Raikkonen to compete in NASCAR

Former Formula 1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen will make a surprising move to NASCAR this year, the Finn joining the series with a new team.

According to the Turun Sanomat newspaper, Raikkonen - the 2007 world champion - will be racing with the new ICE1 Racing team in the Truck series before moving on to the Nationwide and Sprint Cup series.

He is expected to join the championship from this summer, although no dates are yet confirmed.

Raikkonen will be joining forces with Foster Gillett, who will be a major partner of the team, having worked with Richard Petty Motorsport in NASCAR last year.

Foster's family owned the Montreal Canadiens' NHL franchise and are also former co-owners of the Liverpool football club.

"I'm really looking forward to get there to familiarise to the world of NASCAR," Raikkonen was quoted as saying by Turun Sanomat.

"I have been following it for a long time. I know, it's a very tough and open, top racing series. I just love the American spirit of racing. It feels just great to get involved with that. Obviously, it will be very challenging and great fun for me."

According to the newspaper, the negotiations about which car the ICE1 Racing team will run are about to be completed.

Raikkonen will continue to compete in the World Rally Championship this year, where he has a deal for eight events.

Patrick crashes out at Bristol

Danica Patrick posted her first DNF of her 2011 partial NASCAR season by crashing of her first race at Bristol Motor Speedway in the Nationwide Series today.

The IndyCar star was on course to match her goal of taking a top-20 finish on her Bristol debut when she made contact with Pastrana Waltrip's Ryan Truex with 52 laps remaining. The pair had already been battling for position for a while when Truex got loose and then touched Patrick's while trying to recover - causing Patrick to spin heavily into the Turn 1 barrier.

Patrick felt Truex was racing her too hard with plenty of laps still ahead, although she was not absolutely sure about how the incident unfolded.

"Well to know for sure I'll have to see the replay a couple of times, but what it felt like to me was I came out of the corner and I was just running down the straight and he came off the wall," said Patrick about the incident.

"I don't know if he had slapped the wall and he was pushing off and then snapped when he came off. I don't know if I might have given him the benefit of the doubt right there but I know it was early and he just runs hard. He's run hard every time I've been around him and it just seems like overkill.

"If your car is good you'll move forward, if your car is not you'll go back and that's just the law in NASCAR. There was still enough racing left that whoever's car was faster was going to be ahead."

Truex apologised to Patrick, admitting he was fighting a very loose car at the time.

"I just came of the corner dead sideways," said Truex. "I was either backing into the wall or down the hill and hoping to save it. I came off and came up, the right rear just almost hit the wall and came down to save it. [Patrick] was there and [I] came down on her and pretty much ended her day. I feel bad about that. It wasn't on purpose and I'm sorry."

Patrick started the race from 29th place on the grid and moved as high as 12th following the second caution of the day, in which she stayed out while some of her rivals pitted. However she quickly dropped down the order to 20th and as a very long green-flag stretch followed, she eventually dropped two laps down on the leaders by the time the next caution came out.

A later incident which unfolded ahead of her on lap 209 caused some damage to her #7 Chevrolet, but not enough to prevent the JR Motorsports driver from remaining in contention for a strong finish, despite running two laps down at the half-mile oval.

That was until 40 laps later when the front end of her car suffered massive damage following contact with the wall. Patrick lamented not being able to finish the race, which ended a string of eight consecutive finishes in Nationwide.

"I'm just disappointed," Patrick added. "I feel like actually this is a pretty decent run at Bristol for the first time. I got caught at little but with the tyres in the first stop that we stayed out, got up high and then got eaten alive.

"I don't think it was too bad, just disappointing to not get the finish. I had such a good run of finishes that it's just disappointing to leave for a couple of months with this kind of a thing, but that's Bristol I guess."

Saturday's race wrapped up the first part of Patrick's stock car schedule as she now focuses on the start of the IndyCar Series season in St Petersburg next week. She will be back behind the wheel of a Nationwide Series car in June when she competes for a second time at Chicagoland Speedway.

Kyle Busch won Saturday's Nationwide event at Bristol, setting a new record for laps led in the second-tier series by surpassing 10,000 at the front. It was also his 45th win in the series as he closes on Mark Martin's record of victories.

Goodyear has to change Bristol tyres

NASCAR officials have announced that the specification of right-side tyres will be changed for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway, following excessive wear during the opening practice session on Friday.

Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president for competition, announced following practice for the Nationwide and Sprint Cup series that a different specification of right-side tyres will be used in Saturday practice and Sunday's race, after cords became visible - especially on right rears - after only 30 laps in some cases, when they should last a full fuel run which amounts to nearly four times that distance.

The issue has affected both Nationwide and Cup teams and it will be handled differently for each series.

"Tonight we will be making a tyre compound change for the right side tyres for both [Sprint Cup and Nationwide] series. The Nationwide series will qualify in the tyres they are today, and will change those tyres during a competition yellow at roughly lap 25 during the race [on Saturday] afternoon," said Pemberton.

"In the Cup Series they will also be making a compound change. [Saturday] morning the Cup teams will receive one set of the right side tyres in which they can practice on during both sessions, and they will have an adequate amount, roughly the same number of tyres for the Cup race on Sunday afternoon."

Goodyear had introduced a new right-side tyre specification that featured slight construction and compound changes relative to what teams ran last August at the same venue. According to Pemberton and Goodyear officials the track did not rubber in as they expected with the new compound, creating a situation similar to what they experienced at Indianapolis in 2008, when excessive wear forced a stop-and-go race with the caution waving every 10 to 12 laps to prevent multiple tyre failures.

Cup teams will now race compound 4386, which they ran on the right side at Kansas and Fontana last autumn. According to Goodyear's NASCAR project manager Rick Campbell, the new tyre features an identical tread compound, although with a slight difference in construction, including a 16th of an inch less diameter than the 4408 specification that teams raced last August at Bristol. He claims that despite the marginal stagger change, the new tyre is almost identical to what was last raced at the half-mile track.

"Working with the teams, crew chiefs have treated that construction change as inconsequential," Campbell told AUTOSPORT. "They have experience with the new compound and for set-up purposes they treat the new tyre in the same way as the 4408 used last August. They expect the same performance.

"We've run this compound here in March conditions, in cooler weather with good wear. So it's a known quantity at Bristol and it's provided good racing, rubbered the track in, managed good wear rates effectively and with a good performance."

Cup drivers will qualify on the compound they used in practice, but they will be able to try a set of the new spec during Saturday's practice sessions and will then get a complete 10-set tyre allocation for Sunday's race. A competition caution to check wear rates early into Sunday's 500-lap event is also expected.

Goodyear expects the 1,200 tyres of the new compounds for Nationwide and Sprint Cup teams to arrive at Bristol from the Charlotte area on Friday night.

Goodyear has to change Bristol tyres

NASCAR officials have announced that the specification of right-side tyres will be changed for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway, following excessive wear during the opening practice session on Friday.

Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president for competition, announced following practice for the Nationwide and Sprint Cup series that a different specification of right-side tyres will be used in Saturday practice and Sunday's race, after cords became visible - especially on right rears - after only 30 laps in some cases, when they should last a full fuel run which amounts to nearly four times that distance.

The issue has affected both Nationwide and Cup teams and it will be handled differently for each series.

"Tonight we will be making a tyre compound change for the right side tyres for both [Sprint Cup and Nationwide] series. The Nationwide series will qualify in the tyres they are today, and will change those tyres during a competition yellow at roughly lap 25 during the race [on Saturday] afternoon," said Pemberton.

"In the Cup Series they will also be making a compound change. [Saturday] morning the Cup teams will receive one set of the right side tyres in which they can practice on during both sessions, and they will have an adequate amount, roughly the same number of tyres for the Cup race on Sunday afternoon."

Goodyear had introduced a new right-side tyre specification that featured slight construction and compound changes relative to what teams ran last August at the same venue. According to Pemberton and Goodyear officials the track did not rubber in as they expected with the new compound, creating a situation similar to what they experienced at Indianapolis in 2008, when excessive wear forced a stop-and-go race with the caution waving every 10 to 12 laps to prevent multiple tyre failures.

Cup teams will now race compound 4386, which they ran on the right side at Kansas and Fontana last autumn. According to Goodyear's NASCAR project manager Rick Campbell, the new tyre features an identical tread compound, although with a slight difference in construction, including a 16th of an inch less diameter than the 4408 specification that teams raced last August at Bristol. He claims that despite the marginal stagger change, the new tyre is almost identical to what was last raced at the half-mile track.

"Working with the teams, crew chiefs have treated that construction change as inconsequential," Campbell told AUTOSPORT. "They have experience with the new compound and for set-up purposes they treat the new tyre in the same way as the 4408 used last August. They expect the same performance.

"We've run this compound here in March conditions, in cooler weather with good wear. So it's a known quantity at Bristol and it's provided good racing, rubbered the track in, managed good wear rates effectively and with a good performance."

Cup drivers will qualify on the compound they used in practice, but they will be able to try a set of the new spec during Saturday's practice sessions and will then get a complete 10-set tyre allocation for Sunday's race. A competition caution to check wear rates early into Sunday's 500-lap event is also expected.

Goodyear expects the 1,200 tyres of the new compounds for Nationwide and Sprint Cup teams to arrive at Bristol from the Charlotte area on Friday night.

Patrick crashes out at Bristol

Danica Patrick posted her first DNF of her 2011 partial NASCAR season by crashing of her first race at Bristol Motor Speedway in the Nationwide Series today.

The IndyCar star was on course to match her goal of taking a top-20 finish on her Bristol debut when she made contact with Pastrana Waltrip's Ryan Truex with 52 laps remaining. The pair had already been battling for position for a while when Truex got loose and then touched Patrick's while trying to recover - causing Patrick to spin heavily into the Turn 1 barrier.

Patrick felt Truex was racing her too hard with plenty of laps still ahead, although she was not absolutely sure about how the incident unfolded.

"Well to know for sure I'll have to see the replay a couple of times, but what it felt like to me was I came out of the corner and I was just running down the straight and he came off the wall," said Patrick about the incident.

"I don't know if he had slapped the wall and he was pushing off and then snapped when he came off. I don't know if I might have given him the benefit of the doubt right there but I know it was early and he just runs hard. He's run hard every time I've been around him and it just seems like overkill.

"If your car is good you'll move forward, if your car is not you'll go back and that's just the law in NASCAR. There was still enough racing left that whoever's car was faster was going to be ahead."

Truex apologised to Patrick, admitting he was fighting a very loose car at the time.

"I just came of the corner dead sideways," said Truex. "I was either backing into the wall or down the hill and hoping to save it. I came off and came up, the right rear just almost hit the wall and came down to save it. [Patrick] was there and [I] came down on her and pretty much ended her day. I feel bad about that. It wasn't on purpose and I'm sorry."

Patrick started the race from 29th place on the grid and moved as high as 12th following the second caution of the day, in which she stayed out while some of her rivals pitted. However she quickly dropped down the order to 20th and as a very long green-flag stretch followed, she eventually dropped two laps down on the leaders by the time the next caution came out.

A later incident which unfolded ahead of her on lap 209 caused some damage to her #7 Chevrolet, but not enough to prevent the JR Motorsports driver from remaining in contention for a strong finish, despite running two laps down at the half-mile oval.

That was until 40 laps later when the front end of her car suffered massive damage following contact with the wall. Patrick lamented not being able to finish the race, which ended a string of eight consecutive finishes in Nationwide.

"I'm just disappointed," Patrick added. "I feel like actually this is a pretty decent run at Bristol for the first time. I got caught at little but with the tyres in the first stop that we stayed out, got up high and then got eaten alive.

"I don't think it was too bad, just disappointing to not get the finish. I had such a good run of finishes that it's just disappointing to leave for a couple of months with this kind of a thing, but that's Bristol I guess."

Saturday's race wrapped up the first part of Patrick's stock car schedule as she now focuses on the start of the IndyCar Series season in St Petersburg next week. She will be back behind the wheel of a Nationwide Series car in June when she competes for a second time at Chicagoland Speedway.

Kyle Busch won Saturday's Nationwide event at Bristol, setting a new record for laps led in the second-tier series by surpassing 10,000 at the front. It was also his 45th win in the series as he closes on Mark Martin's record of victories.

Goodyear has to change Bristol tyres

NASCAR officials have announced that the specification of right-side tyres will be changed for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway, following excessive wear during the opening practice session on Friday.

Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president for competition, announced following practice for the Nationwide and Sprint Cup series that a different specification of right-side tyres will be used in Saturday practice and Sunday's race, after cords became visible - especially on right rears - after only 30 laps in some cases, when they should last a full fuel run which amounts to nearly four times that distance.

The issue has affected both Nationwide and Cup teams and it will be handled differently for each series.

"Tonight we will be making a tyre compound change for the right side tyres for both [Sprint Cup and Nationwide] series. The Nationwide series will qualify in the tyres they are today, and will change those tyres during a competition yellow at roughly lap 25 during the race [on Saturday] afternoon," said Pemberton.

"In the Cup Series they will also be making a compound change. [Saturday] morning the Cup teams will receive one set of the right side tyres in which they can practice on during both sessions, and they will have an adequate amount, roughly the same number of tyres for the Cup race on Sunday afternoon."

Goodyear had introduced a new right-side tyre specification that featured slight construction and compound changes relative to what teams ran last August at the same venue. According to Pemberton and Goodyear officials the track did not rubber in as they expected with the new compound, creating a situation similar to what they experienced at Indianapolis in 2008, when excessive wear forced a stop-and-go race with the caution waving every 10 to 12 laps to prevent multiple tyre failures.

Cup teams will now race compound 4386, which they ran on the right side at Kansas and Fontana last autumn. According to Goodyear's NASCAR project manager Rick Campbell, the new tyre features an identical tread compound, although with a slight difference in construction, including a 16th of an inch less diameter than the 4408 specification that teams raced last August at Bristol. He claims that despite the marginal stagger change, the new tyre is almost identical to what was last raced at the half-mile track.

"Working with the teams, crew chiefs have treated that construction change as inconsequential," Campbell told AUTOSPORT. "They have experience with the new compound and for set-up purposes they treat the new tyre in the same way as the 4408 used last August. They expect the same performance.

"We've run this compound here in March conditions, in cooler weather with good wear. So it's a known quantity at Bristol and it's provided good racing, rubbered the track in, managed good wear rates effectively and with a good performance."

Cup drivers will qualify on the compound they used in practice, but they will be able to try a set of the new spec during Saturday's practice sessions and will then get a complete 10-set tyre allocation for Sunday's race. A competition caution to check wear rates early into Sunday's 500-lap event is also expected.

Goodyear expects the 1,200 tyres of the new compounds for Nationwide and Sprint Cup teams to arrive at Bristol from the Charlotte area on Friday night.

Patrick crashes out at Bristol

Danica Patrick posted her first DNF of her 2011 partial NASCAR season by crashing of her first race at Bristol Motor Speedway in the Nationwide Series today.

The IndyCar star was on course to match her goal of taking a top-20 finish on her Bristol debut when she made contact with Pastrana Waltrip's Ryan Truex with 52 laps remaining. The pair had already been battling for position for a while when Truex got loose and then touched Patrick's while trying to recover - causing Patrick to spin heavily into the Turn 1 barrier.

Patrick felt Truex was racing her too hard with plenty of laps still ahead, although she was not absolutely sure about how the incident unfolded.

"Well to know for sure I'll have to see the replay a couple of times, but what it felt like to me was I came out of the corner and I was just running down the straight and he came off the wall," said Patrick about the incident.

"I don't know if he had slapped the wall and he was pushing off and then snapped when he came off. I don't know if I might have given him the benefit of the doubt right there but I know it was early and he just runs hard. He's run hard every time I've been around him and it just seems like overkill.

"If your car is good you'll move forward, if your car is not you'll go back and that's just the law in NASCAR. There was still enough racing left that whoever's car was faster was going to be ahead."

Truex apologised to Patrick, admitting he was fighting a very loose car at the time.

"I just came of the corner dead sideways," said Truex. "I was either backing into the wall or down the hill and hoping to save it. I came off and came up, the right rear just almost hit the wall and came down to save it. [Patrick] was there and [I] came down on her and pretty much ended her day. I feel bad about that. It wasn't on purpose and I'm sorry."

Patrick started the race from 29th place on the grid and moved as high as 12th following the second caution of the day, in which she stayed out while some of her rivals pitted. However she quickly dropped down the order to 20th and as a very long green-flag stretch followed, she eventually dropped two laps down on the leaders by the time the next caution came out.

A later incident which unfolded ahead of her on lap 209 caused some damage to her #7 Chevrolet, but not enough to prevent the JR Motorsports driver from remaining in contention for a strong finish, despite running two laps down at the half-mile oval.

That was until 40 laps later when the front end of her car suffered massive damage following contact with the wall. Patrick lamented not being able to finish the race, which ended a string of eight consecutive finishes in Nationwide.

"I'm just disappointed," Patrick added. "I feel like actually this is a pretty decent run at Bristol for the first time. I got caught at little but with the tyres in the first stop that we stayed out, got up high and then got eaten alive.

"I don't think it was too bad, just disappointing to not get the finish. I had such a good run of finishes that it's just disappointing to leave for a couple of months with this kind of a thing, but that's Bristol I guess."

Saturday's race wrapped up the first part of Patrick's stock car schedule as she now focuses on the start of the IndyCar Series season in St Petersburg next week. She will be back behind the wheel of a Nationwide Series car in June when she competes for a second time at Chicagoland Speedway.

Kyle Busch won Saturday's Nationwide event at Bristol, setting a new record for laps led in the second-tier series by surpassing 10,000 at the front. It was also his 45th win in the series as he closes on Mark Martin's record of victories.

Goodyear has to change Bristol tyres

NASCAR officials have announced that the specification of right-side tyres will be changed for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway, following excessive wear during the opening practice session on Friday.

Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president for competition, announced following practice for the Nationwide and Sprint Cup series that a different specification of right-side tyres will be used in Saturday practice and Sunday's race, after cords became visible - especially on right rears - after only 30 laps in some cases, when they should last a full fuel run which amounts to nearly four times that distance.

The issue has affected both Nationwide and Cup teams and it will be handled differently for each series.

"Tonight we will be making a tyre compound change for the right side tyres for both [Sprint Cup and Nationwide] series. The Nationwide series will qualify in the tyres they are today, and will change those tyres during a competition yellow at roughly lap 25 during the race [on Saturday] afternoon," said Pemberton.

"In the Cup Series they will also be making a compound change. [Saturday] morning the Cup teams will receive one set of the right side tyres in which they can practice on during both sessions, and they will have an adequate amount, roughly the same number of tyres for the Cup race on Sunday afternoon."

Goodyear had introduced a new right-side tyre specification that featured slight construction and compound changes relative to what teams ran last August at the same venue. According to Pemberton and Goodyear officials the track did not rubber in as they expected with the new compound, creating a situation similar to what they experienced at Indianapolis in 2008, when excessive wear forced a stop-and-go race with the caution waving every 10 to 12 laps to prevent multiple tyre failures.

Cup teams will now race compound 4386, which they ran on the right side at Kansas and Fontana last autumn. According to Goodyear's NASCAR project manager Rick Campbell, the new tyre features an identical tread compound, although with a slight difference in construction, including a 16th of an inch less diameter than the 4408 specification that teams raced last August at Bristol. He claims that despite the marginal stagger change, the new tyre is almost identical to what was last raced at the half-mile track.

"Working with the teams, crew chiefs have treated that construction change as inconsequential," Campbell told AUTOSPORT. "They have experience with the new compound and for set-up purposes they treat the new tyre in the same way as the 4408 used last August. They expect the same performance.

"We've run this compound here in March conditions, in cooler weather with good wear. So it's a known quantity at Bristol and it's provided good racing, rubbered the track in, managed good wear rates effectively and with a good performance."

Cup drivers will qualify on the compound they used in practice, but they will be able to try a set of the new spec during Saturday's practice sessions and will then get a complete 10-set tyre allocation for Sunday's race. A competition caution to check wear rates early into Sunday's 500-lap event is also expected.

Goodyear expects the 1,200 tyres of the new compounds for Nationwide and Sprint Cup teams to arrive at Bristol from the Charlotte area on Friday night.

Edwards confident about new tyre

Bristol polesitter Carl Edwards seems confident he will be able to replicate his qualifying pace in Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race after running Goodyear's new choice of right-side tyres during Saturday's practice.

Teams tested a new tyre specification during the two practice sessions of the day at Bristol Motor Speedway, following NASCAR's decision to change the right-sides after excessive wear led to concerns for Sunday's race.

Goodyear had introduced a new compound for this weekend which was softer than what was used at Bristol last summer, but it failed to rubber-in the track, compounding the early wear issues.

Most of the teams ran the sole set given for practice for each driver during the second and final session of the day, while some did not complete any laps on the old, faster specification, which was still available.

Edwards, who will lead the field to the green flag in Sunday's race, was only 33rd fastest in the final practice session but he only tested the new compound, which being harder, made lap times close to half a second slower while also causing changes to the handling of the car.

"The tyre is a lot slower and it's going to be a little more difficult to drive," said Edwards following practice. "We're still working on trying to get the car set up best for it, but it's a challenge for everybody. We're going to do everything we can. We had one set of tyres to practice on and one set of tyres to figure things out, so I just hope we'll be able to get it right with the amount of practice we got.

"We never put the faster tyres on, so that's why we were slow. We could have run a faster lap if we would have ran those tyres, but we just didn't see a reason to do that. I feel good about tomorrow. We were fast compared to other people on the newer tyre, so we're good."

Greg Erwin, crew chief for Edwards' team-mate Greg Biffle who starts Sunday's race from the front row, does not not expect any of his rivals who ran well with the previous compound to suddenly lose their pace with the new one.

He said Biffle ran his set of new specification Goodyear for 60 laps in practice, nearly half a fuel run, and had no wear issues. Later in the day during the Nationwide Series race, the track appeared to rubber in as expected and wear seemed to improve significantly relative to Friday's practice sessions.

"That new tyre, at very best, is probably three or four tenths a lap slower," Erwin said. "Most of the Roush Fenway cars started with the new tyre [today], so none of them were really able to post a fast lap that's going to put them at the top of the board, but we ran that set of tyres we had over 60 laps.

"We felt that was our best opportunity to get a good read on the tyre wear and make the most adjustments to our racecar. With the other tyre there was just so much grip that there wasn't a whole lot we could learn from it.

"We're not into making big changes on our cars based off things that we can't run in practice, so we use our simulations to try and help steer us in certain directions. For the most part, what we're going to race tomorrow is going to be one of the combinations that we ran today."

Weather forecasts for Sunday's 500-lap event show as much as 40 per cent chance of rain, which would eventually wash up the rubber that already settled on the track, increasing wear early on. In any case though, a competition caution is expected to be set by NASCAR during the first 50 laps of running.

Hamlin gunning for early-season wins

Last year's NASCAR Sprint Cup runner-up Denny Hamlin has targeted early-season race wins as he bids to topple series dominator Jimmie Johnson in 2011.

With the Chase for Championship system rewarding race wins due to its revised points system, Hamlin is keen to 'set the tone' as he attempts to end Johnson's efforts to extend his winning streak to a record six consecutive titles.

"I'm excited to get the season going, for me there's a lot optimism right now," Hamlin told AUTOSPORT. "This is what it's all about, and we're aiming to set the tone early for the season ahead.

"I've never won a points race at Daytona, other than a Nationwide race [in July 2008] and the Bud Shootout [in his rookie full-time Cup year in 2006], so it would mean a lot to me to win here."

Hamlin's Daytona 500 attempt started badly when his steering wheel came off in his hands as he left the pits for his qualifying laps last weekend. The 30-year-old Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota star has identified his qualifying form as a weakness from 2010.

"Qualifying is something we have to improve on this year," he said. "We're going to work on that, and we feel like we're going to improve in some areas of the race car too, and that all adds up into good momentum. That is what we need straight from this weekend at Daytona."

NASCAR looks to limit two-car draft

NASCAR has introduced technical changes to the cooling system on Sprint Cup series cars in the hope of limiting the two-car tandems that prevailed during Saturday's Budweiser Shootout at Daytona.

Effective for Thursday's Gatorade Duels, which will complete the starting order for the Daytona 500, the dimensions of the front-grille opening on the cars will be reduced to a maximum of 50 square inches and also a pressure-relief valve set at 33 PSI will be fitted to radiators.

The move will drastically reduce engine cooling, hoping drivers will have to look for 'clean air' much more than they did during Saturday's event, thus reducing the number of laps a car can push another one before water temperatures peak on their gauges.

During the non-points Bud Shootout, the usual big packs of cars traditional of restrictor-plate racing were replaced by a new style of running in pairings, which proved to be the most effective way of gaining speed and thus getting to the front of the field.

The new smoother surface at Daytona allowed for the technique to develop, as the bumpy old asphalt prevented from bump-drafting in the turns in the past. This, coupled with the low ambient temperatures from Saturday, created perfect conditions for cars to push for long stretches, Jamie McMurray actually bumping winner Kurt Busch for 14 consecutive green-flag laps.

"As an engine builder, this is a big change for a big race, so we're gonna do a lot of homework today and tomorrow and, hopefully, be prepared when we go back there on Wednesday and Thursday," said Ford engine builder Doug Yates. "If we need to do some more research before the 500, then we will."

The changes are also safety-oriented, officials aiming to bring speeds down as averages broke into the 206 mph while running in the draft on Saturday's race.

"We can all agree from the competitors and NASCAR that 206 is probably a little bit to the extreme side," said Cup series director John Darby.

Teams will be able to sample the new cooling parameters during practice next Wednesday. However further changes could be introduced like reducing the size of the restrictor plate, which remains at 29/32nds of a inch, the same used during testing last January.

"I wouldn't be surprised from the speeds that I've seen that we could have a plate change, so we are preparing as if that might come," Yates added.

Practice crash costs Earnhardt pole

Pole-winner Dale Earnhardt Jr will now start from the rear of the field in his Gatorade Duel and the Daytona 500 after damaging his primary car in an incident during Wednesday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice.

Earnhardt was pushing Hendrick Motorsports team-mate Jimmie Johnson coming out of Turn 4 when they arrived behind the slower tandem of David Gilliland and Robby Gordon, while running in a rain-delayed practice session.

As Johnson seemed to be running out of space while trying to pass the slower cars on the outside, he got off the throttle as did Earnhardt behind him, but Michael Waltrip Racing's Martin Truex Jr, who was trailing the pair, could not avoid running into the back of him while being pushed by Red Bull's Brian Vickers.

Earnhardt lost control of his car after being hit by Truex, ending up crashing against the inside barrier and causing enough damage to his pole-winning car to force a switch to a back-up.

As per NASCAR rules, whenever a driver switches to a back-up car after qualifying, he has to start at the rear of the field. That means Earnhardt will not start Sunday's race from pole position plus he also has to go to the rear for today's Gatorade Duel, where he also had pole position.

"I just really don't know what was going on there," Earnhardt said. "The guys on the inside looked like they were going to stay low and then they started kind of creeping up, and they gave me the impression they were going to be closing the hole on the outside. So Jimmie lifted. And he about wrecked and I got off the gas and there were a couple of guys coming behind me - Truex, and a couple other guys - and just didn't have a chance.

"You've got to pay attention out there, man. If you're going to come out here and race, you need to pay attention."

The Hendrick driver will now run chassis 88-576 in the Duel, the same on that Jeff Gordon raced last year at Talladega in October, finishing eighth.

Truex switched to a back-up car as well and will also go to the rear of the field in his Gatorade Duel, but as his position in the Daytona 500 field had not been set yet in Sunday's qualifying - which only decided the 500 front row and the Duel line-ups - he will not have to go to the rear for the Daytona 500. His starting position will depend on his finishing position in Thursday's duel.

"Just somebody made a bad decision up ahead," Truex said about the incident. "Dale and Jimmie and me and Briankind of had our own two-car deals going there. We were kind of swapping back and forth. We just had caught some guys that were a lot slower then we were.

"For some reason they decided to pull up in front of our little pack coming at them about 20 miles per hour faster than they were going. It's just a shame to tear up racecars in practice... It was easily avoidable by some of the guys out there."

Pole position for the Daytona 500 could now be up for grabs on Thursday's duels, although Jeff Gordon may eventually get it should Earnhardt choose the outside lane for the start, given that technically he remains the polesitter.

Earnhardt's incident is his second during Speedweeks events at Daytona, as he also crashed during Saturday's Budweiser Shootout.

Hamlin gunning for early-season wins

Last year's NASCAR Sprint Cup runner-up Denny Hamlin has targeted early-season race wins as he bids to topple series dominator Jimmie Johnson in 2011.

With the Chase for Championship system rewarding race wins due to its revised points system, Hamlin is keen to 'set the tone' as he attempts to end Johnson's efforts to extend his winning streak to a record six consecutive titles.

"I'm excited to get the season going, for me there's a lot optimism right now," Hamlin told AUTOSPORT. "This is what it's all about, and we're aiming to set the tone early for the season ahead.

"I've never won a points race at Daytona, other than a Nationwide race [in July 2008] and the Bud Shootout [in his rookie full-time Cup year in 2006], so it would mean a lot to me to win here."

Hamlin's Daytona 500 attempt started badly when his steering wheel came off in his hands as he left the pits for his qualifying laps last weekend. The 30-year-old Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota star has identified his qualifying form as a weakness from 2010.

"Qualifying is something we have to improve on this year," he said. "We're going to work on that, and we feel like we're going to improve in some areas of the race car too, and that all adds up into good momentum. That is what we need straight from this weekend at Daytona."

Practice crash costs Earnhardt pole

Pole-winner Dale Earnhardt Jr will now start from the rear of the field in his Gatorade Duel and the Daytona 500 after damaging his primary car in an incident during Wednesday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice.

Earnhardt was pushing Hendrick Motorsports team-mate Jimmie Johnson coming out of Turn 4 when they arrived behind the slower tandem of David Gilliland and Robby Gordon, while running in a rain-delayed practice session.

As Johnson seemed to be running out of space while trying to pass the slower cars on the outside, he got off the throttle as did Earnhardt behind him, but Michael Waltrip Racing's Martin Truex Jr, who was trailing the pair, could not avoid running into the back of him while being pushed by Red Bull's Brian Vickers.

Earnhardt lost control of his car after being hit by Truex, ending up crashing against the inside barrier and causing enough damage to his pole-winning car to force a switch to a back-up.

As per NASCAR rules, whenever a driver switches to a back-up car after qualifying, he has to start at the rear of the field. That means Earnhardt will not start Sunday's race from pole position plus he also has to go to the rear for today's Gatorade Duel, where he also had pole position.

"I just really don't know what was going on there," Earnhardt said. "The guys on the inside looked like they were going to stay low and then they started kind of creeping up, and they gave me the impression they were going to be closing the hole on the outside. So Jimmie lifted. And he about wrecked and I got off the gas and there were a couple of guys coming behind me - Truex, and a couple other guys - and just didn't have a chance.

"You've got to pay attention out there, man. If you're going to come out here and race, you need to pay attention."

The Hendrick driver will now run chassis 88-576 in the Duel, the same on that Jeff Gordon raced last year at Talladega in October, finishing eighth.

Truex switched to a back-up car as well and will also go to the rear of the field in his Gatorade Duel, but as his position in the Daytona 500 field had not been set yet in Sunday's qualifying - which only decided the 500 front row and the Duel line-ups - he will not have to go to the rear for the Daytona 500. His starting position will depend on his finishing position in Thursday's duel.

"Just somebody made a bad decision up ahead," Truex said about the incident. "Dale and Jimmie and me and Briankind of had our own two-car deals going there. We were kind of swapping back and forth. We just had caught some guys that were a lot slower then we were.

"For some reason they decided to pull up in front of our little pack coming at them about 20 miles per hour faster than they were going. It's just a shame to tear up racecars in practice... It was easily avoidable by some of the guys out there."

Pole position for the Daytona 500 could now be up for grabs on Thursday's duels, although Jeff Gordon may eventually get it should Earnhardt choose the outside lane for the start, given that technically he remains the polesitter.

Earnhardt's incident is his second during Speedweeks events at Daytona, as he also crashed during Saturday's Budweiser Shootout.

NASCAR looks to limit two-car draft

NASCAR has introduced technical changes to the cooling system on Sprint Cup series cars in the hope of limiting the two-car tandems that prevailed during Saturday's Budweiser Shootout at Daytona.

Effective for Thursday's Gatorade Duels, which will complete the starting order for the Daytona 500, the dimensions of the front-grille opening on the cars will be reduced to a maximum of 50 square inches and also a pressure-relief valve set at 33 PSI will be fitted to radiators.

The move will drastically reduce engine cooling, hoping drivers will have to look for 'clean air' much more than they did during Saturday's event, thus reducing the number of laps a car can push another one before water temperatures peak on their gauges.

During the non-points Bud Shootout, the usual big packs of cars traditional of restrictor-plate racing were replaced by a new style of running in pairings, which proved to be the most effective way of gaining speed and thus getting to the front of the field.

The new smoother surface at Daytona allowed for the technique to develop, as the bumpy old asphalt prevented from bump-drafting in the turns in the past. This, coupled with the low ambient temperatures from Saturday, created perfect conditions for cars to push for long stretches, Jamie McMurray actually bumping winner Kurt Busch for 14 consecutive green-flag laps.

"As an engine builder, this is a big change for a big race, so we're gonna do a lot of homework today and tomorrow and, hopefully, be prepared when we go back there on Wednesday and Thursday," said Ford engine builder Doug Yates. "If we need to do some more research before the 500, then we will."

The changes are also safety-oriented, officials aiming to bring speeds down as averages broke into the 206 mph while running in the draft on Saturday's race.

"We can all agree from the competitors and NASCAR that 206 is probably a little bit to the extreme side," said Cup series director John Darby.

Teams will be able to sample the new cooling parameters during practice next Wednesday. However further changes could be introduced like reducing the size of the restrictor plate, which remains at 29/32nds of a inch, the same used during testing last January.

"I wouldn't be surprised from the speeds that I've seen that we could have a plate change, so we are preparing as if that might come," Yates added.

Practice crash costs Earnhardt pole

Pole-winner Dale Earnhardt Jr will now start from the rear of the field in his Gatorade Duel and the Daytona 500 after damaging his primary car in an incident during Wednesday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice.

Earnhardt was pushing Hendrick Motorsports team-mate Jimmie Johnson coming out of Turn 4 when they arrived behind the slower tandem of David Gilliland and Robby Gordon, while running in a rain-delayed practice session.

As Johnson seemed to be running out of space while trying to pass the slower cars on the outside, he got off the throttle as did Earnhardt behind him, but Michael Waltrip Racing's Martin Truex Jr, who was trailing the pair, could not avoid running into the back of him while being pushed by Red Bull's Brian Vickers.

Earnhardt lost control of his car after being hit by Truex, ending up crashing against the inside barrier and causing enough damage to his pole-winning car to force a switch to a back-up.

As per NASCAR rules, whenever a driver switches to a back-up car after qualifying, he has to start at the rear of the field. That means Earnhardt will not start Sunday's race from pole position plus he also has to go to the rear for today's Gatorade Duel, where he also had pole position.

"I just really don't know what was going on there," Earnhardt said. "The guys on the inside looked like they were going to stay low and then they started kind of creeping up, and they gave me the impression they were going to be closing the hole on the outside. So Jimmie lifted. And he about wrecked and I got off the gas and there were a couple of guys coming behind me - Truex, and a couple other guys - and just didn't have a chance.

"You've got to pay attention out there, man. If you're going to come out here and race, you need to pay attention."

The Hendrick driver will now run chassis 88-576 in the Duel, the same on that Jeff Gordon raced last year at Talladega in October, finishing eighth.

Truex switched to a back-up car as well and will also go to the rear of the field in his Gatorade Duel, but as his position in the Daytona 500 field had not been set yet in Sunday's qualifying - which only decided the 500 front row and the Duel line-ups - he will not have to go to the rear for the Daytona 500. His starting position will depend on his finishing position in Thursday's duel.

"Just somebody made a bad decision up ahead," Truex said about the incident. "Dale and Jimmie and me and Briankind of had our own two-car deals going there. We were kind of swapping back and forth. We just had caught some guys that were a lot slower then we were.

"For some reason they decided to pull up in front of our little pack coming at them about 20 miles per hour faster than they were going. It's just a shame to tear up racecars in practice... It was easily avoidable by some of the guys out there."

Pole position for the Daytona 500 could now be up for grabs on Thursday's duels, although Jeff Gordon may eventually get it should Earnhardt choose the outside lane for the start, given that technically he remains the polesitter.

Earnhardt's incident is his second during Speedweeks events at Daytona, as he also crashed during Saturday's Budweiser Shootout.

Bayne still committed to Nationwide

Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne is set to remain focused on winning the Nationwide Series title, turning down an eventual chance to contend for a berth in the Chase for the 2011 Sprint Cup Series.

The 20-year-old entered the season-opener as the first of a planned 17-race schedule in NASCAR's top series with Wood Brothers Racing, the legendary outfit only having funding for those events.

Following the win at Daytona, the team plans to add another race, entering the sixth event of the season at Martinsville but further additions rely on sponsorship.

Besides his deal with Wood Brothers, Bayne is signed to contest his second full season in the second-tier Nationwide Series with Roush Fenway Racing, where he currently ranks fifth in the points.

NASCAR rules for this year restrict drivers racing in more than one national series to contending for one title only, although they can compete in as many races as they wish all across NASCAR. The rule is aimed at allowing young drivers to have a shot at the championship, as Cup drivers have dominated the Nationwide Series in the past few years.

Bayne selected running for the Nationwide Series title this year and although NASCAR would allow him to change his mind and start scoring points for the Sprint Cup series from next weekend at Phoenix, his Daytona win would not count towards his points tally.

However, his win would count in terms of eventually being eligible to make the Chase, as this year the two drivers with the most wins not in the top 10 in points after the first 26 races earn a place in the championship playoff.

Despite all these, plus having no sponsor for his Nationwide Series car, Bayne says he remains committed to his initial plan.

"I think I'm going to stay with Nationwide," said Bayne. "I think it's a great thing they're doing for the sport, for the young drivers there, to be able to rise up as champions. Nothing really changed. The only thing that changed is we get to be the Daytona 500 champions, which is really, really incredible.

"I think we're still going to have an awesome year at Roush Fenway running for that Nationwide championship. Obviously they still have a blank car. I'd love to get some partners on it. As for now, we're still running full-time.

"The Wood Brothers only have 18 races, 17 with Ford Motorcraft, and Quick Lane and Ford.com. But the 18th race is the one we're going to run at Martinsville due to the funds we won at Daytona.

"I'm still not full-time Cup, still going to run for the championship at Nationwide. I don't regret any of our decisions there. We're still off to a great start in both series with a win in the first."

Bayne says Sunday's victory, his first ever in NASCAR, has yet to sink in and says many of his rivals have called to show their support and congratulate him on his accomplishment.

He says, however, that a call from the White House is the one that left him stunned.

"I don't know how to thank [Wood Brothers Racing] enough for the opportunity to drive that race car, be in that position to win," Bayne said. "I mean, it's taken its time to sink in.

"The high point was when the White House called and said the President was going to want to talk to me in the next couple days. I haven't talked to him yet. I had no idea who it was. Just a private number came up on my phone. Jimmie Johnson called, Jeff Gordon. All of them have been showing their support, but that one was the one that shocked me the most."

Despite his age, Bayne has shown great appreciation for his team's history and legacy. Wood Brothers has been in NASCAR for more than 60 years, having most of its golden years in the 1970's with David Pearson, who developed a great rivalry with Richard Petty while winning 43 out of the outfit's 98 victories to this day.

Bayne credited Pearson for giving him a key advice while entering the event and he believes his win driving the same #21 that Pearson turned into an icon, finally did some justice to NASCAR's longest standing outfit.

"Talking to David Pearson, it was small, simple advice that a lot of people would tell me," said Bayne. "Just with him it stuck. He was just saying, kind of jokingly, they asked him on ESPN if he had any advice. He said, Be careful. Do the 21 car some justice. That stuck out.

"I entered that race with a totally different mindset than I normally had. As a 19-, 20-year-old, you manage a lot of your things off of performance. You want to be the guy that leads every lap, you want to make a statement, you want to do everything right. You put a lot of pressure on yourself.

"When he said that, I went into the race in kind of survival mode for the first 150 laps thinking, I have to get to the end of this, avoid any crashes, push, not be pushed, just be smart the whole time. That was crucial because that kept me calm, that kept me patient when we would drop to the back on some of the restarts to push back up to the field. Then at the end, just to make smart moves.

"Hopefully we did the 21 car some justice like he asked us to do. I think seeing him back in Victory Lane might have done it for him, so I hope so."

Bayne, the youngest winner in the history of the Daytona 500, earned a total prize money of US$1,463,813 for his victory in what was just his second outing in the Sprint Cup series.

NASCAR looks to limit two-car draft

NASCAR has introduced technical changes to the cooling system on Sprint Cup series cars in the hope of limiting the two-car tandems that prevailed during Saturday's Budweiser Shootout at Daytona.

Effective for Thursday's Gatorade Duels, which will complete the starting order for the Daytona 500, the dimensions of the front-grille opening on the cars will be reduced to a maximum of 50 square inches and also a pressure-relief valve set at 33 PSI will be fitted to radiators.

The move will drastically reduce engine cooling, hoping drivers will have to look for 'clean air' much more than they did during Saturday's event, thus reducing the number of laps a car can push another one before water temperatures peak on their gauges.

During the non-points Bud Shootout, the usual big packs of cars traditional of restrictor-plate racing were replaced by a new style of running in pairings, which proved to be the most effective way of gaining speed and thus getting to the front of the field.

The new smoother surface at Daytona allowed for the technique to develop, as the bumpy old asphalt prevented from bump-drafting in the turns in the past. This, coupled with the low ambient temperatures from Saturday, created perfect conditions for cars to push for long stretches, Jamie McMurray actually bumping winner Kurt Busch for 14 consecutive green-flag laps.

"As an engine builder, this is a big change for a big race, so we're gonna do a lot of homework today and tomorrow and, hopefully, be prepared when we go back there on Wednesday and Thursday," said Ford engine builder Doug Yates. "If we need to do some more research before the 500, then we will."

The changes are also safety-oriented, officials aiming to bring speeds down as averages broke into the 206 mph while running in the draft on Saturday's race.

"We can all agree from the competitors and NASCAR that 206 is probably a little bit to the extreme side," said Cup series director John Darby.

Teams will be able to sample the new cooling parameters during practice next Wednesday. However further changes could be introduced like reducing the size of the restrictor plate, which remains at 29/32nds of a inch, the same used during testing last January.

"I wouldn't be surprised from the speeds that I've seen that we could have a plate change, so we are preparing as if that might come," Yates added.

McLaren in NASCAR ECU deal

McLaren Electronics along with Freescale Semiconductor will provide fuel injection systems that NASCAR plans to implement in the Sprint Cup Series in a year's time.

In one of the biggest technical changes for NASCAR in years, the sanctioning body has announced that its top series will use fuel injection systems on its cars from 2012, all being supplied by McLaren Electronics.

Freescale Semiconductor will provide the processors for McLaren's engine control units, which will be used to manage the fuel and ignition systems, replacing carburetors which have been used in the series since its inception in 1949.

Although difficulties in efficiently policing electronic systems has been a reason for NASCAR to stay away from them in the past, officials feel confident in their suppliers' capability to deliver a cheat-proof system that can guarantee a level playing field.

NASCAR plans to race the system for the first time next year at Daytona and although it has yet to confirm whether it will be run for the whole season, the aim is to make a full implementation in 2012.

"This is the tip of the iceberg for the technology," NASCAR's vice-president for competition Robin Pemberton told AUTOSPORT. "Right now we're concentrating on the engine management system and keeping it as fair for all of our manufacturers and all of our teams, knowing that moving forward we'll have the ability to do a lot more things.

"Those things will help the garage area in some form, but it's important to know that it can enhance the fan experience as well, whether we go into the telemetry part, it might add to the TV packages moving forward, things like that.

"We know that's down the road for us, but for now it's just important for us to make sure that we maintain the level playing field and make sure that nobody is getting away with anything."

Although ECUs open a wide range of options for NASCAR and teams in terms of data acquisition, the systems will remain restricted for engine management purposes initially. Teams will be able to tune them through software and parameters may vary from one track to another, as is the case with carburetors at present.

Further tuning or 'hacking' of the units will be prevented by codes, while McLaren Electronics officials guarantee that any attempt to alter the system will be easy to track.

The NASCAR fuel injection system will have eight injectors - one per cylinder - and it will be placed in the intake manifold. The throttle body will be manufactured by Holley, current vendor for NASCAR carburetors, while the airbox and air intake will remain the same as currently being used.

The system will be similar to the one supplied by McLaren for the IndyCar Series in the past, although it will be NASCAR-specific.

Before being officially tested on-track for the first time by teams, the systems are set to undergo plenty of dyno testing, although there have been a few outings at non-NASCAR tracks already, according to Pemberton.

McLaren Electronics has been working alongside NASCAR for the past 18 months, altough the company has been a supplier for teams for a few years already.

"As a group, McLaren is extremely serious about its involvement in North America: as well as looking ahead to our NASCAR involvement, the next 12 months will also see us introduce the MP4-12C high-performance sports car to the market," said Ron Dennis, executive chairman of McLaren Group.

"With both projects, we're keen to ensure that our expertise produces the most efficient and effective solutions while also safeguarding the incredible reputation that the McLaren name has built up over nearly 50 years of motorsport competition."

McLaren Electronics is also the official supplier for ECUs in Formula 1.

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Plate size reduced for Daytona

NASCAR officials have issued further changes to the size of the restrictor plate teams will run during Thursday's Gatorade Duel qualifying races for the Daytona 500.

Following the Budweiser Shootout, where cars race in two-car tandems for almost the entire event, NASCAR issued new restrictions to the cooling system on Sprint Cup cars, reducing the maximum size of the front-grille opening and introducing a pressure release valve for radiators.

Hoping to make sure speeds remain in control, officials have now issued a new size for the restrictor plate, bringing it down to 57/64th's of an inch, taking 1/64th away, which equals almost a 12-horsepower decrease.

The change also means teams will probably run lower RPMs after many were well over the 9000 RPMs in the draft on Saturday.

Many teams had already anticipated the measure, which has come as no surprise. They will all get the chance to try out the new cooling package during Wednesday's practice sessions - weather permitting as there's been intermittent rain today at Daytona - and they will race with those parameters during the Gatorade Duels.

"We've got a race under our belt, so everybody knows what they've got," Sprint Cup series Director John Darby told AUTOSPORT. "We've been in discussions with a lot of the engine builders in the garage and their concern is that their rpm's are too high and the easiest way to fix that, or to bring it back a 100 rpm or 200 rpm, is with a very small plate change.

"They deserve that help and gives us a little help with the speeds as well. The plate change is twofold, but more importantly is to bring engine builders into a better comfort zone so that they don't have to worry about their engines having failures during the 500."

Although officials expect all the changes to address the long two-car bump-drafting that prevailed in Saturday's race and the rising speeds that soared at 206mph lap averages, NASCAR could introduce further changes if needed.

"We've got a lot of way to go until Sunday," Darby added. "The goal is to get everything under control so that we can put on the most exciting Daytona 500 that everybody's ever watched. We'll do what we have to do to get there."

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Johnson: Five titles would suffice

Jimmie Johnson says he would not be disappointed if he did not match Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty's tally of championships, while he expects more teams to challenge him for the title in 2011.

A week before Johnson kicks off yet another title defence at the season-opening Daytona 500, a poll of NASCAR media voted him favourite to win an unprecedented sixth consecutive championship this season.

Last year the Californian entered the season finale second in the points behind Denny Hamlin, but managed to overcome a 15-point deficit to claim what he said at the time was his most significant championship.

Despite his status as favourite once again, Johnson says he would be happy with his career achievements if it turns out he is unable to win another title. His Hendrick Motorsports team-mate Jeff Gordon won four championships in a seven-year span between 1995 and 2001, but has been unable to win a fifth crown thus far.

"If it all ended today, there is no way I would be disappointed," Johnson said. "It's been one hell of a ride. I'm so proud of the growth I've had as a driver from motocross, off-road trucks, stock cars, there's a lot of years where I was tearing stuff up and trying to find my way.

"When I went with Hendrick things smoothed out and it's been one heck of a ride. So if it all ended today I would be very proud of all that has taken place."

Although Hamlin and Kevin Harvick posed the biggest threat to his championship streak ending last year, Johnson expects Roush Fenway Racing drivers to be contenders this season after finishing 2010 strongly, with Carl Edwards winning the last two races of the season.

He also expects Stewart Haas drivers Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman to put up a fight in what will be the team's third season running Hendrick Motorsports machinery.

"I can say that we saw a very good points battle last year and that didn't include the Roush guys and the way they ran at the end of the season, the Childress, Hendrick, Gibbs group separated itself, you're going to have Roush back now," said Johnson.

"So we're going to have one more quality group of drivers in there mixing it up. I think it's going to be a very good year. We can all sit here and get fired up and get quotes to start the season but I'd say come Vegas or maybe after Vegas, I think before five races in, we can start passing out report cards to see who did what over the off-season."

Johnson revealed his team will have a new pit-crew for 2011 after facing some issues late during last year's Chase. His crew chief Chad Knaus called for a controversial swap with Gordon's crew during the play-off event at Texas, which proved successful in the end for the champion's team.

He said the new members have been put to the test at Charlotte Motor Speedway, in the aim of getting the best possible crew for the start of the season.

"We had all four cars at Charlotte doing live pitstops to see," Johnson said. "We put a lot of pressure on them to see if somebody was better. So we're still in the process. Chad may have made some decisions.

"I was there at that test with those guys last week and I haven't heard the final roster. From that what I saw was a very, very strong first and second string of guys. That's our plan, to make sure we have depth and if someone is hurt or having a bad day we can make changes and not lose anything on pit road."

On Saturday night Johnson will compete in the Budweiser Shootout, which he has won once, back in 2005.

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Hamlin gunning for early-season wins

Last year's NASCAR Sprint Cup runner-up Denny Hamlin has targeted early-season race wins as he bids to topple series dominator Jimmie Johnson in 2011.

With the Chase for Championship system rewarding race wins due to its revised points system, Hamlin is keen to 'set the tone' as he attempts to end Johnson's efforts to extend his winning streak to a record six consecutive titles.

"I'm excited to get the season going, for me there's a lot optimism right now," Hamlin told AUTOSPORT. "This is what it's all about, and we're aiming to set the tone early for the season ahead.

"I've never won a points race at Daytona, other than a Nationwide race [in July 2008] and the Bud Shootout [in his rookie full-time Cup year in 2006], so it would mean a lot to me to win here."

Hamlin's Daytona 500 attempt started badly when his steering wheel came off in his hands as he left the pits for his qualifying laps last weekend. The 30-year-old Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota star has identified his qualifying form as a weakness from 2010.

"Qualifying is something we have to improve on this year," he said. "We're going to work on that, and we feel like we're going to improve in some areas of the race car too, and that all adds up into good momentum. That is what we need straight from this weekend at Daytona."

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Gordon rejuvenated by victory

Jeff Gordon reckons his victory at Phoenix gives him and his team a confidence boost as he hopes to be in contention for a fifth NASCAR Sprint Cup title.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver brought a 66-race win-less streak to an end on Sunday, beating Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch with an emphatic overtaking manoeuvre after running him down in the closing laps of the second race of the season.

The 39-year-old, who last won a title almost 10 years ago, had eight second-place finishes since his latest win which came at Texas in 2009. He has also claimed 22 top-five finishes since then but for various reasons he had been unable to wrap things up properly.

Gordon admitted he doubted he would be able to win again after spending nearly two years without a single victory but he feels now that his triumph at Phoenix brings back the confidence that he can still make it happen without changing the principles that allowed him to win so many races in the past.

"I guess every racecar driver knows that there's going to be that time in their life when they are not going to go to victory lane again and you don't know when that time is going to come. I was so hoping that time was not for me now," said Gordon.

"I felt like I still have it in me. I know how passionate I am about it. But things have changed in the sport. The cars have changed. Tyres have changed. Competition has changed. So when you go through a streak of without winning, you think, okay, is it me or what is it?

"Days like this allow you to gain that confidence in yourself, just keep doing what you're doing, what's got to you victory lane in the past, keep giving that good information and when the tools around you and the chemistry is there throughout the whole team and good decisions are made, days like this will happen."

The four-time Cup champion admits he had felt the pressure of not being able to win while racing for NASCAR's leading organisation, racing the same kind of equipment that some of his team-mates have taken to victory lane more often than him.

The way he achieved his win on Sunday over Kyle Busch has him dreaming of what lies ahead for him this season.

"It has not been fun, I'll be honest with you," said Gordon. "Going to the racetrack and being competitive and battling for wins, that's been my whole motivation throughout my career. I've been so fortunate to be in that position to go to the racetrack with a shot at winning races on a pretty consistent basis, and that's what I love about racing. I don't love going out there and finishing 10th or 15th or 20th.

"I'll be honest, it's depressing and I know that might not come across the right way but when you've won 82 races, and you've worked for Hendrick Motorsports, that pressure is there and there are expectations not only from the outside but the inside.

"When you go on that kind of a streak and drought, no doubt about it, it's frustrating. And it has not been a lot of fun going to the racetrack. And that's what made it so sweet, this victory - it's not like we lucked into it. We battled and we worked and we out-raced them and it was just so cool to experience that.

"It's got me excited about the rest of the season, as well. I think we can do this at other tracks, as well."

Gordon is currently the fifth most successful driver in NASCAR history, only a win shy of tying for third place in the record books behind legends Richard Petty and David Pearson.

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Practice crash costs Earnhardt pole

Pole-winner Dale Earnhardt Jr will now start from the rear of the field in his Gatorade Duel and the Daytona 500 after damaging his primary car in an incident during Wednesday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice.

Earnhardt was pushing Hendrick Motorsports team-mate Jimmie Johnson coming out of Turn 4 when they arrived behind the slower tandem of David Gilliland and Robby Gordon, while running in a rain-delayed practice session.

As Johnson seemed to be running out of space while trying to pass the slower cars on the outside, he got off the throttle as did Earnhardt behind him, but Michael Waltrip Racing's Martin Truex Jr, who was trailing the pair, could not avoid running into the back of him while being pushed by Red Bull's Brian Vickers.

Earnhardt lost control of his car after being hit by Truex, ending up crashing against the inside barrier and causing enough damage to his pole-winning car to force a switch to a back-up.

As per NASCAR rules, whenever a driver switches to a back-up car after qualifying, he has to start at the rear of the field. That means Earnhardt will not start Sunday's race from pole position plus he also has to go to the rear for today's Gatorade Duel, where he also had pole position.

"I just really don't know what was going on there," Earnhardt said. "The guys on the inside looked like they were going to stay low and then they started kind of creeping up, and they gave me the impression they were going to be closing the hole on the outside. So Jimmie lifted. And he about wrecked and I got off the gas and there were a couple of guys coming behind me - Truex, and a couple other guys - and just didn't have a chance.

"You've got to pay attention out there, man. If you're going to come out here and race, you need to pay attention."

The Hendrick driver will now run chassis 88-576 in the Duel, the same on that Jeff Gordon raced last year at Talladega in October, finishing eighth.

Truex switched to a back-up car as well and will also go to the rear of the field in his Gatorade Duel, but as his position in the Daytona 500 field had not been set yet in Sunday's qualifying - which only decided the 500 front row and the Duel line-ups - he will not have to go to the rear for the Daytona 500. His starting position will depend on his finishing position in Thursday's duel.

"Just somebody made a bad decision up ahead," Truex said about the incident. "Dale and Jimmie and me and Briankind of had our own two-car deals going there. We were kind of swapping back and forth. We just had caught some guys that were a lot slower then we were.

"For some reason they decided to pull up in front of our little pack coming at them about 20 miles per hour faster than they were going. It's just a shame to tear up racecars in practice... It was easily avoidable by some of the guys out there."

Pole position for the Daytona 500 could now be up for grabs on Thursday's duels, although Jeff Gordon may eventually get it should Earnhardt choose the outside lane for the start, given that technically he remains the polesitter.

Earnhardt's incident is his second during Speedweeks events at Daytona, as he also crashed during Saturday's Budweiser Shootout.

Practice crash costs Earnhardt poleHammers lead Barrera chase

Patrick takes breakthrough fourth

Danica Patrick made history by taking the best ever finish for a female driver in a NASCAR National series event with fourth in Saturday's Nationwide Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The IndyCar star had a breakthrough race in NASCAR's second-tier series at the demanding mile-and-a-half oval where she made continuous progress through the 200 laps, recovering from a disappointing qualifying.

Starting from 22nd, Patrick moved up all the way to 12th in the order right before the first round of pitstops and she was able to remain inside the top 15 until balance issues caused her to lose ground, eventually dropping a lap down entering the second half of the race.

However, when the sixth caution of the race waved the JR Motorsports racer was in position to get the wave-around free-pass, by being the first car a lap down to the leader. That turned out to be the final caution of the day, which she was able to make the most of as her team topped the car up with fuel and bolted on a fresh set of tyres.

With a better balance on her #7 Chevrolet, Patrick gradually moved up the order, enjoying an interesting battle with Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne, from which she was eventually able to come out on top before breaking into the top 10.

As fuel calculations started to come into play, Patrick found herself on the right strategy and while others ahead of her had to pit for a splash of fuel, she managed to stretch her mileage well enough to safely make it to the end in fourth place.

"What a good day," said a joyful Patrick following her best career finish in NASCAR. "We had an up and down weekend all around. We were running well, then we were struggling, qualifying I didn't do a good enough job for us but we had a good race car.

"I was pleased we finally got that 'lucky dog' [wave around under caution] and got back on the lead lap and we were sailing from there. I had to fight the car a little here and there and it was definitely loose in the middle part of the race. It was loose at the end too but [crew chief] Tony [Eury Jr] did a good job at tightening the thing up for the last run.

"I was a little tight to start but was a little loose to end so I guess that's just what goes on here. It's opposite to what I've learned...

"We were able to get a top-five - I was hoping for a top-10 secretly, I didn't want to say that to the media because then you would expect me to finish in the top 10. But I'm really happy, for [my team] it was a good weekend, so a good day all around."

Patrick thoroughly enjoyed being competitive and making plenty of passes while racing her way up through the field, going on to beat her own goal for what was only her 16th Nationwide Series outing, her third of the year and the second at Las Vegas.

"There were a lot of easy passes, a lot of traffic and then there were tough passes," Patrick said. "Took a couple of tries and took a few laps. Boy, it's tough when they lay on your right side! I'm already loose and then they're on that side and then I'm just even more loose, trying not to spin, trying not to do anything to put me down.

"It was tough racing, it was good racing, and I like that, that's what I come for. I'm happy, I'm proud of everyone that worked really hard. Good day!"

Patrick was coached during the weekend by former NASCAR Truck Series champion Johnny Benson and she also took some tuition from Hendrick Motorsport's leading crew chief Chad Knaus, with whom she spent time during Sprint Cup Series practice.

Nationwide Series champion Brad Keselowski blew a left front tyre after running over debris on the final lap while leading the race and handed a self record-breaking 49th career win in the series to veteran Mark Martin.

Patrick finished behind Justin Allgaier, and the battered car of Keselowski, as the second of those drivers scoring points for the championship. She continues to rank fourth in the standings, and will be back for her fourth NASCAR outing of the season in two weeks at Bristol, following official IndyCar Series testing at Barber Motorsports Park earlier that week.

Patrick takes best NASCAR finish yet

Kyle Busch closes on Phoenix sweep

Kyle Busch could make further NASCAR history this weekend by completing a full sweep of victories in its top-level championships at Phoenix in a single weekend, having already dominated in the Trucks and Natiowide Series races at the one-mile oval.

On Friday night Busch, driving for his own team KBM, led 107 out of 150 laps on his way to victory in the Truck series event at the wheel of his trademark #18 Toyota Tundra. It was also his 25th victory in the series, out of 87 events contested since 2001.

On Saturday afternoon, Busch led every single lap to claim his 44th Nationwide Series career victory, his 33rd for Joe Gibbs Racing in the second-tier series. The 25-year-old fended off a late charge from Carl Edwards, who raced him side-by-side for many laps.

Busch was fastest in the final Sprint Cup practice on Friday and on Saturday qualified on the outside of the second row for Sunday's 500km event, which his Nationwide Series rival Edwards starts from pole after setting a new track record in his Roush Fenway Ford.

The Vegas native hopes to get the better of Edwards and his rivals once again on Sunday to complete the sweep and take his 89th victory in a NASCAR national series event.

"I hope so, man," said Busch. "That's the plan. I hope Carl didn't save everything he had for tomorrow. I know I let him sit on the pole so he could speak to the fans in the morning during driver intros... We were joking about that earlier. Our [car] is good, I'll let you know in about 24 hours."

If Busch manages to claim victory in Sunday's Cup event at Phoenix, which he won back in 2006, he would match the feat he already achieved last August when he completed a full sweep at Bristol, winning in Trucks, Nationwide and Cup.

In Saturday's Nationwide race, Busch became the first driver since 2003 to lead every lap of a NASCAR event.

Aguero eyes Chelsea moveKeselowski wins Nationwide title

Hamlin gunning for early-season wins

Last year's NASCAR Sprint Cup runner-up Denny Hamlin has targeted early-season race wins as he bids to topple series dominator Jimmie Johnson in 2011.

With the Chase for Championship system rewarding race wins due to its revised points system, Hamlin is keen to 'set the tone' as he attempts to end Johnson's efforts to extend his winning streak to a record six consecutive titles.

"I'm excited to get the season going, for me there's a lot optimism right now," Hamlin told AUTOSPORT. "This is what it's all about, and we're aiming to set the tone early for the season ahead.

"I've never won a points race at Daytona, other than a Nationwide race [in July 2008] and the Bud Shootout [in his rookie full-time Cup year in 2006], so it would mean a lot to me to win here."

Hamlin's Daytona 500 attempt started badly when his steering wheel came off in his hands as he left the pits for his qualifying laps last weekend. The 30-year-old Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota star has identified his qualifying form as a weakness from 2010.

"Qualifying is something we have to improve on this year," he said. "We're going to work on that, and we feel like we're going to improve in some areas of the race car too, and that all adds up into good momentum. That is what we need straight from this weekend at Daytona."

Chygrynskiy exits BarcaHamlin gunning for early-season wins

McLaren in NASCAR ECU deal

McLaren Electronics along with Freescale Semiconductor will provide fuel injection systems that NASCAR plans to implement in the Sprint Cup Series in a year's time.

In one of the biggest technical changes for NASCAR in years, the sanctioning body has announced that its top series will use fuel injection systems on its cars from 2012, all being supplied by McLaren Electronics.

Freescale Semiconductor will provide the processors for McLaren's engine control units, which will be used to manage the fuel and ignition systems, replacing carburetors which have been used in the series since its inception in 1949.

Although difficulties in efficiently policing electronic systems has been a reason for NASCAR to stay away from them in the past, officials feel confident in their suppliers' capability to deliver a cheat-proof system that can guarantee a level playing field.

NASCAR plans to race the system for the first time next year at Daytona and although it has yet to confirm whether it will be run for the whole season, the aim is to make a full implementation in 2012.

"This is the tip of the iceberg for the technology," NASCAR's vice-president for competition Robin Pemberton told AUTOSPORT. "Right now we're concentrating on the engine management system and keeping it as fair for all of our manufacturers and all of our teams, knowing that moving forward we'll have the ability to do a lot more things.

"Those things will help the garage area in some form, but it's important to know that it can enhance the fan experience as well, whether we go into the telemetry part, it might add to the TV packages moving forward, things like that.

"We know that's down the road for us, but for now it's just important for us to make sure that we maintain the level playing field and make sure that nobody is getting away with anything."

Although ECUs open a wide range of options for NASCAR and teams in terms of data acquisition, the systems will remain restricted for engine management purposes initially. Teams will be able to tune them through software and parameters may vary from one track to another, as is the case with carburetors at present.

Further tuning or 'hacking' of the units will be prevented by codes, while McLaren Electronics officials guarantee that any attempt to alter the system will be easy to track.

The NASCAR fuel injection system will have eight injectors - one per cylinder - and it will be placed in the intake manifold. The throttle body will be manufactured by Holley, current vendor for NASCAR carburetors, while the airbox and air intake will remain the same as currently being used.

The system will be similar to the one supplied by McLaren for the IndyCar Series in the past, although it will be NASCAR-specific.

Before being officially tested on-track for the first time by teams, the systems are set to undergo plenty of dyno testing, although there have been a few outings at non-NASCAR tracks already, according to Pemberton.

McLaren Electronics has been working alongside NASCAR for the past 18 months, altough the company has been a supplier for teams for a few years already.

"As a group, McLaren is extremely serious about its involvement in North America: as well as looking ahead to our NASCAR involvement, the next 12 months will also see us introduce the MP4-12C high-performance sports car to the market," said Ron Dennis, executive chairman of McLaren Group.

"With both projects, we're keen to ensure that our expertise produces the most efficient and effective solutions while also safeguarding the incredible reputation that the McLaren name has built up over nearly 50 years of motorsport competition."

McLaren Electronics is also the official supplier for ECUs in Formula 1.

Aguero eyes Chelsea moveMcLaren in NASCAR ECU deal

Patrick takes best NASCAR finish

Danica Patrick claimed her best NASCAR result by finishing 14th, although a lap down, in the Nationwide Series' season-opening event at Daytona.

The IndyCar star saw the green flag wave from fourth place on the grid after holding on to provisional pole for a while during Friday's qualifying. Her JR Motorsports Chevrolet seemed to be good enough car to race at the front of the field, which she eventually did at one point.

From the second row of the grid Patrick initially dropped down the order as she was left without a drafting partner, getting dragged all the way to 25th place at the end of the fourth lap. However she was able to work her way up the field, getting some momentum going to get back quickly inside the top 10 again.

She eventually grabbed the lead of the race on lap 30 while working in tandem with the Kevin Harvick Inc Chevrolet of Clint Bowyer, which pushed her all the way to front before the Sprint Cup regular needed to switch the order of their tandem in order to bring water temperatures down.

A miscommunication with Patrick and her lack of experience with the technique led to both losing momentum and getting dragged back into the pack, as a couple of tandems continuously pulled away up in front. Patrick eventually went a lap down, which she was unable to recover in the end.

"She was fast enough to be up there," said Bowyer about his laps drafting with Patrick. "You look for fast cars and I'm telling you when you're out there racing in that kind of atmosphere you've got to find a fast race car and meet up with it. She had a fast car and we'd go to the front.

"Once I did get to her bumper she did fine. Just when we switched, we ran into a little bit of a communication problem."

Patrick's 14th place finish just matches her goal of finishing in the top 15 in as many races as she can this year, although she admitted she still has to master the new drafting technique that has prevailed this month at Daytona.

"I just needed to stay in touch with that lead pack," Patrick told her team on the radio. "I need to learn how to push better, is what everything comes down to."

Patrick, who became the first woman to lead a NASCAR race at Daytona, will be back in the Nationwide Series next week at Phoenix.

The Daytona race was won by Tony Stewart.

Hammers lead Barrera chasePatrick takes best NASCAR finish yet

Robby Gordon placed on probation

Robby Gordon has been placed on probation by NASCAR following an altercation with fellow Sprint Cup driver Kevin Conway.

According to a NASCAR spokesperson, Conway, last year's leading rookie in NASCAR's top series, informed officials of an incident that occurred on Friday afternoon in the garage area following Cup qualifying. In addition, Conway filed a complaint with local police according to reports.

As a result Gordon, who fielded a car for Conway in seven Cup races last year, has been put on probation for a period yet to announced by NASCAR. No action has been taken against Conway.

"[Gordon's] actions were brought to our attention early last evening," said NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp. "We met this morning and reviewed the situation, and have reacted accordingly. We will continue to look at this situation involving Robby Gordon."

Both Conway and Gordon have pending legal procedures against each other following fall-out during 2010. Gordon claims Conway's sponsor did not fulfill financial commitments with his team, while Conway is chasing prize money for winning last year's rookie of the year award.

Further information on penalties against Gordon will be released by NASCAR next week.

Zaragoza want Pennant stayGordon: Wins vital to title challenge

Hamlin gunning for early-season wins

Last year's NASCAR Sprint Cup runner-up Denny Hamlin has targeted early-season race wins as he bids to topple series dominator Jimmie Johnson in 2011.

With the Chase for Championship system rewarding race wins due to its revised points system, Hamlin is keen to 'set the tone' as he attempts to end Johnson's efforts to extend his winning streak to a record six consecutive titles.

"I'm excited to get the season going, for me there's a lot optimism right now," Hamlin told AUTOSPORT. "This is what it's all about, and we're aiming to set the tone early for the season ahead.

"I've never won a points race at Daytona, other than a Nationwide race [in July 2008] and the Bud Shootout [in his rookie full-time Cup year in 2006], so it would mean a lot to me to win here."

Hamlin's Daytona 500 attempt started badly when his steering wheel came off in his hands as he left the pits for his qualifying laps last weekend. The 30-year-old Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota star has identified his qualifying form as a weakness from 2010.

"Qualifying is something we have to improve on this year," he said. "We're going to work on that, and we feel like we're going to improve in some areas of the race car too, and that all adds up into good momentum. That is what we need straight from this weekend at Daytona."

Chygrynskiy exits BarcaHamlin gunning for early-season wins

Patrick finishes 17th at Phoenix

Danica Patrick improved on her previous form at Phoenix International Raceway by finishing 17th in Saturday's NASCAR Nationwide Series event.

After an eventful first race at the one-mile Arizona oval last November, Patrick had a smoother run this time around as she continues to build on her stock car experience, while pondering still a possible full-time move from IndyCar.

Although Patrick managed to finished the race two positions shy of her top-15 target, she eventually finished three laps down on winner Kyle Busch as the 200 laps saw little incidents and long green-flag periods that did not allow her to recover ground and be in contention further up.

The JR Motorsports racer was already a lap down when the first caution flag waved after one-quarter distance, and just missed an opportunity to get the free pass back onto the lead lap, being the second car a lap down when the pace car came out for the first time.

She seemed close to being in contention for the free pass again later in the race, but was unable to get it in the end, finishing as the first car three laps down. Despite that, Patrick was happy to make progress with her car's set-up, finishing the race with a clear improvement in pace.

"We were struggling in practice yesterday and [crew chief] Tony [Eury] Jr just looked at the set-up and made some changes," said Patrick. "It's nice when we make a lot of progress with the car in the race and that's just what we did.

"There was one change in the beginning that I didn't like so much and then Tony made a different change to the next one, and then more of that again and it really was good that last run. Then we got the car running alright and probably at the end Tony was saying those were like 10th or 11th placed cars I was running with, so that's good.

"That's always nice at the end of the day to realise that you can kind of run with those guys. It's a short oval, top-15s are great but 17th on a short oval for me right now is not too bad because I felt pretty dreadful at them last year."

After two races in 2011, Patrick currently ranks fourth among drivers scoring points in the Nationwide Series. She will run at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for a second time next week.

PL ‘must invest’ to develop youthPatrick has ‘humbling’ runs at Dover