2009 Season Catch-Up (For Reference)

Welcome to 2009! I hope to be more on the ball this year (not off to a great start) but still continue to provide a unique prospective on the world of NASCAR Racing!
Before the Gatorade Duels I will have up my predictions for the final season standings and my Daytona 500 predictions. Before all that begins I'm going to list the mergers that happened and all the driver/sponsor/etc. shifts that also occurred.

Stewart-Haas Racing (Chevrolet)
- #14 Tony Stewart
*Old Spice/ Office Depot, Burger King
- #39 Ryan Newman
* U.S. Army

Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet)
- #29 Kevin Harvick
* Shell/Pennzoil
- #33 Clint Bowyer
* General Mills
- #31 Jeff Burton
* Caterpiller
- #07 Casey Mears
* Jack Daniel's

Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
- #5 Mark Martin
* Kellogg's
- #25 Brad Keselowski (Part Time)
* Delphi
- #24 Jeff Gordon
* DuPont
- #48 Jimmie Johnson
* Lowe's
- #88 Dale Earnhardt, JR.
* AMP Energy Drink/Mountain Dew

Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
- #20 Joey Logano
* The Home Depot
- #18 Kyle Busch
* M&Ms/Mars
- #11 Denny Hamlin
* FedEX

Yates Racing Allied with Hall of Fame Racing (Ford)
- #98 Paul Menard
* Menard's
- #96 Bobby Labonte
* Ask.com
- #28 Travis Kvapil
* MANY (Single race sponsors)

Michael Waltrip Racing Allied with JTG-Daugherty Racing (Toyota)
- #00 David Reutimann
* Aaron's Rentals
- #47 Marcos Ambrose
* Little Debbies
- #55 Michael Waltrip
* NAPA Auto Parts

Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates and Technical alliance with Front Row Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Dale Earnhardt INC. merged with Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates
- #8 Aric Almirola
*Activision/Guitar Hero (Not likely for full season)
- #1 Martin Truex, Jr.
* Bass Pro Shops
- #42 Juan Pablo Montoya
* Target
- #34 John Andretti
* Window World

Tommy Baldwin Racing (Toyota)
- #36 Scott Riggs
* No Primary Sponsor as of 2/10

Mayfield Motorsports (Toyota)
- #41 Jeremy Mayfield
* All Sport

RedBull Racing (Toyota)
- #82 Scott Speed
* Red Bull Energy Drinks
- #83 Brian Vickers
* Red Bull Energy Drinks

Penske Championship Racing (Dodge)
Penske Racing South gave Bill Davis minority ownership for owner's points
- #12 David Stremme
* Verizon Wireless
(SPECIAL NOTE: Verizon logos will not appear on car, but the pain scheme is Verizon-esque. This is due to the buyout of Alltel. Stremme will run a Nationwide car sponsored with logos in that series)
- #2 Kurt Busch
* Miller Lite
- #77 Sam Hornish, JR.
* Mobil 1/AAA


Richard Petty Motorsports (Dodge)
Petty Enterprises merged into Gillette-Evernham Motorsports (Ray Evernham reduced role to consultant approx. 10% ownership)
- #44 AJ Allmendinger
* Valvoline
- #43 Reed Sorenson
* McDonald's
- #9 Kasey Kahne
* Budweiser
- #19 Elliot Sadler
* Best Buy

Roush-Fenway Racing (Ford)
- #6 David Ragan
* UPS
- #16 Greg Biffle
* 3M
- #17 Matt Kenseth
* DeWalt
- #26 Jamie McMurray
* Crown Royal
- #99 Carl Edwards
* Aflac Insurance

Robby Gordon Motorsports (Toyota)
- #7 Robby Gordon
* Jim Beam

That should be all of the competitive full time organizations. I will have a preview of 2009 and my predictions for both the season and the Daytona 500 up by tomorrow night.
Thanks for reading!
- DT