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Finally, NASCAR is back on track, testing this week at Daytona. With that comes the first signs of the 2011 season. Yesterday we got to hear about Tony Stewart’s trip down under, Brian Vicker’s return, and our first look at the ever so slightly altered COT on track.

While we still have 30 days and counting until the Daytona 500, we’re about to get all the news and information we can handle for a while.

Today, NASCAR will hold its annual competition update, hopefully shedding some light on their plans for this season. Among some of the rumored changes is a replacement for the, at times, complicated Latford points system. According to an Associated Press report, NASCAR is considering a plan that would award 43 points to the top finishing driver and then one less point to each driver after that.

While that change may, or may not, occur, NASCAR had a great sounding board this week, with responses from drivers, fans and everyone in between. Something tells me, by the time many of you read this, we’ll have our answer.

Thankfully NASCAR has scheduled this on Friday so we’ll have the entire weekend to talk about (endlessly), and (over) analyze any changes that are made.

Then, starting Monday, the (wouldn’t you know it, branded) NASCAR Sprint Media Tour kicks off. It’s three days of the sport’s teams putting on their best face and rolling out their latest and greatest. Any news, announcements, paint schemes and personnel changes that we haven’t already heard about, or seen will likely take place between the kick off and next Thursday afternoon.

The tour boast 21 stops at race shops, the speedway, the NASCAR Hall of Fame and elsewhere. You can bet there will be at least a little news that comes out of it. You can follow it all on twitter (hashtag #mediatour), or any of your favorite NASCAR news sites.

While at this moment, I have no news to report, feel free to use this post as a discussion board as it comes rolling in over the next few days and week. Enjoy (I know I will)!

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It’s been a big week for change in the NASCAR world.  In the span of a few days we’ve had Kelly Bires get replaced at Jr. Motorsports and Kasey Kahne announce his defection from RPM to join Hendrick Motorsports in 2012.  And it’s funny, because I heard somebody say early in the week that it was a slow news week because the John Wes Townley story was getting some decent run.  Besides the big changes you’ve been hearing about all over the place, this time of year means other changes for teams too.

The changes I’m referring to are those that happen within the teams.  When the season starts, many teams have new faces.  Sometimes that might mean one or two new guys, and in other cases it means the whole team.  But as we get through the first few races of the season, team management expects those new faces, and the old ones, to start having some chemistry.

Let me give you an example.  Every pit crew guy knows that he is only as good as his last race.  An established guy can go from being comfy in his job, to on the street real quick.  It only takes a few missteps on pit road to get the ax.  Through the first few races of the season, coaches and crew chiefs understand that there is going to be a bit of a transition period going from the off season to running races every weekend.  It will take the pit crews a few races to work out the small kinks and to get really comfortable together.  But once we start getting into the fourth, fifth, and sixth races, the important people expect those kinks to get worked out.  If they don’t get fixed, heads will roll.  We’ve seen a few of these changes across all three series already this year, and its only April.

Pit crew guys aren’t the only ones at risk either.  One story this week that didn’t get a ton of attention was Roush Fenway Racing making a crew chief change for young Ricky Stenhouse Jr.  Crew chief Ben Leslie was replaced by Mike Kelley, who himself had been replaced by Drew Blickensderfer earlier in the season atop Carl Edwards’ NNS pit box.  Leslie will now move into the role of Nationwide Series Competition Director for RFR, the position most recently held by Kelley.  If a driver/crew chief combination isn’t working, team owners like Jack Roush are not going to wait long to make a change.  There is too much at stake.  Especially with a young driver, Roush wants to know if these kids have what it takes to get it done.  Pairing Stenhouse with a veteran guy like Kelley should make that picture a little clearer.

As the saying says, the only constant is change.  And change is certainly on.  Teams are trying to get better every week, and Kahne’s move signals the start of yet another Silly Season.

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