This should not come as much of a shock as ESPN is moving Dale Jarrett to the booth after his five race stint is done this year. Meanwhile Rusty Wallace who was the lead man in the booth now will head up the studio programming. This has been rumored since last year and now it has been officially announced.

Many people thought Wallace was not that great and Jarrett is a better fit. Personally it really didn’t matter to me and Wallace was not the worse I’ve heard announce a race so it was okay. I guess we will have to wait and see how long Jarrett is in the booth before they remove him. 

Where others are struggling early in testing it seems Kyle Busch has something to prove to everyone. First he was the king at testing at Daytona and now testing is going on at Las Vegas and when others have been complaining about the car they have Busch just zooms to the top of the speed charts.

I personally like Busch and I think he feels disrespected by not having a chance to resign with Hendrick Motorsports. he has something to prove to his new team and the nascar world. If the early returns are any indications Kyle Busch could be a guy to watch this year in the Sprint Cup Series.

Chip Ganassi used a team of Juan Pablo Montoya, Dario Franchitti, Scott Pruett, and Memo Rojas to give him his third straight Rolex 24 hour race at Daytona. The interesting thing is not one guy driving was paid, but they still enjoyed it the same.

Ganassi is assembling quite a stable of lately in this race and Nascar. I look for that to continue as the one thing you can say about Chip Ganassi is he knows talent and he has a nice stable right now.

Michael Waltrip started out last year hoping his new venture would start out smooth. It was anything but a smooth ride as his team got caught breaking the rules. Toyota had a black eye for awhile as Waltrip drove for them. Making races was very tough for Waltrip and Toyota early, but towards the end they became much better.

Fast forward to 2008 and it seems a new year brings renewed hope for both Waltrip and Toyota. First a year under the belt can never hurt and adding Joe Gibbs racing to the Toyota sure can’t help. In fact it should move the Toyota program forward much quicker. It also should help out Michael Waltrip out. No matter what it can’t be as worse as last season was for Waltrip or Toyota racing.

By 2010 Jack Roush will need to get rid of at least one of his drivers as Nascar has mandated that you can have only four teams per owner. This means one of the following probably won’t be back with Roush racing in the near future. The list includes Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray, Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, and David Ragan. All quality drivers and hard to cut one from that list.

My guess though would be that Jack Roush will cut the guy who he feels could be one to divide the team. It could be a big name so don’t think it will be the low guy on the totem pole. I’m sure Roush will be looking very closely at each driver and see how they progress this year and make a decision next year.

This year David Ragan will be pulling double duty as he will run both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series this year. Ragan was the Busch Series 2007 rookie of the year, but he will be glad to tell you having the yellow rookie stripes removed from his car is a big thing for him.

Ragan will pull duty duty and that means he will also be driving in the Sprint Cup Series which he learned in his short time that it’s a lot different than the Busch Series is. You have to bring it every week, because when you step up to the higher levels if you don’t you will get pushed back to the back of the field. Ragan knows the air is much sweeter smelling leading than following. Ragan will get plenty of experience this year and all it will do is make him a better driver in the future that’s for sure.

Michael Waltrip had a beef with the Nascar qualifying rules and his suggested was taken to heart as Nascar made a small tweak to the rule system in qualifying. Waltrip’s suggestion was any one out of the top 35 should qualify together so no one has an advantage over anyone else. This is a good idea as different times during qualifying depending on your draw you could get a better draw and the track could be better thus giving you a better chance to make the race. Others who don’t get a good draw could not make the field.

Changing the rules where if your out of the top 35 in points and you all qualify together makes much more sense and that way no one has an advantage over the other guy. It levels the playing field which is something we all would like to see that’s for sure.

Toyota Racing struggled last year, but this year they have added some big guns in the stable of Joe Gibbs Racing who switched to Toyota this year. With Tony Stewart doing well no matter what he drives it seems this could be a great fit for Toyota who had a very rough year last year.

Stewart wasn’t one of the people who wanted to the switch to Toyota, but he could be singing a different tune if he starts winning races in one. Toyota likes the marriage as they get their product out there with a driver who they know will run up front. A marriage made in heaven if you ask me.

Nascar is thinking about raising the age to race in the top series to 21 as it stands at 18 right now. Drivers who are 18 would still be able to drive in the other series but could not compete until they were 21 in the Sprint Cup Series.

In my opinion this is a very good idea as you need to put some kind of safeguards in place. Younger drivers need the experience of the other series before jumping into the Sprint Cup series. I think it’s a good move if Nascar decides to adopt it.

At Daytona testing Dale Earnhardt Jr and Tony Eury Jr were all smiles as Junior turned the second fastest lap in their new ride. Not bad considering it was a team they have never really worked with before. Junior knows that he has a huge opportunity and wants to make the most of it.

Last year was a struggle for Junior and a fats start to the 08 season will be critical for his success. He knows with guys like Jeff Gordon, and Jimmie Johnson pushing him he will only get better. Junior seems like he’s very content and when you are that you usually shows up on the racetrack in the form of wins.