Jimmie Johnson: “I think it’s more of an attempt to make our points system easier to understand. I don’t think that it would be a huge change from the thought that I’ve put into it so far. I don’t see it being a big thing. I know people expect me to react and think, oh, they’ve got to leave it alone, don’t change it. I don’t care what races are in the Chase, the format to win the championship; I could care less because I feel confident that my team will be able to win championships under any set of circumstances. We’ll wait until the announcement when and if it comes and kind of take it from there.”

Tony Stewart: “Honestly I’ve kind of been one of those guys it didn’t really bother me when they changed it the first time, and if they change it again, it really won’t matter to me. As long as we all start the year and we understand what the point structure is and how you get the points, then you race accordingly. But it’s still going to be on a situation where if you win races the points take care of itself, and as long as it’s not a deal where you ever get in a situation where running 30th pays more points than winning then it shouldn’t really change how you race, it’s just you know if it’s a 36 week deal that leads into a championship or a ten week deal, you know how to prepare for it. So it’s just knowing what the system is so you know how to prepare for those events.”

Carl Edwards: “I am not sure what the final decision is yet, but if it makes it similar, for instance if I am running 12th or something I don’t even know how many points that is worth and I have been doing this long enough that I should know. So if it makes it simpler for the competitors and the fans to follow along and understand, then I think it is a good move. We all race so hard for the wins so whatever points system it is, we are going to race hard.”

David Ragan: “I think that has been long overdue. I think the points system has been confusing not only for the fans but the drivers and the teams. I think that simplifying it is a good thing. I think you still need to reward the winner a few more points than the second and third place guy. If you get those points too close together, it takes a little of the fame of winning out and getting those extra bonus points. I am sure NASCAR will make the right decision. They are in the right ballpark with the figures. I think it is very understandable that 43 to 1 point meaning first to last makes sense. As long as we get bonus points for leading laps and winning the race, I think it will be a good move.”

Kevin Harvick: “For me, and this is just putting it into perspective, as you look at I got done with the season last year, and I got a text from Joe Girardi, he says, ‘Hey, man, great year, good job; I don’t understand how you can have the best year and not win. I don’t understand your points system.’ And for me, I think if you look at the new point system, I think it’s easy to understand. And those are the people that need to understand it are the people who aren’t here every week, live it, breathe it, and really understand how the sport works. It’s the casual fan that we need to recapture and make it exciting and easily understandable. So however that point system works out, I want it to be easy to understand for those types of people.”

Rain Wipes Out Morning Practice Session
NASCAR President Mike Helton Leads 2011 Competition Update Session

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 21, 2011) — Jet dryers, not stock cars, steamed across Daytona International Speedway all Friday morning, beating back moisture from overnight storms.
But NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams roared to life early in the afternoon, hitting the track for the second day of Preseason Thunder at Daytona – a three-day series test in preparation for the 53rd Daytona 500 on Sunday, Feb. 20.
While the action heated up late on-track, plenty preceded it. Several drivers visited Daytona’s infield media center during the morning delay, followed by NASCAR President Mike Helton, Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton and Managing Director of Competition John Darby, who participated in an update session during Friday’s scheduled lunch break.
Among the topics: Helton confirmed that drivers now have the opportunity to pick the national series where they want to contend for a championship.
Expect drivers to continue to compete in all three national series, he said, but declaring a championship stake in one series means broadening opportunities for future stars.
“The hope for this is…there is a level of focus and a level of exposure offered to younger drivers who have personalities that deserve to get attention and be developed along the way [in the NASCAR Nationwide and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series],” Helton said.
Possible changes to the NASCAR points system also were a discussion topic. Helton said it’s an ongoing process, but an enjoyable one.
“The main goal is to get one that’s just easier to understand and simpler, but you have to do that with credibility around the championship,” he said. “And we’re getting a lot of great input from the drivers about the tweaks that would go along with something like that, so it’s actually been fun to work on.”
Even more fun, Helton added, is participating in all the discussions.
“This is the 53rd-annual Daytona 500,” he said, “but after 30-some years in this business, I still get excited to pull inside this tunnel, and walking through the garage area and talking to the guys in the meetings, the owners and the drivers in particular and, quite frankly, a group of drivers that represent NASCAR’s future. There’s still a high level of energy and enthusiasm to get the season started but more importantly to do it in Daytona in the Speedweeks environment.”
Others are just as eager. Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet), who finished third in the 2010 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, said he’s ready to climb two more rungs in the final standings.
“The biggest thing is it’s all about winning a championship at this point, nothing else,” he said. “Nothing else is good enough at this particular point in time. So it’s great to have a good year, and we had a good year last year, but in the end it’s all about taking home the one trophy that we don’t have, and that’s the championship trophy.”
Harvick knows how to win championships – he has two NASCAR Nationwide Series titles to his credit, as well as the 2007 Daytona 500 win. He’d gladly take another of the latter.
“It’s just our biggest race and it leads off the year and the anticipation coming into the Daytona 500 every year is bigger than any other race times ten,” Harvick said. “So from a driver’s standpoint, there’s nothing like rolling to the green flag at the Daytona 500 because you have a whole winter of anticipation, you have your shiniest, best new car, everybody has got everything brand new and it’s the best that anybody will be prepared for the whole season.”
At the other end of the spectrum is Steve Wallace, son of 1989 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Rusty Wallace. The younger Wallace is entering his fifth season as a full-time NASCAR Nationwide Series competitor for Rusty Wallace Racing, and thanks to a points agreement between his father and Penske Racing owner Roger Penske, Steve Wallace will become the second generation of his family to participate in the Daytona 500.
He’ll make his series debut in this year’s traditional season-opener.
“This is the Daytona 500,” Steve Wallace said. “I’m a rookie at this. This is my first race. I’m not coming down here to win the race. I’m coming down here to have a strong finish, run good, get some respect, don’t crash the car. Finish the race. If we can do that, I feel like we’ll have a shot at it.”

Day 2 PM – Drafting Practice

Daytona Intl Speedway – 2.500

1/21/2011

Make

1 11 Denny Hamlin Tyt 45.716 196.868

2 14 Tony Stewart Chv 45.719 196.855

3 20 Joey Logano Tyt 45.757 196.691

4 2 Brad Keselowski Dge 45.873 196.194

5 31 Jeff Burton Chv 45.954 195.848

6 83 Brian Vickers Tyt 45.955 195.844

7 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chv 46.037 195.495

8 48 Jimmie Johnson Chv 46.037 195.495

9 18 Kyle Busch Tyt 46.054 195.423

10 4 Kasey Kahne Tyt 46.170 194.932

11 77 Steve Wallace Tyt 46.468 193.682

12 33 Clint Bowyer Chv 48.583 185.250

13 1 Jamie McMurray Chv 48.946 183.876

14 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Chv 48.953 183.850

15 24 Jeff Gordon Chv 49.125 183.206

16 5 Mark Martin Chv 49.230 182.815

17 39 Ryan Newman Chv 49.377 182.271

18 27 Paul Menard Chv 49.392 182.216

19 16 Greg Biffle Frd 49.409 182.153

20 99 Carl Edwards Frd 49.520 181.745

21 21 Trevor Bayne Frd 49.573 181.550

22 9 Marcos Ambros Frd 49.575 181.543

23 22 Kurt Busch Dge 49.590 181.488

24 29 Kevin Harvick Chv 49.597 181.463

25 43 AJ Allmendinger Frd 49.661 181.229

26 09 Bill Elliott Chv 49.698 181.094

27 00 David Reutimann Tyt 49.743 180.930

28 6 David Ragan Frd 49.768 180.839

29 60 Todd Bodine Tyt 49.790 180.759

30 17 Matt Kenseth Frd 49.854 180.527

31 56 Martin Truex Jr. Tyt 49.894 180.382

32 78 Regan Smith Chv 49.900 180.361

33 36 Dave Blaney Chv 49.925 180.270

34 13 Casey Mears Tyt 50.241 179.137

Drivers Laud New Asphalt Surface, Predict Exciting 53rd Daytona 500
Clint Bowyer Fastest In Morning Session (184.219 mph, 48.855 seconds)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 20, 2011) — Blue skies, warm air. Cars on the race track.
That’s how the 2011 edition of NASCAR Preseason Thunder at Daytona kicked off Thursday at Daytona International Speedway, the first of a three-day NASCAR Sprint Cup Series test.
At stake are preparations for the 53rd Daytona 500 on Sunday, Feb. 20 and important data-gathering on the track’s brand-new asphalt surface.
And – oh yeah – anticipation.
“It’s going to be wild,” said Martin Truex Jr. (No. 56 NAPA Toyota) of the Daytona 500, the series’ traditional season opener. “It’s going to be fun. I love racing here. Here and Talladega (Superspeedway) are some of the (most fun) races for us as drivers until you get in a wreck, and then you’re just pissed off, and you’re pissed off until you come back and hoping to finish the next one.”
History wasn’t lost on drivers who turned the year’s first official laps.
Last year’s repave – only the second at 2.5-mile Daytona and the first since 1978 – began after the NASCAR Sprint Cup event on July 3 and ended in early December. During a Dec. 15-16 Goodyear tire test open to all series teams, those attending validated Goodyear’s compound selection for the Daytona 500.
“I thought the neatest part was they sent us a piece of the old racetrack,” said Carl Edwards (No. 99 Aflac Ford), who, like Truex, visited Daytona’s infield media center during Thursday’s lunch break. “That’s pretty cool to get in the mail. To think of everything that happened on that old pavement and to have a piece of that at home was really special.
“It’s definitely a new day, and the paving job is as beautiful and perfect as it could be.”
Aside from first laps on new asphalt, Thursday also marked the first day of at-track work for new crews, new team members and new personnel combinations. Also, the getting-to-know-you process with several technical changes: NASCAR Sprint Cup cars are sporting a reconfigure splitter and will use Sunoco Green E15 fuel in 2011.
“The sport is so competitive that it’s not just about seeing how fast your car is now,” said Tony Stewart (No. 14 Office Depot Chevrolet). “It’s trying to figure out the strategies and techniques we have to use as drivers with the bump drafting and playing the chess game to figure out where you’ve got to be at the right time.”
Even after only a few hours, some of those learning processes were underway.
“You want to try to improve on your fuel mileage because I think you’re going to see a lot of fuel-only-type pit stops,” said Kurt Busch (No. 2 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge). “So you just have to try to bank as many thoughts as you can in your mind about how you’re going to react and apply those.”
Five-time and reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet) remains the man the rest of the field pursues.
On Thursday, he said he intends to continue in that role.
“I think that last year we learned a lot more about ourselves and kind of validated our core beliefs and stuck to what the 48 team is known for,” Johnson said. ”And what we believe in and were still able to overcome a lot of adversity and win a championship. I feel like we’ll be stronger and better, but we just don’t know until we get into the meat of the season and the first goal is obviously to make the Chase and from there figure out how to win again.”
Johnson’s closest pursuer from 2010 – series runner-up Denny Hamlin (No. 11 FedEx Toyota) – has his championship checklist for 2011. Better qualifying results is at or near the top.
“I can’t start dead last every single week like we did last season,” Hamlin said. “Those are things that are going to help us finish better and obviously give us better chances to win more races.”
He also cited his first five series seasons as an encouraging precedent.
“Obviously there’s only one more spot to go,” Hamlin added, “but I feel like we’ve done a really, really good job over the last three or four years learning from the mistakes that we’ve made and not repeating them over again.”
Thursday’s final media center visitor was 2004 Daytona 500 champion Dale Earnhardt Jr., (No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet), who begins 2011 hoping to regain Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup eligibility with new crew chief Steve Letarte.
“I was joking with somebody in the truck earlier,” Earnhardt said. “I was sitting in a seat up in the lounge, and they asked me if that was going to be my seat, and I told them I’m not exactly sure where my seat is yet, it’s sort of floating around. That’s the way I feel about my team. Everybody is still learning; the guys are still learning who does what, what their personalities are.
“It’s been fun getting to know Steve more. He’s got a great personality, a lot of energy, and hopefully I can depend on that energy in certain times throughout certain races.”

Day 1 PM – Drafting Practice

Daytona Intl Speedway – 2.500

1/20/2011

1 00 David Reutimann Tyt 45.970 195.780

2 56 Martin Truex Jr. Tyt 45.971 195.776

3 83 Brian Vickers Tyt 46.312 194.334

4 4 Kasey Kahne Tyt 46.312 194.334

5 14 Tony Stewart Chv 48.165 186.858

6 24 Jeff Gordon Chv 48.744 184.638

7 33 Clint Bowyer Chv 48.923 183.963

8 1 Jamie McMurray Chv 48.937 183.910

9 18 Kyle Busch Tyt 49.031 183.557

10 99 Carl Edwards Frd 49.043 183.512

11 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Chv 49.053 183.475

12 20 Joey Logano Tyt 49.087 183.348

13 11 Denny Hamlin Tyt 49.132 183.180

14 5 Mark Martin Chv 49.140 183.150

15 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chv 49.177 183.012

16 2 Brad Keselowski Dge 49.264 182.689

17 78 Regan Smith Chv 49.268 182.674

18 29 Kevin Harvick Chv 49.298 182.563

19 9 Marcos Ambrose Frd 49.305 182.537

20 22 Kurt Busch Dge 49.306 182.534

21 31 Jeff Burton Chv 49.340 182.408

22 27 Paul Menard Chv 49.352 182.363

23 16 Greg Biffle Frd 49.370 182.297

24 39 Ryan Newman Chv 49.410 182.149

25 21 Trevor Bayne Frd 49.424 182.098

26 60 Todd Bodine Tyt 49.519 181.748

27 6 David Ragan Frd 49.590 181.488

28 09 Bill Elliott Chv 49.620 181.378

29 43 AJ Allmendinger Frd 49.687 181.134

30 48 Jimmie Johnson Chv 49.706 181.065

31 36 Dave Blaney Chv 49.739 180.945

32 17 Matt Kenseth Frd 49.752 180.897

33 13 Casey Mears Tyt 49.874 180.455

34 77 Steve Wallace Tyt 50.036 179.870