Clint Bowyer

Bowyer finished 17th in his rookie campaign, which was his worst year to date. In his subsequent season, Bowyer made the Chase and finished 3rd. In 2008 he paired up a 5th place finish in the Sprint Cup series with a Nationwide Series championship title. He fell off somewhat after that with a still-respectable 15th place campaign in 2009. A big penalty in 2010 cost Bowyer 150 points and a couple of places in the standings. He still came in 10th that year.

As we’ve seen with so many of the NASCAR champions, Bowyer caught the racing bug at a very young age. He started racing motocross at age 5 and piled up over 200 victories over a nine-year career there.

Twenty-seven years after he started racing, Bowyer is poised for a run in 2012. He will no longer be driving the familiar #33 Cheerios / Hamburger Helper car for Richard Childress Racing. His new car will be the #15 of Michael Waltrip Racing, a Toyota sponsored by 5-Hour Energy.

(U.S. Army photo)

There was also Dale Inman, a crew chief for the legendary Richard Petty. Inman, with eight championships under his belt, became the first crew chief inducted into the Hall. That impressive championship total is one less than fellow inductee, the late modified-car driver Richie Evans, achieved in his career. Glen Wood, a great competitor as both an owner and a driver rounded out the third class inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

NASCAR officials used the Hall of Fame Ceremony as a backdrop for the State of the Sport Address. The gist of the speeches amounted to this: “Everything we did in 2011 was awesome. We rule. 2012 will be more of the same and you will love it.” The only significant change that was discussed for 2012 is old news by now – NASCAR wants to cut down on tandem racing. Other than that, NASCAR just wants to duplicate and build on a successful 2011 campaign.

Hall of Fame and State of the Sport hoopla aside, the biggest news from NASCAR this week is that we are one week closer to the Daytona 500 and the start of the 2012 NASCAR season.

(Photo: Air National Guard)

Also this week, David Ragan (pictured) signed with Front Row Motorsports to drive the #34 car on the Sprint Cup circuit. David Gilliland, who drove the #34 last year, will stay with Front Row and move to the #38. Ragan scored the first victory of his six-year career in the Sprint Cup last season and should significantly improve Front Row’s chances in 2012.

It was a slow week in NASCAR’s offseason, but hope is on the horizon. We’re now less than a month away from the Shootout on February 18th.  Soon, my friends, soon the waiting will be over.

(U.S. Air Force photo)

Carl Edwards Picks a Lane
Carl Edwards is getting serious now. The co-leader in Sprint Cup Series points who lost the Championship to Tony Stewart by tie-breaker wants the title in 2012. To that end, he announced this week that he will not be competing in the Nationwide Series this year.

To be completely accurate — Edwards didn’t really “compete” in the series last year, thanks to NASCAR’s decision to limit drivers to collecting points in only one series. Edwards drove in and won races. He collected big checks. But he couldn’t compete for the Nationwide Series title. This year, he’ll turn that unrewarded energy toward the Sprint Series and another shot at the championship.

Busch Brothers Go Fast
The Busch Brothers are clearly ready to go in 2012. They turned in two of the three fastest times at Preseason Thunder. Kurt took the top spot with a hair over 206 MPH, which just barely edged out Regan Smith‘s time. Kyle was a fraction of a second behind in third place. Look for the Busch Boys to make some serious noise this season.

Danica Sighting
The NASCAR driver everyone loves to talk about made a solid showing at Preseason Thunder this week. Danica Patrick never broke into the top 10, but she hovered around in the low teens all weekend.  That’s not at all shabby for a rookie driver.  We’ll see how her performance on the test track translates into actual racing in just a few weeks. The Daytona 500 is now a little more than a month away. Is it too soon to let out a “boogedy boogedy boogedy”?

(U.S. Army photo)

In what could later be viewed as a symbolic changing of the guard, Gordon’s first race on the Cup circuit was also the final race of NASCAR legend Richard Petty’s career. Gordon ran a full slate on the top series in 1993. He won rookie of the year honors – the first time a driver had won that honor on both the Busch Series and the Cup Series.

Gordon got his first victory midway through his second season. He finished eighth in series points that year. In 1995 – his third season in the Cup series – Gordon won the title.

Gordon would go on to win the title in three out of four seasons from 1995-1998. He finished second to Bobby Labonte in 1996. His on-track success has continued for more than a decade since. He has finished in the top 10 in series’ points in every season except one since 1994 and in the top five an astounding 10 times. He won a fourth series championship in 2001.

Off track, Gordon is renowned for his charitable work. He runs The Jeff Gordon Foundation with supports a number of other charitable foundations that provide support for children in need.

(U.S. Air Force photo)

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

In other NASCAR news, Rusty Wallace Racing is closing up shop for 2012. Wallace, the 1989 Cup Series champion, has been a car owner for the last 25 years, but the current incarnation of Rusty Wallace Racing has been fielding two to three cars on the Nationwide tour since 2004. In the seven seasons of its existence, RWR has had 15 drivers starting at a total of 411 races and finishing 343 of them. During that time, according to Wallace, he’s never made any money. None. As the saying goes, all work and no money makes Rusty … call it quits.

For now, anyway. Wallace didn’t rule out fielding a team in 2012, but he certainly didn’t rule it in, either. Reading between the lines – if the $6.5 million he’d need to do the job right falls into his lap, he’ll compete in 2012. If not, well, there’s always next year. Maybe.

(U.S. Air Force photo)

Dale Earnhardt Jr

Earnhardt drives the iconic #88 National Guard / Amp Energy Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. You may have heard that Earnhardt’s father, Dale Sr., was a pretty good racecar driver himself. Earnhardt’s championship pedigree goes back even farther. Less well-known is his grandfather, Ralph, who was also a champion in his own right. Ralph won the NASCAR Sportsman Division title way back in 1956.

Junior’s first full year on the Nationwide Series was in 1998. He won the Series championship as a rookie and went on to repeat in his sophomore season. In 2000 he moved up to the Cup Series and became the first rookie to ever win the All-Star Race. He finished 16th that first year and would go on to finish 11th or better in five of his next six campaigns.

After that solid run, Earnhardt’s success trailed off significantly. He finished 16th in 2007, 12th in 2008, then dropped to 25th in 2009 and 21st in 2010. Although he went winless — again — in 2011, he had a solid year and hovered around the top of the pack all season. He had four Top 5 finishes and 12 times finished 10th or better. Junior made the Chase for the Cup and finished the year seventh in series points, his best since 2006.

(National Guard photo)

Long before Jimmie Johnson became the winner of 5 consecutive Sprint Cup championships, he started his racing career riding motocross at the age of 5.  He went on to Superlite Class, off-road racing, the AC Delco Challenge Series, and the Nationwide Series before joining the Sprint Cup series, earning honors at every step along the way.

Johnson drives the #48 Lowe’s Chevrolet owned by Jeff Gordon for Hendrick Motorsports.  His Sprint Cup career began inauspiciously in 2001.  He started just three races that year, never finishing above 25^th.  But the next year, his first full year on the Sprint Cup, everyone in NASCAR Nation took notice of the 26-year-old rookie.

He started the year off in the pole position at the Daytona 500.  He won at Fontana two months later in his 10^th start of the season.  He won three races in his rookie season and finished fifth in series points.

A year later Johnson would finish second in series points behind champion Matt Kenseth.  The next year, 2004, Johnson finished 2^nd again, this time behind nemesis Kurt Busch.  He would drop back to 5^th in 2005.

Then came 2006 and the reign of Jimmie Johnson.  He won the Daytona 500 along with 4 other races and the Sprint Cup Championship.  He won again in 2007 and 2008.  In 2009 he became the only driver in NASCAR history to win 4 consecutive titles and was the first driver ever to win the Associated Press Athlete of the Year award.  He went on to win a fifth straight Sprint Cup title in 2010, cementing his name in the NASCAR record books.

Off the track Johnson is active in his charity, the Jimmie Johnson Foundation, which provides assistance to children and families in need.

(White House photo)

Kurt Busch

Busch is one of those “love him or hate him” kind of drivers that seem to be everywhere in NASCAR. The haters will remember Busch’s 2011 season for the obscene words and gestures. The Lovers will remember only the two wins.

Coincidentally or not, Penske Racing also made a move this week, replacing Busch in the #22 car with A.J. Allmendinger. Unlike Busch, Allmendinger has never won a single race in the Sprint Cup Series, although Penske apparently sees a lot of upside potential in the 30-year-old from Los Gatos, CA. Allmendinger’s 15th place finish in 2011 was a career best in 5 years on the top circuit.

Allmendinger’s tenure at Richard Petty Motorsports came to an abrupt end when the team lost the main sponsor for the #43 car and, apparently, all interest in keeping Allmendinger around. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure and one team’s unwanted driver is another team’s future.

It’s still only December, so we’ll have to wait two more months to see if and how these moves will pay off for their respective teams.

(U.S. Air Force photo)

Brad Keselowski

By 2010 Kes had earned himself a nickname and a full time gig on the Sprint circuit. Driving the #2 Miller Lite Dodge for Roger Penske Racing, the 26-year-old finished 25th in series points.

2011 was an even better year for Brad. His victory at Pocono, racing with a broken leg just days after the wreck that caused the injury, is already the stuff of legend… or legend in the making, at least. It was one of three wins on the season for Keselowski. He finished the year 5th in points, behind only Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick, and Matt Kensethand ahead of such NASCAR luminaries as Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, and Jeff Gordon.

Brad is not the first Keselowski to get behind the wheel of a racecar. Both his father and his grandfather raced and his brother Brian is currently running on the Nationwide series. Keselowski is not only a legacy driver, he’s also an owner. Since 2008 Kes has owned a team on the Camping World Truck Series.
(U.S. Navy photo)