| MRN's Morning Driver | | Print | |
| Written by Robert Trammell |
| Monday, 02 February 2009 10:53 |
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THIS IS THEIR FIRST MORNING DRIVER OF THE YEAR... WHILE THEY WERE AWAY... Ray Evernham went from team owner to track owner, purchasing East Lincoln Speedway in Stanley, North Carolina ... a three-eighths-mile clay oval near Charlotte. Jimmie Johnson was in New York City the first week of December to collect the spoils of his third straight Cup Series championship and received a surprise visit while on stage from the only other driver in NASCAR history to win three in a row ... Cale Yarborough. 2008 Craftsman Truck Series championship Johnny Benson got a new ride. He left Bill Davis Racing and is now behind the wheel of the Number-1 entry at Red Horse Racing. Mike Skinner, who was Benson's teammate at BDR, joined Randy Moss Motorsports and will be part of a two-truck team with rookie Tayler Malsam. The entire series has a new sponsor this year. It's now the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, with the new season opening February 13 in Daytona. 2000 Cup Series champion Bobby Labonte was released from Petty Enterprises and joined Hall of Fame Racing to drive the Number-96 Ford ... which used to be the Number-96 Toyota. "Merger Mania" hit the Sprint Cup Series with the following blends now available on the 2009 menu: Dale Earnhardt, Incorporated with Chip Ganassi Racing; Gillett Evernham Motorsports and Petty Enterprises; and Hall of Fame Racing with Yates Racing. And 1988 Cup Series champion Bill Elliott is back with the Wood Brothers in 2009 for a nine-race schedule that'll kick off in Daytona. TRACK FACT
The traditional opening race of NASCAR speed Weeks at Daytona International Speedway, the Budweiser Shootout non-points special event, will be run Saturday night. The race used to be for pole winners from the previous season and drivers who had won the race before. A format change now has each of the four auto manufacturers entering their top six teams based on car owner points from last season, along with one "Wild Card" driver for each make ... bringing the size of this year's field to twenty-eight cars.
JOHNSON CHASING HISTORY
In 2008, Jimmie Johnson became just the second driver in NASCAR's sixty-year history to win three consecutive Cup Series championships. Cale Yarborough was the first, from 1976 to 1978. Johnson's Number-48 Hendrick Motorsports team will be after its fourth straight in 2009. How did Yarborough fare in his quest for a fourth straight crown in 1979? He won two of the first eleven races that season. But Richard Petty won the season opening Daytona 500 and tacked on four more wins to claim the last of his seven career Cup Series titles. Yarborough placed fourth in the final standings.
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