Captain Thunder NASCAR Racing News, Information & Commentary

In a race where there are no points at stake and the only thing on the line is bragging rights, Marc Davis will get the chance to even the score with Joey Logano, his friend and teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, when he heads out to Irwindale, Calif., in two weeks for the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown.

“It’s going to be a pretty cool experience,” said Davis. “I can’t wait to get out there and run it again. It’s the Showdown – it’s big. Everybody is going to be there.”

Including the defending champion, Logano.

As the initial batch of entries for the prestigious event arrived in Daytona Beach, Fla. for the race, the names of the two 18-year-old up-and-coming superstars were among those to first to finalize their intentions of running in the postseason showcase at the Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.

The NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown will feature two days of exciting action Jan. 23-24 among some of the top drivers in NASCAR Camping World Series and NASCAR Whelen All-American Series action. The competition will air live on SPEED beginning at 7 p.m. PT both nights.

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE SCHEDULE

“I can’t wait to go back,” said Logano of returning to the fast, multi-grooved half-mile track. “I’ve got the same car and that track is just a real cool race track. And we had a great time out in Southern California. I really enjoyed being out there.

“It’s pretty much the Daytona 500 of short-track racing, and it would be awesome to go back and win it again.”

Logano knows that returning to Irwindale as the defending race winner he will carry a big target on his back. And nobody may be gunning for him more than Davis.

Davis qualified fourth in the last NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown, starting one row behind his teammate. But carburetor issues that surfaced at the start of the race quickly put him 16 laps down. Once he got back on the track, his time was among the leaders but the opportunity to contend for the win was gone.

“We have a lot to prove this year – being so strong last time and having nothing to show for it,” Davis said. “We’re taking the same baseline as last year. We should be pretty good off the truck and we have a whole lot of stuff to experiment with and see how the track has changed.”

In his NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown win, Logano led the final 87 laps and held off a fierce challenge from Peyton Sellers on a green-white-checkered finish.

“In the beginning of the race, we weren’t a bolt of lightning,” Logano said. “We made a couple of changes and got it to the front. It was exciting.”

Among those joining Davis on the early entry list looking to dethrone Logano is three-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday Jr., 2008 NASCAR Camping World Series Westchampion Eric Holmes, former NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national champions Peyton Sellers and Greg Pursley, and Eddie MacDonald – who swept the NASCAR Camping World Series East races at New Hampshire last year.

The list of top short-track drivers who have already committed to the event includes NASCAR Camping World Truck Series veteran Matt Crafton, 2008 NASCAR Camping World Series East champion and 2006 NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown winner Matt Kobyluck, and 2008 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series champion Scott Steckly.

Also confirmed to compete are four drivers who have earned rookie of the year honors in the NASCAR Camping World Series in the last three seasons (Jason Bowles, Sellers, Jeff Barkshire, and Austin Dillon), and Brian Ickler, winner of the NASCAR Camping World Series combination race in Iowa this past May.

Champions of each of NASCAR’s developmental series earned secured spots in the event. In addition to Holmes, Kobyluck and Steckly, those champions include Philip Morris (NASCAR Whelen All-American Series), Antonio Perez (NASCAR Mexico Series), Ted Christopher (NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour) and Brian Loftin (NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour).

Logano won the NASCAR Camping World Series East title in 2007 and became the youngest winner in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2008. He is preparing to make his debut in the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in February in his brand-new NASCAR Sprint Cup Series ride, the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota.

His first on-track racing action of the 2009 calendar, though, will be at the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown – where he capped his breakthrough rookie season in NASCAR in Victory Lane.

Logano won the event in October of 2007. The event has been moved to January, where it will share the racing weekend with the Grand-Am Series Rolex Daytona 24. The move provides a break in the monotony of winter and an opportunity to get back to racing.

“I can’t wait to get back into a race car,” said Logano, who has got his racing fix running go-karts against his friends and participating in the Whelen Bodine Bobsled Challenge at Lake Placid, N.Y. “It’s been a while and I’m just getting antsy to race. It’s going to be great to get back on track at the Showdown.”

Davis is coming off a 2008 season in which he finished fifth in points in the NASCAR Camping World Series East. He led a race-high 57 laps at Iowa Speedway in the combination race between the NASCAR Camping World Series East and West.

He also made his debut in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Davis again plans a mixed schedule of the three national series in 2009, but not before taking care of some unfinished business.

“We had a car to win it last year but came up empty,” Davis said. “We’re just going to have to go out there and perform and win it all.”

In addition to competition for the NASCAR Camping World Series, which is NASCAR’s top developmental series, action in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series will feature a Late Model race and a Super Late Model race.

To purchase tickets for the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown, fans can go to www.toyotaspeedwayatirwindale.com or call the track at (626) 358-1100. official release

MOORESVILLE, North Carolina -- After 10 days away from this community known as "Race City USA," I was quickly reminded that I was back in NASCAR territory.

It was a Monday night, just two hours after I had flown back from a Christmas break in Indiana that seemed like Christmas with the Griswolds from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation -- whatever could go wrong, would go wrong.

A trip to "Big Daddy's" on Lake Norman for a peck of steamed oysters at a half-peck price seemed like a great idea to fill the stomach and clear the mind. It didn't take long, however, to realize that even in the offseason, one can't escape the long arm of NASCAR.

Two fellas from up the road in Statesville sat a stool away at the Oyster Bar and a conversation started.

"You in racin'?" asked the man with the Michelin Retread Technologies windshirt on.

"I guess you could say that," I replied.

"Oh, well, you look like you'd be involved in racing," said the man.

"Why's that?" I asked.

"Well, you got that goatee and that's a dead giveaway that you're in racing," he said.

"In that case, I'm going home to shave it off," I joked, still puzzled by the fact that a good many Major League Baseball and NFL players sport the facial hair on the chin, but in these parts, NASCAR is everywhere.

As the close of another year drew closer, these two fellas at "Big Daddy's"helped the jaded writer get a better understanding of how the perception of NASCAR has changed in these parts.

"NASCAR can blame the drop in attendance on the economy [if it wants to], but it just isn't the same as it used to be," said the man who introduced himself as Billy. "These drivers just don't seem to care about the fans any more. And with all the changes they've made, I just don't follow it anymore."

Before the 2008 season NASCAR announced it would get back to basics, focus on the competition and let its drivers' personalities to come out of their corporate shell. But with high gasoline prices in the spring and summer hitting these fans in their wallets, attendance started to tail off dramatically.

But the real blow came during the economic collapse in September, when many of the companies and auto manufacturers that keep the NASCAR Sprint Cup teams in business lost tremendous value when stock prices fell.

That created tremendous uncertainty in the sport as team owners began to brace for the worst in 2009. Crew members have been laid off, teams have merged and front office personnel have been cut. Some of the sport's most recognizable teams have shrunk and the car count for the races after the Daytona 500 will be very slim.

But to the two fellas at the Oyster Bar, NASCAR just doesn't strike the chord it did in the days of Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Bobby Allison and Cale Yarborough. While these drivers were mythic heroes to the blue collar crowd of the South, they were just regular folks when they were away from the race track.

If a fan wanted to meet Yarborough, chances are he'd have a personal appearance for his sponsor at a Hardee's where fans would show up, shake his hand, get his autograph and pose for a picture.

Today's NASCAR driver is more refined and detached. A personal appearance is usually at a corporate gathering for a sponsor, not with the regular fans who get their hands dirty at work.

The Lake Norman area of North Carolina used to be a hotbed for race drivers, who had lakefront homes in the area and could often be seen around the towns of Cornelius, Davidson, Mooresville and Huntersville. And while many of those drivers continue to live in the area, many of the top names in NASCAR have fled the scene.

Four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon and three-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson bolted a long time ago and moved to, of all places, Manhattan, where they can hide in plain sight. After all, in a city the size of New York, a NASCAR driver isn't as big a deal as he would be in Charlotte.

Two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart moved off the lake several years ago to return to his Indiana home in Columbus -- about an hour's drive from Indianapolis.

Ironically, Stewart is the one driver in NASCAR who is the closest to being a "regular guy" -- something that Billy and his buddy would have gravitated to in the past.

But NASCAR isn't the big story around here at this time of year, having been replaced by the Carolina Panthers of the NFL and their anticipated run in the NFL playoffs. And with preseason testing being cut as NASCAR tries to save teams some money, there won't be any speeds coming out of Daytona and other testing news in January.

A new age awaits NASCAR in 2009. It's the age of uncertainty.

There will be more questions than answers in 2009 as no one in the sport is quite sure what the car count will be, how much manufacturer support the ailing automotive industry can provide and how long the sponsors can continue to support the program.

One thing is certain, though. NASCAR will have to have a plan to deal with the contraction of the sport after years of phenomenal growth made it "America's Favorite Motorsport."

But on the last Monday of December in 2008, I could sense the jaded feeling of two men who appeared disinterested and disenchanted in what NASCAR has become to them. And that proved to be an eye-opening experience as another oyster shell was loaded into the bucket. - cnnsi.com


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