There are people who are putting a lot of pressure on only one man, namely, Dale Earnhardt Jr., suggesting that if he won several races during 2010, NASCAR’s difficult situation would improve significantly.

Regarding this, Felix Sebates -minority owner of the Earnhardt Ganassi cars of Montoya and Jamie McMurray-, said “I think Dale Earnhardt’s lack of winning the last two years have really hurt the sport overall, because everyone expected him to be the leader.”  “He has not been the leader. I hope he wins a bunch of races [in 2010] because if he wins a bunch of races, he’ll bring fans back to the race track. He’s good for everybody. I hope we win our fare share, but I want Junior to win a bunch of races. I really do.”

On his part, Kyle Petty, former driver and current television analyst said, “You’re putting too much pressure on one guy.” “If our sport depends on Dale Jr., then this sport is hurting, period.

Humpy Wheeler seems to agree. The consultant and longtime race track promoter doesn’t believe Earnhardt winning again would be enough to foster a NASCAR revival by itself. “It’s going to take more than that,” he said. “If Earnhardt Jr. could win a couple of races and battle maybe [Juan] Montoya, and trade some paint doing it, and let Tony Stewart get in the mix too, that’s what’s going to pep things up and move the needle and get the phones to ring. Junior by himself winning a race passively — by passively, I mean fuel mileage or something like that — that’s not going to click the meter.”

So maybe multiple trips to Victory Lane by the No. 88 car wouldn’t be enough to raise NASCAR back to its early-2000s height. But clearly, they wouldn’t hurt. Anyone who has ever been to a race track when Earnhardt takes the lead has heard the roar, powerful enough to be noticed over the sound of 43 engines. So a complete turnaround? No, maybe that’s too much to ask of Earnhardt. But a spark? That’s something else altogether.

Jeff Behnke, executive producer and senior vice president at Turner Sports — the parent company of NASCAR broadcast partner TNT, and, in the interest of full disclosure, NASCAR.COM — believes an Earnhardt comeback would also be reflected in television ratings.  “I think the ratings would go up. Our job is to talk about all 43 drivers, which we do. But the answer is, yeah, he’s been the most popular driver for however many years running now, and there are reasons for that. You just see it when he takes the lead in a race. You see the grandstands, and they go berserk.”

Look, nobody wants to get back to where he was as a very, very high-performing driver more than Dale Jr. I met with him [in January], and he wants to return and so does Rick Hendrick, and if it does, it will help NASCAR, no question about that. But that’s sports. We’ll have to let it play out,” explained NASCAR chariman.  “Even someone of his status has a relatively limited reach. It’s likely a gross overstatement to say that a revival of Dale Earnhardt Jr. would translate into a revival for NASCAR itself.”

“I get a really good feeling from Dale Jr. this year. I really do, no joke,” said Petty, who spoke with Earnhardt. “I think he’s excited about this year. He’s excited like he was when he was 16 and going to run Caraway and going to run Concord. He has a little of that spark when you talk to him. If he turns it around, it’s going to be huge for the sport. It’s going to be big for his fans, it’s going to be big for the sport, it’s going to be big for everybody, because the tide will rise and the ships will float with him.”

We’ll see what happens.  For the time being, Dale will be starting second –behind teammate Mark Martin-, in the Feb. 14 Daytona 500, at the Daytona International Speedway, his best qualifying position since starting second last year at Kansas. It’s the first time he’s been on the front row for a restrictor-plate race, where seven of his 18 career wins have come, since 2003.

Last Saturday, Mark Martin secured his pole position for the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, which will take place February 14, 2010.

Behind the steering wheel of his number 5 Chevrolet, the 51 year old driver from Arkansas managed to earn the pole position driving at more than 191 mph at 191.188.  Next, on second place came Dale Earnhardt Jr., followed by Ryan Newman driving his number 39 Chevrolet.

Saturday’s qualifying decided only the front-row spots for the 500. The rest of the lineup will be set after Thursday’s two 150-mile qualifying races. Drivers who finished in the top 35 of last year’s owners standings are guaranteed to start somewhere.

At 9:30 the single-seaters began to go out to the racetrack of the Jerez de la Frontera circuit, during the first day of the 2010 season’s second official unveiling.

In the morning, Fernando Alonso, started to try out the new parts that arrived all the way from Maranello, with the intention to verify mechanical elements performance, for next week when they expect to have new aerodynamic components.

The rain did not miss the appointment.  Even though it was not intense, it certainly was annoying enough during the performance checkup of the F1 racing cars.  When the rain pour began, all the single-seaters had to be taken to the boxes to make wet condition adjustments.

By the time the cars started to go out again, it was almost 10 AM and Nico Rosberg, with his Mercedes GP, was the leader of the first timesheets, even though it was not significant because he was one of the few who made some time before the rain began to fall.  Later on, the pilots were around 12 seconds higher.

Time went by without any interesting event.  In the circuit were: Ferrari, Mercedes GP, Williams, Red Bull, Force India, Toro Rosso and BMW Sauber. The Virgin VR01 must not be prepared for rain for it did not make any lap.

At midday the rain was heavier and the only thing that caught our eye were again the hard-working mechanics running to cover the diffusers to avoid photographers from pleasing us with the latest in aerodynamic novelties.

It was almost 12PM and nothing interesting happened.  There were almost no single-seaters in the racetrack and everything was extremely quiet.  My laptop (mini) seemed to say, “it’s enough for today.”  “I think a diving suit would be a good idea,” I thought and looked for shelter waiting for the rain to stop.

On January and being at NASCAR’s Research and Development Center north of Charlotte, Brian France became annoyed at the implication that he has not been a good leader in his more than six years as NASCAR’s chief executive.  Truth is, many of the stakeholders in the sport feel much the same way about the CEO wondering if he wants to do the job, and why he did not adjust his managerial approach to leading the sport sooner as NASCAR began to have economic difficulties.  This problems included drops in attendance and TV ratings, both of which were falling before the recession hit.

Brain France has only been NASCAR’s leader since 2003, but many changes have taken place since then.  ”I’ve known Brian a long time, and I know he can do it.  But he’s got to stand up and say, ‘I’m in charge, we’re doing this. We’re on the same page, and we’re going to get this done,’” said Ray Evernham, former crew chief for Jeff Gordon.

In a brief interview -just before he ran from one meeting to another, talking to NASCAR owners and drivers, crew chiefs and marketers, track presidents and TV executives, as the start of a new season was just around the corner-,  France stated, “I have to lead in a way that fits my style and approach.  Not everybody is going to agree with that.”

The thing is he has been compared to his father, Bill Jr. and to his grandfather, Big Bill.  “If you’re going to compare me to somebody else, my father or whoever, I’m not going to be somebody else,” said a Brian, who has never been more active than in the months following the end of last season.  France’s offseason mission: meet with every track operator, broadcast partner and team by his self-imposed deadline of this week’s Daytona 500.

The world ex-champion, Jacques Villeneuve said he is “working hard” to secure his comeback in 2010 Formula One.

Villeneuve withdrew from the F1 for three years and a half, since he lost his place in Sauber in favor of Robert Kubica.  At first, the possibility of becoming part of the Lotus project was mentioned, but it did not work out.

“A bunch of people got carried away with the Lotus thing,” Villeneuve stated.  “I wanted to visit my good friend, Gino [Rosato] who is now working for Lotus, but at the production car company.  I has absolutely nothing to do with the new Formula One team.”

Asked by Auto123.com about his plans, he explained: “There is nothing much to say at this point.  I am still working hard to return to F1 this season.  So hard you would not believe it.”

To speak of a duel between Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) and Michael Schumacher (Mercedes GP) may sound exaggerated, but the truth is that again they will be the center of attention during the four pre-season test days in Jerez de la Frontera Circuit.

It was only a few days ago that we saw them rolling with almost a difference of a second in favor of the pilot from Asturias, but none of them mentioned the other, making it more than evident that there is rivalry between them.  To stress this point, it would be sufficient to ask the child to whom Schumacher denied an autograph… and all because he was wearing a Ferrari cap.

Even though the “Kaiser” tried to clarify this incident, it is apparent that “it is not the right moment.”  Schumacher’s appetite has returned and according to a statement by Ross Brawn, they are showing up at the circuit with some changes to improve their presentations and performance in the racetrack.

The two pilots will only concur in the circuit of Cadiz on Thursday, because Alonso will roll tomorrow and day-after-tomorrow, while the ‘Kaiser’ on Thursday and Saturday, according to the provisional plan submitted by the circuit’s press department.

For these second unveiling events, ten teams will roll the first week: McLaren, Ferrari, Sauber, Renault, Red Bull, Toro Rosso, Williams, Force India, Mercedes GP and Virgin GP -.

Together with them, the news at Jerez during these days will be the presentation of the new Red Bull and Force India single-seaters, as well as the first car presented by the new Virgin GP ‘scuderia.’

The ticket prices for these events are five Euros general admission and 10 Euros in VIP grandstand –exactly in front of the boxes-.  The audience will be able to access the circuit from 10.00 AM onwards.  Tests finish at 5:00 PM.

Beringer Vineyards will again sponsor Braun Racing No. 10 Toyota for three races: the Auto Club Speedway in February, Texas Motor Speedway in April and Chicagoland Speedway in July in 2010. This will be the fourth season of the Californian winery with the team.

David Reutimann – who has been a familiar face in the Nationwide Series since 2002-, will once again pilot the No. 10 Beringer Vineyards Toyota in those three events.  In 113 cumulative Nationwide Series starts, he has collected one win, 16 top-five and 40 top-10 finishes. In each of his four 2009 races he posted top-10 finishes.

Reutimann is pleased to have the opportunity to carry the Beringer Vineyards colors and to be able to continue competing in the Nationwide Series, if only on a limited basis.

“I’m excited to have the opportunity to join forces with Braun Racing and Beringer Vineyards for another season,” Reutimann said.  “Braun Racing is a first-class operation with a great group of people to support it.  That is the reason they have been able to grow and expand into four full-time teams for 2010.  I look forward to working with them again next season and competing to give Beringer their first win as a primary sponsor in the Nationwide Series.”

Danica Patrick who finished 6th in the ARCA 200-mile race last Saturday, February 6^th,  will participate Saturday’s Camping World 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race.

Beyond Daytona, Patrick’s 2010 campaign is confirmed starting with the Feb. 20 race at Auto Club Speedway and the Feb. 27 race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Following Vegas, Patrick will take a four-month hiatus to focus on her IndyCar Series responsibilities before returning to drive June 26 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

ARCA stock cars are almost identical to Nationwide Series cars. Patrick’s ARCA start Saturday was the first race in a stock car for the Roscoe, Ill., driver, who in 2008 became the first woman to win an IndyCar event.

Her participation in the Camping World race was contingent on her performance on the high-banked Daytona track. Patrick veered off track after contact with a car driven by former Formula 1 driver Nelson Piquet, Jr., and slid sideways through the grass into Turn 1.

Her car sustained minor damage when it struck the 31-degree banking of the corner, but she rallied from the back of the pack and ran as high as 5th before the checkered flag waved.

JR Motorsports will still field two cars for the Nationwide Series season opener. Due to sponsorship reallocation for the upcoming season, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will drive the No. 88 Chevrolet in place of Kelly Bires in what is the first of two scheduled races for the JRM co-owner. Bires will return to the seat of the No. 88 Chevy the following week at Auto Club Speedway and could be called upon to drive the No. 7 Chevrolet at Daytona should Patrick not compete in that event.

“We want to give Danica the best opportunity to compete at Daytona, and that includes making sure she is 100 percent comfortable in that driver’s seat,” said Kelley Earnhardt, JRM co-owner and general manager.

This season start is on its way to become a real soap opera drama.  Even though, last week, Adrián Campos, angry with all that was being published hit the table with his fist assuring the Monday everything would be worked out, today the opposite was confirmed.

The Valencian is trying to save the Spanish team, but days go by without a solution to his financial difficulties –in spite of the time extension granted by Dallara until nest Wednesday-, and everything gets more and more complicated.

Even so that the agreement between the South African manager and Adrian Campos might be forgotten.

According to close sources, Tony Teixeira, has not been able to have the necessary liquidity to close the deal, thus leaving the Campos Meta 1, almost without options.  And if we say, ‘almost without options’ it is because those same sources have mentioned a possible purchase of the complete team, but with the condition that Adrian Campos would not lead the ‘scuderia.’

With this purchase, the team would leave Spain and the team’s personnel would not have a sure job position any longer.

Petrov needs a loan?

To continue with the soap opera, at Renault ranch, there are problems also, because if the French ‘scuderia’ initially officialized, Vitaly Petrov due to economic interests, the 15 million Euros per season that the Russian was supposed to contribute with are nowhere to be seen, at least that is what his father Alexander gave to understand, when he declared that Vitaly’s position is in jeopardy: “If we do not pay the first quota before March 1^st he may be substituted by another pilot.”

The 15 million Euros were supposed to be paid in two dates: one on March 1^st and the second on July 1^st.  However, it seems that his country’s sponsors were not aware of that.  The problem being that the manager of the Russian pilot has been knocking on the doors of 500 companies and getting the same answer: “He has been rejected every time,” confessed the pilot’s father indicating that: “Fortunately, a friend of mine, responsible for a bank in Saint Petersburg has given me a credit for 7.5 million Euros, but the bank has requested time to evaluate the guaranties.”

“Our hope is Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin who has received letters asking for help from the Russian Motor Federation, from the motoring sport and from the Sport Minister and the Parliament.”

The next episode of this soap opera “The Life of the F1″remains to be seen soon.

The Gatorade Duel, is NASCAR Sprint Cup Series preliminary event to the Daytona 500 held annually in February at Daytona International Speedway.  It consists of two 150-mile (240 km) races, and serves as a qualifying race for the Daytona 500. The finishing order in the two 150-mile (240 km) races, held on Thursday, determine the starting lineup for the Daytona 500 held on Sunday.

Qualifying for the Daytona 500 is unique in NASCAR. Only the two front row starters (the pole position and “outside pole”) are determined by the ordinary qualifying process of timed laps. After the top two positions are locked in, the rest of the starting grid is set by the finishing order of these two races. Drivers participate in one of the two races. Half the field entered for the Daytona 500 races in the first race, and the other half the second. The finishing order of the first race fills the odd positions of the starting grid (inside of each row), and the finishing order for the second race fills the even positions of the starting grid (outside of each row).

Sprint Cup Series cars are unique in automobile racing. The engines are powerful enough to reach speeds over 200 mph (320 km/h), but high weight makes for poor handling. Their bodies and chassis are strictly regulated to ensure parity, and electronics are generally simple.

In 2009, Jimmie Johnson was the only driver to win 4 consecutive Sprint Cup championships.

Pilot Kasey Kahne declared he wants to give his situation –staying with Richard Petty Motorsports-, a really good opportunity, a really legit shot at showing him that RPM is where he needs to be.  On his part, RPM management clearly wants him to stay. “It is our intention to try and keep Kasey Kahne,” managing partner Foster Gillett said

Now, with the Yates merger complete and a stable management team seemingly in place — George Gillett and Petty remain owners, with former Yates co-owner Max Jones now aboard as president and general manager — Kahne seems content to let performance make his decision for him.

He stated he was made an offer already and he “… just wants to wait and see. That’s the biggest thing, just performance, how can I win races and do that kind of stuff.”  He added that he’s really hoping that this merger and things with the Roush people and Yates is going in that direction.

This Saturday Kevin Harvick won Budweiser Shootout at Daytona for second consecutive time, but even though he’s very happy, he’s aware that this victory does not guarantee his success in the 2010 race at Daytona 500

Last year, Harvick almost won the Daytona 500 race where he finished in second position after Matt Kenseth.  However, his overall performance during the whole season was far from what he expected.  Still he had to admit he’s excited after winning Saturday’s non-points event behind the wheel of his No. 29 RCR-powered Chevrolet for the second consecutive year.

Although he said there are no guarantees that things improve this year, he hopes that the rest of the season is much better than the last. He declared “he is painfully aware of the fickle nature of races at Daytona International Speedway. What he accomplished Saturday night was great, but in the long run of Speedweeks at DIS it may not mean a whole lot, or even anything at all.

“I’ve been here enough times to know this can be a funny week,” Harvick said. “It can mess with you time after time. Hour by hour can bring something that’s unexpected, just like getting sick to start the week. I mean, that’s not something that you plan for or can plan for.

“Getting sick … having the car wrecked in the first practice with someone else driving it … there are just so many variables that can get thrown at you this week, you just have to stay even keel. This is great that we won this race. We’re all really excited about what we want to do. But the big picture is on Sunday. It’s just taking it hour by hour, one day at a time, and stay concentrated.”

Even though it may “sound crazy,” it’s a commercial agreement that Williams F1 has announced today after the signature of a license agreement exclusively with a US Golf equipment company, Golf Club. The aim is that with this union “Williams” succeeds in the golf business.
The combination of engineering capability of Williams F1 with the design established by Golf Club and the Sports Williams team production expertise, is going to create a partnership that will upgrade golf clubs’ design to a new level in 2010 and beyond.
The purpose of this partnership is the injection of Formula One Williams’ technology for the design and manufacture of golfing equipment. The initial areas will the aerodynamic profiling of golf club shafts and the application of composites and alloys materials science in club design.
With current limitations on modern golf club design, aerodynamics and materials are now the most important aspect of research and development.
Aerodynamics and carbon fiber compound technology are fundamental in Formula One. Aerodynamics is Formula One’s performance key differentiation factor. In addition to the traditional experimental disciplines, as the wind tunnel tests, the sport brings together predictive capacity based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD).
The sport has also pioneered the application and use of low weight, high strength carbon fiber since the 1980s, developing race cars that withstand ten annual penetration, static and dynamic crash tests to ensure driver safety while not compromising performance. Together with carbon fiber, several other materials that are critical for racing car performance will be presented in Sport Williams product line. The clubs will feature tungsten inserts that will be used for fine tuning of weight distribution, which is a process used in Formula One. High nickel content super alloy, used in the manufacture of the lightweight racing car exhausts, will be the featured material in the Qualifier Series of Williams Sports irons.
Frank Williams, Williams F1 Team Principal, said: “We are at the start of a fascinating period of business development. [..].I have great hopes for its potential to revolutionize design in golf equipment.”

It is probable that Nick Heidfeld, Mercedes GP test driver, will not be able to test the MGP W01 at Jerez racetrack.
Heidfeld, will travel to the Grand Prix this year as a possible substitute of the official pilots; Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg. Nonetheless, with only 12 test days left, the Mercedes Director, the German, Norbert Haug said they would not be in conditions to offer Heidfeld racetrack time with the new MGP W01.
“It is expected that, before the beginning of the season, Michael and Nico will have as many test kilometers as possible,” said Haug. “In the improbable case that he [Heidfeld] has to subtitute one of our leading pilots, Nick is well prepared to immediatly do a good job.”
Mercedes will resume its tests this Wednesday in the Andalucian racetrack of Jerez, together with nine of his rivals for the next season. Ross Brawn, boss of the team, has made it very clear that he has the intention of reducing the time gap with the Ferraris performing a series of modifications to the single-seater.

The F1 ex-pilot, Christian Klien and the F2 champion, the Spaniard Andy Soucek are still battling for the two remaining positions of the Formula One grid for this season.
USF1 and Campos have not confirmed yet their second pilots, and both Klien and Soucek assure to be in negotiations with the teams before the opening of the season in Bahrain, on March 14th.
“The possibilities are still good,” declared Klien. “Until there is an actual possibility I’m going fight to participate in the F1. Another year as reserve driver would not be a catastrophe.”
On the other hand, Soucek, has announced that his negotiations with the Spanish team are in an “advanced” stage, while his conversations with USF1 are more casual.
“Right now it is not signed, but during the negotiations new options have come up,” said Soucek and added that he does not discard participating as test driver, but naturally, without paying seat.
They are both competing with champion Adrián Vallés, who many consider one of the favorites for the USF1 seat. The Spaniard was already very near in 2007; maybe this is his chance.
“I’m sorry. I cannot talk. I only hope things don’t go wrong.“ declared Valles, last week.
We are still waiting for Campos to comment on the solution of his financial problems and centers in the vacant seat, as well as submit his plans as the beginning of the season is approaching