Via Forbes.com

By Jason Schultz

One of the craziest nights in racing ended up with Matt Kenseth winning his 2^nd Daytona 500 in the last 4 years. For the first time in the Daytona 500’s 54 year history we had the race postponed till Monday. This is also the first time that the Daytona 500 was not on Presidents Day weekend. After announcing that the race would be delayed yet again Monday at noon, the scheduled start time for Monday, So NASCAR decided to have its first Daytona 500 at night and on a Monday, primetime on FOX. Many fans would now be able to watch the race from home and the weather looked clear. The 7pm start time kicked off this wild night of events. Greg Biffle led the first lap but soon we will see our first multi-car wreck of the night. Just after the start finish line on lap 2, Elliot Sadler driving the #33 got into the rear left corner of the 5-time champion Jimmie Johnson sending Johnson head on into the outer wall and collecting other cars with it. When David Ragan slowed down to avoid the wreck he has hit from behind Danica Patrick, making her cup debut for Stewart-Hass, Danica sent David Ragan into Jimmie Johnson, who was stopped in the middle of the track, into Johnson’s driver side door. After the wreck Johnson tweeted (@JimmieJohnson) “Really… Did that just happen??” in response to the wreck on lap 2. Other drivers involved in the lap 2 incident include Kurt Busch, 2011 Daytona 500 champion Trevor Bayne and Elliot Sadler. On the radio in response to the wreck on lap 2 Kyle Busch said “Seriously. Sit around for 36 hours and have a wreck on the 1^st lap? Are we kidding ourselves?.” In response to the wreck.

Next caution didn’t fall too far after the first when Ryan Newman spun all by himself at the exit of turn 4. With a long green flag run currently going on some drivers decided to hang out at the back to avoid any incident this early, those drivers include 2007 Daytona 500 champ Kevin Harvick, Juan Pablo Montoya (more to come on him later), 2010 Daytona 500 champ Jamie McMurray, Terry Labonte, 2008 Daytona 500 champ Ryan Newman, Tony Raines, and David Gilliland. For a Monday night Daytona 500, the track grew a great crowd. Lots of people stayed and we had more people for this race then we do on July 4^th weekend for the 2^nd Daytona race of the season.  For our 3^rd caution of the night we had debris.  On lap 81 we had our 3 time Daytona 500 champ Jeff Gordon blow an engine. After Gordon’s blown engine his team owner Rick Hendrick has lost his 2 championship winning drivers and possibly the chance at getting his team’s 200^th win tonight.

Getting closer to halfway we had Terry Labonte spin in the paved area just before pit road and he was able to carry on. For this race only we have a money prize for leading at halfway, to lead at halfway you win $200,000 which is sometimes more than winning a race at other tracks. Martin Truex Jr had help from Denny Hamlin and Truex Jr takes the money. On lap 129 we had Clint Bowyer, Michael Waltrip’s newest driver along with Mark Martin, Bowyer ran out of fuel and needed assistance getting back to pit road. Just a few laps later the #30 car of David Stremme spun out, a quick track clean and we would be back to racing. But this caution would take almost up to 2 hours till we would get back to racing.

Before I describe the next event I’m letting everyone know that this was no one’s fault. Under this caution Juan Pablo Montoya (JPM) had come back out on the track getting up to speed trying to catch up with the field, something on his car broke when entering turn 3. Now Montoya has no control of the car. The Jet Dryers which are used in NASCAR to blow off debris so the racing surface is clean. There the reason why the track was dried in time to race today. Right now there doing their job of blowing off the track to get ready to go back to racing. These Jet Dryers carry 200 gallons of Jet fuel to power the blower to dry or blow off the racing surface. Montoya’s car lost all control and spun up into one of the Jet Dryers and sparking the jet fuel to ignite. It also damaged the truck pulling the dryer driven by Dwayne Barnes who was uninjured in the accident.  Montoya’s car rammed into the jet, setting some of the car on fire. Now we have jet fuel leaking out of the jet dryer and soon it ignites and sparks the fuel burning on the track. Montoya also reported that part of his helmet was burnt. And we have a major problem.

Via NY Times

Link to wreck video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WC1L4n_4f0E

Now there’s 200 gallons of jet fuel burning and a jet dryer on fire, a small part of the SAFER Barrier burnt. Quickly fire crews respond to the scene from the infield and put the fire out which took about 20 minutes. I snapped a picture of my TV of all the safety crews around the turn 3 incident

When a big fork lift brings the jet dryer and truck off track the NASCAR Officials start inspecting the damage to the track. There is some damage to the track some to the SAFER Barrier along the turn 3 wall, and burnt marks along the track. First NASCAR sends officials to clean all the un-burnt jet fuel off the track with none other than Tide laundry detergent. Once the track is cleaned up they see that some off the track needs a few small patches, they patch the track up. Now after 2 hrs 5 min off delay it’s Tuesday Morning along the east coast. We’re headed back to racing.

With just over 30 laps to go this race is going to get intense. Our first big wreck involving racecars happened when Jamie McMurray was taped from behind by Joey Logano causing McMurray to spin up into traffic collecting other cars. Also involved in the wreck were Kasey Kahne, Brad Keselowski, Tony Stewart, Regan Smith, Aric Almirola, and Carl Edwards. With 4 laps to go we have another multi-car wreck. When Ricky Stenhouse Jr got tapped from behind by Joey Logano which caused Stenhouse Jr in the No.6 to turn into 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion Tony Stewart who got into the No.18 of Kyle Busch spinning Ky. Busch into Ryan Newman. Also involved in the wreck were David Reutimann and Dave Blaney. Now we are set-up for our first “Green White Checkered” finish of the season. Taking the white flag is 2009 Daytona 500 Champion Matt Kenseth, behind his is his teammate Greg Biffle and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Now in turn 4 on the final lap Dale Earnhardt Jr makes a move to the outside of Greg Biffle but can’t get to Matt Kenseth. So Matt Kenseth wins the 2012 Daytona 500. After a crazy night of events we are now at 1:00 AM on the east coast. A race worth staying up for sure!

Finishing order

Jamews Buesher, 21 year old Texas native, pulls off the win at Daytona for his first victory in the Nationwide Series.

After a race full of excitement and disappointment, the driver of the number 30 car squeezed through a melee on the last lap to take the checkers.

The wreck caused by Kurt Bush took out most of he top 10 including brother Kyle Bush who took a hard hi straight into the outside wall.

Brad Keselowski managed a second place finish with Elliot Sadler in third. Cole Whitt and Austin Dillon rounded out the top five.

Disappointment was the result for pole sitter Danica Patrick, as she was turned by teammate Cole Whitt early in the race, ending her hope for a good finish.

The Mayhem insued with a big one on lap 103 sending Justin Algaier on top of teammate Reed Sorensons car.

Lap 113 produced yet another big wreck sending Sam Hornish Jr. across the nose of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s car, collecting more of the field in the wake.

And finally the last lap wreck in turn 4 took out muck of the top ten allowing James Buesher to come from 11th position, to claim the victory.

From beginning to end it was on to remember for the Nascar Nationwide Series at Daytona.

Hope you enjoyed the race and visiting Turn 4 Racing News where we do our best to bring you Race to Race coverage throughout the season.

Tree 388  Turn Left

1. Carl Edwards (#99 Fastenal Ford)

2. Greg Biffle (#16 3M Ford)

3. Tony Stewart (#14 Office Depot/ Mobil 1 Chevy)

4. Matt Kenseth (#17 Best Buy Ford)

5. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (#88 Diet Mountain Dew Chevy)

6. Regan Smith (#78 Furniture Row Chevy)

7. Marcos Ambrose (#9 Stanley Ford)

8. Jimmie Johnson (#48 Lowe’s Chevy)

9. Jeff Burton (#31 Caterpillar Chevy)

10. Elliot Sadler (#33 General Mills/Kroger Chevy)

11. Michael McDowell (#98 K-Love Ford)

12. Joey Logano (#20 Home Depot Toyota)

13. Kevin Harvick (#29 Budweiser Chevy)

14. Kyle Busch (#18 M&M’s Toyota)

15. A.J Allmendinger (#22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge)

16. Jeff Gordon (#24 Drive to End Hunger Chevy)

17. Robby Gordon (#7 Mapei/Menards/ Speed Energy Dodge)

18. Ryan Newman (#39 U.S Army Chevy)

19. Jamie McMurray (#1 Bass pro Shops Chevy)

20. Kasey Kahne (#5 Farmers Insurance Chevy)

21. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (#6 Ford EcoBoost Ford)

22. Mark Martin (#55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota)

23. Brad Keselowski (#2 Miller Lite Dodge)

24. Dave Blaney (#36 Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Chevy)

25. David Ragan (#34 Scorpion Truck Bed Liners Ford)

26. Martin Truex Jr. (#56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota)

27. Aric Almirola (#43 Smithfield Ford)

28. Kurt Busch (#51 Hendrickcars.com Chevy)

29. Danica Patrick (#10 DoDaddy.com Chevy)

30. Clint Bowyer (#15 5-Hour Energy Toyota)

31. Denny Hamlin (#11 FedEx Express Toyota)

32. Bobby Labonte (#47 Kroger Toyota)

33. David Gilliland (#38 MHP Power Pak Pudding Ford)

34. Joe Nemechek (#87 AMFM Energy.com Toyota)

35. Juan Pablo Montoya (#42 Target Chevy)

36. Casey Mears (#13 GEICO Ford)

37. Paul Menard (#27 Peak/Menard Chevy)

38. David Reutimann (#93 Burger King Toyota)

39. Landon Cassill (#83 Burger King Toyota)

40. Trevor Bayne (#21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford)

41. Tony Raines (#26 Front Row Motorsports Ford)

42. David Stremme (#30 Inception Motorsports Toyota)

43. Terry Labonte (#32 C&J Energy Ford)

**Name in bold indictaes starting at the rear of the field**

The Gatorade Duel Qualifying race for the Daytona 500 had some fireworks. Tony Stewart was victorious in the race followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr., Marcos Ambrose, Carl Edwards, and Jeff Burton. Michael McDowell and Robby Gordon earn starting spots in the Daytona 500. The first incident of the day occurred in between turn 1 and 2 when David Gilliland came up across the track after being tapped in the rear left corner by Michael McDowell. When Gilliland came up across the track he collected Paul Menard and Juan Pablo Montoya. Brad Keselowski also had minor damage. Gilliland, Montoya, Menard will have to start from rear of the Daytona 500 due to having to go to back up cars. After a long stretch of a green flag run, we started to see green flag pit stops. When Denny Hamlin and Marcos Ambrose pitted for stops together so they could have each other to draft with once they got back out onto the track. For the first time in a few years, the pack overtook the two car tandem and Ambrose and Hamlin both went a lap down. After Michael Waltrip took a pit stop he came back onto the track and with no help at the beginning of the backstretch got loose and turned up head first into the wall and ruined his chances of racing in this year’s Daytona 500. On the final restart with 4 laps to go. Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick were out front. On the final lap on the backstretch, Jamie McMurray got into Aric Almirola which sent Almirola’s car into Danica Patrick’s car spinning head on into the inside wall on the backstretch causing some of the barrier to give and her car was totaled. Danica was fine after the wreck. In an interview with SPEED Danica described the wreck; she said it “Happened really quick.” At the end of the interview she says (laughing) “maybe the back-up car will be faster.” When the caution came out the race went to yellow and Tony Stewart won. Starting 3^rd in the race now will be Tony Stewart. After the race Stewart commented on Michael Waltrip missing the 500, Tony said “Michael Waltrip eats, sleeps and breathes Daytona and Talladega. It’ll be a shame if he misses (the 500).”  Trevor Bayne, who is already locked into 500, failed to finish in top 2 Go-or-Go homers spots which means in Duel 2 Kenny Wallace will have to race his way into the Daytona 500. After a crazy first duel we’ll see what the second one brings.

Via @Nascar

Duel

A very cautious and quiet duel 2 ended up with Matt Kenseth winning the race. Dave Blaney and Joe Nemechek raced their way into the Daytona 500. Most of the race had little action, teams were very cautious not to wreck there Daytona 500 cars. Kenny Wallace’s car lost the draft halfway through the race and never re-grouped and he will miss the Daytona 500. The most action occurred at the last 2 laps. Going to the white flag Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson got a run drafting each other and when Greg Biffle tried to move up in front of them he slid up the track and Kenseth and Johnson moved lower down the track and continued on. At the end of the backstretch on the final lap, Regan Smith and Jimmie Johnson made contact which allowed Matt Kenseth to pull ahead and win the race. Finishing 2^nd was Regan Smith and 3^rd was Elliot Sadler. The 2^nd race had much more of a qualifying race feel to it but expect the Daytona 500 to be more like the 1^st Gatorade Duel.

Justin Hadley is a huge NASCAR fan from Maine. He grew up as a Jeff Gordon fan because that’s who his dad liked. Justin’s first race he ever attended was in New Hampshire in 2005, Ryan Newman won that race. He was just nine years old when he attended that race. Justin watched his first race when he was five years old when he watched the Daytona 500. Now Justin is a Kyle Busch and Jeff Gordon fan. When I asked Justin what his dream race is to go to he said, like most NASCAR fans, the Daytona 500 he also said he would want to go to a Bristol night race. Justin collects lots of NASCAR memorabilia he has about 150 1/24 die-cast cars! Justin also has a piece of race used sheet metal from Blake Feese’s truck he raced at New Hampshire this past fall. He also has many autographs of drivers including Kyle Busch, David Reutimann, Elliot Sadler, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Steve Park and Michael Waltrip. I asked Justin on his opinion on how twitter lets fans interact with the drivers, he responded saying that its aweosme how you can talk to some of your favorite drivers and see what there doing away from the track. Also Justin said its cool to see and understand what their life is like on a day-to-day basis. Justin doesn’t really follow any other sports outside NASCAR but likes to play tennis. Justin is a huge race fan like many others and plans on being a fan for many years! Follow Justin on twitter @jg24no8!

These are some of Justin’s memorabilia!

A recent twitter account sprang up with a great idea. The account is called “The Nascar Fans” there goal is to try to help the Nascar community gain more sponsors by having Nascar Fans on twitter tweet these companies. The first one was the restaurant Hooters. The Nascar Fans asked their followers to tweet Hooters and ask them to sponsor in Nascar again and Hooters responded! They have recently reached out to IHop but haven’t received a response. If the power of twitter can make this happen, we could see a   few sponsors respond and reach out to a few Nascar teams. One team that may need a big sponsor to continue to compete may be Kurt Busch at Phoenix Racing. Another race fan named Vince Vellella gave his opinion on the idea “There are teams and drivers that really need sponsorship and if one twitter account can help these people out (then) I’ll support their efforts. Their plan of bombarding a company’s twitter account is genius and quite effective. Nascar fans are generally loyal to brands, and this account exemplifies this perfectly. If the account doesn’t get the sponsors they target to come into the sport, it brings awareness to other companies that Nascar is ready for new sponsors to join.” Many other fans share the same opinion. This account will grow and reach out to many more companies. It shouldn’t be long before we may see a sponsor really consider this. Through the power of twitter and Nascar Fans everywhere we could definitely help our sport out and bring new companies to sponsor in.

If you would like to contact Hooters about joining our sport email them here!

hooterspr@hooters.com

Here’s Hooters response

Monday & Tuesday No on-track events

Wednesday February 22nd,2012

Noon ET Sprint Cup Practice SPEED

2:30 ET Sprint Cup Practice SPEED

Thursday February 23rd,2012

9:00 AM ET Nationwide Practice (Not Televised)

10:00 AM ET Nationwide Practice ESPN2

Noon Camping World Truck Series Practice SPEED

1:00 PM ET Sprint Cup Gatorade Duel Qualifying Races SPEED

6:00 PM ET Camping World Truck Series Practice SPEED(Starts on Tv at 6:30 PM ET)

Friday February 24th,2012

11:00 AM ET Sprint Cup Practice SPEED

12:30 PM ET Sprint Cup Practice SPEED

2:00 PM ET Nationwide Qualifying ESPN2

4:00 PM ET Camping World Truck Series Qualifying SPEED

7:00 PM ET Camping World Truck Series Race at Daytona SPEED

Saturday February 25th,2012

10:30 AM ET Sprint Cup Practice SPEED

Noon ET Nationwide Series Race at Daytona ESPN2

Sunday February 26th,2012

Noon ET Sprint Cup Series Daytona 500 FOX

Welcome race fans! This Nascar Nationwide Season should be one to remember. Besides Danica Patrick, here are a few things you might want to keep your eye on.

Cole Witt, of Alpine California, will be driving the #88 Tax Slayer ride for Junior Motor Sports. Cole has huge potential to be a star in the series.

In 2008 in his first year he won the USAC championship. He also won the pole place in his first race in the K & N series. During the 2011 Camping world Truck Series, Cole won a pole at Darlington and at Charlotte, becoming the first rookie to ever lead in the point standings. With this addition to their team, the Junior Motorsports Team should be strong this season.

Another team that should show some muscle, is KBM. Kyle Bush Motorsports will field the #54 Monster Energy car. Brother Kurt Bush will drive about 20 of the scheduled races, and Kyle will take the seat for the rest. Kurt has had three wins in twelve Nationwide starts. He won his first race in Texas in 2006, and just last season in Watkins Glenn. Kyle’s Nationwide stats are through the roof, so we won’t go there. none the less, I predict KBM will show some dominance.

Austin Dillion, driving the #3 car, is another to watch for this season. He is also my pick to win the championship. He is being sponsored by Ethanol, and will pretty much have unlimited resources from RCR.

Michael Anett will run this season after attaining a ride with Richard Petty Motorsports.

Tommy Baldwin Racing has two drivers to watch for. Ryan Truex and bobby Santos have both joined TBR.

Last but not least, Turner Motorsports will flex some muscle this season. I will have more on Turner next time though.

Thanks for checking us out at Turn 4 Racing News, we hope you visit again soon.

One of the most exciting races in many years ends with an unbelievable finish. Kyle Busch wins on a classic turn 4 pass on 2011 champ Tony Stewart. In segment one we had the first of three big wrecks of the night. The first wreck in between turn 1 and 2, When David Ragan in the No.34 got into the rear left of Menard’s car and turned him into traffic. Also involved in the wreck were Kasey Khane, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jeff Burton, Michael Waltrip, and Jeff Gordon. Jamie McMurray led after segment one followed by Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick. The 10 minute break allowed drivers and there teams regroup for the final 50 lap shootout. Just 10 laps into the 2^nd segment we had Clint Bowyer spinning through the infield by teammate Martin Truex Jr. Bowyer didn’t hit anything and continued to race. About halfway through segment 2 Kyle Busch was tapped from behind by Jimmie Johnson but made an incredible save and kept on racing. On twitter Samantha Busch wife of Kyle tweeted “it’s time like that I really just have to say, “Damn my husband is a bad ass!”” With 20 laps to go we had our 2^nd multi-car pileup. Involved were many of the fastest cars up front including Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Matt Kenseth, Martin Truex Jr, Marcos Ambrose. Most of the wrecks occurred in the turns which many were caused by two cars hooking up and making contact with each other in the rear left corners causing the front car to turn up track. The ARCA series race prevented wrecks like this by prohibiting drafting in the corners. Nascar tried that a few years ago but many fans hated it and was soon stopped. With a week until the Daytona 500 don’t be surprised if Nascar puts the rule back in action to prevent wrecks. Late in the 2^nd segment in turn 4 Kyle Busch was spun out by Jeff Gordon which caused Gordon to spin up in front of the pack and cause another multi-car wreck. When Gordon’s teammate Jimmie Johnson got into the bottom of Gordon’s car to cause Gordon’s car to flip over and barrel roll on the paved section of the infield before pit road. That was Gordon’s first flip in a stock car. After the race Jeff Gordon was alright and grinning while explaining the wreck. Also involved in the wreck were Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, and Jeff Burton. In the first attempt of the GWC they made it the white flag. Kyle Busch made his move in the short-strech from turn 4 to the tri-oval. Kyle got up high of Tony Stewart and beat him to the line in the closest finish in Bud Shootout history. Later in Victory Lane Kyle said “First race back in the M&M’s car and we’re back in Victory Lane.” Needless to say that was an incredible race and kick-off to the 2012 season. If that race has anything to say about this season we’ll have our best season yet.

The 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup season is nearly upon us and I feel a vibe in the air
that says this will be a special season. That vibe is coming from all fronts:
fans, media, drivers, crews, and to a lesser extent from sponsors. Many die-hard fans will say every season is special, and I agree, but 2012 beckons to be one for the record books. Oh damn, trapped myself again, all seasons go in the record books. So what makes me think 2012 will be a great year? What could possibly make it better than 2011, which most fans will agree was an awesome season?

It’s really a mix of changes NASCAR has made to the cars at restrictor plate tracks, changes in drivers and crew at many teams, and the fact that the racing is as close as it has ever been. Top that off with the fact that fans can watch the race live on TV, listen to it on the radio, watch in-car video and race video on their computer, get updates and other fan’s opinions on social media sites and many blogs, and get most of this on their smart phone as well (especially Sprint phones), and you have complete NASCAR immersion on race day!

How about NASCAR’s changes? They (and the fans) have mostly focused on changes
at the restrictor plate races, Daytona and Talladega. We all know all Cup cars
have moved to fuel injection this year, and that has so far been a non-issue. It
WILL make the news this year, but so far it is not big news. The fuel injected
cars will still have restrictor plates at Daytona and Talladega and the end
results will be similar to the carburetor engines.

The big changes have been a smaller rear spoiler, smaller radiator, and
re-located air-intake for the radiator on restrictor plate tracks. The jury is still out on whether or not the fans will like these changes or not. We could see pack racing again, which seems to be NASCAR’s goal, or more likely we will see some pack racing with the contenders still tandem-drafting. Either way, some fans will complain, yet most fans will still love the excitement that streams from Daytona and Talladega when the Cup cars tackle their high banks at roughly 200mph. The mere fact that we expect these races to be highly different from any year prior is what makes them intriguing.
Some teams have sure been shaken up, which happens every year, but there are some very notable changes for 2012 that have sweetened the pot of expectation. Many would say the biggest change is Kasey Kahne moving to Hendrick Motorsports, driving the #5. Kahne had a stellar finish to 2011 for Red Bull Racing, which closed its’ doors following last season. Now in top-notch equipment expectations are that Kasey will be a force to be reckoned with this year. A slightly less reported change, but one that may have similar results, is A.J. Allmendinger moving to Penske Racing, taking over the 22 Shell-Penzioil Dodge that Kurt Busch drove last year. Penske also has excellent equipment and personnel, so look for ‘dinger to shine this year. A potential boost to Allmendinger’s confidence is his recent overall win in the Rolex 24 at Daytona driving for Michael Shank Racing. A.J. was one of four drivers on the team that pulled off the win in the Daytona Prototype class, the premier class of the event. I would expect both Kasey and A.J. to make the Chase and possibly contend for the Cup this season.
Speaking of Kurt Busch, the former Cup Champion now finds himself piloting the #51 Chevy for Phoenix Racing. After a rocky season with Penske last year, Busch chose to drive for a smaller team, hoping that will “make racing fun again.” Don’t let “smaller team” fool you though, Phoenix Racing gets its’ chassis and engines from Hendrick, so Kurt will be in good equipment. It’s anyone’s guess if Kurt will find the “fun” he is looking for, but it’s certainly a team to watch in 2012.
Another notable driver change is Aric Almirola taking over the #43 Richard Petty Motorsports car that Allmendinger drove last season. Almirola raced the #88 for JR Motorsports in the Nationwide series last season, earning 7 top fives and finishing  4th in points. Getting a full-time ride in “The King’s car” is a huge boost to Aric’s career. Mighty big shoes to fill, hopefully he delivers.
There’s also a pretty famous female driver that will run 10 Cup races in the #10 Chevy. Due to overwhelming requests, I shall omit her name from this story. But never fear, you will have non-stop media coverage of her this season.

Add in the other drivers that made the Chase in 2011 and 2012 has the potential to be stellar! Never count out Jimmie Johnson. JJ can flat wheel a car, and do so (usually) without wrecking. Tony Stewart pulled off one of the best finishes to a season ever seen! If he even comes close to his Chase run of 2011, watch out everyone! Carl Edwards. Great season, but couldn’t pull it off in the end. Tied Tony’s points, lost the Championship due to Smoke having more wins. That’s a lesson he will never forget. Fans want to see Carl challenge again in 2012, but will he? Denny Hamlin was the presumed Champion in 2010 and let it slip away, then had a sub-par year in 2011. Will Carl suffer the same fate? Odds say no, but we thought that about Hamlin too.

Look for Kevin Harvick to be a major player again this year. He finished 3rd in points the last two seasons, had 4 wins last year, and is very hungry. RCR is long overdue for a Championship and Kevin is the driver that can deliver it to them. And then there is Matt Kenseth. The lead Roush-Fenway driver, 3 wins last season, 4th overall in points, he can deliver. Roush-Fenway is also way overdue for a Championship. Brad Keselowski is another one to watch this year. 3 wins last year and a 5th place finish put him in pretty elite company. The consensus is he will get better, look for him to make headlines. Don’t forget Jeff Gordon, 3-time Champ, won 3 races in 2011 so obviously he still has the skill to contend. He might be the next dark horse, like Stewart was last season..

While many other drivers deserve consideration for contenders, I will end with two that are wild cards. Dale Jr finished 7th in points last season without any wins. Kyle Busch finished 12th with 4 wins. That tells you a lot about how competitive NASCAR is and how consistency matters. Jr is due for a win, and if that happens this year his fans will go nuts. If he pulls off multiple wins… back to reality. On to Kyle, the guy drives hard, wins races, and has never won a Championship. He “could” win in any year. Yet he keeps dropping the ball. Kyle fails when the Chase rolls around.

All that being said, I’m not a fortune-teller but I can say with some certainty that the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup season will be awesome. Boys and girl have at it!