Steve Hallam came to Michael Waltrip Racing this year from the 2008 world championship Formula One team of McLaren. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Stats of the Week: This info comes from a forum and a contributor who goes by the handle of amalycke. I couldn’t help but admire this person’s diligence, a sure sign the end is not nigh for NASCAR.

During the 2009 Sprint Cup season, the driver who drove the cars with the most different numbers was David Gilliland (in part because he twice drove different cars for TRG Motorsports and Robby Gordon Motorsports). In all, Gilliland drove seven cars with different numbers.

The crew chief who worked with the most different teams in the Sprint Cup was Doug Richert, who had four different stops.

The car owner with the most different drivers – I guess this means he wins the wheeler-dealer award – was none other than James Finch, who had eight wheelmen.

The only stat missing was which driver competed under the most different sponsorships or paint schemes over the course of the season.

Another interesting stat would be this one. Given the rather loose reins exercised by NASCAR on the number of cars per team, which team had the most entries, i.e. chassis and engines, in any one race.

Quote of the Week: Englishman Steve Hallam, who moved to Michael Waltrip Racing this year from the 2008 world championship Formula One team of McLaren, has recently finished a long and fruitful first season in NASCAR. His job as director of racecar engineering for MWR, said Hallam, had its early moments of confusion.

“My first impressions were at the Bud Shootout in Daytona. I had a crib sheet to explain to me, that I would refer to on a daily basis, that whole three weeks of Speed Weeks. The process of taking part in the Daytona 500 is a very drawn out affair. It’s a traditional process. I would think that in 2010 I should enjoy it. In 2009 I didn’t know what was coming at me from which direction.”

Tech Talk: It’s no secret why some teams have been more dominant in the Car of Tomorrow. Those in front have learned how to use the bump stops and shocks to get better compliance from both front tires in the corners. Before the COT, teams just put the cars on the deck with aerodynamics, no longer possible with the front end spoiler, which forces teams to keep the cars at a minimum ride height or risk breaking the all-important spoiler.

As always, weight transfer and rate of weight transfer all enter into the equation of getting the COT’s through the corners, not just the abnormally high center of gravity, as well as coil-bound springs and anti-roll bars in addition to the shocks, bump stops and Goodyear’s tires.

NASCAR officials have found everything from Super Balls cut in half to purpose-built plastic pieces used as “stoppers” in the pursuit of front-end handling in the corners. All teams keep a large box of shims on their trucks to adjust their shocks by the tiniest of increments.

Whatever you do, don’t ask crew chiefs to share info on shocks or bump stops. Some teams have entire crews of engineers working in this area.

From the looks of things at a hotly contested Homestead race, including the performance of some Fords, Toyotas and the Chevys of Richard Childress Racing, more teams have figured out that equation. Should make things interesting in 2010.

See ya! …At the races.

Jonathan Ingram has been writing full-time about the world’s major motor racing series and events since 1983 for newspapers, magazines and web sites.

John can be reached at jingram@racintoday.com

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel