FYI WIRZ: NASCAR Sprint Media Tour in Charlotte Shows Teams Ready to Rev Up 2012

The fourth week in January is a month from the start of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup season in Daytona. It hardly seems like time to be touting eager drivers, owners and new paint schemes.

Yet scheduled activity at the hub of stock car racing in Charlotte was brisk for fans, drivers, crew chiefs, and media members.

Acceleration Weekend included the induction of new class of legends into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, as well as the return of the popular preview where fans get autographs and question opportunities with 50 NASCAR drivers, courtesy of Sprint.

For 230 fortunate media members, the new racing year started off with the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Media Tour hosted by Charlotte Motor Speedway. The previous day the National Motorsports Press Association held its annual convention and honored many members with awards.

Tony Stewart won the 2011 NMPA Richard Petty Driver of the Year Award.

Kerry Tharp, NASCAR senior director of competition communications, won the Ken Patterson Helping Others Award on Sunday night during the 2012 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) Convention at the Embassy Suites in Concord, N.C.

NASCAR vice president and chief communications officer Brett Jewkes commented on Tharp.

“Kerry is a great communications professional, but more importantly he is a great human being and that is reflected in this award,” Jewkes said. “He loves our sport and the people in our industry and it shows in everything he does.”

Eleven top NASCAR teams scheduled breakfast, lunch and dinner events for media. Owners and drivers were on stage giving one-on-one interview opportunities after announcements.

So what happened in late January that will affect the 2012 season?

The tour started with 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion team Stewart-Haas Racing. Tony Stewart was jubilant coming off his successful season, and welcomed new crew chief Steve Addington from Penske Racing. But SHR’s biggest news was Danica Patrick’s arrival to NASCAR.

Patrick will race the No. 10 Chevrolet in Sprint Cup and the No. 7 car in Nationwide Series for JR Mortorsports. The No. 10 has since been moved to Tommy Baldwin Racing which will guarantee a starting spot in the Daytona 500 because TBR finished 33rd in 2011 points.

Danica Patrick

“I'm very fortunate to be in this position with this team and these people,” Patrick said. “I've been wanting to race stock cars full time for a little while here, and it's happening.”

The next stop for tour attendees was Joe Gibbs Racing which features drivers Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano for yet another season. The big news for JGR was the arrival of crew chief Darian Grubb for Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota. Grubb was fired from SHR despite winning the 2011 Sprint Cup championship. He could bring an advantage to Toyota as she was at Hendrick Motorsports and with Chevrolet for years.

Darian Grubb

“We’re having lots of fun, we’re having lots of meetings,” Grubb said. “We’re kind of setting the course for what we want to do. We want to go out there and be competitive.”

A bus trip to Michael Waltrip Racing soon revealed a stage set with Michael Waltrip quizzing tenured driver Martin Truex Jr. and new cast of Clint Bowyer and Mark Martin. Martin will race a limited 25 race schedule, but his mentoring is always a plus to other drivers. Bowyer and Truex seem to have a bond that was apparent before Bowyer left Richard Childress Racing for MWR.

Clint Bowyer

“I am very relaxed coming to MWR,” Bowyer said. “The comforting factor of coming to a new place is when the captain of the ship is someone I am comfortable working with.”

A breakfast meeting with Earnhardt Ganassi Racing revealed a frustrated Chip Ganassi who can’t tolerate the dismal results of the 2011 season for Juan Pablo Montoya (21st), and Jamie McMurray (27th). Neither Montoya nor McMurray could pinpoint factors that lead to the poor performance.

At Roush Fenway Racing the news was more of who was not there than who was there. Matt Kenseth was absent due to his mother’s poor health and Carl Edwards was on vacation. It was reported a week later that Kenseth’s mother died of Alzheimer’s disease.

Missing at Roush Fenway was David Ragan, dismissed after Homestead, and although his No. 6 will be piloted by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. the team will field three race cars all season.

Perhaps the biggest car news of the tour wasn’t from any team, but from an engaged manufacturer. Ford Racing unveiled its 2013 Ford fusion Sprint Cup race car and production car. Although all four manufacturers will be revealing their new race cars and production cars soon, Ford was the showcase at the tour.

The manufacturers approached NASCAR with the idea of fashioning the 2013 Sprint Cup car with comparable production models.

The results are stunning and practical. Sprint Cup cars will once again look much like manufactured street versions.

Jamie Allison, director of Ford North America Motorsports.

“Really, the project at Ford started when we introduced Mustang into [the NASCAR] Nationwide [Series],” Allison said. “But we always said that was a great first step. We, along with NASCAR and the [other] manufacturers, wanted to go further in the Sprint Cup Series.”

The next article in this series will examine more upbeat teams and NASCAR’s take on changes for 2012.

FYI, WIRZ is the select presentation of motorsports topics by Dwight Drum at Racetake.com. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained from personal interviews or official release materials provided by sanctions, teams or track representatives. Photo credit: Dwight Drum @ Racetake.com