NASCAR’s annual Media Day kicked off appropriately enough with the five-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson being the first to meet with the horde of media personnel. Despite the early morning hour, Johnson was in good spirits as he prepares to defend another series crown.

One of the more popular topics of conversation centered around the fact that the over-the-wall pit crew for the Lowes No. 48 Chevy has been for the most part, completely revamped during the offseason with five of the six crew guys being new to the team. Not a surprising decision considering the ongoing struggles Johnson’s crew had last year, particularly at the Texas Chase race, where crew chief Chad Knaus benched the crew after a serious of miscues and slow stops.

“Our over the wall crew is going to be much different,” explained Johnson. “We’re still trying to sort everything out. We’re in a very fortunate situation where guys are earning their way on the team through a series of tests.

“It will be a much different look with our guys. You’re gonna see some real athletes. These guys are the real deal – young, athletic, all have sports backgrounds and we feel that will help from a physical standpoint – quickness, hand-eye coordination standpoint and also from a pressure standpoint where they played important games in the past and they know how deal with those pressures.”

The 48 crew will have its first test under race conditions Saturday night in the Budweiser Shootout. The annual event will be the first race on the repaved Daytona International Speedway after the 2.5-mile track received its first facelift in over 30 years.

The expectation among many drivers, including Johnson, is Daytona will now mirror its sister-track, Talladega, in how it races. During preseason testing, drivers noted the new surface was more conducive to running side-by-side then the old bumpy pavement which played a large role in stringing out the field.

“With the new surface, we only have a few areas to adjust the car and with the track being so forgiving, everybody’s going to be set on kill and handling is not going to be an obstacle, much like Talladega is.”

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As was expected, Danica Patrick was the main attraction during the morning session. After a trying first season, one in which her best finish in 13 Nationwide Series starts was 19th and she finished on the lead lap just once, one of the more fascinating subplots of the season will be measuring what kind of progress, if any, that she makes in her second year running NASCAR.

The fulltime IndyCar driver is entering her second year of NASCAR competition and her many critics are anxious to once again start slinging arrows her way.

One person who’s firmly entrenched in her corner is Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin. So much so, he went out of his way a year ago to help the young driver. As for Patrick’s many critics, Martin even went as far to say they need to take a step back and realize what she’s up against.

“The thing we have to remember is, she has absolutely no background in what it takes to really make these cars fast,” he said. “She’s having to build that under a microscope in short bursts, instead of doing it every day, every day, every day. She’s got a lot of talent, and she’s incredibly committed.”

While Martin makes some valid points, it’s hard to be encouraged with the progress Patrick is making. Last year, it was a common occurrence to see her struggle far too often making the adjustment to the rigors racing a heavy, bulky stockcar. To the point that her crew chief Tony Eury Jr. was continually reduced to explaining things to her in the simplest manner possible during the middle of a race.

Ultimately, if the highest finishing female in the history of the Indianapolis 500 is to silence her legion of doubters, she needs to produce on the racetrack. It’s as simple as that.

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One of the hot topics of Media Day was the pending free agency of many of the sports bigger names.

Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer, Mark Martin and Juan Pablo Montoya are just a few of the names who could be on the open market at the end of the year. Biffle made it know today, that he’s close to re-signing a multi-year extension with Roush Fenway Racing. While Edwards, Biffle’s Roush teammate, and Juan Pablo Montoya (Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing) made it known they would both prefer to stay where they are.

Although the likelihood of them all switching teams is remote, it’s always a possibility until a contract is officially inked. But while it’s fun to play ‘what-if,’ as Biffle and Edwards both pointed out today, if you want to win races and compete for a championship, your options on what team to sign with are somewhat limited.

Unless things change dramatically, there aren’t going to be a lot openings with many of the sports superteams. All of which means expect most of the above drivers to stay right where they are.

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Like any sport, preseason is always the time for optimism. No races have been yet run, none of the sponsors are unhappy and everyone is filled with hope for the season to come.

So it’s understandable why Dale Earnhardt Jr., who hasn’t won a race in 93 starts, is hopeful that after an offseason of change, his fortunes will take a turn for the better.

“I never doubted myself. I know what I’ve accomplished in the past. I know what I’ve been able to do. I know what I can do. Things changed. Something about how I’m working with the COT and how I’m working as a driver hasn’t been productive, and we got to figure out what that means, why that’s the case.”

Helping Earnhardt figure things out will be new crew chief Steve Letarte, who has moved over from Jeff Gordon’s team. He will be replacing Lance McGrew, who will now be guiding the 5 team of Mark Martin.

It’s Earnhardt’s goal this season to make sure Letarte doesn’t have to go through what McGrew did as his driver struggled on the track.

“I take full responsibility for how I’ve ran,” said Earnhardt. “I don’t put that on anyone else. One of the worst parts about it is, running bad, it affects not only you, and it affects your crew chief, your relationship with your team. I had an awesome relationship with the guys that I worked with last year. I have a good friendship with Lance. But you hate that those people are directly affected by how your performance is.

“You wish that it was just all on you and that you were the only one affected by it, but you’re not. So starting with a new team, I just want to be able to run well, not have those guys go through that same experience that Lance and the team that I was working with the past couple years went through.”

The good news for Earnhardt is he’ll have an excellent chance to snap his long losing streak in next weekend’s Daytona 500, a race he’s won before (2004) and finished second in a year ago.

 Unfortunately, with good news comes the bad. As next Friday will mark the 10-year anniversary of the death of Dale Earnhardt and as such many tributes are planned in his memory.

 This doesn’t seem to bother Junior though, as he’s looking forward to honoring the memory of his late father.

 “You know, he [Earnhardt Sr.] will be recognized a lot over the weekend, I’m sure. It will be awesome to see all those things, hear all the great things.  Anytime anybody says something good about him, it makes you feel great. 

 “It will be good.  It will be a good weekend for the family.  My grandmother will probably enjoy hearing all the great things that will be said, as will all of us. Looking forward to seeing everybody, you know, recognize his accomplishments and what kind of person he was, how he affected everybody.”

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The quote of the day award goes to Kyle Busch, who made it known he hasn’t forgiven Kevin Harvick for intentionally wrecking last year in the season-ending race at Homestead.

“You’d like to say you can wipe the slate clean, but when you go from a shot to finishing fourth in points to finishing eighth in points, that’s an awful lot of money and an awful lot of money for the race team,” explained the 19-time Sprint Cup winner. “Do I care whether or not I have a grudge against Harvick? No. Do I feel like I need to do something about it? No. But if something happens, [referencing Harvick] where it won’t hurt me, whoops.”

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