The Front Row with Jerry Hitchcock February 14, 2012
I won't be out on a limb in stating that NASCAR will be hard pressed to write a better script for the 2012 season after Tony Stewart's late-season heroics made for must-see TV in the fall.
Stewart confidently chased points leader Carl Edwards and did everything he had to do at Homestead to win and grab the Sprint Cup crown away from Edwards.
This year's action gets under way on Saturday, with the Budweiser Shootout from Daytona.
THE AMAZING on-track drama last fall conjures up two questions for this year. First, can Stewart manage to defend, especially since former crew chief Darian Grubb was not asked back and Smoke must now gel with new skipper Steve Addington?
Secondly, what type of response will we see from Cousin Carl? A more focused guy you don't often see on pit road during the weekend, and the close-but-yet-so-far runner up finish probably chaffed Edwards' hide more than he lets on.
Grubb has since moved on to Joe Gibbs, where he'll be at the helm for Denny Hamlin's crew. After a down 2011 season, Hamlin has commented he is supremely confident he'll regain his up-front form.
No doubt having a guy on top of your box that won 5 of the 10 Chase races last year will do that for you. Hamlin should easily improve on his ninth-place finish last year.
THE START of the 2012 season is one week later this season, and NASCAR media rep Kerry Gilbert explained why in a recent email.
"(NASCAR has) moved the season's start date back one week when they eliminated the off weekend that has been falling after the third race of the season for the past several years," he wrote. "For example, last year there was an off weekend after the March 6 Las Vegas race (there was no race on March 13), then the schedule picked back up on March 20 at Bristol Motor Speedway."
Kevin Harvick (third in points) and Matt Kenseth (fourth) put in stellar performances last year, but who really noticed during the Smoke and Carl show down the stretch?
Also, Jimmie Johnson had a ho-hum 21 top-10 finishes for the season and wound up sixth in points. Everybody will be watching to see if he can get a strong jump out of the gate and reinstate himself on the pedestal he occupied as "the guy" for so long.
NOW THAT Dale Earnhardt Jr. has gotten his feet wet at Hendrick Motorsports (and he's more than comfortable with Steve Letart's crew-chiefing), fans are expecting big things from the 88 this season.
Earnhardt finished seventh in points on the strength of 12 top-10 finishes.
Brad Keselowski comes to Daytona with some momentum, after a fifth-place in the Chase and a little more focus on his team after former teammate Kurt Busch imploded and got himself shown the door. Bad Brad had three wins last season, and even if he shows just a tad more consistency, his team can move up and fight the big dogs toe-to-toe.
While I wouldn't call him a sleeper, Kyle Busch and his four wins and 18 top-10s should bounce back inside the top 10 in points after Homestead.
I guess my dark horse pick for the year will be Marcos Ambrose. Here's a guy that is bulldog-tough and brought his car home in the top 10 12 times last season. I'd bet he can shoot up the charts from his 19th-place finish in 2011.
The offseason is over - time to buckle up and stand on it.
Jerry Hitchcock is a sports writer for The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2017, or via email at [email protected]