Did You Notice?

*Did You Notice?…* Ryan Newman’s wacky pattern of “upset” victories? In the last seven years, he has won only four times, with three of those the result of passes caused by circumstance, by luck tilting his way within the last five laps of a race. Consider…

*Daytona, February 2008.* Heading into the final restart, with three laps left Newman was fourth and a clear underdog with Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch up ahead. Those two had combined to lead 102 of 200 laps, but a move as the cars came up to speed “left them separated.”:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcbNUA7x8P8 As Busch went low, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. went with him which allowed the teammates of Newman and Kurt Busch, not the JGR duo, to pair up.

*Did You Notice?…* The emphasis placed on winning with the All-Star Race… sort of? On Tuesday, Sprint announced the 2012 version now consists of four segments, 20 laps apiece, followed by the traditional 10-lap Shootout that will give a $1 million payout to the race winner. Here’s the catch: the winners of each segment, one through four, will automatically be shuttled to the front of the field _before the final pit stop._

That’s right. Even though the teams won a segment, they won’t be guaranteed track position – that’s based on how each car performs on pit road. So how big an advantage will that even be? Admittedly, not much if you guess four tires when everyone else takes two. Sounds like nothing more than a giant publicity stunt to me.

*Did You Notice?* … The pressure to perform is getting to drivers, _not_ crew chiefs early this season? Take a look at the top 3 in the series standings. Each driver: Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick, and Denny Hamlin have been working with their head wrench for less than one year. With Biffle and Matt Puccia, their marriage was formed in Loudon last July; the other two have well-publicized new partnerships with Shane Wilson and Darian Grubb, respectively, that started at the beginning of 2012. Add in Steve Addington, whose 12-Step Recovery Program from the Busch Brothers took just three races with Smoke and there’s a clear case to be made that changing chemistry on top of the pit box can work.

*Did You Notice?…* The alliteration for 2012 Daytona Speedweeks was Demolition Derby? From the drop of the green in the exhibition Bud Shootout, an 82-lap race that saw roughly half of its 25-car field fail to finish the return of pack racing brought with it a propensity to wreck. Here were the official DNF counts due to crashes for the four biggest events:

*Shootout* – *12* of 25 cars *(48%)*
*Truck Series* – *18* of 36 cars *(50%)*
*Nationwide* – *14* of 43 cars *(33%)* … plus several others which straggled across the finish line after a vicious, last-lap wreck that handed the win to the 11th-place runner coming off Turn 4, James Buescher
*Sprint Cup* – *8* of 43 cars *(19%)* … plus about a half-dozen others running with serious, car-is-totaled damage at the finish

*Did You Notice?…* The last two 500 winners have been Cinderella stories? Jamie McMurray, in 2010 was all but unemployed after a disastrous tenure at Roush Fenway; former boss Chip Ganassi picked him up at the last minute. And who can forget Trevor Bayne’s run last year, the youngest 500 winner in history for a team in the Wood Brothers that hasn’t run in over a decade?

Well, you know what they say about how these things always come in threes (or maybe that’s just celebrity deaths… oops). But there’s plenty of other longshots this year that could turn into Victory Lane surprises in a hurry under the new rules. Let’s check them out…

*Did You Notice?*… Regardless of your opinion on how to fix it, NASCAR’s audience and its business model are heading in two very divergent directions. Clearly, on the heels of Stewart-Edwards it seems the six-year decline NASCAR’s been involved in, through both ratings and attendance may be bottoming out. The ratings for the season finale alone, released Tuesday provided the highest viewership ever seen for NASCAR since it moved back to ESPN in 2007. With a television audience of 6,799,000, it was the perfect capper on a Chase that posted year-to-year increases in seven of ten televised events. Even if you include the rain-postponed Chicagoland event, posting half of its typical audience the ABC/ESPN numbers increased sharply from 2010 lows.

*Did You Notice?…* All the attention showered on the championship this week? Considering the three-point gap between Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards, the national media scrutiny is well deserved. But you’re sadly mistaken if you believe those two are the only ones with something to fight for this Sunday.

Here’s a look, going down the standings list at some other streaks, goals, and major accomplishments your Sprint Cup faithful are looking to achieve…