Never before have we had as many questions as we do in 2013 regarding the racing we’ll see in the upcoming season. The Gen 6 car has changed everything around and those changes bring many questions as we head into the upcoming season. Questions that we still don’t have answers to. By mid-season, the Gen 6 car should show its true potential and we should be in knowledge of what kind of racing the car will bring. Even though we like this state of wonder that we’re in regarding the new car, we are as much eager as patient and want the 2013 season to get under way. Below, I propose three of the biggest wonders as we dive into a new season.
What will the Gen 6 Car Bring?
The biggest question of the off-season has been what will the Gen 6 car bring? Currently, we don’t know much except for the car looks amazing. The race cars representing street cars is a brilliant idea that will make all fans happy and these cars look absolutely amazing on the track. That’s about all we know regarding the car on the track heading into Daytona but, as time passes we should learn what else this car will bring.
Daytona testing gave us a tease of racing during the off-season and once the test concluded, we wanted to know more. A new draft style was introduced during testing but, is it really new? It’s about the same style as NASCAR had in the early 2000s and that style of drafting, brought many fans into the sport. Questions still float around regarding the racing on the restrictor plate tracks but, not as many due to the testing we witnessed in the off-season.
Short track racing is another big question with the Gen 6 car. What kind of racing will we see on the short-tracks? Will it be the same or possibly different? It will be interesting to see what kind of short track racing we’ll see this season.
Intermediate tracks also raise questions about the type of racing we’ll see. NASCAR said that the racing should be better on those tracks with the new cars. But, will it? It will be hard to make racing competitive on intermediate tracks because, frankly, the racing way of those tracks isn’t competitive all the time and to make it competitive, it could take major adjustments. By April, we will have seen racing on most of the different types of tracks and could have the answer to our question but, the first few weeks of the season will be quite interesting as we see what this new car has in store.
Can Penske Racing keep up their performance now with a new manufacturer in Ford?
2012 was a magical year for Penske Racing. Their first Cup championship and a bunch of reasons to celebrate made 2012 a phenomenal year. Going into 2013, a lot is changing at Penske Racing. Why change what has worked before? Penske Racing won the championship last season but, the major changes were schedule prior to the championship. Penske will be switching manufacturers from Dodge to Ford for 2013, in hopes that Ford will bring the team even more success. Ford has proven strong before but, they haven’t won a Cup championship since 2004.
Penske Racing also brought Joey Logano over to join Brad Keselowski as the two Cup drivers out of the Penske stable. Logano and Keselowski have one thing in common, they’re young. Both drivers are under thirty years of age (Logano being 22, Keselowski being 28) but, they are two of the greatest young talents in NASCAR. Success is bound to come again for Team Penske in 2013 because they’re locked and reloaded for another winning season. The question still is whether they will have success with all the changes or not and once Daytona rolls around, that question is sure to be answered rather quickly.
Which drivers will be successful this season?
The third and final question I have regarding the Cup Series this season is pretty simple. With all the different aspects of the Cup Series this season, which drivers will have success? The question may seem simple but, its answer is quite complicated.
As of right now, we don’t know who will have success. From testing, Matt Kenseth and most of the Toyota’s were fast but, that doesn’t mean they’ll be running up front and contending for wins all year long. Drivers like Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski are drivers that come to mind when you think who will be successful this season and only time will tell if they will be on top in 2013. By November, we’ll have the answer to this question but, which drivers may seem right for the answer now, may not come Homestead. The journey of this season is sure to be a great one.
Fear can be easily confused with the unknown factor. We aren’t fearing what’s to come, we just don’t know what’s to come and that is exciting rather than fearful. 2013 is sure to be a special season, no matter what the season brings. This new car will bring a bunch of new things that we hope are amazing but, they could not be special. Finding the answers to these questions will take most of the season but, by the time we are in South Beach come November, these answers will be simply, quite amazing.
