway to begin his defense of the Daytona 500 crown. He also won the race in 2001. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Stewart will continue testing today after trading a shared Daytona Prototype for their regular NASCAR Nextel Cup Series rides. Earnhardt and Stewart, along with fellow driver Jimmie Johnson finished up three days of Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series testing on Monday, the Earnhardt, Stewart duo will return to Daytona International Speedway for the three days of stock car runs, while Johnson will test next week. "We got a good race car," Earnhardt said. "We've got to really study it to improve it and get it more comfortable for me. We seem to be right where we need to be."
The stock car drivers drew praise from road racing teammate Butch Leitzinger, who is doubling as a tutor for Earnhardt and Stewart. All three will share the wheel of the No. 2 Crawford in the Rolex 24 At Daytona. "While the specifics of what they have to do for the Daytona 500 are much different from what they must do in sportscar racing, they still have the skills necessary to understand and react to what they need to do," Leitzinger said. Jamie McMurray, the 2003 Raybestos Rookie of the Year, is anxious to get back behind the wheel of the No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge. "I'm ready to get back in a racecar," McMurray said. "It seems like it's been a long time since Miami last November. While I enjoyed some time off to relax, I'm ready to get back to racing." "I feel like we have a really good superspeedway program this year," McMurray added. "The guys at the shop have been working extremely hard and I think we're going to see the benefits when we hit the track this week. It will just feel good to be back in a racecar." Most race shops have been busy constructing new cars to 2004 specifications. Brendan Gaughan, whose bid for a NASCAR truck title ended with a crash in the season finale at Homestead, will test the No. 77 Dodge for Penske Racing. Bill Wilburn, replaced as Rusty Wallace's crew chief after two seasons, and Roy McCauley, Wallace's lead engineer in 2003, are listed on Gaughan's roster. By listing Gaughan on the roster, the Penske team confirms at least one silly season rumor. The No. 77 formally driven by Dave Blaney and Japser Motorsports is now under the Penske umbrella and Blaney is yet another driver without a ride for 2004.
Ricky Rudd and Kyle Petty, who finished 23rd and 37th in the points, received NASCAR's permission to test Jan. 13-15. Several teams already have conducted private tests at non-Cup tracks such as Kentucky Speedway and Nashville Superspeedway. Among those are Evernham Motorsports, which will run rookie Kasey Kahne as a teammate of Jeremy Mayfield and Bill Elliott, who is cutting back to a part-time schedule. Evernham tested at Nashville with all three drivers in December. "My focus right now is to get comfortable in the car and with the team," said Kahne, Crew chief "Tommy Baldwin is great, and so are the guys on the No. 9 team. "I'm just going to be listening and learning. I've talked a lot with Jeremy, too. I think it's going to be a great benefit working with him." The Busch and Craftsman Truck teams also will hold mandatory tests at Daytona during the next two weeks. The truck teams, including the first Toyotas, will start a three-day test session Sunday. Busch teams will test Jan. 17-18 (odd numbers) and 20-21 (even numbers). Preseason testing is a pure shakedown time for teams, their cars and drivers. Teams are allowed to use-in car telemetry to link back to a gaggle of engineers huddled around laptops in the garage, something that is not allowed during the season. Also, the final shape of car bodies is not yet truly defined -- they don't have to adhere to NASCAR templates or inspections -- and many drivers accuse others of sandbagging, instead saving the best for Speedweeks, when it counts. "I don't know what to expect out of this first test because it's usually a posturing deal.",said Fox Sports analyst Jeff Hammond. "It's not always a clear-cut answer or indication of what the season is going to be like. More than anything else, I think teams will use this first test to get a lot of new personnel acclimated and kind of evaluate what's going on for this upcoming season. I don't see any big news coming out of Daytona the first time around. It's just going to be a lot of posturing. But the second Cup test (January 13-15) will prove a little more eventful. Some of these teams, like Roush and Penske, will make more of an effort to fix a couple of things as they go on to that second test." "There's just so much going on. Everybody talks about the off-season. There hasn't been any off-season for so many of these teams. It seemed like yesterday that we were in New York celebrating Matt Kenseth's championship. Now we're weeks away from the new Nextel season for 2004." "Early on, we will have an opportunity to see whether Ford's new cylinder heads and body changes are going to make a difference and return the Blue Oval to its winning ways. Even though Kenseth did win the driver's championship, Ford didn't have a very successful year as far as visiting victory lane with seven wins in 36 races. Speaking of victory lane, is Ryan Newman going to be able to continue his dominance with eight wins all by himself? It's just going to be an exciting year." "Everybody's still sitting around, kind of waiting to see what NASCAR is going to do with this points thing too. I'm still hearing a lot of rumors that they're leaning toward implementing a whole new point structure for 2004 so it'll be interesting to see what the final product looks like. "
All three of NASCAR's top divisions open their seasons at Daytona next month. Nextel Cup starts with the non-points Bud Shootout for last year's pole winners on Feb. 7, Daytona 500 pole qualifying is scheduled for February 8th and the "Great American Race" is set to begin on Sunday, February 15th. The truck opener is Feb. 13 and the Busch opener Feb. 14.
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