SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2007
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THE TUSCALOOSA NEWS
5C
DAYTONA 500I
All revved up
Your final Top 10 last year: Jmmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Jeff Burton, Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin and Kyle Busch.
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Gordon is set to become a father for the first time in early July. He married supermodel Ingrid Vandebosch in November.
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Johnson is coming back from a most bizarre injury. He fell after climbing onto a moving golf cart and broke his wrist on Dec. 8.
“Dale” is a new movie coming out about Dale Earnhardt Sr. Which means there are more movies about the late racing legend than Al Gore.
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There’s a new kid in town: Jeffrey Earnhardt, the 17-yearold grandson of Dale Sr., just signed a longterm deal with Dale Earnhardt Inc. No word on when he hits the big time. It might depend on whether Junior is still with DEI.
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One of TNT’s analysts will be active driver Kyle Petty, who will help call the June 24 race at Infineon Raceway in California from — gulp — inside his No. 45 Dodge Charger. Why? It’s one of his favorite tracks and he doesn’t want to miss the race.
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California is the real NASCAR home, with eight of the regular Nextel Cup drivers hailing from the Golden State. Next is Virginia, with six, then North Carolina, five.
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The last rookie to watch is Toyota. The Japanese automaker is No. 2 in the real world, but is making its first appearance on the major leftturn circuit with a handful of drivers. Cheating scandal aside, this is not your father’s Camry — or yours.
Nice-guy Tony Stewart, who finished 11th last season, isn’t waiting for NASCAR to fund a pension plan for current or former drivers; he has been known to give money to friends who fall on hard times.
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“It’s not about keeping score,” Stewart said. “To me, it’s just doing what’s right.”
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One of the most heralded rookies in a long time is not really a rookie. Juan Pablo Montoya, 31, comes to stock-car racing from Formula One, where he has seven career victories.
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Here are 25 reasons why fans should be excited about the Daytona 500
Casey Mears is taking a page out of Jimmie Johnson’s book — literally. He just hired someone from JJ’s crew, Darian Grubb. Grubb coached Johnson to victory in last year’s Daytona 500 when Johnson’s regular chief, Chad Knaus, was suspended.
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Greg Biffle, meanwhile, suffered a wreck a day earlier while testing a car at Las Vegas Speedway. He was briefly knocked unconscious and dislocated his right shoulder when a tire deflated and sent him flying into the wall. Oh, and the car caught fire. Crazy way to make a living, eh?
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Biffle will change his (racing) stripes for one race — the Daytona 500 — when he drives the Double Stuf Oreo No. 26 Ford Fusion to coincide with a TV commercial that will air during the race. He’ll switch back to his regular No. 16, sponsored by (yawn) Ameriquest, for the rest of the season.
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FOX begins this year’s TV race coverage with the Daytona 500 and continues through the June 3 race at Dover, Del. TNT takes over for six races beginning at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway on June 10. ESPN will air seven Nextel Cup races beginning July 29 and will air Busch Series races throughout the season; it already has begun a half-hour series called “NASCAR Now” that runs six nights a week. ABC will air the final 11 Cup races, along with six Busch races.
Only seven drivers have won back-to-back titles, none since Jeff Gordon in 1997-98.
Auto racing on the radio: It’s not as weird as it sounds; just listen while thinking about your last trip to get down the shore. You’ll get the idea.
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NASCAR tweaked its Nextel Cup Chase for the Championship, expanding the field from 10 to 12. The points system was adjusted to give greater weight to wins, so someone must try to win the title and not merely try not to lose it.
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Montoya, who will drive the No. 42 Dodge Charger, previously drove for Chip Ganassi in U.S. openwheel racing. He won the CART championship and Rookie of the Year in 1999 and the Indianapolis 500 in 2000, on his first try.
All told, 21 states are represented among the regular drivers, along with one country outside the United States: Montoya’s Colombia.
New Jersey’s most famous auto racer, Martin Truex Jr., was charged during the offseason with disorderly intoxication. Among his more egregious alleged acts was urinating in a parking garage.
Another in the “Rookies to Watch” field is the Car of Tomorrow, a universal frame scheduled to debut at Bristol on March 25. The COT is supposed to be standardized in its safety aspects, including reinforcement on the driver’s side and an enlarged cockpit. Don’t worry; you still will be able to tell Junior’s Chevrolet Monte Carlo from Kahne’s Dodge Charger.
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The grayhaired set will miss Mark Martin, 48, who will race only a partial schedule in 2007.
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Ryan Newman has an engineering degree from Purdue University; hence the nickname “Rocketman.”
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Who says these guys are so tough? Newman has helped create “Pit Road Pets,” a book and Web site about NASCAR drivers and their furry friends. All proceeds help animals at a no-kill shelter in North Carolina.