Bristol Motor Speedway is a racetrack unlike any other; physically it is small, yes (only 0.533 miles) but when one enters the venue, you actually go DOWN, as if entering an open-pit mine. That oddity alone catches a fan unaware. Then the scale of everything else starts to come together. You realize that once that flag drops for Lap 1, those 43 drivers are going to put on a show the likes of nothing else on earth.

FoxSports and NASCAR apparently have no clue who comprises their television demographic; either that, or they do not care! It does not take a degree in psychology or economics to know that a gopher cartoon would target an audience no older than 10 years of age. So WHY on God's green earth does Fox and NASCAR pester, irritate and clutter my beautiful HD big screen with some cartoon character named Digger? This past week at Fontana I even met Digger's family!! Oh my!! And Digger even has his own special track-view camera. Who is this Digger, why should I care, and as far as I can tell, he is NOT a corporate logo of anything significant like the AFLAC duck. So WTF?

Capping off an exciting Speed Week that began with Kevin Harvick's win of the Budweiser Shootout, this year's Daytona 500 (Sunday, February 15th) will be anything but routine, dull or boring.

2009 Champion is.........

Two single-car operations will combine forces in 2009, at least for the season-opening Daytona 500. John Carter's EM Motorsports and Mark Simo's Simo Racing have announced-

'I want to win races ... go for the championship,' he says
Jeff Gordon doesn't want to hear about a 41-race losing streak -- not when he feels like the next race, the Daytona 500, is virtually a sure thing for him.

Despite a rough economic climate, fans, drivers and sponsors are chomping at the bit for the start of the 2009 NASCAR season. The economic state has created an off-season that will leave many scratching their heads. Teams merged or formed alliances or ceased to exist. Drivers were released, rehired, jumped to new teams or formed their own racing corporations. Then there are the car changes; Stewart will be back in his beloved Chevrolet (where he always wanted to be), Montoya will be switching from Dodge to Chevrolet, a few will be driving different brands at different points in the season and several others shifting brands as they shift teams.