Earnhardt Jr. provides top story line for '08
Welcome back, Jimmie.
Back-to-back NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson barely had time to take a quick, celebratory bite of the Big Apple during Champions Week in New York City.
Now, after a few days of "down time" over the winter break, it's back in the driver's seat for Johnson, who will participate in the first Sprint Cup test session at Daytona International Speedway from Monday through Wednesday of next week.
Johnson is the crux of one of the major story lines for the coming season as he attempts to join Cale Yarborough (1976-78) as the only drivers to win three consecutive Cup championships.
Johnson isn't the only focus for 2008, however, as a number of other blockbuster stories will continue to occupy our attention this year. Here are the most compelling:
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
There's no one in NASCAR who moves the needle more than Earnhardt, but it's put-up-or-shut-up time for "Driver 88" and Earnhardt nation. With a new car number, new sponsors (AMP/Mountain Dew/National Guard) and a tried-and-true crew chief (Tony Eury Jr.), Earnhardt sets sail under the Hendrick Motorsports banner during the second Cup test session, Jan. 14-16 at Daytona. Conventional wisdom says he now has all the equipment and resources he needs to win races and contend for championships. That's why he chose Rick Hendrick as his new boss, after all. Now it's simply a matter of realizing his potential, and a win in the Daytona 500 would get things started in the right direction.
Joe Gibbs Racing's switch from Chevrolet to Toyota
The Camry nameplate isn't the only new item at JGR, which added talented, volatile Kyle Busch to its driver roster for 2008. But Gibbs' alliance with Toyota will answer a lot of questions about the Japanese carmaker's progress in Sprint Cup racing. To be blunt, Gibbs is the first top-echelon team to run the Camry. Whether Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch hit the racetrack running at full speed or fall victim to early struggles will augur the kind of season Toyota will have as a whole. Gibbs, with engine builder Mark Cronquist, already has begun to address the horsepower deficiency that characterized Toyota's first season, and the efforts of JGR should have a trickle-down effect on the other Toyota teams.
Toyota's sophomore season
Now that Toyota has supplanted Ford as the No. 2 automaker in the United States, will the Camrys also surpass some of the traditional American brands on the racetrack? The presence of Gibbs certainly will help, as will a year of experience for the existing teams and a new lineup of crew chiefs at Michael Waltrip Racing. Whether Toyota will ever assume a dominant role in Cup -- as the Tundras have done in the Craftsman Truck Series -- remains to be seen. But you can count on Toyota posting its first Cup win at some point this season.
The Car of Tomorrow is the full-time car
The COT, with its rear wing and front splitter, is the only car this year, after sharing duty with the now-obsolete spoiler car in 2007. NASCAR's new car will be major news as it competes full time for the first time on speedways of 1.5 miles and longer (after only one 2007 race on a superspeedway, at Talladega last October). This story, however, will recede in importance as drivers get track time. As Jeff Burton put it, six months into the season, drivers will have forgotten how it felt to drive the old car, and there won't be a reference point for comparison.
The changing role of the crew chief in Cup racing
The new racecar is heavy on engineering and not as forgiving with respect to adjustability, and much of the setup work has to be done before the car arrives at the track. Teams without access to computer simulations and a seven-post shaker rig will be at a distinct disadvantage. Gone are the days of trial and error and seat-of-the-pants calls from the pits. Precision and preparation are the new watchwords.
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