Daytona is right around the corner

Check out ESPN Radio at 10 a.m. today. I’ll be appearing on Todd Bruso’s show on motorsports, talking about the upcoming season at Fernley 95A Speedway. You can catch the show on 94.5 FM in Reno or 94.3 FM in Carson City. There are lots of changes at the track for 2015. In addition to the season passes and family pack ticket packages I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, there will be more fan interaction and fun stuff during the intermissions. Included will be t-shirt tosses, bicycle giveaways, driver/fan fun events like three-legged races and balloon and egg tosses, frozen t-shirt and shorts contests and compact car tractor tire hockey. The Hobby Stock division has been upgraded to Street Stock for this season, with the Modified, Pro Stock, Pure Stock, Super Stock 4, and Dwarf divisions also on the program. March 28 marks opening night with all divisions racing.April 18 will see a demolition derby, mud bogs, and chain races, and the BCRA Midgets will return to the track on April 25 after an absence of several years. Monster Trucks will be back for their third straight year on Sept. 26. Check out the full schedule at www.fernley95Aspeedway.com.

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While local racing doesn’t start for another seven weeks, we’re less than a week away from the beginning of Daytona Speed Weeks. The NASCAR Sprint Unlimited competitors take to the track for practice this coming Friday, with the race scheduled for 5:15 p.m. The field will be one driver short, as A.J. Allmendinger will be in the MRN radio booth instead of the No. 47 car. NASCAR changed the eligibility for the Unlimited in mid-December to include all 2014 Chase drivers, but JTG Daugherty Racing was unable to secure sponsorship for the special race in time. In addition to the expanded eligibility, the race format for the Unlimited was announce just last Thursday. The race will consist of two segments, the first 25 laps in length and the second 75 laps. There will be a competition caution separating the two segments. Instead of qualifying, starting positions and pit assignments will be chosen by a random draw, in which selected fans are paired with the crew chiefs for the drawing.

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Coors pole qualifying for the Daytona 500 is set for Sunday, Feb. 15 with the knockout qualifying format in place this year. However, the rest of Daytona qualifying will remain unique, with only the front row locked in on Sunday and the rest of the field’s positions set by the finishing order in the Dual 150 races. And of course the Super Bowl of NASCAR racing will run two weeks from Sunday, kicking off what promises to be a season just as exciting as the last one. It will be the first test for the new pit lane infraction monitoring system, so expect to see lots of penalties until the teams come to grips with just where that invisible line is.

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So who will be the teams to watch in 2015? Among the Chevy contenders, the Hendrick teams will come roaring back, led by Jeff Gordon in his final season in Cup. Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are all legitimate contenders for the title. Stewart Haas will have defending champion Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, and a fully recovered Tony Stewart in contention. The Childress and Ganassi teams will win races, but aren’t on a par with Hendrick or SHR. In the Ford camp, Penske will be strong, with both Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano championship contenders. Roush-Fenway will improve, but probably not enough. Joe Gibbs Racing will continue to be the class of the Toyota field, particularly with the addition of Carl Edwards to its roster.

Clint Bowyer will lead the Michael Waltrip team, and should make the Chase if all goes well. Some other predictions: Kyle Larson will score his first win in 2015, and Danica Patrick will get at least one or two top-five finishes. Allmendinger will be the guy to beat on the two road courses. And, there will be at least one major cheating scandal.