1/4/04…….. The 2004 rookie class for 2004 shouldn’t be a disappointing one. Last season we had a ho-hum rookie competition between Greg Biffle and Jamie McMurray, with McMurray taking the prize, mainly because of Biffle’s and Roush Racing’s bad luck. Neither driver set the track on fire or even came close to setting any NASCAR records. McMurray ended up with 320 points as opposed to Biffle’s 283.

McMurray finished the season with 5 top five finishes, 12 top ten finishes, one pole starting position, and 13th in driver’s points with no wins. Biffle finished his season with 3 top five finishes, 5 top ten finishes, 2 second place starting positions, and 20th in driver’s points with one win in the rained out Pepsi 400 at Daytona.

The battle for third place was actually a lot more appealing, with Tony Raines finally winning the spot with 239 points as opposed to Casey Mears who ended up in fourth place with 238 points. Jack Sprague, who lost his ride toward the end of the season, ended up with 183 points in the fifth position, while the hapless Larry Foyt brought up the rear of the competition with a paltry 176 points.

Hopefully, the rookie competition between the 2004 class members will be a little more exciting. Scott Wimmer is one of the stand-outs of the new rookie class, moving up from Bill Davis Racing’s (BDR) No. 23 Stacker II Chevrolet in the Busch Series to BDR’s No. 22 Dodge previously driven by Ward Burton.

Wimmer was a big standout in the 2002 Busch Series campaign, winning four of the season’s last eight races and finishing third in the driver’s standings with 11 top five finishes and 17 top ten finishes. In the 2003 Busch Series standings Wimmer scored 4 top five finishes, 12 top ten finishes, and finished 9th in the driver’s standings with one win.

Scott Riggs, another Busch Series standout also has some impressive stats in the series. Riggs drove the No. 10 Nestles Ford for PPC Racing and is moving up to the Cup Series replacing Johnny Benson in the MBV Valvoline Motorsports No. 10 Valvoline Chevrolet. In the 2002 Busch Series, Riggs scored 8 top five finishes (mostly in the first half of the season), 13 top ten finishes. And two wins finishing 10th in the driver’s point’s standings. In the 2003 Busch Series standings Riggs scored 11 top five finishes, 17 top ten finishes, and 2 wins finishing 6th in the driver’s point’s standings.

Johnny Sauter is another 2004 Cup rookie candidate that came up through the Busch Series. Sauter drove the No 2 AC Delco Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing (RCR) for 33 starts in 2002. He will be piloting the No. 30 AOL Chevrolet for RCR in the 2004 Cup Series. In the 2002 Busch Series campaign, Sauter ended up with 3 top five finishes, six top ten finishes, with 1 win finishing 15th in the driver’s point’s standings. In 2003 he was one of the main drivers of the No. 29 PayDay Chevrolet for RCR with 6 top five finishes, 14 top ten finishes, with one win finishing 8th in the driver’s point’s standings. Sauter and co-driver Kevin Harvick won the 2003 Busch Series Owners Championship for RCR.

Brian Vickers, another Busch Series standout, drove the No. 5 GMAC Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports in 2003. He had four runs in the Busch Series in 2001 and a few more in 2001, but was without any major success until he joined up with Hendrick in 2003. His 2003 stats include 13 top five finishes, 20 top ten finishes, with three wins and also finishing first in the driver’s point’s standings winning the Busch Series Championship. Vickers will drive the No. 25 GMAC Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports in the 2004 Cup series.

Kasey Kahne is the final Busch Series competitor moving up to the Cup Series. Kahne’s record in the Busch Series isn’t as impressive as some, but his racing experience as a USAC Silver Crown Champion far surpasses some of the other rookie candidates. Kahne will be replacing Bill Elliott in a full time ride with Evernham Motorsports piloting the No. 9 Dodge Dealers sponsored Dodge. Kahne drove the No. 98 Channellock Ford for Robert Yates Racing in the 2001 Busch Series for 20 starts without much success, with only one top ten finish. In 2003, Kahne drove the No. 38 Great Clips sponsored No. 38 Ford for Atkins Motorsports and did quite a lot better. He made all 34 races and finished the 2003 Busch Series season with 4 top five finishes, 14 top ten finishes, with 1 win finishing 7th in the driver’s point’s standings.

That completes the lineup for the 2004 rookie class, although there may be one or more entries before the Daytona 500 kicks off the new season. Penske Racing South is rumored to have bought into the No. 77 Jasper Motorsports team and it has also been rumored that Craftsman Truck Series standout Brendan Gaughan may be named as the driver of either the No. 77 or the No. 72 Dodge with Kodak sponsorship. Dave Blaney, former driver of the No. 77 may also be named as the driver. Time will undoubtedly tell if there is any substance to this rumor.

If Brendan Gaughan does enter into the rookie class, he’ll be the only one without much stock car experience, and although he has proven himself to be quite valuable in the Truck Series, he has a lot to learn about handling a Cup racecar.

1/11/04…….. The occasionally misguided powers that be at NASCAR have now publicly touted their plans to incorporate the so-called “playoff” championship system into the 2004 season. To begin with, I’ve found that the majority of fans in Cup racing don’t want the new system, they are just as happy with things the way they are.

NASCAR.com, with one of its polls dreamt up by its resident poll wizard, asked race fans: “How many points should a driver be within the leader to make the playoffs?” The poll was active for a few days, but didn’t draw a lot of attention, which leads one to believe that most of the fans didn’t even want to address the issue. Only a paltry 62.7k fans bothered to vote. The four answers offered were: 200, 400, 500, and 600 points. A whopping 34% or 21,038 fans voted for the 600 point spread. Surprisingly enough, the second place vote was 28% or 17,444 fans voted for the 200 point spread. That’s quite a split between the most and the least amount of points allowed a driver to make the playoffs. Third place went to the 500 point spread with 21% or 13,297 voting for that situation. The last vote was for the 400 point spread, getting 17% and a measly 10,882 points. Not very many voters and not a convincing result at all.

According to the would-be factual allusions by NASCAR’s communications man James Hunter, the points would be reset for the top ten drivers after the 26th points race of the 2004 season. The point’s leader at the time of the change would get a small lead when the points were reset. This may not set well this coming season if the leader is ahead by 500 points due to his hard driving and the tenacity of his team. The 500 point lead that he has earned will be taken away and he’ll only have a small lead going against the people he has been beating all season? No, it’s not right, not by anyone’s standards. If a driver has a 500 point lead or even a 200 or 300 point lead, he should be able to keep it. How does NASCAR feel it has a right to take away points from a driver who has earned them honestly by hard work and tenacity?

After the points have been reset for the championship playoff, the same points system that has been used during the season will be used to complete the playoffs. Not very good thinking if you ask me, NASCAR has really blown it again….. They plan to reset the top ten’s points way ahead of the rest of the field’s points so that one of the drivers who didn’t make the playoffs can’t win the championship by entering into a winning streak at the end of the season. Then, at the end of the season, NASCAR is planning to offer the drivers who just barely missed the playoffs a cash incentive for winning after the playoff field has been set. Ooooooookay, I wonder how they’re going to figure that one out?

Hunter went on to say that even though the fans and drivers were against the championship points change, it was good for the sport because it would make the TV viewing of the races more attractive in the fall against baseball and football. Once again TV is commanding the sport of auto racing, instead of portraying it. Hunter said it was up to NASCAR to educate the fans and drivers who thought the change was a mistake. How can NASCAR do any educating when it’s they who need the education as to how they are screwing up the sport of auto racing to make money for their elite. This is just another nail in the coffin of the sport of stock car racing, NASCAR style…….

It won’t be long now before the Bud Shootout brings us our first racing action of the 2004 season. The pre-season event is usually the most waited on event of any season, regardless of the restrictor plate race at Daytona that begins the new official point’s battle and ten month season of racing events. Yes, NASCAR touts the Daytona 500 as the Superbowl of racing, but we all know it’s just a lot of hype. The restrictor plate fiasco’s at Daytona and Talladega don’t really have much to do with actual stock car racing. Most of us tend to think that the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte, the now defunct Southern 500 from Darlington, and the latest addition of the Brickyard 400 as the most important races of any season. In the opinion of a lot of us, the first actual race begins with the Rockingham event, that’s racing!

At any rate, with the Shootout just around the corner, I have to comment on some of the would-be drivers that are. I’m sure we were all wondering about whether Boris Said was going to get a ride. Most of you know that he’s a “ringer” or “interloper” brought in from the sports car series to run the road races at The Glen and Infineon (Sonoma). Anyway, he won the pole last season at Infineon in the No. 01 Chevy for MB2 Motorsports and will be driving that entry in the Bud Shootout. He managed a couple of hours of practice during the testing sessions last week and is allowed even more testing because of a clause in NASCAR’s rules that allows a driver with limited experience to be tutored by a veteran driver without using up testing time that is allotted to each Cup team for the season.

One of NASCAR.com’s polls show that the majority of fans voting feel that Said won’t be much of a factor in the Shootout. Said has some experience at Talladega, but his Daytona experience is very limited and he needs all of the seat time he can get to figure out the drafting principals at a track which requires more driving skills than Talladega does because the driver has to do a lot more turning.

Another non-regular Cup entry in the Shootout will be Mike Skinner. Skinner washed out of the Cup Series and has been relegated back to the Craftsman Truck Series driving a Toyota Tundra for Bang Racing. He won the pole at Richmond this past fall for MB2 Motorsports and will be piloting the No. 10 Valvoline Chevy in the Shootout for the same team. Rookie Scott Riggs will be driving that entry during the regular season beginning with the Daytona 500. It’s been rumored that maybe Skinner will have a ride for the 500, but at this time nothing has been set in stone.

A third non-regular who is qualified for the Shootout is Steve Park. He won the pole at California in April with the No. 1 Pennzoil sponsored Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevy and also won the pole at Daytona in July with the No. 30 AOL sponsored Richard Childress Racings Chevy.

Park is contracted to drive the No. 62 Orleans Racings Dodge in the Craftsman Truck Series during the 2004 season, replacing Brendan Gaughan who is taking over the No. 77 ride as a rookie contender. The No. 77 team has switched to Dodge and has been bought into by Penske Racing South. At this time Park is still looking for a car to drive in the Shootout, but given his record in Cup , and the fact that he’s now involved with Dodge, it seems that it would have to be a Dodge team that would furnish him a ride, and there aren’t that many of them available. Maybe Evernham Motorsports? Who knows, we’ll keep a close eye on this situation. I’d like to see Park in the Shootout, he definitely has earned his spot by wining two poles, and he deserves a shot to drive in the race!

1/18/04…….. All of the negative media surrounding NASCAR these days has goaded them to take a defensive stance for a change. You don’t very often see the sanctioning body with its back against the wall. Brian France has declared that the new point’s system change will not resemble a “play-off” like it was first touted in order to arouse competition with baseball and football among TV viewers.

Lets face it folks, you’re going to watch what you want to watch, regardless of all of the hoopla. A perfect example is my son. He’s a diehard Earnhardt fan and a consummate Cup racing fan. But, he’s also a former football player and a coach on the pee-wee football leagues. When football season starts, and is on the TV the same time as racing, guess takes a back seat to football? It wouldn’t make any difference to him if NASCAR came up with “play-offs” or “play-ons,” he’s going to watch football and that’s that. This is how it is with lots of folks with lots of different sports. They are going to watch what they want to watch, regardless. “Who” might change what, but “what” isn’t going to change who! Did I say that right? Hmmmmm.

So now France is saying that he isn’t really saying anything. In other words, he addressed the media at Daytona this past Thursday and baffled them with the usual NASCAR doubletalk. “We’re going to do this and we’re going to do that, but we don’t know yet what we’re going to do.” The only constructive information that really came out of the press conference that was conclusive was the fact that France doesn’t want the new point’s system called a “play-off.” One other thing he mentioned that caught my eye was the admission the “We’re in the entertainment business.” What happened to the business of racing? I’ve been writing all along that racing is taking a back seat to entertainment, and now Brian France has stated that he’s putting NASCAR right up there opposite professional wrestling, trying to get a piece of the entertainment pie. An press conference is supposed to be held sometime on Tuesday, January 20th, concerning more developments in the new championship point’s system changes.

Entertainment or not, it’ll only be a couple of more weeks before we get to watch some racing action with the Bud Shootout on February 7th. The Shootout is on a Saturday night at 7:30 pm and will be televised by the TNT channel. Then the following Thursday, February 12th, some of us will be able to watch the Gatorade 125’s at 1 pm, also televised on the TNT channel. As most of you know, these two races will set the first two starting positions for the Daytona 500 which will be coming up on Sunday, February 15th on the NBC channel at noon eastern.

The tentative field listed at ”Jayski’s for the Shootout looks something like this:

• #01 Boris Said
• #2-Rusty Wallace
• #5-Terry Labonte
• #6-Mark Martin
• #8-Dale Earnhardt Jr.
• #9-Bill Elliott
• #10-Mike Skinner
• #12-Ryan Newman
• #18-Bobby Labonte
• #19-Jeremy Mayfield
• #20-Tony Stewart
• #23-Dave Blaney
• #24-Jeff Gordon
• #29-Kevin Harvick
• #38-Elliott Sadler
• #42-Jamie McMurray
• #43-Jeff Green
• #48-Jimmie Johnson
• #49-Ken Schrader
• #88-Dale Jarrett

There isn’t any word yet on whether Geoff Bodine of Steve Park will be among the Shootout entries. Both drivers are eligible, but have failed to line up a ride, and the time appears to be running out. Bodine is eligible by winning the event in 1992 when it was known as the Busch Clash, and Park won poles during the 2003 season at California and Daytona in the No. 1 DEI Pennzoil Chevrolet and the No. 30 Richard Childress Racing’s AOL Chevrolet. You’ll find up to date 2004 Bud Shootout news at Jayski’s.

1/25/04…….. It’s Official! Like it or not, the new point’s system for the Cup championship is now in the books. Although it appears that most fans, drivers, teams, and whoever, don’t care for the change in the points system, INCLUDING YOURS TRULY, there are some positive aspects to it.

Yes, I realize that it’s not like me of late to be searching out the positive aspects of anything NASCAR is doing, but being constantly negative is tiresome and depressing.

From what I’ve heard from people discussing the change, the major asset will hopefully be the elimination of “sandbagging.” What I mean by sandbagging is when a driver holds back his aggressiveness during a race in order to protect his point’s lead. Lost of folks seem to feel that Matt Kenseth could probably have won a couple of more races last season if he hadn’t been laying back, playing it smart to protect his championship chances.

With the points being reset at the end of the 26th race of the season, an ominous points lead won’t do a driver much good, even if he’s in the lead, he’ll only end up with a five point lead going into the final ten race battle for the Cup crown. A driver will be more inclined to win races, garnering more points to keep him in the top ten or within 400 points of the leader.

Instead of calling it a play-off, they’ve dubbed it “The chase for the championship.” After the 26th race, the leader will be awarded 5,050 points, with the remaining drivers eligible for the chase being awarded points in five point increments down from the leader.

The drivers not involved in the championship chase will keep the points that they have earned to that point in the season. The eleventh place driver at the end of the hunt will be awarded a bonus of $250k for his efforts. The champion will be guaranteed a minimum of $5 million dollars while the other drivers in the top ten chase will be guaranteed a minimum of $1 million dollars each.

A couple of other changes, one that adjoins the new point’s system change, is that the winning driver of a race will be awarded an additional five points. The other change that will have quite an impact on the field is that the first 38 drivers will qualify on their time instead of the first 36, as was previously the case. This means that the number of provisional starts used at each race will be reduced to five instead of seven. Actually, in some cases there will really only be four provisional starts because the last one, the 43rd position, is usually reserved for a former champion who didn’t make the race on his time. If there isn’t a former champion available to use the provisional, the 43rd position is awarded as a regular provisional start.

There have also been changes in the provisional eligibility for new team owners and teams that aren’t among the top 45 in the owner’s points standings. The entries owned by these teams are ineligible for provisional starts until their entry attempts to qualify at four events. At that time, the owner will receive two provisionals with more being available after attempting to qualify for six events, with a season total of eight provisional starts. Previously, new car owners and owners outside of the top 45 in owner’s points received four provisionals after the first attempt at qualifying for an event.

Owners who were rated in the top 45 in championship points for the previous season will now start the season off with four provisional starts, and will earn another after six qualifying attempts, with a season total of ten provisional starts instead of the previous allotted number of eight. Any time an owner’s team uses a provisional it will be charged to him. Previously, an owner in the top 25 wasn’t charged with using a provisional, but that’s changed for 2004. Also new for 2004, if the entries to an event are equal to or less than the allotted number of 43 starters, provisionals assigned to fill starting positions 39 thru 43 will not count toward the maximum season allotment.

Putting a little more pressure on those newer teams who are known to commonly rely on provisional starts to make a race is a good thing. More emphasis needs to be allotted toward making the events during the qualifying attempts, and not relying to fall back on a provisional start. When the one engine rule went into effect a couple of seasons ago, teams started to abuse the provisional starting system more than usual, by not pushing their engines enough to make the field on time, knowing they had a provisional start to fall back on. This move by NASCAR is a positive step to get things back on an equal competitive track for the new or lesser teams, while allowing a safety net to remain intact for the veteran teams who might be having a bad weekend and need a break to get into the race.

In another positive move, NASCAR has hired an Emergency Medical Technician. Although the EMT won’t actually be a “hands on” addition to the safety response team, the hiring of the technician for overseeing and monitoring the care given to drivers and crewmen is a definite step in the right direction.

The sanctioning body has been under the gun for several seasons for not having their own safety response team, as do the majority of other racing series. NASCAR relies on local safety personnel in the area where each track is located. This has worked pretty well for the most part, with the exception being some of the venues in rural areas where the safety personnel aren’t professionals, but local volunteers who lack the training and experience of the professionals.

A case in point of this lack was proven beyond any reason of doubt when Ryan Newman’s car ended up in a position after a wreck at Watkins Glen last season. The car had to be righted before the driver could make his exit from the vehicle. Safety personnel who responded to the scene didn’t know what to do to get the driver out. Newman had to tell them to flip the car over so he could get out of his driver’s side window. If Newman had been hurt and unconscious there would have been a major problem. If the car had been engulfed in flames, Newman would have perished because the safety crew didn’t know their job. There’s lots of “ifs” there, but we all know how lucky Ryan Newman was in that instance.