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Changes coming to NASCAR

It’s the time of year when local racing is finished and teams are taking a break to be with family and friends for the holidays. Merry Christmas, by the way, and I hope this finds you well and we always need to remember the true meaning of the season. In that lowly manger, the Savior of the world was born. If you don’t believe this way, then still enjoy the love and friendships you have.

Racers are hoping Santa will overlook the naughty times and see that we all are pretty nice people and bring us all the safety equipment and speed parts we need for next year.

I’m going to try to share some breaking news in NASCAR. Some of this is still in the talking/speculation stages but still newsworthy and exciting.

Number one, there has been an announcement that Monster Energy Drinks will be the title sponsor of the top series. Sprint Cup — and the Cup era, which began way back in the 70s with Winston — ends. The new name will be Monster Energy Premier Series.

I wonder if the Monster Energy girls from Supercross will make their way to pre-race or victory lane celebrations?

Sprint was a great sponsor and helped move the sport into the information/communication age. Automobile manufacturers are still interested in this series. Ford has revealed a new design for the Fusion nose and tail to be raced next season. Chevrolet will continue to use the Australian-manufactured SS body style for one more year.

The big news is that Dodge may be making a return to NASCAR. In December the president of Fiat had dinner with Brian France in Daytona and both parties stated it was a very productive meeting. Fiat is the owner of Chrysler Corporation.

It usually takes about two years to put together the infrastructure and get bodies approved for competition. The big question is, what team or teams would be willing to switch manufacturers?

There will be four new Ford teams, as Stewart/Haas Racing switches from Chevrolet. Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Danica Patrick and Clint Bowyer will be racing the new Fusion for retired driver Tony Stewart.

Several of the back marker lower budget teams are moving drivers around and two teams have closed their shops and sold or leased their charters to other teams. Personally, I feel this charter system is one of the biggest problems with today’s sport. It is still racing and the fastest 43 cars that show up on any weekend should take the green flag on Sunday. There are so many guaranteed starting spots that it is almost impossible for a new team to even start a race. As an example, Morgan Shepherd towed to Phoenix and out-qualified five of the race starters but still missed the race and came home with empty pockets.

Here is some interesting NASCAR information. I bet you didn’t even know that NASCAR stock car racing is an international sport. Whelen Corporation is the title sponsor for several weekly and international series. The Whelen Euro series races Premier-type cars on road courses in England, Germany, France and Spain.

The points champion was Anthony Kumpen from Belgium and this was his second title. In Canada the PINTY’s series races in both Quebec and Ontario provinces.

Cayden Lapcevich was champion. The Whelen Weekly Racing Series races in 29 states, two Canadian Provinces, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Peak Anti-freeze and Coolant sponsors the series in Mexico that produced our Xfinity Series champion, Daniel Suarez. Daniel won and raced in this series in his home country.

K and N Filter Corporation sponsors the traveling series that provides a place for young drivers to hone their talent and move up to the Camping World Truck Series and beyond. This series is divided into East and West divisions. The East division champ is Justin Haley, who is the brother of Cameron Haley. These fine young drivers are both from Canada.

The West division has the youngest-ever traveling series champ. Todd Gilliland, son of Premier Series driver David Gilliland, is only 16 years, 5 months old. Todd races like a seasoned veteran.

There are two more Whelen Series. These are open-wheeled asphalt racers and are the fastest short track cars in NASCAR. The Whelen Modified Tour mainly races in the Northeast. Doug Coby won the championship in the last race of the year.

The final series I’ll mention is based in the Southeast and runs the same type of cars. Burt Myers was named champion in the Whelen Southern Modified Tour.

It’s hard to believe that NASCAR is literally reaching a worldwide audience and the future of racing looks pretty awesome.

Be sure and take time to share the love of Christ this Holiday season and it will only be about 70 days until the high-banked turns of Daytona — and only 10 days ’til Christmas! I better get the garage cleaned out for Santa to have a place for the new racer, LOL. Remember, at the end of the straight there’s always another left turn.

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