NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
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CUP: Get Your Used Pavement Here
Bits and pieces from three days of Daytona thunder…
Mike Hembree  |  Posted January 23, 2011   Daytona Beach, FL
The 2012 Sprint Cup season officially kicks off with the Daytona 500 on Feb. 26. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
What we learned from three days of preseason testing at Daytona International Speedway:

People like old pavement – An infield souvenir location selling pieces of the old racing surface – DIS was ripped up and repaved last year – seemed to be doing pretty good business.

The track’s old asphalt could be purchased in a variety of forms – from flat rectangles to favorite car numbers like the 3, 88, 24 and 48. Top price: $199.99.

When word gets out, speedways across the country might be bringing in the bulldozers.

NASCAR is watching NFL situation – The possibility that there will be a National Football League lockout and an interruption in play by the nation’s No. 1 sport seems to grow daily, and it’s logical to assume that a year without pro football would be a boost to NASCAR in late summer and fall.

NASCAR president Mike Helton wouldn’t say that NFL labor problems would help NASCAR, but it’s clear there is interest in the situation from the carpeted offices in Daytona Beach.

“I think there’s a lot of headlines out there in all other sports,” Helton said. “They look at us, we look at them, we look at other entertainment businesses, whether it’s concerts or movies or whatever. None of them want any other one to have a bad run.

“I think our best effort is spent on delivering the absolute best races at the best facilities that we can. So if someone doesn’t have an opportunity to participate in some other form of entertainment and they choose us to participate for that moment, that we capture them and they say, ‘I enjoyed that, I liked that, I may go back.’ I think that’s where our effort is every day for any reason.”

Kenseth was bored – As Matt Kenseth waited to get on the track for Saturday runs, he said, “Well, we are going to go out there and mostly do some more single-car runs and sit in line for a half-hour between every run and get to five o’clock (the session’s end).”

Maybe it wasn’t the most thrilling of weekends for the former Sprint Cup champion.

Darby is virtually irreplaceable – NASCAR has been planning to fill John Darby’s position as Sprint Cup director for a year. It hasn’t happened.
Robin Pemberton,(Left) Mike Helton (Center)) and John Darby (Right) chat to the media at Daytona International Speedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Darby has continued to perform his duties as the garage area’s top cop. NASCAR’s plan calls for him to move into a new position overseeing the directors of the sport’s three national series, but the next Cup director hasn’t been hired as officials have dealt with other concerns.

“We’ve focused more on the urgent issues than maybe we should have and not focused on searching for the Cup series director,” Helton said. “But that is ongoing. It is high on our list to accomplish sooner than later.”


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