Welcome Gabbers and others to an introduction to the biggest silly season driver and crew chief swaps I've ever witnessed in NASCAR. Before the ticker tape and champagne spray even got swept away the swaps began. Drivers were fired, crew chiefs too, teams folded and sponsors pulled their purse strings tighter. So with all the changes we have to put every thing in order because even I need a run down of who what where and when.

KURT BUSCH - Lets start with this guy. He had a sweet ride with Penske racing in the #22 Pennzoil Dodge. Kurt like his brother has struggled with reigning in that temper when things aren't going so well. His tirades on the radio are legendary. His last straw came at Homestead when 6 laps in his transmission broke into pieces and back to the garage he went. He gave a few SUV's in his way a nice flip of the bird and when Dr Jerry Punch wanted to interview him about his possibly ruining Stewart's championship hopes with the debris from that transmission putting a hole in Stewart's grill, well, Kurt had another meltdown of cursing. This led to the meeting with Pennzoil and Roger Penske which led to Kurt getting his pink slip.

On January 21st Kurt Busch and James Finch made a hand shake deal for Kurt to drive the #51 chevy built and powered by Hendrick Motor Sports for James team, Phoenix Racing. A very small 18 person team which Kurt will have to actually help prepare his cars for races. He will be getting down and dirty with wrench in hand and traveling with the guys in carpools and the hauler. His crew chief will be Nick Harrison. Should be interesting right about the middle of July when things get hot and the small team starts wearing down.

HENDRICK MOTOR SPORTS

           KASEY KAHNE - Steps into the #5 Farmers Insurance Chevy. Kasey was with RedBull Racing last year in the #83. RedBull Racing announced they were folding at the end of the 2011 season and their assets were up for sale. Kasey however was already signed to HMS and brings his crew chief Kenny Fransis.  On February 10th Kasey had out patient knee surgery for a partial meniscus removal. Sounds painful to me. I just hope the surgery doesn't effect his driving. I chose his in a fantasy pool to be the driver with the most poles this season. He says he fully expects to drive in all the Daytona speed weeks events leading up to the Daytona 500.

           JIMMIE JOHNSON - in the #48 Lowes Chevy with crew chief Chad Knaus on the pit box. Even though they didn't come away with Cup Championship #6 in a row last year there's no reason to panic and change a good thing. Jimmie and Chad are both committed to working together for another championship.

            JEFF GORDON - In the #24 Drive To End Hunger/Dupont Chevy with Alan Gustafson as crew chief again. Still looking for his 5th championship. No panic there either.

            DALE EARNHARDT JR -  In the #88 Amp Chevy with Steve Latarte as his crew chief again. Jr is happy and confident in Steve's abilities to give him the car he wants on race day and get him to victory lane. JOE GIBBS RACING

            DENNY HAMLIN - In the #11 Fed Ex Toyota with new crew chief ( and Tony Stewart's ex crew chief ) Darien Grubb. Denny's last crew chief Mike Ford got him a lot of wins but the driver/cc chemistry wasn't there in 2011. Relations were strained and a change had to be made. Mike hasn't landed a job yet that I've heard of but I'm sure he'll get something.

            JOEY LOGANO - In the #20 Home Depot Toyota with new crew chief Jason Ratcliff. Joey jumped into that ride when Tony left for owner/drivership. He just hasn't lived up to his potential yet. Greg Zippadelli and Joey just couldn't make things work so Greg asked to be let out of his contract to go to SHR to be Director of Competition and Danica's crew chief. This just may be a make or break year for Joey. Joe Gibbs is still backing him up but you got to wonder when he'll pull the plug on Joey who week after week struggles with being unable to feel the car and tell his crew chief what he needs.

            KYLE BUSCH - In the #18 M&M/Doublemint Toyota with Dave Rogers as crew chief. Kyles temper got him parked in the truck series when at Texas he accidently on purpose put Ron Hornaday who was in the championship hunt into the wall destroying his truck and those championship hopes. As a consequence M&M Mars backed out of sponsoring his car for the last 2 Cup races but Interstate Battery said they'd sponsor the #18 for Joe not Kyle. Also Z-Line ended their sponsorship of Kyles NNW team. Kyle has since scaled back his driving duties in NNW and truck. Brother Kurt will drive his NNW car except for a few races he chose to drive. Some one else will drive his truck. Can he reign in the temper? He better or him and his brother will have to work out a partnership so they can have rides.

ROUSH - FENWAY RACING

            GREG BIFFLE - In the #16 3M Ford with crew chief Matt Puccia. Halfway through last season a crew chief change was asked for when things went really bad. It was mostly bad luck like ill timed cautions when Greg was leading, fueling issues with the new fuel can and a cool box blowing hot air into his helmet were just but a few things he dealt with. He missed the Chase but thinks he has a chance this year.

            MATT KENSETH - In the #17 Best Buy Ford with Jimmy Fennig as crew chief. He ended last year with Crown Royal's departure and no sponsorship on the horizon but Best Buy left Richard Petty Motorsports and committed to only 9 races for Matt and 2 for Carl Edwards. Jack Roush says he'll run Matts car without sponsorship if he has too. David Ragan wasn't so lucky when UPS pulled their sponsorship. 

            CARL EDWARDS - In the #99 Aflac Ford with Bob Osborne as crew chief. As soon as the race was over at Homestead our championship  runner up Carl made a bee line back to pit road to assure Bob that he wanted him as his crew chief next year. Bob said he'd stay so the duo is back to try again.

STEWART - HASS RACING

            TONY STEWART - In the #14 Mobile 1/Office Depot Hendrick built and powered Chevy with new crew chief Steve Addington.  Tony fired his crew chief Darien Grubb before the 10 race chase even started believing he needed a new start for next year and that if Darien wanted to stay till the end he could or go now. So Darien staying and leading Stewart and the team to a championship was monumental. Will Stewart have the same success with Steve at the helm and his old crew chief Zippy as Director of Competition? Should be interesting.

            RYAN NEWMAN - In the #39 Army/Wix Filters Chevy with Tony Gibson as crew chief. He was in the Chase last year but things just didn't go so well. We'll see if all the changes at SHR can bring him some victories.

            DANICA PATRICK - In the #10 Go Daddy Chevy with Greg Zippadelli as crew chief. She'll be in the NNW series full time but race a select number of races in the Cup series. The Daytona 500 will be one of them. A deal between Stewart - Haas Racing and Tommy Baldwin Racing where Danica and David Ruettiman share the car number but not the garage assures that Danica has a spot in all the chosen races and won't have to qualify her way in. That top 35 in points rule helps and gives TBR some money to race with.

RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING

            KEVIN HARVICK In the #29 Budweiser Chevy with new crew chief Shane Wilson. With his wife, Delana saying no babies till the NNW team goes he merged it with RCR to make wifie happy. His reward? A new crew member coming to the Harvick household in July. Wonder if she'll be sending her firesuits to the tailors so she can still be on pit road during the race?

            JEFF BURTON - In the #31 Caterpillar Chevy with new crew chief Drew Blickensderfer. Say that 5 times fast. Jeff is older but certainly not washed up. I chose him in my fantasy pool too.

            PAUL MENARD - In the #27 Peak/Menards Chevy with Slugger Labbe as crew chief. No changes here. He's doing much better since moving in under the RCR umbrella. 

MICHEAL WALTRIP RACING

            MARK MARTIN - Sharing the #55 Aarons Dream Machine Toyota ride with Rodney Childers as crew chief. Mark wanted a limited schedule when he left the HMS #5 and that's what he got. He'll be in 24 points races plus the All-Star non points race. The All-Star race is for a million bucks. Who wants to miss that? A deal with FAS Lane Racing gets Mark the starting spot in the Daytona 500.

            MICHEAL WALTRIP - He'll be sharing the #55 with Mark. Now he wants to be in the Daytona 500 as well so I'm not sure how that's going to occur yet and what # he'll be using.

            MARTIN TRUEX JR - In the #56 NAPA Car Parts Toyota with Chad Johnson as crew chief. Still expecting big things from this guy.

            CLINT BOWYER - In the #15 5 Hour Energy Toyota with Brian Pattie as crew chief. Clint stole the 5 Hour sponsorship from Rusty Wallace Racing (which caused them to close shop) and the crew chief from Juan Pablo Montoya. Clint couldn't get sponsorship at RCR and so Clint went looking and found MWR.

EARNHARDT GNASSI RACING

            JAMIE MCMURRAY - In the #1 Bass Pro Shops Chevy with Kevin Manion as crew chief. Chip Gnassi made some big changes in the personnel and hopefully this helps Jamie and Juan in 2012.

            JUAN PABLO MONTOYA - IN THE #42 TARGET Chevy with new crew chief Chris Heroy. Hopefully Chris can calm Montoya down and get him focused on winning races.

PENSKE RACING

            BRAD KESELOWSKI - In the #2 Miller Lite Dodge with Paul Wolf as crew chief. No changes here. The question is was his season last year a fluke or can he repeat his way into the Chase?

            A J ALLMENDINGER - In the #22 Pennzoil Dodge with Todd Gordon as crew chief. Both are new to this team. A J came from Richard Petty Motorsports. He got the job in the 11th hour. When he discovered RPM was looking at Kurt Busch as a possible driver for the #43 he put his name into the hat for the #22 ride. Now that A J has secured a ride with a top tier team we'll get to see what he has.

RICHARD PETTY MOTORSPORTS

            MARCOS AMBROSE - In the #9 Stanley Tools Ford with Todd Parrot as crew chief. He's our guy from down under who came from Super 8 Cars to try his hand in Cup cars.

            ARIC AMIROLA - Don't even know if I spelled it right but he got the ride in the #43. Not sure of the sponsorship or crew chief but he's in. 

WOOD BROTHERS RACING

            TREVOR BAYNE - In the #21 Motorcraft Ford with Donnie Wingo as crew chief. Last years winner won't be able to drive the car he won last year because the rules state that the winning car goes on display in the Daytona museum for one year. So no release of the car till the Daytona 500 is over. Now I say if you want to get technical this years 500 is later and after the one year mark. Hhhhhhmmmmmm....any way, good luck Trevor.

     Saddly there are drivers still looking for rides like Brian Vickers who lost his job with RedBull Racing when they pulled out of Cup racing. It is rumored that Randy Moss Motorsports (Yes, the NFL Randy Moss) bought the RedBull Racing assets and will be fielding cars in the Daytona 500 with Landon Cassil driving the #83 with Doug Richert as crew chief. Under what name or sponsor isn't known. Travis Kvapl is rumored to be in the #82. Kevin Buckler shut down his start and park team to help Randy Moss Motorsports with this new venture. Hopefully we get more info soon.

    Other news is that Ricky Stenhouse Jr will drive the #6 for RFR and have Rice Crispy Treats as his sponsor. David Ragan landed a ride with Front Row Motorsports in the #34.David Gilliland will be in the #38 for the same team. David Ruettiman lands at Tommy Baldwin Racing along with Dave Blaney.

    So next time we talk about Daytona. Hopefully I sorted things out enough that we all know who the drivers are, crew chiefs are or the teams their on and which way is up. Clear your calendars for the 26th. That would be the Daytona 500. 

   Thanks for stopping by and reading. You have a great day.........Q