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| Dale Earnhardt, Jr faded at the end of the 2008 season, but that didn't matter to his fans. He won the Chex Most Popular Driver award for the sixth consecutive year, according to NASCAR.com. |
Our View: "I've been fortunate enough to win this award now for the sixth time, and I can tell you it never gets old." Earnhardt Jr. said. "I've said it many times before that this award is special because it's the voice of the fans."
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| Aflac supplemental insurance is happy to have Carl Edwards as their driver, but they want to make sure he behaves himself, according to the Sporting News Wire Service. |
Our View: "Obviously, we're very protective of our brand," said Al Johnson, who oversees all advertising for the company. "We certainly don't want garage scuffles going on or things to happen..." Johnson was speaking at a trade show in New York.
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| Scott Speed will drive the No. 82 Red Bull Toyota in 2009—not the No. 84—and his crew chief will be Jimmy Elledge, according to SceneDaily.com. |
Our View: Speed showed glimpses of strength last year and finally put together a good run at Homestead, where he finished 16th. He still has a lot to learn, but there could be the making of a strong stock car racer in the brash Young Gun.
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| The No. 48 crew of Jimmie Johnson was the best overall team for the third straight year and won the Mechanix Wear Most Valuable Pit Crew Award. |
Our View: The award is given quarterly, and other winners in 2008 were Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne and Carl Edwards.
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| Chad McCumbee's schedule for 2009 with Petty Enterprises is entirely reliant on the team's ability to acquire sponsorship, according to the Sporting News Wire Service. He is under contract to run a second car for that organization. |
Our View: The impact for fantasy owners will not be very great. McCumbee made nine attempts in 2008, never cracked the top 15 and failed to make the show in his last attempt at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The bigger impact will be that Kyle Petty is left completely without a ride.
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| On Wednesday, Michael Waltrip Racing officially announced in a team press release that Rodney Childers would join the No. 00 team, which was speculated earlier in the week. |
Our View: MWR is becoming a force and fantasy owners should expect Reutimann to be one of the best dark horses next year.
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| Jamie McMurray will be reunited with Donnie Wingo next year at Roush-Fenway Racing, according to a team press release. |
Our View: McMurray and Wingo worked together at Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) for a number of seasons and should immediately rekindle their chemistry. The No. 26 ended the season with a ton of momentum, and this will keep it alive in 2009.
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| Brian France indicated that it is more like Kansas Speedway would receive a second Cup date in 2010 than that Kentucky Speedway would be allowed to move a date and host a race, according to SceneDaily.com. |
Our View: Kansas is owned by International Speedway Corporation (the France family also owns NASCAR), while Kentucky was recently purchased by Speedway Motorsports Inc. (a rival company owned by Bruton Smith.
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| SceneDaily.com is reporting that Rodney Childers will leave Elliott Sadler's Gillett-Evernham Motorsports No. 19 and land at Michael Waltrip Racing's No. 00 of David Reutimann. An announcement is expected later this week. |
Our View: This will further strengthen MWR—who has been on an upward swing already—and can only weaken Sadler.
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| Craig Goess has re-signed with Eddie Sharp Racing to run in the ARCA series, according to a team press release. This same team has fielded cars in recent seasons for Michael McDowell and Scott Speed . |
Our View: Goess is a completely new face. He competed in the Camping World East series last year, where he finished 16th in the standings with 12 starts that produced two top-10s.
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