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This year’s NASCAR schedule looks to be one of the most stimulating that the world of cart racing has ever been able to watch. The opening season jitters with the new Nextel Series and the change in format into the “Chase for the Championship” will be over with. With that the teams should know a little more about the strategy that is needed to take home the Nextel Cup this year. There are a number of sub-plots that will be worth monitoring during this year’s 36 race season. With that said NASCAR tickets will be hard to come across this season.
One of the biggest shakeups of the off-season came when Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his teammate Michael Waltrip basically switched everything around them with each other. Much has been made that the swap was put into play due to the fact that Earnhardt Jr.’s crew chief was his cousin Tony Eury Jr., with whom he would be seen squabbling with on a more than regular basis. Both Juniors will say that their arguing was healthy and didn’t hurt the team at all, but there is no way that a large amount of fighting can help out how things are going in the pits and out on the track. In this sport there needs to be a great chemistry like no other sport. There are so many things that a great relationship with your crew and driver that can enhance your team if they’re on the same page. It should also help Earnhardt Jr. since Eury Jr. and the rest of his crew should propel Waltrip into a more consistent racer then he was last year. With a better teammate last year Earnhardt Jr. might have had a better shot at winning the inaugural Nextel Cup, but Waltrip was anything but that. Waltrip finished 20 th overall and wasn’t the type of teammate that was in too many positions to help his buddy out. The catch in all this is that Earnhardt Jr. might be taking a step back with this new crew and might not be able to compete on the same level that he was at last year. Which may hurt the sport since Little E is one of the biggest draws to all the NASCAR events.
The other big time story coming into the season will be whether last year’s champion Kurt Busch will be able to do what he did last year this year. The field has gotten a little bit stronger and in NASCAR it is really tough for one guy to just pull away. Even if someone were to pull away early in the year and just slap the rest of the field around he would be brought back into striking distance again when those last 10 races came along and all the points got reset for the “Chase.” So its always going to be a close field this year and with drivers moving up the ranks and posing new threats like Kasey Kahne and Casey Mears this season will be anything but mundane which cart fans know that and it’ll make NASCAR tickets a very tough find this year. |
