The grandstand is frozen. So today, I'm doing my writing in the basement. Yes, I'm a
recluse in January because I HATE winter. But enough about me. January is half over,
and that means that the Daytona 500 is less than a month away. Preseason madness has
already started. There's plenty of news floating around the garage, but to list
everything that is going on would take me all day, and frankly, its almost
snacktime, so this will probably be kind of short.

The economy's state of misery I'm sure we've all heard and are sick of hearing
about, but it is hitting Nascar also. In my email yesterday morning, I got a tidbit
of news to this effect. Dale Earnhardt Incorporated merged with Chip Ganassi Racing
over the off season. So there will be three DEI/Ganassi cars in the Daytona 500: #1
Martin Truex, Jr., #42 Juan Pablo Montoya, and #8 Aric Almirola. But beyond the
season opener, Almirola and the 8 car may be watching the races instead of being in
them. Rumor has it they're having no luck finding a sponsor for the 8 car. 'Twill be
a sad day to see the 8 car sitting on the proverbial sidelines.

Speaking of mergers, Petty Enterprises merged with Gillett Evernham Motorsports. I
for one hated to see Richard Petty shut the doors of his operation and have to merge
with another race team. Its like a piece of racing history has been destroyed.
Slowly but surely, the Nascar of old is fading away, only to be remembered in the
hearts of us long-time fans. But, on a positive note, Gillett Evernham will rename
the team to Richard Petty Motorsports. Reed Sorenson will be behind the wheel of the
famous #43.

Here's an interesting piece of news. Nascar apparently for some reason felt the need
to mess up another racing ritual, the Bud Shootout. This new format means that you
could potentially be in the Shootout, even though you didn't win a Pole Award the
previous season. In fact, to my understanding, its not about winning poles anymore
at all. It adds four drivers to the field. The top six cars according to 2008
owner's points from each manufacturer get to race. Then, the seventh spot for each
will be filled by a past Cup champion. If there is no champion for that
manufacturer, the spot goes to the next eligible car in line. Confused yet? So, by
this formula, the cars eligible for the 2009 Shootout are:

Chevrolet drivers, come on down! The bowtie boys will be: Kevin Harvick, Jimmy
Johnson, Casey Mears, Jeff Gordon, Jeff Burton, and Dale Jr. The past champion spot
would go to Tony Stewart.

Dodge drivers would be: Kasey Kahne, David Stremme, Reed Sorenson, Elliott Sadler,
AJ Allmendinger, Robby Gordon, and Kurt Busch.

Ford's entries are: Carl Edwards, David Ragan, Jamie McMurray, Matt Kenseth, Greg
Biffle,  Paul Menard (since he moved to the Yates stable, his points will probably
come from either the #28 or #38 locking him into the first five races of the
season), and Bobby Labonte.

And last but certainly not least, the Toyota guys: Kyle Busch, Brian Vickers, Joey
Logano, and (of course my favorites!) Michael Waltrip and David Reutimann. Scott
Speed will probably be in there too, plus one more that I don't know of just yet.
These of course are not set in stone. They could change before the season actually
gets here. I think we all know that changing their minds is one of Nascar's favorite
pasttimes. Can you sense the sarcasm here?

Well, that's about enough from me today. Like I said, there's PLENTY of news and
rumors racing around the garage, far too many to talk about here. Plus, my fingers
are freezing and I've been up since WAY before the chickens so my writing may, any
minute now, just turn into chicken jibberish.

Until next time, that's the view from......the basement's corner #2.......

Crystal "Micki" Lewis