It's February which means that the 2012 Daytona 500 can't be far away. If you haven't been glued to the NASCAR news during the offseason you may have missed some of the changes for the 2012 NASCAR season.
Here is a crash course to get you ready for the 2012 NASCAR season which will kick off with the Budweiser Shootout on February 18th.
What You Need To Know About 2012 originally appeared on About.com NASCAR Racing on Thursday, February 2nd, 2012 at 09:19:20.
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The Bloomberg/Businessweek 2012 Power 100 ranking of the most powerful professional athletes in the U.S. was recently released and six NASCAR drivers made the list. This year they considered over 3,000 athletes, taking into account their on-field performance and their off-field name recognition, to determine the 100 most powerful American athletes.
The NFL tops the list with quarterbacks Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady sweeping the top three spots while only six motorsports figures made the list this year and all six come from NASCAR.
#22 - Dale Earnhardt Jr.
#29 - Jeff Gordon
#37 - Jimmie Johnson
#60 - Tony Stewart
#62 - Carl Edwards
#92 - Kevin Harvick
The list seems reasonable to me from the NASCAR perspective. It is clear from this list that off-track name recognition clearly trumps on track performance in terms of weighting or Junior would not be the highest ranked NASCAR driver.
Six Drivers Make Power 100 List originally appeared on About.com NASCAR Racing on Tuesday, January 31st, 2012 at 22:31:09.
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The Rolex 24 at Daytona is a 24 hour endurance race for the Grand-Am series and one of the biggest sports car races in America. This race brings out all of the biggest names in American motorsports to mingle with the road racing elite. This year, like most years, the 50th anniversary field is peppered with NASCAR drivers.
The overall winner of the race driving a Ford in the Daytona Prototype class was NASCAR's own A.J. Allmendinger. Allmendinger teamed with Ozz Negri, John Pew and Justin Wilson to bring home the win. Allmendinger himself drove the final leg to take the checkered flag.
In the GT class 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year Andy Lally teamed with John Potter, Richard Lietz and Rene Rast in a Porsche to beat the rest of GT class to the checkered flag.
Congratulations to A.J. Allmendinger and Andy Lally on some of the biggest victories of their young racing careers. I love to see NASCAR well represented in other forms of motorsports.
NASCAR Drivers Sweep 24 Hours of Daytona originally appeared on About.com NASCAR Racing on Sunday, January 29th, 2012 at 15:39:14.
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A quick look at the drivers scheduled to compete in the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup series reveals one unusual fact. There are no drivers currently scheduled to compete for the Rookie of the Year title.
Rookies have been rare in recent Sprint Cup seasons. Two started 2010 with only one able to complete more than 3 races. Just one rookie scored rookie points in 2011 and now zero are going to get a shot in 2012.
Where have all the rookies gone?
Where Have All The Rookies Gone? originally appeared on About.com NASCAR Racing on Thursday, January 26th, 2012 at 10:04:36.
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Ford recently gave consumers a preview of the street version of the redesigned 2013 Ford Fusion. For only the third time in history Ford revealed the NASCAR Sprint Cup version of the car at the same time.
According to NASCAR.com Ford designers wanted to bring brand identity back to the sport making the grill identifiable, adding brand cues to the sides of the car and making the Sprint Cup version of the car more closely match the proportions of the street car.
I have to admit that I like the look of the new NASCAR Fusion and I'm looking forward to seeing it on the track for the 2013 Daytona 500.
2013 NASCAR Ford Fusion originally appeared on About.com NASCAR Racing on Thursday, January 26th, 2012 at 01:03:31.
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During the NASCAR Sprint Cup season there is one constant in Victory Lane. Week in and week out Miss Sprint Cup is standing beside the winning driver while he gives his interview to the national television audience.
Who is Miss Sprint Cup? How did she get that job? Is that all she does? Here are the answers to your questions about one of the sport's most recognizable jobs.
Who is Miss Sprint Cup? originally appeared on About.com NASCAR Racing on Tuesday, January 24th, 2012 at 01:55:22.
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I recently had the chance to read The Great Book of NASCAR Lists by John Roberts. This book is an entertaining collection of facts, opinions and anecdotes which are guaranteed to serve as conversation starters among NASCAR fans.
Roberts is better known to NASCAR fans as the host of NASCAR Raceday and NASCAR Victory Lane on SPEED. Here he has assembled a fun book which is easy to pick up and read from any point. The facts are interesting, the opinions are arguable and the various stories about the personalities involved in NASCAR keep the book lighthearted from beginning to end.
The Great Book of NASCAR Lists originally appeared on About.com NASCAR Racing on Thursday, January 19th, 2012 at 09:45:21.
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Last week's Preseason Thunder test sessions at Daytona saw speeds well in excess of 200 MPH as teams started to prepare for next month's 2012 Daytona 500. According to the official time sheets posted at NASCAR.com Kurt Busch posted the fasted single lap of all six sessions with a 206.058 MPH speed.
This is a bit quicker than NASCAR normally likes to see. They typically shoot for speeds in the 190s. It will be interesting to see if NASCAR makes changes to the size of the holes in the restrictor plates or any other changes to slow the cars a bit between now and the start of Speedweeks.
Daytona Test Speeds Top 206MPH originally appeared on About.com NASCAR Racing on Wednesday, January 18th, 2012 at 22:55:51.
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