NASCAR on TV this week

Side By Side: Does A Pair Of Drivers Dating Matter?

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_Welcome back to Side By Side. There are always two sides to every story, and we’re going to bring them both, right here, every week. Two of our staff writers will face off on an important racing question… feel free to tell us what you think in the weekly poll and also in the comments section below!_

*This Week’s Question: Does a pair of drivers dating one another actually matter?*
_Who’s right? You decide!_

Marc Lemay, Frontstretch Webmaster: When It’s Danica, It Matters

It’s bigger than just “dating a fellow driver” when it comes to Danica Patrick. Yes, I am going to make an example of Danica, simply because she is, for better or worse, the torchbearer for future women coming into NASCAR.

Tech Talk: Tony Gibson Dishes on Preparing for Gen-6 at Daytona

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_Tony Gibson has been around the sport of stock car racing for a long time. He’s seen three or four generations of the race cars in the Cup Series and now, he prepares to climb aboard the pit box for one of the most well-known female drivers in the history of the sport, Danica Patrick. As he takes on that new role, he also has to take on the task of learning how the latest iteration of the Cup car will react to the subtle nuances that crew chiefs throw at it in an attempt to make it faster. Gibson took a break from all that complexity, plus preparing his team to head to Daytona to speak with Mike Neff about the challenges that teams are facing as they head to the World Center of Speed in this season’s first installment of Tech Talk._

Mike Neff: *You went down to Daytona last month for the big test with the new car. How much did you learn and when you unloaded down there, were you in a 500 setup or were you testing specific things with the car?*

Tony Gibson: We were pretty much in race mode. I know it sounds strange to say single-car runs, but we weren’t in any kind of qualifying mode.

Beyond the Cockpit: Dion von Moltke on Audi, Team Dedication and Fitness

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_For 22-year old Dion von Moltke, 2013 is a crossroads year. He spent last season developing the new Audi R8 Grand-Am with APR Motorsport. The car was a work in progress for much of the season before coming into its own late in the year. Now, the Audi is ready for primetime, but von Möltke is without a full-time ride._

_For the Rolex 24 at Daytona, von Möltke signed on as the fourth driver for Alex Job Racing’s Audi R8 Grand-Am, joining DTM racers Filipe Albuquerque and Edoardo Mortara, along with Oliver Jarvis. After final practice, von Möltke took some time out of his day to sit down with our own Phil Allaway._

Phil Allaway, Frontstretch.com: *This is the first time that Alex Job Racing has raced an Audi. Is this an absolutely new chassis, or a leased car?*

Dion von Moltke: Yes, it’s a brand new car. It was really kind of a last-minute effort. It’s been an amazing job by Audi Sport Customer Racing as well as WeatherTech Racing and Alex Job just to get everything organized in time.

Did You Notice? … Young Guns, V-Day Heartbreakers And NASCAR Quick Hits

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*Did You Notice?…* The influx of young talent entering prime rides in 2013? The Frontstretch Staff “discussed this one”:https://frontstretch.com/tbowles/42294/ in the sixth and final part of our season preview but, instead of answering there I wanted to expand on the topic elsewhere. For me, it’s a copout because I have a hard time cutting down the drivers I’m watching to just one or two…

So, without further ado, here’s who you should put on the radar screen…

Daytona Duels Get Added Adrenaline With Qualifying Change

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_Editor’s Note: Have you not signed up “for your FREE Frontstretch Newsletter”:https://frontstretch.com/notice/9557/ in 2013? If you haven’t heard, it’s a daily edition we put out Monday through Friday with NASCAR news, commentary, interviews, and information you can’t find anywhere else on the site. Every Wednesday, we’ll have a little commentary like this one exclusive to the Newsletter; like what you read from Kevin? Then be sure to sign up with the link at the bottom of this column…_

Let’s be real — the allure of the pre-Daytona 500 Duels has been, for a few years now, fairly understated. Rather than a high-drama, high-stakes double shot of restrictor plate goodness prior to the big show, with a myriad of drivers racing for their spot on the starting grid, the top-35 rule of recent years eliminated a lot of no-holds-barred competition down the stretch.

Top Ten Rejected Fan Votes For The Sprint Unlimited

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*10.* The Encore:* Choose what Juan Pablo Montoya will blow up THIS year!

*9.* New windshield name decals replaced with Twitter handles. The driver with the most new followers gets the victory.

*8.* Dunk the Dodo: Fans select one lucky driver to sit in a dunk tank during driver intros, while the rest take their best shot at him as they walk across the stage.

Fool’s Gold? Foolish Decision? Gambles Of NASCAR Superstar 2nd Chances

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In the 1996 NBA draft, the Portland Trail Blazers took a chance on a 6-foot-11 center straight out of high school named Jermaine O’Neal. Although young and raw, O’Neal showed enormous potential, enough so that Portland rewarded the bench player with an absurd four-year, $24 million contract.

It was the finest money ever thrown towards a trash can, O’Neal acting like a first-class bust from the start instead of a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Heavily criticized for gameplay that at times wouldn’t hold up in your gym, once the contract expired, the Trail Blazers gladly waved the white flag. Determined to cut their losses, they landed a deal with Indiana for former All-Star (and aging) center Dale Davis.

Sonya Stat, 2013 Edition: Will It Be A Lucky Year For Kyle Larson?

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_Editor’s Note: Have you not signed up “for your FREE Frontstretch Newsletter”:https://frontstretch.com/notice/9557/ in 2013? If you haven’t heard, it’s a daily edition we put out Monday through Friday with NASCAR news, commentary, interviews, and information you can’t find anywhere else on the site. Every Tuesday, S.D. Grady gives her opinions and commentary on everything racing exclusive to the Newsletter; like what you read? Then be sure to sign up with the link at the bottom of this column…_

Are there really only 12 days left until the drop of the green flag for the Daytona 500? Where did the winter go? Our Twitter feeds and favorite racing news sources are already abuzz with the anticipation that arrives with every new NASCAR season. We are about to go racing; it’s coming. Time to get the die-cast lined up on the shelves and our notebooks sorted!

Couch Potato Tuesday: A Brief 2013 NASCAR TV Season Preview

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Hello, race fans. Hope you had a great holiday season. Mine was decent. I got a new camera, then took it to the Rolex 24 at Daytona. I’ll post some of my best pictures from there on my “Facebook fan page”:http://www.facebook.com/WritingOfPhilAllaway/ later this week for you. Let’s just say that I really like my new Nikon 1 J1.

However, pictures of Audi R8’s and Porsche 911’s are not what this column is about. TV telecasts are what we’re discussing here. I don’t have anything to critique this week, but within a few days there will be V8 engines growling and exciting action on television. It is my goal to give you a little preview of what you’re likely to see this year as the NASCAR 2013 campaign revs up.