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The season kick off begins with a whole
new shootout, Saturday Feb 7 (FOX 8 pm
ET). When the pole award sponsor changed
in 2008, it was obvious that Budweiser
would change the format for the Shoot
Out.
The new format, set up last year, was
geared to provide an equal number of
teams for each of the four
manufacturers. It was decided that it
would include the top 6 teams from each
brand, based on the previous years
owner's points.
With all of the Ownership- Driver -
Manufacturer changes over the off
season, the field began to lose it's
star power. So each manufacturer was
allotted a wildcard for the 7th car, to
be filled by a past champion or the next
highest in 2008 owner's standings. That
change puts Tony Stewart in the race.
Robby Gordon is switching from Dodge to
Toyota for 2009, but has been given the
OK to run a Dodge to be in the Shoot
out.
Here is who will be in the Shoot out,
by manufacturer:
Chevrolet - (48) Johnson, (29)
Harvick, (07)Mears, (31) Burton, (24)
Gordon, (88) Earnhardt, Wildcard- (14)
Stewart
Dodge - (9) Kahne, (12) Stremme,
(2) Busch, (43) Sorenson, (19) Sadler,
(7) Gordon, Wildcard - (44, was 10)
Allmendinger
Ford - (99) Edwards, (16) Biffle,
(17) Kenseth, (6) Ragan, (26) McMurray,
(98-was 28) Menard, Wildcard -
(96-was38) Labonte
Toyota - (11) Hamlin, (20) Logano,
(18) Busch, (83) Vickers, (00-was 44)
Reutimann, (55) Waltrip, Wildcard -
(82-was 84) Speed
Of course all of these are subject to
change, the 43 and 44 cars with Richard
Petty Racing may not enter as it has
been a long family standard not to run
any alcohol related stickers or
sponsorship on the cars. If that happens
it will put the 77 of Hornish in, and
possibly the 08 of Hylton. That will
sure turn some heads.
If you don't have a scorecard, I'll try
to bring you up to speed on some of the
off season changes.
DEI and Chip Ganassi Racing have merged,
forming Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, and
will run Chevys. Truex returns in the
1, with Almirola in the 8, Montoya in
the 42 and Andretti in the 41.
Petty Enterprises and Gillette Evernham
have merged, forming Richard Petty
Motorsports. Kahne returns in the 9, as
does Sadler in the 19, the 43 has
Sorenson and Allmendinger in the 44
Tony Stewart left Gibbs to partner with
Hass, forming Stewart Hass Racing with
Tony in the 14 and Newman in the 39.
Mark Martin moves to Hendricks to take
over the 5, replacing Mears who replaced
Bowyer in the 07. Bowyer moves to the
33, still with Childress.
Stremme takes over the 12 at Penske,
while Logano gets the 20 at Gibbs.
Bill Davis, sold out and the new owners
won't be running in 2009. Crew Chief
Tommy Baldwin starts up his own team
with Riggs in the 36 Toyota.
Ambrose moves up to cup in the 47
Toyota, owned by JTG Daugherty, running
under the Waltrip banner and using the
00 points from 2008.
Scott Speed replaces Allmendinger at Red
Bull in the 82 Toyota.
Bobby Labonte takes over the 96 for Hall
Of Fame, who are now aligned with Yates
in a Ford and using the 38 points from
2008.
Paul Menard, moves to Yates in the 98
with the 28 points from 2008.
Larry Gunselman joins forces with Geoff
and Todd Bodine to run the 66 Toyota
full time, Gunselman and Todd will share
the ride.
Phil Parsons plans on running the 66
Toyota with Terry Labonte at Daytona
with Dave Blaney taking over after that.
Joe Nemechek returns to the series with
his 87 Toyota, to run the entire season.
As you can see, it's a whole different
picture this year. With the economy
off, teams are struggling for sponsors
and tracks are suffering from declining
ticket renewals. Bristol Motor Speedway
has been forced to send a van around to
various Food City store locations in an
effort to sell tickets for the Food City
500 in March. They have for the first
time offered season ticket holders
payment plans. Other tracks, such as
Daytona and Talladega have begun
lowering ticket prices to help fill the
seats.
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