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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
JENSEN: Hey, NASCAR Listened!
The Sprint Sound & Speed event in Nashville this weekend was a revelation on a number of fronts...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted January 11, 2010   Charlotte, NC
SPEED.com's Editor-in-Chief Tom Jensen. (Image: SPEED)
The Sprint Sound & Speed Presented by Suntrust event in Nashville this weekend was a revelation on a number of fronts, none more critical than NASCAR’s decision to make sweeping changes for 2010 as a way to inject much-needed new energy into the sport.

On Jan. 21, the sanctioning body will announce exactly what those changes are, but it looks likely that the hideous rear wing on the Sprint Cup car will be replaced with a more conventional blade spoiler, and that restrictions on passing and bump-drafting will be lessened at Daytona and Talladega. There could be additional changes as well.

Throw in the fact that any number of tracks are widening their seats, and this all adds up to a huge victory for the fans.

Declining attendance and television ratings have led to NASCAR rethinking a lot of elements about the racing. Late last year, the sanctioning body’s attitude seemed to be to kill the messenger — criticize television, print and Internet people who reported what fans had been saying about the racing becoming sterile and not interesting enough.

Now, NASCAR is acting pro-actively to inject some much-needed excitement back into the sport. Hallelujah! If these as-yet unannounced changes do indeed allow drivers to be more aggressive on track and let their personalities come through, then that’s a great thing. If the follow-the-leader racing goes away at Daytona and Talladega, that’s a great thing, too.

I am cautiously optimistic that 2010 might turn out to be one of the most exciting and unpredictable seasons we’ve had in a long time. Time will tell, but this new direction feels like the right one, or as someone posted on Twitter over the weekend, “Sounds like NASCAR hired a vice president of common sense.”

Some other observations from the weekend in Nashville:

• Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s press conference opened — as most of them did — with a softball question: “Dale, as you look ahead to 2010 season, tell us your thoughts.”

Earnhardt’s response? “Well, it will get here as soon as it gets here, Daytona. We're kind of still in the middle of the off season. I'm still enjoying taking it easy, doing whatever I want to do.”

For a guy coming off what literally was the worst season of his career on a team where his teammates finished 1-2-3 in points, it was surprising to hear such a … what’s a polite way to put this? … low-key response.

I would have expected him to come out pumped up, fired up, excited about getting back to victory lane, proving the skeptics wrong, etc. Maybe I’m reading way too much into this, but Earnhardt didn’t come across as a guy ready to contend for a championship. And how much energy will Danica Patrick use up? We’ll see.

• Kyle Busch sounded like a guy who is slowly starting to understand that some of his more childish antics had a negative effect on his team and his championship chances. To that end, maybe owning a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team will be good for him, something that will help him mature. That would be a positive.

• Jimmie Johnson wasn’t in Nashville — he and some of the other drivers were off attending Casey Mears’s wedding. I have a huge amount of respect and admiration for Johnson’s talent and accomplishments, but the single biggest thing NASCAR needs right now is for someone to step up and at least make a serious run at knocking him of the top.

And if that driver can win a bunch of races and form a fierce and antagonistic personal rivalry with Johnson, so much the better. It can’t be a teammate or even a guy like Carl Edwards, who has as much respect for Johnson as Johnson does for him.

No, it needs to be someone capable of righteous indignation, arrogance and maybe even a little bit of outright hating, or at least getting under his skin. Maybe one of the Busch brothers or Kevin Harvick?

Remember, just like wrasslin’, NASCAR is at its best when it has good guys and bad guys locked in a fierce battle for the title.

• Most intriguing question so far? How will the addition of Richard Petty Motorsports into the Ford camp work out? Will having the institutional knowledge of RPM help Roush Fenway Racing to improve and vice versa? Don’t know the answer, but I’ll be watching closely.

• I have become a total Twitter addict in a very short period. You can follow me at twitter.com/tomjensen100. Lots of drivers there, too.

• Last but not least, good luck to all my former co-workers at NASCAR Scene who lost their jobs last week when people the newspaper ceased its print edition. They are all fine, talented and hard-working. I’m sure they will land on their feet, but keep them in your thoughts.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED, and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com! Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to



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