The official announcement should be made this weekend, but it's everywhere. Speculation is that Ryan Newman may be the second driver, leaving Scott Riggs and Johnny Sauter, the current Haas/CNC drivers, to look for rides. That would leave an open seat at JGR, but supposedly Joey Lagano has that ride. It also opens up a seat at Penske Racing, if the rumor is true. Speculation is that Michael McDowell is under consideration there, but he is apparently under contract at Michael Waltrip Racing. Speaking of MWR, David Reutimann is rumored to be looking at replacing Kyle Petty in the No. 45 Dodge at Petty Enterprises, but MWR denies this.

See how this works? When someone makes a move, it opens up other opportunities and the dominoes begin to fall. This is just the beginning. Last weekend, Rick Hendrick announced that Mark Martin would replace Casey Mears in the No. 5 Chevrolet, leaving the No. 8 at DEI, which will most likely go to Aric Amirola. Then we hear that Teresa Earnhardt is considering at least a part of DEI to an outside investor, a rumor denied almost as fast as it was spread. Don't you just love Silly Season?

OK, where does that leave us? We have open seats at Penske, Gibbs, and DEI for now. We have unemployed drivers in Riggs, Sauter, Casey Mears, and even Jeremy Mayfield (forgot about him, didn't you?). Add that to the fact that Roush-Fenway Racing has to get rid of one team after 2009 leaving one driver unemployed in a year. What if one of the Roush drivers went after one of the empty seats? It should make things interesting.

I've often wondered, as Silly Season creeps into summer when it used to only start in late fall, how teams will react to all the shuffling of personnel. Apparently JGR would only release Stewart if he didn't try to hire away anyone who currently worked at the Toyota team. That's good business and smart, too. We've seen Brian Vickers spin a teammate as a lame duck and others just jump ship and head to the new team mid-season. I have to wonder how much of that will go on. Performance is so important and sponsorship demands it, so all bets are off.