Top 10 reasons to watch NASCAR in 2006

10. Jeff Gordon on the road to recovery

What was the biggest surprise of last season? Denny Hamlin's pole at Phoenix? No. Kyle Busch becoming the youngest ever NASCAR winner? Not even close. It was, without a doubt, the fact that four times champion Jeff Gordon didn't even make the Chase for the Cup.

It was incredible. Just about everyone thought he would make the final ten championship contenders after the cut-off point at Richmond. This came just after a season where he would actually have won the title if the pre-Chase points scoring format had still been in use.

However, he cannot blame the points' format last season, because despite winning the Daytona 500 in February, Jeff Gordon and the number 24 team had too many off days.

But 2006 will be different. Gordon and Hendrick Motorsports set about rebuilding, and with Robbie Loomis off to Petty enterprises, Steve Letarte was promoted to crew chief. The pair won their first race together at Martinsville and had a strong end to the season, wrapping up the million-dollar bonus for 11th place. The Drive for Five begins again...

9. Mark Martin waves goodbye (er, again)

Last season was supposed to be veteran Mark Martin's last year in NASCAR's top flight. The 47-year-old announced last year he would be retiring at the end of 2005, and there was going to be a big fan-fare upon his final season.

But when Roush Racing team boss Jack Roush was unable to secure the services of Jamie McMurray a year early, Roush begged Martin to stay on a further year. McMurray did eventually move on but replaced Penske-bound Kurt Busch, meaning Martin was still needed.

Martin is the popular nearly man of NASCAR - loads of victories but he has never won the Nextel Cup or the Daytona 500.

Martin finished second in the Nextel Cup standings four times (1990, 1994, 1998 and 2002). In 1990, a 46-point penalty caused him to lose to Dale Earnhardt by 26 points in the final standings.

With Todd Kleuver taking the place of Martin in 2007, it really will be Martin's final year of Cup racing after 25 years. A Mark Martin win in either the Daytona 500 or the Nextel Cup will see a universal outpour of emotion.

8. Busch battles resume in the Nextel Cup

Each of the top five drivers from last year's Busch Series have committed to a full season in Nextel Cup. While third-placed finisher Carl Edwards is a known factor with a season's experience, the remaining four should resume their Busch battles and make for an exciting 'Rookie of the Year' title battle.

Champion Martin Truex Jr (DEI) will renew rivalries with Clint Bowyer (Richard Childress Racing), Reed Sorenson (Chip Ganassi Racing) and Denny Hamlin (Joe Gibbs Racing).

Double title winner Truex Jr will be favourite to succeed in the higher formula, however Hamlin impressed in his first 11 starts last season, taking pole in the Cup race at Phoenix. Bowyer, who just missed out on the Busch title, jumps into a competitive car vacated by Dave Blaney, and Sorenson will be out to impress in Casey Mears' former car.

All will have been boosted by the fact that they know that rookie victories are possible - Edwards took third in the title standings in what was effectively his debut season.

7. The Coca-Cola 600 tops off the best day of racing all year....

May 28th 2006. Put it in your diaries now. It is not a day to go to weddings, host your daughter's birthday party or take holiday. It is a day to be stuck in your living room, in front of the TV, for the best day of racing this season.

The longest race in the NASCAR season, the Coca-Cola 600 caps off a scintillating day of worldwide top level motorsport.

At 13:00 GMT the jewel in the F1 crown - the always unmissable Monaco Grand Prix - gets underway. A couple of hours later, the green flag drops for the 2006 Indy 500 - the biggest race of the IndyCar season and the biggest single-day sporting event in the world. And with maybe an hour to catch you breath after that, the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 begins from Lowe's Motor Speedway. Racing heaven, frankly.

And you better have slept well the night before, too, because last year's Coca Cola 600 lasted a staggering 5 hours, 13 minutes and 52 seconds long - thanks to a record 22 caution periods...

6. Bobby Labonte: Famous driver switches to infamous car

Richard Petty won seven championships and 200 victories and made the number 43 car a legend. But since Petty, no driver with previous Cup championship pedigree has sat in the car. Until now.

Bobby Labonte, champion in 2000, has switched to the Petty Enterprises number 43 car and will be joined by Jeff Gordon's championship-winning crew chief Robbie Loomis, who is returning to the team to become vice president of the operation.

It is an intriguing move. Labonte himself hasn't won for two seasons and has left many wondering whether he is now past his prime. He had a poor season in 2005, while his teammate Tony Stewart was sweeping the board.

But with Labonte and Loomis joining the number 43, it wouldn't be surprising to see the team climb the ranks. Maybe it would take good fortune for Labonte to make the Chase, but Victory Lane is more than a possibility.

5. Jamie McMurray's switch to Roush Racing

Incredibly, a driver that won on only his second NASCAR Cup race, has yet to repeat the feat in the 100 starts he has made since.

McMurray burst onto the scene by replacing the injured Sterling Marlin in 2002, winning at Charlotte in just his second race. He is also the only driver to win a race the year before clinching the 'Rookie of the Year' title. B

But McMurray appeared to be slightly annoyed when he was announced as a Chip Ganassi racing driver for 2006 midway through last year, after he was unable to leave his contract early despite having already signed with Roush for 2007. Kurt Busch signing with Penske for '07 sparked the musical chairs behind the scenes that allowed McMurray to make the switch in the off-season after all.

It is surely now or never for McMurray, with Roush Racing possibly giving him his best chance of regular success. He is yet to truly live up to his potential, and 2006 must surely be a breakthrough year for McMurray, joining a team that has won two of the last three titles and managed to get all five cars in the Chase last season.

Don't be surprised if 2006 is the year McMurray starts winning again, and starts winning lots...

4. Talladega gets a new surface

Race tracks get repaved all the time; it's just asphalt, after all. Surely nothing to get fussed about? But then, the 2.66-mile Talladega Super Speedway has not been resurfaced in a staggering 27 years.

This year's races at Talledega will be different - the first will be the last race on the old surface, before a temporary paving plant is brought in and a new surface created for the October Chase race.

The exact effect of the changes will only be found out in the fall, but the specialists are working on a durable surface that will make for even closer restrictor plate racing. Let's hope that what happened to Charlotte last year, doesn't happen to Talladega.

The repaving of Lowe's Motor Speedway being was blamed for multiple tyre failures in last autumn's UAW-GM Quality 500, where competition cautions had to be thrown just preserve the tyres.

Bearing in mind the 'pack' racing synonymous with Talladega, frequent tyre blow-outs could cause carnage...

3. The car in front... isn't even racing yet

One of the biggest stories to watch for this season will be the car manufacturer that isn't even on the grid yet.

Japanese manufacturer Toyota has already announced a six-car attack on the series in 2007 and has already unveiled Michael Waltrip Racing, Bill Davis Racing and a new Red Bull team as its teams of choice for next season. The attention for this season and the column inches will be two-fold.

Firstly, just who is going to drive these cars in '07? Kevin Harvick, who owns Toyota teams at lower levels, has been linked with a switch to BDR, and there are countless other names in the frame.

But perhaps more importantly, can the Toyota PR machine convince the American public that their entry is actually going to be a good thing? They have signed up three-time Cup champion and current TV commentator Darrell Waltrip to front their television campaign, but they will have their work cut out after an informal poll on NASCAR.com resulted with the majority of the fans admitting they 'didn't like' Toyota's entry into the sport.

2. Champ Car star Paul Tracy goes stock car racing

Not many drivers have the undivided loyalty to a series like Paul Tracy. The Canadian has raced in Champ Cars since 1991. There have been the natural highs and lows associated with such a long time in one sport, but when the majority of the Champ Car field jumped ship to the IRL earlier this decade, not only did Tracy stay put, but he publicly denounced those who did defect.

So it is a huge deal, when one of the America's biggest open-wheel racer decides to pursue a NASCAR career.

At 37, Tracy still has some life in single-seaters left in him, but he is looking for other ways of racing now, and the popularity of NASCAR makes it an attractive prospect. He has committed this year to five Busch races so far, when his Champ Car commitments allow, but he could end up with more outings and may see the light of day in the Nextel Cup by the end of the year.

The story whether Tracy makes the switch from open-wheel racing successfully or not, will be one of the biggest and most fascinating outside the top division this season.

1. Kurt Busch switches to Penske Racing

After his first test with Penske Racing at Atlanta earlier this season, Kurt Busch approached the media and said: "I feel a little Rusty."

Wearing the Number 2 Miller Lite Dodge overalls sure did make him look like Rusty Wallace, the NASCAR legend he is replacing in the car, but it also pointed to his lighter side after the problems that ended his time with Roush.

Busch shocked the NASCAR world by saying he wanted to switch teams in 2007 from the Roush Racing team he had been defending his 2004 title with, and was only released early when Jamie McMurray was finally prised from Ganassi. Fortunately for Roush, that was agreed before a police incident led to Busch being dropped for the final two races of last season and his season ending early.

Always watchable, often controversial, Busch's switch to NASCAR's no-nonsense team will make for the most intriguing of driver changes this year.

Put all of Busch's previous problems behind him - he is blindingly quick and one of the best talents currently on the circuit. He is certainly capable of dominating the season in the way Tony Stewart did last year.

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- The Autosport.com Team

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