I'm Baaaaack...

Happy 2009 everyone, and welcome to another year of posting in these parts. You can read my preview of the NFL wild card action below.

Before you know it, NASCAR will be taking the green flag on the new season, and I will be covering all of the action, starting with a comprehensive season preview on or around Jan. 19 (this may be moved back a week or so due to the uncertainty surrounding a number of teams and drivers, but I expect news will start to pick up by then, even with the economic issues).

Testing would be kicking off down at Daytona Beach next week, and it feels weird not having that to look forward to. But, the Toyota All-Star Showdown and Rolex 24 are in a few weeks, and from there, it is basically Speedweeks. So sit tight everyone.

You know you have it bad when you are ready for the new season to start halfway through the sport's off-season, which is only three months long.

I've been out of the loop on the NASCAR front for a couple of weeks, with Christmas and a trip to Myrtle Beach on my agenda, but we did get a couple of rare holiday announcements: Elliott Sadler has been canned at Gillett and will be replaced by A.J. Allmendinger (I heard about this before flying back home yesterday, and let me say I was elated the entire flight), and Regan Smith will drive whichever races Furniture Row enters in 2009.

Sadler has had many chances to prove himself as an elite driver over the past decade, and for the most part, he has failed. It was time to put some new, promising blood in his seat (didn't I suggest this about two months ago?), and considering A.J.'s runs in the 10 car at the end of last season, look out for the No. 19 team in 2009.

Furniture Row should have no problem making all of the races they appear at this year, and maybe if Regan runs well enough (a tall order with this underfunded outfit), it will give him another chance at a full-time ride in 2010 if the No. 78 does not return to full-time status at that juncture.

Back to Gillett: the merger with Petty seems to still be on track, but the Petty No. 43 team will apparently be combined with Gillett's existing No. 10 team, with Reed Sorenson piloting the historic No. 43 starting at Speedweeks.

I have feelings about that, and they are mainly negative, but I won't elaborate for brevity's sake.

Also, apparently one of the team's sponsors (rumored to be McDonald's) was not happy with the Sadler replacement, but from what I heard, Mickie D's was going to be on Sorenson's car in 2009 anyways.

Sadler has filed a breach of contract suit in North Carolina court, and I'm sure those proceedings could get interesting (apparently Allmendinger himself is named as a defendant, which I don't understand...he didn't make the decision to fire Sadler).

We'll have to continue to monitor this Gillett-Sadler-Petty soap opera as January evolves and Speedweeks approach.

Speaking of Petty, a rumor appeared on Jayski today that Kyle was taking Wells Fargo to the No. 08 team for 14 races, with James Hylton driving Daytona and someone else filling out the schedule. The rumor was quickly removed within an hour, so it appears as if the ever-reliable Jayski was duped once again.